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Fearlessness has been described among the traits associated with psychopathy; however, disparities in conceptualizations of fear and how related elements are operationalized among different measures of psychopathic traits have led to some enduring controversy. Here we address a subset of elements characterizing fearlessness represented in thrill-seeking and physical risk-taking among a large sample of incarcerated individuals (n = 688). We examine these relationships utilizing Hare’s Psychopathy Checklist Revised (PCL-R), the Psychopathy Personality Inventory-Short Form (PPI-SF), and the Zuckerman Sensation Seeking Scale (SSS). Among males, the Thrill and Adventure Seeking (TAS) scale of the SSS was not related to features of the PCL-R, but was highly correlated with Fearless Dominance (FD) of the PPI-SF. Among females, TAS was only modestly correlated with PCL-R total score, but neither of the two PCL-R factors. PPI-SF FD remained a strong predictor of TAS among females. We argue for a careful consideration of the boundaries of the term “fearlessness” as it relates to diverse manifestations of behavior and varied conceptualizations of psychopathy. We also reiterate apparent differences between males and females in the presentation of psychopathic traits.

The present study examined the construct validity of the PPI-SF, testing both its factor structure and the convergent and discriminant validity. Using a community sample of 1257 community members (869 females, 378 males), we tested whether a three-factor or an eight-factor model best fit the data and tested the links between the resultant factor structures and external correlates. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) findings revealed an eight-factor model best fit the data, followed by a three-factor model. Next, comparisons were made regarding the convergent and discriminant validity of the competing three- and eight-factor models. Findings showed that both models had meaningful relations with external variables, such as neuroticism, stress tolerance, and lack of empathy. The three-factor model revealed psychometric problems with the fearless dominance (FD) scale which did not exhibit good convergent discriminant validity. However, the three-factor model may consolidate the adaptive healthy traits. The eight-factor model had some additional problems with the fearlessness factor, however, showing that adaptive traits were spread across several PPI-SF factors. These findings underscore not only the importance of examining factor structure fit statistics, but also convergent and discriminant validity. The current findings suggest that both the three-and eight-factor models are viable ways to interpret the PPI-SF. However, the factors vary in whether they index adaptive or maladaptive traits. We offer some recommendations for clinicians regarding how to interpret FD and fearlessness and other trait domains within the broader psychopathy framework.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between psychopathy and its underlying traits and financial risk and time preferences.Design/methodology/approachThe authors measure risk and time preferences using both the cumulative prospect theory and quasi-hyperbolic time discounting in a sample of business majors. The Psychopathic Personality Inventory – Revised test is then used to measure the global psychopathy and eight primary and two secondary traits of the sample of business majors. The measures of psychopathy are used as explanatory variables to model variation in subjects’ time and risk preferences.FindingsThe authors find that the overall score on the continuum of psychopathy is positively related to the linearity of the cumulative prospective utility function. A breakdown of psychopathy into its secondary and primary traits shows a more complex relation. For example, the secondary trait of self-centered impulsivity is statistically significant in models of financial risk preference determinants under the cumulative prospect theory. The authors find that the primary traits of self-centered impulsivity and stress immunity are related to a higher time preference discount rate under quasi-hyperbolic time preferences.Originality/valueThis paper adds to the literature on personality and financial decisions and highlights the importance of psychopathy in finance.

