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In the DSM-5 Alternative Model of Personality Disorders (AMPD), psychopathy is marked by the presence of attention seeking, low anxiousness, and lack of social withdrawal, along with traits from the domains of Antagonism and Disinhibition. The triarchic model of psychopathy (TriPM) posits three biobehaviorally based traits underlying it: disinhibition, meanness, and boldness. The current study directly compared relations for measures of the two models with the broad dimensions of externalizing, internalizing, and positive adjustment. Participants (1,678 adults) were surveyed regarding maladaptive personality traits, clinical symptoms, and positive adjustment features. The TriPM model explained more variance than the AMPD in substance use, positive adjustment, and empathy, whereas the AMPD model explained more variance in internalizing symptoms. In addition, AMPD Antagonism and the Psychopathy Specifier diverged from TriPM Meanness and Boldness in their associations with some specific outcomes. Overall, our study provides evidence for complementarity of the two models in characterizing the multifaceted nature of psychopathy.

The triarchic model posits that distinct trait constructs of boldness, meanness, and disinhibition underlie psychopathy. The triarchic model traits are conceptualized as biobehavioral dimensions that can be assessed using different sets of indicators from alternative measurement modalities; as such, the triarchic model would hypothesize that these traits are not confined to any one item set. The present study tested whether the triarchic model dimensions would emerge from a hierarchical-structural analysis of the facet scales of the Elemental Psychopathy Assessment (EPA), an inventory designed to comprehensively index psychopathy according to the five-factor personality model. Study participants ( N s = 811, 170) completed the EPA and three different scale sets assessing the triarchic traits along with criterion measures of antisocial/externalizing behaviors. Bass-ackwards modeling of the EPA facet scales revealed a four-level structure, with factors at the third level appearing similar to the triarchic trait dimensions. An analysis in which scores for the Level-3 EPA factors were regressed onto corresponding latent-trait dimensions defined using the different triarchic scale sets revealed extremely high convergence (βs = .84-.91). The Level-3 EPA factors also evidenced validity in relation to relevant criteria, approximating and sometimes exceeding that evident for the Level-4 EPA factors. Together, these results indicate that the triarchic trait constructs are embedded in a psychopathy inventory designed to align with a general personality model and effectively predict pertinent external criteria. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a serious and recurrent phenomenon in many societies with severe physical and psychological consequences. In the present study, we aimed to explore the role of triarchic dimensions of psychopathy (disinhibition, boldness, and meanness) across gender in this occurrence. A questionnaire on inflicted (self) and experienced (partner) IPV and the Triarchic Psychopathy Measure were administered to a sample of 1,149 individuals from the Italian community. In general, self and partner IPV were moderately correlated. Bayesian regression analysis showed that disinhibition was positively correlated to both self and partner IPV (psychological and physical). In addition, boldness was negatively associated with perpetrated psychological IPV. Interactions by gender showed that meanness was positively related to perpetrated IPV in women (psychological and physical), whereas men with disinhibition features inflicted more physical violence than women. A high externalizing tendency (i.e., disinhibition) is therefore an important correlate of both perpetrated and reported IPV; moreover, boldness was associated with less psychological violence in general, whereas the effect of meanness depended on the gender of the individuals involved. Interestingly, the association between IPV and self-reported delinquent activities was low in magnitude (Spearman's Rho around .20) suggesting limited overlap between these two constructs., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interests with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article.

Antisocial behavior has been linked to an increased tolerance of painful stimuli; however, there is evidence that pain behavior is multidetermined. The current study used pain measures from 3 different modalities (pain tolerance, pain ratings, electrocortical reactivity) and assessed triarchic traits of boldness and meanness to clarify the dispositional basis of associations between pain processing and antisocial behavior. High boldness was significantly associated with blunted early neural response to painful and nonpainful stimuli as well as increased pain tolerance. High meanness was associated with blunted elaborative processing of painful images, lower ratings of perceived pain for self and others, and increased pain tolerance. Meanness also accounted for variance shared between pain processing and antisocial behavior. Findings demonstrate that boldness and meanness contribute to pain processing in different ways and suggest that meanness may uniquely account for the association between blunted pain processing and antisocial behavior. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

The triarchic model was advanced as an integrative, trait-based framework for investigating psychopathy using different assessment methods and across developmental periods. Recent research has shown that the triarchic traits of boldness, meanness, and disinhibition can be operationalized effectively in youth, but longitudinal research is needed to realize the model's potential to advance developmental understanding of psychopathy. We report on the creation and validation of scale measures of the triarchic traits using questionnaire items available in the University of Southern California Risk Factors for Antisocial Behavior (RFAB) project, a large-scale longitudinal study of the development of antisocial behavior that includes measures from multiple modalities (self-report, informant rating, clinical-diagnostic, task-behavioral, physiological). Using a construct-rating and psychometric refinement approach, we developed triarchic scales that showed acceptable reliability, expected intercorrelations, and good temporal stability. The scales showed theory-consistent relations with external criteria including measures of psychopathy, internalizing/externalizing psychopathology, antisocial behavior, and substance use. Findings demonstrate the viability of measuring triarchic traits in the RFAB sample, extend the known nomological network of these traits into the developmental realm, and provide a foundation for follow-up studies examining the etiology of psychopathic traits and their relations with multimodal measures of cognitive-affective function and proneness to clinical problems.

Research on psychopathy has progressed considerably in recent years against the backdrop of important advances in the broader field of clinical psychological science. My major aim in this review is to encourage integration of investigative work on dispositional, biobehavioral, and developmental aspects of psychopathy with counterpart work on general psychopathology. Using the triarchic model of psychopathy as a frame of reference, I offer perspective on long-standing debates pertaining to the conceptualization and assessment of psychopathy, discuss how dispositional facets of psychopathy relate to subdimensions of internalizing and externalizing psychopathology, and summarize findings from contemporary biobehavioral and developmental research on psychopathy. I conclude by describing a systematic strategy for coordinating biobehavioral-developmental research on psychopathy that can enable it to be informed by, and help inform, ongoing research on mental health problems more broadly.

