Contact Information
Email
(615) 343-4336
324 Wilson Hall
Research Area
Education
Ph.D. (psychology: Clinical Science and Psychopathology Research), University of Minnesota, 2006
M.A. (psychology), University of Minnesota, 2004
B.A. (biology, psychology, religious studies), Rice University, 2000
Curriculum Vitae
Current Courses
Psy 209: Quantitative Methods
Advising
Societies
- 2001-present Society for Psychophysiological Research
- 2002-present American Psychological Association
- 2003-present American Psychological Society
- 2005-present Society for the Scientific Study of Psychopathy
Stephen Benning
Assistant Professor of Psychology
Dr. Benning's research takes a two-pronged approach to understanding emotion and psychopathology. The first prong of these focuses on the personality disorder of psychopathy, which represents a confluence of two independent processes: a fearless and dominant temperament, combined with a propensity for impulsive and antisocial behavior. His research has demonstrated that these two components of psychopathy have distinct demographic, diagnostic, and personality correlates; he has also shown that they have different impacts on physiological responses. Individuals high in fearless dominance show reduced levels of anxiety, particularly in contexts where the level of threat to a person is unclear. Those high in impulsive antisociality are vulnerable to a wide range of externalizing disorders (including antisocial personality disorder and substance dependence), and they appear less physiologically aroused by stimuli, though they have greater dopaminergic activity in anticipation of reward.
The other prong is more heavily focused on positive emotion and appetitive processing. One measure of these is the postauricular reflex, a small reflex behind the ear that appears to be larger during pleasant stimuli than during neutral or aversive stimuli. This reflex's apparently appetitive pattern of modulation has an opposite modulation pattern to the defensive startle blink reflex, which is elicited by the same noise probe as the postauricular reflex but which is larger during aversive than neutral or pleasant stimuli. Its potentiation is also reduced in depressed undergraduates, suggesting that it may be a marker of psychopathological states.
Representative Publications
- Benning, S. D. (in press). Postauricular and superior auricular reflex modulation during emotional pictures and sounds. Psychophysiology.
- Dichter, G. S., Benning, S. D., Holtzclaw, T., & Bodfish, J. (in press). Affective modulation of the startle eyeblink and postauricular responses in autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.
- Buckholtz, J. W., Treadway, M. T., Cowan, R., Woodward, N. D., Benning, S. D., Li, R., Ansari, M. S., Baldwin, R. M., Schwartzman, A. N., Shelby, E. S., Smith, C. E., Cole, D., Kessler, R. M., & Zald, D. H. (2010). Mesolimbic dopamine reward system hypersensitivity in individuals with psychopathic traits. Nature Neuroscience, 13, 429-431.
- Armstrong, T., Divack, M., David, B., Simmons, C., Benning, S. D. & Olatunji, B. O. (2009). Impact of experienced disgust on information-processing biases in contamination-based OCD: An analogue study. International Journal for Cognitive Therapy, 2, 37-52.
- Quevedo, K. M., Benning, S. D., Gunnar, M. R., & Dahl, R. E. (2009). The onset of puberty: Effects on the psychophysiology of defensive and appetitive motivation. Development and Psychopathology, 21, 27-45.
- Ross, S. R., Benning, S. D., Patrick, C. J., Thompson, A., & Thurston, A. (2009). Factors of the Psychopathic Personality Inventory: Relationships with the Five-Factor Model of personality and criterion-related validity. Assessment, 16, 71-87.
- Krueger, R. F., Markon, K. E., Patrick, C. J., Benning. S. D., & Kramer, M. D. (2007). Linking antisocial behavior, substance use, and personality: An integrative quantitative model of the adult externalizing spectrum. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 116, 645-666.
- Ross, S. R., Benning, S. D., & Adams, Z. (2007). Symptoms of executive dysfunction are endemic to secondary psychopathy: An examination in criminal offenders and noninstitutionalized young adults. Journal of Personality Disorders, 21, 384-399.
- Patrick, C. J., Edens, J. F., Poythress, N. G., Lilienfeld, S. O., & Benning, S. D. (2006). Construct validity of the Psychopathic Personality Inventory two-factor model with offenders. Psychological Assessment, 18, 204-208.
- Bernat, E. M., Patrick, C. J., Benning, S. D., & Tellegen, A. (2006). Effects of picture content and intensity on affective physiological response. Psychophysiology, 43, 93-103.
- Benning, S. D., Patrick, C. J., & Iacono, W. G. (2005). Psychopathy, startle blink modulation, and electrodermal reactivity in twin men. Psychophysiology, 42, 753-762.
- Benning, S. D., Patrick, C. J., Blonigen, D. M., Hicks, B. M., & Iacono, W. G. (2005). Estimating facets of psychopathy from normal personality traits: A step toward community-epidemiological investigations. Assessment, 12, 3-18.
- Benning, S. D., Patrick, C. J., Salekin, R. T., & Leistico, A.-M. R. (2005). Convergent and discriminant validity of psychopathy factors assessed via self-report: A comparison of three instruments. Assessment, 12, 270-289.
- Benning, S. D., Patrick, C. J., & Lang, A. R. (2004). Emotional modulation of the post-auricular reflex. Psychophysiology, 41, 426-432.
- Hall, J. R., Benning, S. D., & Patrick, C. J. (2004). Discriminant validity of the three-factor model of psychopathy: Personality, behavior, and adaptive functioning. Assessment, 11, 4-16.
- Benning, S. D., Patrick, C. J., Hicks, B. M., Blonigen, D. M., & Krueger, R. F. (2003). Factor structure of the Psychopathic Personality Inventory: Validity and implications for clinical assessment. Psychological Assessment, 15, 340-350.