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The response modulation hypothesis is an etiological theory which argues that psychopathy is an attention disorder, and is not caused by an inherent lack of empathy or fear. It posits that when psychopaths focus on a particular goal, they are unable to shift their attention to peripheral signals or cues if they are unrelated to the main goal. Usually outside signals prevent people from antisocial behaviors but psychopaths do not focus on these signals if they do not relate to their main goal.
Response modulation argues that the attention to goals is what modulates whether psychopaths have normal or abnormal levels of fear and empathy. In studies when psychopaths were asked to focus on these cues, they had normal levels of fear and empathy.