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Psychopathy has long been conceptualized in terms of an absence of emotion. Yet, recent studies have suggested that the experience of other-directed negative emotions may be more intimately linked to psychopathy than previously acknowledged, although there is limited knowledge concerning the experience of such emotions. The present study examined the disposition to experience two other-directed emotions, spitefulness and contempt, that are conceptually linked with psychopathy but currently are limited in empirical support. Across 2 studies with 3 nonclinical samples (Ns = 1,237, 239, 521), we found evidence that psychopathic traits-as assessed via the Self-Report Psychopathy Scale (SRP; Paulhus, Neumann, & Hare, 2016; Study 1 and Study 2) and the Triarchic Psychopathy Measure (TriPM; Patrick, 2010; Study 2)-were positively associated with spitefulness (Study 1) and contempt (Study 2). These associations were consistent across psychopathy instruments (SRP and TriPM) and dimensions (i.e., the SRP Interpersonal, Affective, Lifestyle, and Antisocial facets, and the TriPM Meanness and Disinhibition dimensions), were stronger for the interpersonal and affective traits of psychopathy, and held when accounting for several theoretically relevant covariates. The only exception concerned the TriPM Boldness scale, which had less consistent associations with contempt. The present findings further our understanding of the emotional experiences related to psychopathy, highlighting the relevance of focusing on other-directed negative emotions, especially those that are interpersonal in nature and share an antagonistic component. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

We examined the association between psychopathy, assessed using the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised: Screening Version (Hart et al., Manual for the psychopathy checklist screening version (PCL:SV), 1995), and stalking in 61 men convicted of stalking-related offenses. Psychopathic symptoms were rare, but their presence-especially that of affective deficit symptoms-was associated with victimization of casual acquaintances and with several risk factors from the Guidelines for Stalking Assessment and Management (SAM) (Kropp et al., Guidelines for stalking assessment and management, 2008a), including stalking in violation of supervision orders, degree of preoccupation with victims, and targeting of victims with limited access to external resources. The findings suggest that in spite of their rarity, psychopathic traits may be important in the assessment and management of stalking risk.

The authors present data on a mixed gender sample of 78 adult stalking perpetrators, each of whom was assessed with the Psychopathy Checklist:Screening Version (PCL:SV). Results indicate a generally low frequency of psychopathy in this group, although 15% of the sample was composed of psychopaths. Comparisons between this sample and other forensic samples indicate that both the frequency and degree of psychopathy were lower in the stalking group. The findings support previous theory and empirical findings, including the concept that underlying attachment pathology among stalkers and psychopaths is quite different, and psychopathy--in contrast to other areas of violence risk assessment--is usually not relevant when evaluating dangerousness among stalkers.

The case of Aileen Wuornos, executed in Florida for the serial killing of seven men, is studied to determine her degree of psychopathy and the presence or absence of sexuality or sexual sadism as a motivation or gratification for her crimes. The authors, one of whom evaluated the subject shortly before her death, determined that she evidenced a psychopathic personality (PCL-R score 32). She also met DSM-IV-TR criteria for Antisocial Personality Disorder and Borderline Personality Disorder. While her killings ostensibly were carried out during routine acts of prostitution, there was ambiguous evidence that her crimes were sexually motivated or gratifying. Her articulated motivation was robbery and elimination of the witness/victim. After carefully considering all available data, the authors concluded there was no convincing evidence of sexual sadism in either her personal history or her method of committing serial murder, and it remains unclear whether sexual gratification was to some degree a motivating factor in her commission of these offenses. The confluence of early childhood attachment disruptions, severe psychopathy, other personality disorder pathology, and a traumagenic abuse history likely contributed to her having serially murdered seven victims.

This investigation evaluated the construct validity of the Psychopathic Personality Inventory (PPI; Lilienfeld & Andrews, 1996), a self-report measure designed to assess psychopathy. One hundred and two incarcerated females were administered the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (K-BIT), an oral alcohol and drug screening measure, a demographic interview, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2), the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R), and the PPI. There were significant correlations among the PPI, MMPI-2 scales, and the PCL-R. In addition, the correlations between the PPI and the separate PCL-R factors were not significantly different from each other, indicating that the PPI is assessing both facets of the psychopathy construct to some extent. A high correlation between the PPI and the DSM-IV criteria, which assesses adult antisocial behaviors, revealed adequate concurrent validity. Nonsignificant or negligible correlations between the PPI and the MMPI-2 scales provided some support for discriminant validity. The results are discussed with respect to the clinical and forensic utility of the PPI, the limitations of the study, and the need for further research., (Copyright (c) 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

The violent true believer is an individual committed to an ideology or belief system which advances homicide and suicide as a legitimate means to further a particular goal. The author explores useful sources of evidence for an indirect personality assessment of such individuals. He illustrates both idiographic and nomothetic approaches to indirect personality assessment through comparative analyses of Timothy McVeigh, an American who bombed the federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995, and Mohamed Atta, an Egyptian who led the airplane attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in 2001. The risks of indirect personality assessment and ethical concerns are identified.