A long tradition of theoretical and empirical work has described different variants (or subtypes) of psychopathy, in an attempt to delineate similarities and differences among constellations of psychopathic traits. Research in this area has the potential to increase our understanding of the etiology of different psychopathy variants, their associated risk, and protective factors, as well as to inform the development of tailored interventions. Drawing on data from a large, representative sample of referred boys incarcerated in the United States (N = 629; Mage = 15.49 years, SD = 1.23), the current study adopted a person-centered approach to identify variants of incarcerated youth based on scores on the 8 Psychopathic Personality Inventory-Short Form (PPI-SF) subscales. Latent profile analysis results identified 5 variants of youth: a high-psychopathy variant, a variant with moderate psychopathy scores, and 3 variants with distinct elevations on some PPI-SF subscales. Over one third of the participants had substantially high levels of psychopathic traits, and high levels of psychopathy were associated with a severe history of delinquency. Latent profile analysis findings also supported traditional and contemporary perspectives on psychopathy variants according to which different constellations of psychopathic traits are associated with different degrees of delinquent behavior, internalizing symptoms, substance use, and victimization. Finally, it appears that, individually, none of the trait domains assessed by the PPI-SF can explain differences across variants, and that it is the co-occurrence of all of the features that characterizes the most severe form of psychopathy. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Emotional stimuli naturally draw our attention. In emotional distraction paradigms, such stimuli can interrupt performance on a simple cognitive task. There are, however, individual differences in the extent to which emotional distractors impact performance. Previous research has found that highly psychopathic people perform better than others in these tasks, indicating that they are less distracted by emotional stimuli. We tested two separate accounts of the cognitive differences in psychopathy. Emotional processing accounts believe the deficit is specific to processing of aversive stimuli. Conversely, the Attention deficit accounts suggest the deficit is rather ineffective processing of peripheral information. To tease these hypotheses apart we investigated emotional distraction using positive and negative peripheral distractors. Negative distraction but not positive distraction should be reduced if emotional processing accounts are correct; all types of distraction should be reduced for Attention-deficit accounts. The current study employs an emotional distraction paradigm that includes peripheral task-irrelevant distractors that vary in valence and arousal. We measured trait psychopathy using the Psychopathic Personality Inventory in a university sample and grouped participants into low, intermediate, or high Fearless Dominance groups. Participants (N = 83) were instructed to ignore distracting images (positive, negative, or neutral) in the periphery while completing a simple perceptual task at fixation. Participants low in Fearless Dominance showed greater distraction by emotional stimuli than neutral stimuli. In contrast, those high in Fearless Dominance showed no greater distraction by emotional than neutral stimuli. The findings suggest there is no fear-specific deficit in psychopathy, instead, we see an overall decrease in emotional distraction for those high in Fearless Dominance. This finding also supports attention-deficit accounts, however, distraction by neutral stimuli was not associated with Fearless Dominance indicating the reduced distraction is specific to emotional stimuli.

Individuals differ in the extent to which they make decisions in different moral dilemmas. In this study, we investigated the relationship between functional brain activities during moral decision making and psychopathic personality traits in a healthy population. We measured the hemodynamic activities of the brain by functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). FNIRS is an evolving non-invasive neuroimaging modality which is relatively inexpensive, patient friendly and robust to subject movement. Psychopathic traits were evaluated through a self-report questionnaire called the Psychopathic Personality Inventory Revised (PPI-R). We recorded functional brain activities of 30 healthy subjects while they performed a moral judgment (MJ) task. Regularized canonical correlation analysis (R-CCA) was applied to find the relationships between activation in different regions of prefrontal cortex (PFC) and the core psychopathic traits. Our results showed a significant canonical correlation between PFC activation and PPI-R content scale (PPI-R-CS). Specifically, coldheartedness and carefree non-planfulness were the only PPI-R-CS factors that were highly correlated with PFC activation during personal (emotionally salient) MJ, while Machiavellian egocentricity, rebellious nonconformity, coldheartedness, and carefree non-planfulness were the core traits that exhibited the same dynamics as PFC activation during impersonal (more logical) MJ. Furthermore, ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and left lateral PFC were the most positively correlated regions with PPI-R-CS traits during personal MJ, and the right vmPFC and right lateral PFC in impersonal MJ.

Research has provided inconsistent evidence for the relationship between psychopathy and facial affect recognition. We examined whether some of the previous findings could reflect a psychometric artifact in which deficits are more easily detected with very discriminating measures than with less discriminating measures, an issue not addressed in prior psychopathy studies. We developed measures of facial affect recognition matched in discriminating power and administered these measures to 194 college students who had also completed the Psychopathic Personality Inventory. Results indicate that high levels of Coldheartedness were associated with poorer recognition of the specific emotion of disgust. These findings demonstrate that some affective processing deficits associated with psychopathic traits cannot be attributed to psychometric artifacts.