The startle reflex has been suggested to operate as a psychophysiological marker of psychopathic personality, based on findings from studies using a range of different methodologies and participant samples. The present review aims at synthesizing existing evidence of the relationship between psychopathy and the startle reflex across task paradigms, psychopathic personality subtypes and subdimensions, participant samples (i.e., incarcerated/ clinical or non-offenders), and age groups using the triarchic model of psychopathy as a frame of reference. Systematic literature searches were conducted up until the 24th of March 2020 in PubMed, PsycINFO, and Web of Science. A total of 2311 potential studies were identified, out of which 40 met relevancy and quality criteria. Results indicate that reduced aversive startle potentiation is associated with psychopathic personality in general, but clusters of traits relating to the triarchic model constructs of boldness and meanness in particular. Available evidence suggest that startle paradigms could be meaningful for differentiating individuals with and without psychopathic personality. Findings support suggestions of psychopathic personality as a multifaceted, rather than a unitary construct. Reduced aversive startle potentiation has also been found in relation to psychopathic features in child-aged samples but work of this kind is limited and more research is needed. Future studies should focus on greater consistency in task paradigms and analytic strategies to enhance the capacity to compare and integrate findings across studies., (Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Recent initiatives emphasize the need to consider developmental and transdiagnostic contributions of temperamental variation to psychopathological expression. Triarchic neurobehavioral trait dimensions ( boldness, meanness, disinhibition ), which demonstrate compatibility with established temperament models and can be quantified using items from different existing inventories, are well-suited to pursuing these goals. We undertook to develop item-based scales for indexing these traits in 285 children (ages 5-10) tested in the Child Mind Institute's Healthy Brain Network (HBN) study, and evaluated their psychometric properties in two separate samples of similar-aged children: 519 others from the HBN study and 261 for whom parental-informant ratings were obtained through MTurk. Associations with psychopathology measures provided evidence for a) transdiagnostic utility of the triarchic scales, b) (reversed) boldness as the strongest predictor of internalizing problems, c) meanness as related to both internalizing and externalizing problems, d) disinhibition as the strongest predictor of externalizing problems, and e)a moderating effect of meanness level on disinhibition's relationship with externalizing problems. This research demonstrates that the triarchic traits can be effectively represented in young children and show expected relations with clinical outcome measures. As such, this work provides a foundation for developmental research clarifying the role that core neurobehavioral dispositions play in mental health.

We critique Roy et al.'s (2020; this issue) approach to characterizing the item-level factor structure of the three scales of the Triarchic Psychopathy Measure (TriPM), in light of the manner in which the TriPM scales were developed, the purposes they were designed to serve, and the growing body of evidence supporting their construct validity. We focus on three major points: (1) The TriPM scales are item-based factor scales - i.e., item sets designed to index broad factors of larger multi-scale (parent) inventories; (2) item-level structural analysis can be useful for representing broad dimensions tapped by such scales, but it cannot be expected to provide an accurate picture of narrower subdimensions (facets) assessed by their parent inventories; and (3) it is critical to consider the nomological networks of the TriPM scales (and other triarchic scale measures) in appraising their effectiveness as operationalizations of the triarchic model constructs. We illustrate the first and second of these points by applying Roy et al.'s analytic approach to the trait scales of the NEO-FFI, which were developed to index broad personality dimensions of the multi-scale NEO-PI-R. We address the third point with reference to the growing body of literature supporting the construct validity of the TriPM scales and demonstrating their utility for advancing an integrative understanding of psychopathy. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

The triarchic model of psychopathy was advanced to reconcile differing historic conceptions of this condition and alternative approaches for assessing it. The current study was undertaken to expand the empirical evidence base for the triarchic model by examining its correlates in adolescents, with measures of particular relevance to developmental theories of antisocial behavior. Self-report scales assessing the triarchic constructs were administered along with measures of conduct problems, callous-unemotional traits, attachment style dimensions, negative emotionality, and hyperactivity/inattention to 608 Italian adolescents (272 girls; M age = 16.70 years). The disinhibition dimension of the triarchic model was related most highly to general externalizing outcomes, such as conduct problems and hyperactivity-inattention, in this adolescent sample. The meanness dimension was selectively related to callous-unemotional traits and other measures of limited prosocial emotions and to affiliation motives that emphasize social gain. Triarchic boldness was associated with greater emotional stability and greater confidence in peer relationships. Of interest, an interaction between meanness and boldness was evident in predicting a lower need to understand one's own and others' emotions. These results provide a valuable illustration of the potential of the triarchic model to help advance developmental models of antisocial behavior in youth. Public Significance Statement This study examined how dimensions of psychopathy described by the triarchic model relate to measures of problem behaviors and affective-interpersonal style in an adolescent sample. Scores on the three triarchic dimensions-disinhibition, meanness, and boldness-showed meaningful contrasting relations with conduct problems, hyperactivity/inattention, callous-unemotional traits, emotional proclivities, and attachment style dimensions. This work illustrates how the triarchic model conceptualization can help advance developmental models of the emergence of antisocial behavior.

The biobehavioral traits of the triarchic model of psychopathy have well-known correlates with externalizing psychopathology. Although evidence also suggests associations with internalizing disorders, research has yet to formally model relationships between dimensions of internalizing psychopathology and triarchic traits. Employing a sample of 218 adults (50.2% female), the current study used confirmatory factor analysis to characterize how triarchic trait dimensions-delineated using different scale operationalizations-relate to internalizing when modeled as a single broad factor, and as distinct fear and distress subfactors. Findings demonstrated (a) robust opposing relations for triarchic boldness (+) and disinhibition (-), and an interactive association for the two, with general internalizing, along with a modest negative relationship for meanness; and (b) distinct associations for the three triarchic trait dimensions with fear and distress subfactors of internalizing. This work clarifies how facets of psychopathy relate to the internalizing psychopathology spectrum and provides a means for interfacing this spectrum with biological variables.

This study examined associations of performance-monitoring event-related potentials (ERPs) from go/no-go and flanker tasks with one another, and with psychopathy-related traits of disinhibition, meanness, and boldness. A task-dependent relationship was evident between the error-related negativity (ERN) and trait disinhibition, with high-disinhibited participants showing reduced no-go ERN but not flanker ERN. Disinhibition was also inversely related to variants of the P3 and the error positivity (Pe) from these two tasks. A factor analysis of the ERPs revealed two distinct factors, one reflecting shared variance among the P3 and Pe measures from the two tasks, and the other covariance among the N2 and ERN measures. Scores on the P3/Pe factor, but not the N2/ERN factor, were inversely related to disinhibition, and accounted for associations of this trait with variants of the P3 and Pe across tasks. The implication is that high trait disinhibition relates mainly to reductions in brain responses associated with later elaborative stages in the processing of motivationally significant events across different tasks. Importantly, no-go ERN predicted disinhibition scores beyond N2/ERN factor scores, indicating that high disinhibition is not generally related to diminished early preresponse conflict and error processing, but rather to processing impairments in conditions calling for inhibition of prepotent response tendencies., (© 2020 Society for Psychophysiological Research.)