The relationship between psychopathy and sexual offending has been empirically established, but it is little understood. The author proposes nine explanations to provide a conceptual basis for this empirical relationship: (1) search polygyny, (2) callousness and a lack of empathy, (3) a lack of attachment or bonding, (4) sensation seeking as a product of chronic cortical underarousal, (5) grandiosity, (6) entitlement, (7) a predominance of part-object relations, (8) a high frequency of predatory violence, and (9) the leaving by consensual sex partners when the psychopathy is identified. These explanations, constructed from anthropological, psychobiological, attachment, psychoanalytic, and aggression research, find some direct and indirect empirical support in the extant literature. They contribute to understanding the "polymorphously perverse" sexuality of the psychopath.

Nonsexually offending psychopaths (N = 32) were compared to sexual homicide perpetrators (N = 38) and nonviolent pedophiles (N = 39) on select Comprehensive System Rorschach variables (Exner et al., 1993). Results indicate similarities among the groups in pathological narcissism, formal thought disorder, and borderline level reality testing. Nonsexually offending psychopaths are distinguished by their lack of interest in and attachment to others and their seemingly conflict-free internal world. While both sexually deviant groups evidenced interest in others and appear to experience a very dysphoric internal world, the sexual homicide perpetrators are distinguished by high levels of obsessional thought and an inability to disengage from environmental stimuli. Pedophiles show significantly more characterological anger, which may stem from their general inadequacy, cognitive rigidness, less alloplastic (acting out) style, and their introversive inability to gratify their needs. Rorschach differences add to our understanding of sexual deviation and violence among these three groups.

A nonrandom sample (N = 41) of inmates from a maximum security prison were classified as either psychopathic or nonpsychopathic (using the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R)) and violent or sexually violent. Sadism was measured using the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-II (MCMI-II) Scale 6B, the Personality Disorder Examination (PDE) items for sadistic personality disorder, and the sexual sadism criteria of DSM-IV. Psychopaths were found to be significantly more sadistic than nonpsychopaths (MCMI-II and PDE). Overall power was relatively high. Sadism did not differentiate the violent and sexually violent groups. A diagnosis of sexual sadism was too infrequent (n = 3) for meaningful statistical analysis. The trait measures of sadism and psychopathy measures (PCL-R, Factor 1 and Factor 2) significantly and positively correlated. Results provide further empirical validity for the theoretically proposed and clinically observed relationship between sadistic traits and psychopathic personality.

This study compares Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) scores, DSM-III-R diagnoses, and select behavioral indices between hospitalized insanity acquittees (N = 18) and hospitalized insanity acquittees who successfully malingered (N = 18). The malingerers were significantly more likely to have a history of murder or rape, carry a diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder or sexual sadism, and produce greater PCL-R factor 1, factor 2, and total scores than insanity acquittees who did not malinger. The malingerers were also significantly more likely to be verbally or physically assaultive, require specialized treatment plans to control their aggression, have sexual relations with female staff, deal drugs, and be considered an escape risk within the forensic hospital. These findings are discussed within the context of insanity statutes and the relevance of malingering, psychopathy, and treatability to future policy concerning the disposition of insanity acquittees.

Rorschach data were used to psychometrically "map" the internal psychological operations of three Cluster B personality disorders, listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd ed., rev. [DSM-III-R]; American Psychiatric Association, 1987), all of which may be organized at a borderline level. Psychopathic antisocial subjects (P-APDs) and narcissistic subjects (NPDs) were highly narcissistic. NPD subjects, however, produced more indices of anxiety and attachment capacity and fewer scores related to borderline object relations and damaged identity. P-APDs and borderline subjects (BPDs) produced similar mean numbers of borderline object relations; however, the BPDs were more anxious, produced more unsublimated aggressive and libidinal drive material, and evidenced greater potential for attachment. BPDs were also less narcissistic than both P-APDs and NPDs. Nonpsychopathic antisocial subjects (NP-APDs) were less borderline than P-APDs and BPDs, less narcissistic in terms of a stable grandiose self-structure than NPD and P-APDs, produced less evidence of attachment capacity than NPDs and BPDs but more than P-APDs, and were similar to BPDs in their proneness to anxiety. The outpatient NPDs and BPDs produced more idealization responses than the incarcerated antisocial personality disorder (APD) groups. We conclude that the behavioral descriptions offered for these three Cluster B personality disorders, when used in conjunction with information such as level of personality organization (Kernberg, 1984), level of psychopathy (Hare, 1980, 1985), and outpatient versus inpatient research settings, may have greater intrapsychic specificity than previously thought.