Background Psychometric properties of self-report psychopathy scales have generally been established in samples of people under the age of 40. Personality traits are, however, likely to persist into old age, so it is important to understand the performance of user-friendly self-report psychopathy measures among older people. Aims The aims of this study were to find out the extent to which self-reported scales developed for rating psychopathy have been used with people of 60 years or older and the extent of any evidence that the psychometric properties of the scales vary with age. Methods A systematic literature review, with searching limited to PubMed, EBSCOhost, and Google Scholar for the years 1990-2017, of studies of the psychometric properties of five prominent self-report psychopathy scales: the Self-Report Psychopathy Scale, Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy Scale, Psychopathic Personality Inventory, Triarchic Psychopathy Measure, and the Elemental Psychopathy Assessment according to age of participants. Results Fourteen studies were found for the years 1990-2017. Age ranges in these samples are wide, with a typical mean age of approximately 30 years. None of these studies focused solely on adults of 60 years or older or attempted to isolate findings by specific age group. Conclusions and implications for future research Studies of the use of self-rated psychopathy tools remain inconclusive about their psychometrics in older people. Further investigations should follow three main paths: first, deriving samples solely of older adults from the general population-to improve the generalisability of their results; second, item response theory methods should be used to detect differential item functioning between younger and older adults; finally, modifications of extant measures with and without items with potential age-bias should be tested.

This study examined item and scale functioning in the Psychopathic Personality Inventory–Revised (PPI-R) using an item response theory analysis. PPI-R protocols from 1,052 college student participants (348 male, 704 female) were analyzed. Analyses were conducted on the 131 self-report items comprising the PPI-R’s eight content scales, using a graded response model. Scales collected a majority of their information about respondents possessing higher than average levels of the traits being measured. Each scale contained at least some items that evidenced limited ability to differentiate between respondents with differing levels of the trait being measured. Moreover, 80 items (61.1%) yielded significantly different responses between men and women presumably possessing similar levels of the trait being measured. Item performance was also influenced by the scoring format (directly scored vs. reverse-scored) of the items. Overall, the results suggest that the PPI-R, despite identifying psychopathic personality traits in individuals possessing high levels of those traits, may not identify these traits equally well for men and women, and scores are likely influenced by the scoring format of the individual item and scale.

Background Impulsivity is generally considered a core feature of psychopathy, however one problem with understanding the association between these constructs is that both are multifaceted. Existing research often treats one or both of these constructs as unidimensional with important information regarding the complex nature of the relationship being lost. To clarify this issue the present study employs a canonical correlation analysis (CCA) which allows for the comparison of two multifaceted measurement scales simultaneously. Methods Respondents ( n = 970) completed the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11) and the Psychopathic Personality Inventory (PPI). CCA was performed to explore the strength and nature of the association between impulse control and psychopathy. Results There was a large correlation ( r = 0.57) between BIS-11 and PPI total scores. Further exploration using CCA showed that 70.2% of the variance was shared between the subscales, and three significant canonical functions emerged. These were found to be interpretable and suggest that impulsivity relates to the broader psychopathy domain in a complex fashion, and that non-planning impulsivity may be the primary trait which distinguishes between psychopathy subtypes. Discussion The findings support a complex multi-dimensional relationship between impulsivity and psychopathy. The simple impulsivity-psychopathy correlation has much less explanatory power than has a multivariate approach.