The Triarchic Measure of Psychopathy (TriPM) was developed to assess manifest expressions of biobehavioural liabilities relevant to psychopathy and other forms of mental illness. Psychometric findings have been examined for a number of international translations of the TriPM, but further work is needed to evaluate its cross-cultural applicability and its properties in clinical versus nonclinical samples. The present study sought to evaluate the reliability and criterion-related validity and characterize the internal factor structure of the European Portuguese version of the TriPM in a large community sample (N = 1,833), and examine its ability to differentiate between community and prisoner (N = 240) samples. Reliability and criterion-related validity analysis supported the TriPM as an effective measure of psychopathic traits. Internal structure was characterized using exploratory structural equation modeling to specify bifactor models for the TriPM's three subscales and for the inventory as a whole; the model for each subscale included a general factor and a variable number of specific factors as determined by parallel analysis. These modeling analyses demonstrated unidimensionality for each TriPM subscale, and provided support for the triarchic structure of the TriPM as a whole. Additionally, Receiver Operating Characteristics analysis showed that the disinhibition score, as assessed by the TriPM, is the most sensitive for differentiating between prisoner and community samples. Our results are in line with other reports regarding the psychometric properties of the TriPM and provide further evidence for the construct validity of the TriPM. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

The latest edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) bridges a significant gap in psychiatric nosology by providing trait-based characterizations of psychopathy along with antisocial personality disorder within the Section III alternative model for personality disorders (AMPD). However, the representation of psychopathy in the AMPD has met with some criticisms (Crego & Widiger, 2014; Few, Lynam, Maples, MacKillop, & Miller, 2015). The current study was undertaken to establish an improved means for characterizing psychopathy in DSM-5 Section III terms, by creating scale measures of triarchic psychopathy dimensions using items from the best-established assessment instrument for the AMPD, the Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5). Using data from a sample of community adults (N = 210), we employed a construct rating and psychometric refinement approach to develop item-based PID-5 Triarchic scales for measuring psychopathy dimensions of boldness, meanness, and disinhibition. The validity of the PID-5 Triarchic scales was then evaluated in relation to criteria including other scale measures of the triarchic constructs and psychopathy, self-reported antisocial behavior and substance use, empathy, internalizing and other clinical problems, and personality within the development sample and a separate independent sample of adults (N = 240) recruited to have elevated psychopathic traits. Results of this work provide a foundation for improved characterization of psychopathy in terms of the AMPD trait system and provide a mechanism for future research oriented toward clarifying the developmental interface between childhood conduct disorder and psychopathy, as well as identifying neurobiological correlates of dimensions of psychopathy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

This study sought to characterize the factor structure of the Triarchic Psychopathy Measure (TriPM) using data from a sample of 1,082 community-dwelling Italian adults. Exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) was used to compare the fit of a bifactor model for each TriPM scale, in which specific-content factors were specified along with a general factor, with the fit of a single, general-factor model. Robust weighted least square (WLSMV) ESEM supported a bifactor latent structure of the TriPM items for all individual scales. When we jointly factor analyzed the 58 TriPM items, a WLSMV ESEM three-factor structure showed adequate fit; the three ESEM factors were akin to TriPM Boldness, Meanness, and Disinhibition theoretical dimensions, respectively, and could be effectively replicated across gender subgroups. Our findings support the three-factor structure of TriPM items, at least in Italian community-dwelling adults, and provide further evidence for the construct validity of the TriPM.

Background: The Triarchic Psychopathy Measure (TriPM) provides Disinhibition, Boldness, and Meanness scales for assessing the three trait domains of the triarchic model. Here we examined the genetic and environmental etiology of these three domains, including evaluation of potential sex differences., Methods: A total of 1016 men and women ages 19-20 years were drawn from the University of Southern California Risk Factors for Antisocial Behavior twin study., Results: Scores for the three TriPM scales were correlated to differing degrees, with the strongest phenotypic correlation between Disinhibition and Meanness. No sex differences were found in the genetic and environmental influences underlying these three domains, suggesting that the same genes and life experiences contribute to these traits in young men and women. For TriPM Disinhibition and Boldness, genetic factors explained about half or less of the variance, with the rest of the variance being explained by non-shared environmental factors. For TriPM Meanness, on the other hand, genetic, shared environmental, and non-shared environmental factors accounted for the variance. The phenotypic correlation between Disinhibition and Meanness was explained in part by common genes (26%), with the remainder attributable about equally to common shared (39%), and non-shared environmental influences (35%)., Conclusions: These findings contribute to our understanding of psychopathic personality traits by demonstrating the importance of heritable factors for disinhibition and boldness facets of psychopathy, and the importance of shared environmental influences for the meanness facet.

We describe efforts to formulate a quantitative measurement model for boldness, a construct that has been intensively discussed and investigated in the psychopathy literature in recent years. Although the Fearless Dominance factor of the Psychopathic Personality Inventory (PPI-FD) has served as a major referent for studying this dispositional construct, boldness was not explicitly targeted in developing the PPI, creating the need for a formal measurement model for this construct. Using an exploratory approach to test construction and multiple waves of data collection and analysis involving 1,791 participants, we created nine unidimensional scales (comprising a total of 130 items) for assessing correlated but thematically distinct facets of boldness, and characterized their higher-order structure. Overall scores on this new Boldness Inventory correlated highly with PPI-FD (positively) and dispositional fear (negatively), and negligibly with disinhibitory proclivities, in validation samples consisting of undergraduates (N = 767) and male prisoners (N = 326). The structural model of this new inventory, encompassing a general factor on which all facet scales loaded and two subordinate factors defined by residual variances of certain scales, effectively accommodated the constituent scales of PPI-FD. The model development work reported here establishes a valuable foundation for further, more fine-grained investigation of boldness as it relates to psychopathy and other clinical conditions as well as to adaptive functioning and performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Methodological and conceptual differences across studies have impeded our understanding of the relationship between psychopathy and internalizing psychopathology. To shed further light on this question, we undertook correlational and structural-modeling analyses of data from two samples to characterize how facets of psychopathy relate to internalizing psychopathology when assessed using multidimensional measures of each construct (i.e., Triarchic Psychopathy Measure, Inventory of Depression and Anxiety Symptoms). Participants for Study 1 were 470 undergraduates and community-dwelling adults who completed these measures in self-report form; participants for Study 2 were 301 community-dwelling adults who completed informant-rating versions of these measures (as applied to a known-other). Across samples, analyses revealed sharply contrasting associations for the three triarchic-model facets with internalizing psychopathology and its subdomains, with boldness relating negatively in most cases, disinhibition relating positively in most cases, and meanness exhibiting mostly null associations. Results provide a nuanced picture of associations between psychopathic symptomatology and internalizing problems.