The case of a 33-year-old White male with a history of sexual assault is presented. His Rorschach is analyzed and interpreted using both psychostructural (Exner, 1986) and psychodynamic (Cooper & Arnow, 1986; Kwawer, 1980; Meloy & Gacono, in press-b) methodologies. Findings are used to understand the presence and interaction of both psychopathic character and psychotic personality organization in this mentally ill, sadistic, and sexually predatory young man.

This study utilized the Rorschach as a psychometric measure for understanding Antisocial Personality Disorder (American Psychiatric Association, 1987). Comprehensive System (Exner, 1986) Rorschach data for a sample of 60 ADP subjects and Rorschach object relations and defensive operations for 22 psychopathic APD (P-APD) and 21 nonpsychopathic APD (NP-APD) subjects are presented and discussed. The data support the absence of anxiety and attachment and the presence of pathological narcissism and borderline personality organization in P-APDs. The Rorschach's ability to differentiate antisocial groups based on level of psychopathy (Hare, 1980, 1985) strongly supports the need to use psychopathy as an independent measure when one is studying APD.

We investigated the constructs of anxiety and attachment in a group of 42 offenders who met the DSM-III-R criteria for antisocial personality disorder. Each antisocial subject's level of psychopathy was assessed with the Hare Psychopathy Checklist (PCL). Three Rorschach variables related to attachment, anxiety, and coping were compared between subjects scoring greater than or equal to 30 (N = 21) on the PCL and subjects scoring less than 30 (N = 21). Comparison Rorschach variables are also presented from a sample of 60 antisocial personality-disordered offenders. Moderate psychopaths (PCL score, less than 30) produced texture and diffuse shading responses at a significantly greater frequency than severe, or primary, psychopaths (PCL score, greater than or equal to 30). There was no significant difference in the two groups' propensity for producing vista responses. Although there were no significant differences between the coping index scores, the trend suggests less conflictual functioning in the severe psychopaths. A virtual absence of texture responses in the severe psychopaths, and a significantly greater frequency of diffuse shading responses in the moderate psychopaths, add construct validity to the lack of attachment in psychopaths and the role of anxiety in differentiating secondary from primary psychopathy. We view the presence of vista responses in this population as a measure of a failed grandiose self-structure, and note that it often occurs in the records of moderate psychopaths who also present achromatic color responses.

We investigated Rorschach responses associated with narcissism and hysteria in a group of antisocial personality disordered offenders. The Rorschach protocols of 42 subjects who met the criteria from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd ed., rev. [DSM-III-R]; American Psychiatric Association, 1987) for antisocial personality disorder were analyzed using Exner's (1986) criteria for pairs, reflections, and personal responses, and Gacono's (1988) criteria for the impressionistic response. Severe, or primary psychopaths (n = 21), scoring greater than or equal to 30 on the Hare (1980) Psychopathy Checklist (PCL), were compared to moderate, or secondary pscyhopaths (n = 21), scoring less than 30 on the PCL. The mean number of pair and impressionistic responses did not significantly differ for the two antisocial groups. The highly psychopathic group, however, did exhibit a significantly greater mean number of reflection and personal responses. We discuss pair and reflection responses and their relationship to narcissism in psychopathic disturbance. We recommend interpreting the personal response within the context of the psychopathic character and view personal responses as expressions of narcissism and omnipotence in highly psychopathic subjects. We also hypothesize that the impressionistic responses are indicative of primitive dissociative processes and hysteria in psychopathic subjects, and that their presence provides construct validity for the work of Guze (1976) and others who suggested an underlying histrionic dimension to psychopathy.

I have presented a psychodynamic construct that is useful in the assessment of violent and homicidal behavior. It further refines diagnostic and treatment endeavors when combined with other individual and situational correlates of homicide and violence. Object relations, reality testing, and mode of aggression are the three variables within the construct that can be empirically measured through the use of the clinical interview, psychodiagnostic testing, and corroborative history. They should contribute to our further psychoanalytic understanding of violent and homicidal behavior in primitive mental states.