Hervey Cleckley (1903-1984) was probably among the most influential psychiatrists of the 20th century, but the history of his intellectual contributions to psychopathy is not especially well known. Not all of Cleckley's writings have stood the test of time, but others seem prescient, arguably anticipating current debates regarding such contentious issues as successful psychopathy and the treatability of psychopathy. Although Cleckley's seminal writings on psychopathy are familiar to many contemporary scholars, Cleckley's role as an expert witness and his writings on other topics, such as dissociative identity disorder, may be less familiar to many readers. Cleckley's rich and diverse body of work is worth revisiting for its keen insights regarding psychopathy and personality pathology more broadly. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Psychopathy is a personality disorder representing an admixture of a fearless and dominant temperament with an impulsive and antisocial orientation. A sample of 1,026 participants in the waiting room of the medical emergency department of a city hospital exhibited levels of fearless dominance similar to university undergraduates and federal inmates; their levels of impulsive antisociality fell between those of federal and state inmates. Both psychopathy factors were correlated with male gender, younger age, and more frequent average alcohol consumption. Fearless dominance was associated with agentic success (e.g., being employed, higher household income), fewer psychological problems, and less use of psychotropic medications, including anxiolytics. Impulsive antisociality was negatively related to both agentic and communal (e.g., ever being married) success and positively correlated with substance use and self-reported bipolar, ADHD, and psychotic psychiatric conditions. Further, only impulsive antisociality was associated with presenting to the emergency department for physical injury or psychological disturbance.

The lexically based five-factor model (FFM) of personality has been a highly influential research framework for characterizing clinical-psychological conditions, including psychopathy, in lexical-trait terms. An alternative trait-descriptive framework, the triarchic model was formulated to characterize psychopathy in neurobehavioral-trait terms, in order to facilitate linkages with variables in the domain of neurobiology. The current study used data from a mixed-gender sample (N = 769; M age = 19.3) to establish an interface between the FFM and triarchic frameworks by identifying subsets of items from a widely used five-factor personality inventory, the NEO Personality Inventory-Revised (NEO-PI-R), that effectively index the dimensional constructs of the triarchic model (boldness, meanness, and disinhibition). A consensus rating and psychometric refinement approach was used to select NEO-PI-R items for assessing each triarchic dimension, and the resulting NEO-Tri item-sets ("scales") were evaluated in relation to criteria including other scale measures of the triarchic constructs, reported antisocial behavior and drug/alcohol use, and an FFM-generated omnibus psychopathy measure, the Psychopathy Resemblance Index. The NEO-Tri scales were also evaluated for effectiveness as indicators of latent triarchic dimensions within a confirmatory factor analysis anchored by previously validated triarchic scale measures. Results of this work have implications for clarifying how the triarchic model dimensions relate to normal-range personality traits and FFM-based conceptions of psychopathy, and provide a foundation for further examining neurobiological correlates of the triarchic model dimensions using existing multidomain data-sets that include the NEO-PI-R. (PsycINFO Database Record, ((c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).)

The investigation of callous-unemotional (CU) traits has been central to contemporary research on child behavior problems, and served as the impetus for inclusion of a specifier for conduct disorder in the latest edition of the official psychiatric diagnostic system. Here, we report results from 2 studies that evaluated the construct validity of callousness as assessed in adults, by testing for affiliated deficits in behavioral and neural processing of fearful faces, as have been shown in youthful samples. We hypothesized that scores on an established measure of callousness would predict reduced recognition accuracy and diminished electocortical reactivity for fearful faces in adult participants. In Study 1, 66 undergraduate participants performed an emotion recognition task in which they viewed affective faces of different types and indicated the emotion expressed by each. In Study 2, electrocortical data were collected from 254 adult twins during viewing of fearful and neutral face stimuli, and scored for event-related response components. Analyses of Study 1 data revealed that higher callousness was associated with decreased recognition accuracy for fearful faces specifically. In Study 2, callousness was associated with reduced amplitude of both N170 and P200 responses to fearful faces. Current findings demonstrate for the first time that callousness in adults is associated with both behavioral and physiological deficits in the processing of fearful faces. These findings support the validity of the CU construct with adults and highlight the possibility of a multidomain measurement framework for continued study of this important clinical construct. (PsycINFO Database Record, ((c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).)

Individuals with psychopathic traits often demonstrate blunted reactivity to negative emotional stimuli. However, it is not yet clear whether these individuals also have difficulty regulating their emotional responses to negative stimuli. To address this question, participants with varying levels of psychopathic traits (indexed by the Triarchic Measure of Psychopathy; Patrick, 2010) completed a task in which they passively viewed, increased, or decreased their emotions to negative picture stimuli while electrocortical activity was recorded. During passive viewing of negative images, higher boldness, but not higher disinhibition or meanness, was associated with reduced amplitude of the late positive potential (LPP), an ERP that indexes reactivity to emotionally relevant stimuli. However, all participants demonstrated expected enhancement of the LPP when asked to increase their emotional response. Participants did not show expected suppression of the LPP when asked to decrease their emotional response. Contrary to the electrophysiological data, individuals with higher boldness did not self-report experiencing blunted emotional response during passive viewing trials, and they reported experiencing greater emotional reactivity relative to other participants when regulating (e.g., both increasing and decreasing) their emotions. Results suggest inconsistency between physiological and self-report indices of emotion among high-bold individuals during both affective processing and regulation., (© 2017 Society for Psychophysiological Research.)

Psychopathy as conceptualized by the triarchic model encompasses three distinct dispositional constructs: boldness, meanness, and disinhibition. The current study sought to further validate triarchic (Tri) construct scales composed of items from the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ) as a foundation for advancing research on the etiology of psychopathy using existing large-scale longitudinal studies. MPQ-Tri scales were examined in three samples: mixed-gender undergraduate students ( N = 346), male offenders from a residential substance abuse treatment facility ( N = 190), and incarcerated female offenders ( N = 216). Across these three samples, the MPQ-Tri scales demonstrated high internal consistency and clear convergent and discriminant associations with criterion measures of psychopathy and other psychopathology outcomes. Gender comparisons revealed relatively few differences in relationships with criterion measures. Findings are discussed in terms of their implications for further investigation of the causal bases of psychopathy and other forms of psychopathology utilizing data from large etiologically informative studies.

This study examined associations of psychopathy facets of boldness, meanness, and disinhibition with clinically relevant variables and physiological reactivity to affective stimuli. These associations were examined after accounting for developmental associations with adolescent psychopathic traits, namely callous-unemotional traits, narcissism, and impulsivity. Psychopathic traits were assessed during adolescence using the Antisocial Process Screening Device and the Inventory of Callous Unemotional traits and during young adulthood via the Triarchic Psychopathy Measure. Clinical variables (N = 99, Mage = 15.91, 53% female), as well as affective and physiological responses (heart rate, skin conductance, startle modulation) to violent and erotic videos (N = 88, Mage = 19.92, 50% female) were also assessed during adulthood. After accounting for adolescent psychopathic traits, boldness was associated with high cognitive reappraisal and low anxiety, fear, and hostility, and meanness was related to callous-unemotional traits, hostility, less sympathy to victims, and less use of cognitive reappraisal. Disinhibition, by contrast, was associated with impulsivity, increased anxiety, and hostile and aggressive tendencies, as well as conduct disorder, antisocial personality disorder symptoms, and cognitive suppression. In addition, evidence was found for different physiological measures operating as biological indicators of these distinctive dimensions, with reduced resting heart rate and cardiac reactivity to violent stimuli indicative of boldness, above and beyond adolescent psychopathic traits, and low startle potentiation for violent stimuli indicative of callous-unemotional traits and meanness. These findings provide evidence for the value of a multidomain approach for clarifying neurobiological mechanisms of psychopathic tendencies that can inform prevention and treatment efforts. (PsycINFO Database Record, ((c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).)

This study undertook confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) of data from 567 participants to quantify constructs specified by the triarchic model of psychopathy (Patrick, Fowles, & Krueger, 2009)-boldness, meanness, and disinhibition-as latent variables. Indicators for the CFAs consisted of subscales of the Triarchic Psychopathy Measure along with triarchic scales derived from items of the Psychopathic Personality Inventory, Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory, and Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire. A modified three-factor model provided good fit to the data and outperformed alternative two- and one-factor models. Multiple-group CFAs demonstrated gender differences (male > female) in factor means and covariances, but not in factor loadings or intercepts. These findings support the idea that the triarchic model dimensions are embedded in differing models and measures of psychopathy and comprise essential building blocks for this clinical condition. Implications for understanding the structure of psychopathy, gender differences in psychopathic traits, and applications of latent variable modeling in future research are discussed.

Two recent meta-analyses have suggested that boldness, as assessed by the Psychopathic Personality Inventory (PPI) Fearless Dominance dimension, is largely unrelated to total or factor scores on the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R), raising questions concerning the relevance of largely adaptive features to psychopathy. Nevertheless, given that the PCL was developed and validated among prisoners, it may place less emphasis than do other psychopathy measures on adaptive traits, such as fearlessness, social poise, and emotional resilience. We conducted a meta-analysis (N = 10,693) of the relations between (a) boldness, as assessed by the PPI and its derivatives or measures of the triarchic model of psychopathy, and (b) non-PCL-based psychopathy measures across 32 samples. The average weighted correlation between boldness and psychopathy was medium to large (r = .39) and considerably higher than reported in prior meta-analyses; when analyses were restricted to well-validated psychopathy measures, the correlation rose to r = .44. We did not find support for the position that boldness is significantly less related to psychopathy than are the other 2 dimensions of the triarchic model. Our findings strongly suggest that boldness is relevant to at least some well-validated measures of psychopathy, and raise further questions regarding the boundaries of this condition. (PsycINFO Database Record, ((c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).)

Recent research has sought to understand how individuals high in psychopathic traits perceive pain in others (Decety, Skelly, & Kiehl, 2013; Marsh et al., 2013). Perception of pain in others is presumed to act as a prosocial signal, and underreactivity to others' pain may contribute to engagement in exploitative-aggressive behaviors among individuals high in psychopathic traits (Jackson, Meltzoff, & Decety, 2005). The current study tested for associations between facets of psychopathy as defined by the triarchic model (Patrick, Fowles, & Krueger, 2009) and decreased sensitivity to pain in 105 undergraduates tested in a laboratory pain assessment. A pressure algometer was used to index pain tolerance, and participants also rated their perceptions of and reactivity to the algometer-induced pain during the assessment and again 3 days later. A unique positive relationship was found between pain tolerance and the meanness facet of psychopathy, which also predicted reduced fear of painful algometer stimulation. Other psychopathy facets (boldness, disinhibition) showed negative relations with fear of pain stimulation during testing and at follow-up. Findings from this study extend the nomological network surrounding callousness (meanness) and suggest that increased pain tolerance may be a mechanism contributing to insensitivity to expressions of discomfort in others. (PsycINFO Database Record, ((c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).)

For decades, it has been known that the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) diagnosis of Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD) is a nonadequate operationalization of psychopathy (Crego & Widiger, 2015). The DSM-5 alternative model of personality disorders provides an opportunity to rectify some of these long held concerns. The current study compared the Section III alternative model's trait-based conception of ASPD with the categorical model from the main diagnostic codes section of DSM-5 in terms of associations with differing models of psychopathy. We also evaluated the validity of the trait-based conception more broadly in relation to measures of antisocial tendencies as well as psychopathy. Participants were 200 male inmates who were administered a battery of self-report and interview-based researcher rating measures of relevant constructs. Analyses showed that Section III ASPD outperformed Section II ASPD in predicting scores on Hare's (2003) Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R; r = .88 vs. .59). Additionally, aggregate scores for Section III ASPD performed well in capturing variance in differing ASPD and psychopathy measures. Finally, we found that the Section III ASPD impairment criteria added incrementally to the Section III ASPD traits in predicting PCL-R psychopathy and SCID-II ASPD. (PsycINFO Database Record, ((c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).)

The triarchic model of psychopathy replaces a syndromal view of this pathological personality condition with a tripartite trait-based conception, positing three distinct phenotypic dispositions as building blocks for what theorists have traditionally termed psychopathy. The Triarchic Psychopathy Measure (TriPM) offers an efficient means for measuring the three dimensions to facilitate research on the model's validity. We tested the reliability of the TriPM as well as its convergent and discriminant validity with respect to differing models of personality and other criterion variables reflecting social-emotional adjustment and mental health in an undergraduate participant sample (n = 120). The TriPM evidenced excellent internal consistencies, good test-retest reliability, and strong validity consistent with the triarchic model. We discuss the results with respect to prior research and offer suggestions for future research on the validity of the TriPM and the triarchic model.

The triarchic model (Patrick, Fowles, & Krueger, 2009) was formulated to reconcile contrasting conceptions of psychopathy reflected in historic writings and contemporary assessment instruments, and to address persisting unresolved issues in the field. The model conceives of psychopathy as encompassing three distinct but interrelated phenotypic dispositions--disinhibition, boldness, and meanness--with biological referents. These dispositional constructs can be viewed as building blocks for alternative conceptions of psychopathy, and various existing psychopathy measures are presumed to index these constructs to differing degrees. This article summarizes the bases of the triarchic model in the conceptual and empirical literatures on psychopathy, and it describes linkages between the constructs of the model and established structural frameworks for personality and psychological disorders. Alternative methods for indexing the constructs of the model are described, and evidence regarding their interrelations and criterion-related validity is reviewed. Promising aspects of the model for ongoing research on psychopathy are discussed, along with current gaps in knowledge/methods and recommended avenues for future research., (© 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Psychopathy is conceptualized by the triarchic model as encompassing 3 distinct phenotypic constructs: boldness, meanness, and disinhibition. In the current study, the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ), a normal-range personality measure, was evaluated for representation of these 3 constructs. Consensus ratings were used to identify MPQ items most related to each triarchic (Tri) construct. Scale measures were developed from items indicative of each construct, and scores for these scales were evaluated for convergent and discriminant validity in community (N = 176) and incarcerated samples (N = 240). Across the 2 samples, MPQ-Tri scale scores demonstrated good internal consistencies and relationships with criterion measures of various types consistent with predictions based on the triarchic model. Findings are discussed in terms of their implications for further investigation of the triarchic model constructs in preexisting datasets that include the MPQ, in particular longitudinal and genetically informative datasets., ((c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved.)

Background: Previous studies have reported strong genetic and environmental overlap between antisocial-externalizing (factor 2; F2) features of psychopathy and borderline personality disorder (BPD) tendencies. However, this line of research has yet to examine etiological associations of affective-interpersonal (factor 1, F1) features of psychopathy with BPD tendencies., Method: The current study investigated differential phenotypic and genetic overlap of psychopathy factors 1 and 2 with BPD tendencies in a sample of over 250 male and female community-recruited adult twin pairs., Results: Consistent with previous research, biometric analyses revealed strong genetic and non-shared environmental correlations of F2 with BPD tendencies, suggesting that common genetic and non-shared environmental factors contribute to both phenotypes. In contrast, negative genetic and non-shared environmental correlations were observed between F1 and BPD tendencies, indicating that the genetic factors underlying F1 serve as protective factors against BPD. No gender differences emerged in the analyses., Conclusions: These findings provide further insight into associations of psychopathic features - F1 as well as F2 - and BPD tendencies. Implications for treatment and intervention are discussed, along with how psychopathic traits may differentially influence the manifestation of BPD tendencies.

The Two-Process theory of psychopathy posits that distinct etiological mechanisms contribute to the condition: (a) a weakness in defensive (fear) reactivity related to affective-interpersonal features, and (b) impaired cognitive-executive functioning, marked by reductions in brain responses such as P3, related to impulsive-antisocial features. The current study examined relations between psychopathy factors and electrocortical response to emotional and neutral pictures in male offenders (N = 139) assessed using the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R). Impulsive-antisocial features of the PCL-R (Factor 2) were associated with reduced amplitude of earlier P3 brain response to pictures regardless of valence, whereas the affective-interpersonal dimension (Factor 1) was associated specifically with reductions in late positive potential response to aversive pictures. Findings provide further support for the Two-Process theory and add to a growing body of evidence linking the impulsive-antisocial facet of psychopathy to the broader construct of externalizing proneness. Findings are discussed in terms of current initiatives directed at incorporating neuroscientific concepts into psychopathology classification. (PsycINFO Database Record, ((c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).)

The Triarchic model of psychopathy characterizes this complex condition in terms of distinct phenotypic constructs of boldness, meanness, and disinhibition. The current study evaluated the coverage of these constructs provided by a well-established inventory for assessing psychopathy in adolescents, the Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory (YPI). A consensus rating approach was used to identify YPI items relevant to each Triarchic model construct, and convergent and discriminant validity of the resulting YPI-Triarchic scales were examined in relation to criterion measures consisting of scores on other psychopathy measures and relevant personality trait variables (N = 618, M age = 18.8). The YPI-Triarchic scales showed good internal consistency and exhibited properties largely consistent with predictions based on the Triarchic model, aside from somewhat greater than expected covariance between boldness and other facet scales. Findings are discussed in terms of their implications for interpreting scores on the YPI and for investigating distinctive components of psychopathy in youth.

We sought to address inconsistencies in the literature on amplitude of P3 brain potential response in offenders diagnosed with psychopathy. These inconsistencies contrast with the reliable finding of reduced P3 in relation to externalizing tendencies, which overlap with impulsive-antisocial features of psychopathy, as distinguished from the affective-interpersonal features. Employing a sample of incarcerated male offenders (N = 154) who completed the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised along with a three-stimulus visual oddball task, we tested the hypothesis that impulsive-antisocial features of psychopathy would selectively exhibit an inverse relationship with P3 amplitude. Clear support for this hypothesis was obtained. Our findings clarify the discrepant findings regarding psychopathy and P3, and establish P3 as a neurophysiological point of contact between psychopathy and externalizing proneness from the broader psychopathology literature., (Copyright © 2014 Society for Psychophysiological Research.)

Background: The triarchic model of psychopathy characterizes the disorder in terms of three distinguishable phenotypic facets: disinhibition, meanness and boldness. The present study sought to (1) inform current debates regarding the role of boldness in the definition of psychopathy and (2) clarify boundaries between psychopathy and antisocial personality disorder (ASPD)., Method: This study evaluated the degree to which facets of the triarchic model are represented in the most widely used clinical inventory for psychopathy, the Psychopathy Checklist - Revised (PCL-R), in comparison with ASPD as defined by DSM-IV criteria. Adult male offenders from two distinct correctional settings (n = 157 and 169) were investigated to ensure replicability of findings across samples exhibiting high base rates of psychopathy and antisocial behavior., Results: We found evidence for convergent and discriminant validity of the three triarchic facets in predicting symptomatic components of psychopathy as assessed by the PCL-R. Additionally, and crucially vis-à-vis current debates in the field, we found that boldness contributed incrementally (over and above disinhibition and meanness) to prediction of PCL-R psychopathy, in particular its interpersonal style component, but not ASPD., Conclusions: The three distinct facets of the triarchic model of psychopathy are represented clearly and distinctly in the PCL-R, with boldness through its interpersonal facet, but not in DSM-defined ASPD. Our findings suggest that boldness is central to diagnostic conceptions of psychopathy and distinguishes psychopathy from the more prevalent diagnosis of ASPD.

This study used model-based cluster analysis to identify subtypes of men who scored high in overall psychopathy (i.e., ≥ 95th percentile on the Triarchic Psychopathy Measure; n = 193) from a larger sample evaluated for service in the Finnish military (N = 4043). Cluster variates consisted of scores on distinct facets of psychopathy together with a measure of negative affectivity. The best-fitting model specified 2 clusters, representing "primary" (n = 110) and "secondary" psychopathy (n = 83) groups. Compared to a low-psychopathy comparison group (n = 1878), both psychopathy subgroups showed markedly elevated levels of externalizing symptoms and criminal behavior. Secondary psychopathic participants also reported high levels of internalizing problems including anxiousness, depression, and somatization, and scored higher on the disinhibition facet of psychopathy relative to the primary group. By contrast, primary psychopathic individuals reported fewer internalizing problems than either the secondary psychopathy or comparison groups and scored higher on the boldness facet of psychopathy. Primary psychopathic participants also had higher rates of violent crimes than the secondary psychopaths. Implications for conceptualizing and studying psychopathy in nonforensic populations are discussed., (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved)

Replicating and extending research by Sellbom et al. (M. Sellbom, Y. S. Ben-Porath, C. J. Patrick, D. B. Wygant, D. M. Gartland, & K. P. Stafford, 2012, Development and Construct Validation of the MMPI-2-RF Measures of Global Psychopathy, Fearless-Dominance, and Impulsive-Antisociality, Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment, 3, 17-38), the current study examined the criterion-related validity of three self-report indices of psychopathy that were derived from scores on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)-2-Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF; Y. S. Ben-Porath & A. Tellegen, 2008, Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2-Restructured Form: Manual for Administration, Scoring, and Interpretation, Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press). We estimated psychopathy indices by regressing scores from the Psychopathic Personality Inventory (PPI; S. O. Lilienfeld & B. P. Andrews, 1996, Development and Preliminary Validation of a Self-Report Measure of Psychopathic Personality Traits in Noncriminal Populations, Journal of Personality Assessment, 66, 488-524) and its two distinct facets, Fearless-Dominance and Impulsive-Antisociality, onto conceptually selected MMPI-2-RF scales. Data for a newly collected sample of 230 incarcerated women were combined with existing data from Sellbom et al.'s (2012) male correctional and mixed-gender college samples to establish regression equations with optimal generalizability. Correlation and regression analyses were then used to examine associations between the MMPI-2-RF-based estimates of PPI psychopathy and criterion measures (i.e., other well-established measures of psychopathy and conceptually related personality traits), and to evaluate whether gender moderated these associations. The MMPI-2-RF-based psychopathy indices correlated as expected with criterion measures and showed only one significant moderating effect for gender, namely, in the association between psychopathy and narcissism. These results provide further support for the validity of the MMPI-2-RF-based estimates of PPI psychopathy, and encourage their use in research and clinical contexts.

Despite increased interest in female psychopathy, more work is needed to establish commonalities between the nomological networks for psychopathy in men and women. The current study sought to advance understanding of affective deficits in female psychopathy, as assessed by the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R). Forty-eight female inmates were tested in an affect-startle paradigm involving passive viewing of emotional and neutral picture stimuli. Results showed that women scoring high on PCL-R psychopathy exhibited deficits in startle reactivity to unpleasant pictures, especially with regard to victim-distress scenes, highlighting a specific insensitivity to the vicarious distress of others. The deficient affective modulation was specific to interpersonal-affective features and not adult/child antisocial features. These data confirm deficits in affective responding among women high on psychopathy, with implications for fear- versus empathy-related conceptualizations of psychopathic women., (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.)

A crucial challenge in efforts to link psychological disorders to neural systems, with the aim of developing biologically informed conceptions of such disorders, is the problem of method variance (Campbell & Fiske, 1959). Since even measures of the same construct in differing domains correlate only moderately, it is unsurprising that large sample studies of diagnostic biomarkers yield only modest associations. To address this challenge, a construct-network approach is proposed in which psychometric operationalizations of key neurobehavioral constructs serve as anchors for identifying neural indicators of psychopathology-relevant dispositions, and as vehicles for bridging between domains of clinical problems and neurophysiology. An empirical illustration is provided for the construct of inhibition-disinhibition, which is of central relevance to problems entailing deficient impulse control. Findings demonstrate that: (1) a well-designed psychometric index of trait disinhibition effectively predicts externalizing problems of multiple types, (2) this psychometric measure of disinhibition shows reliable brain response correlates, and (3) psychometric and brain-response indicators can be combined to form a joint psychoneurometric factor that predicts effectively across clinical and physiological domains. As a methodology for bridging between clinical problems and neural systems, the construct-network approach provides a concrete means by which existing conceptions of psychological disorders can accommodate and be reshaped by neurobiological insights., (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.)

Despite its importance historically and contemporarily, psychopathy is not recognized in the current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revised (DSM-IV-TR). Its closest counterpart, antisocial personality disorder, includes strong representation of behavioral deviance symptoms but weak representation of affective-interpersonal features considered central to psychopathy. The current study evaluated the extent to which psychopathy and its distinctive facets, indexed by the Triarchic Psychopathy Measure, can be assessed effectively using traits from the dimensional model of personality pathology developed for DSM-5, operationalized by the Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5). Results indicate that (a) facets of psychopathy entailing impulsive externalization and callous aggression are well-represented by traits from the PID-5 considered relevant to antisocial personality disorder, and (b) the boldness facet of psychopathy can be effectively captured using additional PID-5 traits. These findings provide evidence that the dimensional model of personality pathology embodied in the PID-5 provides effective trait-based coverage of psychopathy and its facets.

Background: Psychopathy and antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) are both characterized by impulsive, externalizing behaviors. Researchers have argued, however, that psychopathy is distinguished from ASPD by the presence of interpersonal-affective features that reflect an underlying deficit in emotional sensitivity. No study to date has tested for differential relations of these disorders with the brain's natural orienting response to sudden aversive events. Method Electroencephalography was used to assess cortical reactivity to abrupt noise probes presented during the viewing of pleasant, neutral and unpleasant pictures in 140 incarcerated males diagnosed using the Psychopathy Checklist - Revised and DSM-IV criteria for ASPD. The primary dependent measure was the P3 event-related potential response to the noise probes., Results: Psychopaths showed significantly smaller amplitude of P3 response to noise probes across trials of all types compared with non-psychopaths. Follow-up analyses revealed that this overall reduction was attributable specifically to the affective-interpersonal features of psychopathy. By contrast, no group difference in general amplitude of probe P3 was evident for ASPD versus non-ASPD participants., Conclusions: The findings demonstrate a reduced cortical orienting response to abrupt aversive stimuli in participants exhibiting features of psychopathy that are distinct from ASPD. The specificity of the observed effect fits with the idea that these distinctive features of psychopathy reflect a deficit in defensive reactivity, or mobilization of the brain's defensive system, in the context of threat cues.

The role of the two dimensions of psychopathy-dispositional fearlessness (theorized to reflect variations in reactivity of the brain's defensive system) and externalizing proneness (presumed to reflect variations in function of anterior regulatory systems)-in fear learning was examined in a sample of undergraduates assessed using the Psychopathic Personality Inventory-Revised (PPI-R) who participated in a differential aversive conditioning task. Only scores on self-reported "fearless dominance," irrespective of scores on "impulsive antisociality," were related to diminished acquisition of physiological fear. Consistent with dual-process accounts of psychopathy proposing divergent etiological pathways for the interpersonal/affective and the social deviance features of the disorder, our results lend support to the existence of a deficit in reactivity of the brain's defensive system underlying the fearlessness dimension of psychopathy., (Copyright © 2012 Society for Psychophysiological Research.)

Comments on the original article by Marcus et al. (see record 2011-23134-001). Based on their meta-analytic review of the correlates of the two factors of the Psychopathic Personality Inventory (PPI), Fearless Dominance (FD) and Self-Centered Impulsivity (SCI), Marcus, Fulton, and Edens (this issue, pp. 70-79) raise important questions about the role of FD in diagnostic conceptualizations of psychopathy. In considering their findings, general limitations of metaanalyses (e.g., Ioannidis & Lau, 1999) should be borne in mind, along with specific limitations of their analysis. These limitations are discussed here.

We propose that neuroscientific understanding of antisocial behavior can be advanced by focusing programmatic efforts on neurobehavioral trait constructs, that is, individual difference constructs with direct referents in neurobiology as well as behavior. As specific examples, we highlight inhibitory control and defensive reactivity as two such constructs with clear relevance for understanding antisocial behavior in the context of development. Variations in inhibitory control are theorized to reflect individual differences in the functioning of brain systems that operate to guide and inhibit behavior and regulate emotional response in the service of nonimmediate goals. Variations in defensive reactivity are posited to reflect individual differences in the sensitivity of the brain's aversive motivational (fear) system. We describe how these constructs have been conceptualized in the adult and child literatures and review work pertaining to traditional psychometric (rating and behaviorally based) assessment of these constructs and their known physiological correlates at differing ages as well as evidence linking these constructs to antisocial behavior problems in children and adults. We outline a psychoneurometric approach, which entails systematic development of neurobiological measures of target trait constructs through reference to psychological phenotypes, as a paradigm for linking clinical disorders to neurobiological systems. We provide a concrete illustration of this approach in the domain of externalizing proneness and discuss its broader implications for research on conduct disorder, antisocial personality, and psychopathy.

Based on their 2011 meta-analysis of the correlates of the Psychopathic Personality Inventory (PPI), Miller and Lynam (An examination of the Psychopathic Personality Inventory's nomological network: A meta-analytic review, Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment, 3, 305-326) conclude that its Fearless Dominance (PPI-FD) higher-order dimension exhibits weak construct validity, leading them to question the relevance of boldness to the conceptualization and assessment of psychopathy. We examine their assertions in light of the clinical, conceptual, and empirical literatures on psychopathy. We demonstrate that Miller and Lynam's assertions (a) are sharply at odds with evidence that well-validated psychopathy measures detect both secondary and primary subtypes, the latter of which is linked to social poise and immunity to psychological distress, (b) are inconsistent with most classic clinical descriptions of psychopathy, in which fearless dominance plays a key role, (c) presume an a priori nomological network of psychopathy that leaves scant room for adaptive functioning and renders psychopathy largely equivalent to antisocial personality disorder as defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, (d) are premised on a misunderstanding of the role of Cleckley's "mask" of healthy adjustment in psychopathy, and (e) are contradicted by data-some reported elsewhere by Miller and Lynam themselves-that PPI-FD is moderately to highly associated with scores on several well-validated psychopathy measures, as well as with personality traits and laboratory markers classically associated with psychopathy. A scientific approach to psychopathy requires the question of whether its subdimensions are linked to adaptive functioning to be adjudicated by data, not by fiat., (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved.)

Theorists have speculated that primary psychopathy (or Factor 1 affective-interpersonal features) is prominently heritable whereas secondary psychopathy (or Factor 2 social deviance) is more environmentally determined. We tested this differential heritability hypothesis using a large adolescent twin sample. Trait-based proxies of primary and secondary psychopathic tendencies were assessed using Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ) estimates of Fearless Dominance and Impulsive Antisociality, respectively. The environmental contexts of family, school, peers, and stressful life events were assessed using multiple raters and methods. Consistent with prior research, MPQ Impulsive Antisociality was robustly associated with each environmental risk factor, and these associations were significantly greater than those for MPQ Fearless Dominance. However, MPQ Fearless Dominance and Impulsive Antisociality exhibited similar heritability, and genetic effects mediated the associations between MPQ Impulsive Antisociality and the environmental measures. Results were largely consistent across male and female twins. We conclude that gene-environment correlations rather than main effects of genes and environments account for the differential environmental correlates of primary and secondary psychopathy., (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved.)

Aversive pavlovian delay conditioning was investigated in a sample of 11 criminal psychopaths as identified by using the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised and 11 matched healthy controls. A painful electric stimulus served as unconditioned stimulus and neutral faces as conditioned stimuli. Event-related potentials, startle response potentiation, skin conductance response, corrugator activity, and heart rate were assessed, along with valence, arousal, and contingency ratings of the CS and US. Compared to healthy controls, psychopathic subjects failed to differentiate between the CS+/CS- as shown by an absence of a conditioned response in startle potentiation and skin conductance measures. Through use of a fear-eliciting US, these data confirm previous findings of a deficient capacity to form associations between neutral and aversive events in psychopathy that appears unrelated to cognitive deficits and is consistent with hypothesized frontolimbic deficits in the disorder., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)