A recently developed 40-item short-form of the Psychopathic Personality Inventory-Revised (PPI-R; Lilienfeld & Widows, 2005) has shown considerable promise as an alternative to the long-form of the instrument (Eisenbarth, Lilienfeld, & Yarkoni, 2015). Beyond the initial construction of the short-form, however, Eisenbarth et al. only evaluated a small number of external correlates in a German college student sample. In this study, we evaluate the internal consistency of the short-form scales in 4 samples previously administered the full PPI-R (3 U.S. college student samples and 1 U.S. forensic psychiatric inpatient sample) and examine a wide range of external correlates to compare the nomological nets of the short- and long-forms. Across all 4 samples, correlations between each short-form scale and its corresponding long-form scale were uniformly high (all rs > .75). In terms of external correlates, the pattern of associations was exceedingly similar, for the short-form and long-form composites with a largely trivial reduction in effect size. Collectively, our findings offer considerable support for the utility of this new short-form as a substitute for the full PPI-R. (PsycINFO Database Record

Contains fulltext : 167334.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) Psychopathy is often described as a constellation of personality characteristics encompassing features such as impulsivity and antisociality, and a lack of empathy and guilt. Although the use of self-reports to assess psychopathy is still debated, there are distinct advantages to such measures and recent research suggests that they may not be as problematic as previously thought. This study further examined the reliability and validity of the Triarchic Psychopathy Measure (TriPM) in a community sample (N = 496) and forensic psychiatric patient sample (N = 217). Results indicated excellent internal consistencies. Additionally, the TriPM total and subscale scores related as expected to different subscales of the Psychopathic Personality Inventory –Revised (PPI-R) and to the Reactive and Proactive Aggression Questionnaire, reflecting good construct validity. Most importantly, ROC curve analyses showed that the TriPM evidenced better discrimination between the community sample and forensic psychiatric patients than the PPI-R. The current study extends the existent evidence demonstrating that the TriPM can be used as an efficient self-report instrument. 9 p.

Aligning behavior in favor of group norms, i.e., social conformity, can help to successfully adapt to uncertain environments and may result in social approval. This may lead to enhanced feelings of belongingness and is found to be associated with reward-related activations in the brain. Individuals high on psychopathic traits violate group norms regularly. Yet, it is unclear how psychopathic traits are related to neural mechanisms involved in social conformity. This functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study includes 42 healthy females scoring low or high on the Psychopathic Personality Inventory questionnaire (PPI). Participants were asked to rate the trustworthiness of 120 faces while lying in the scanner. After rating each face, participants were presented with the group rating of European students. In an unanticipated second part participants rated all faces again, allowing us to focus on two main contrasts: (1) “Social conflict”: group opinion in conflict with the participant’s rating vs. group opinion aligned with participant rating; and (2) “Conformity”: conflict trials followed by conformity vs. conflict trials followed by non-conformity. Behaviorally, the two groups showed similar conformity behavior. fMRI results showed that both groups activated the nucleus accumbens (NAc) following alignment, suggesting the central role of prediction errors and reward. The data also showed a significant interaction between group and conformity in the amygdala. Following conflicts, females scoring low on psychopathic traits showed a trend in enhanced amygdala activation for conformity relative to non-conformity. Additionally, results showed a trend significant group effect for non-conformity. Females scoring high on psychopathic traits showed more activation for non-conformity compared to females scoring low on psychopathic traits, suggesting altered emotional salience of experiencing conflict depending on psychopathic traits. Taken together, these results support the importance of investigating the role of relevant traits in adaptive behavior when facing uncertain social situations and the neural mechanisms involved in this process.

Coupling behavioral information with functional neuroimaging data sets promises to provide comprehensive insight into many medical data analyses. Analyzing the relationship of data sets of such diverse natures across multiple subjects requires special considerations. This enables a much more robust characterization of different data sets. Here, we investigate the relation between psychopathic traits quantified by the Psychopathic Personality Inventory- Revised [PPI-R]; (behavioral data set) and brain functional activities captured by functional near infra-red spectroscopy (fNIRS; neuroimaging data set). Particularly, we wanted to determine the psychopathic core traits most correlated with brain functional activation in personal (emotionally salient) and impersonal (more logical than emotional) moral judgment (MJ) decision-making. Our aim was to fill the gap in neuroimaging research between psychopathic traits and neuroimaging data during moral decision making using fNIRS. Applying Canonical Correlation Analysis (CCA) on brain functional activity recording from 30 healthy subjects and their psychopathic traits revealed coldheartedness and carefree non-planfulness to be highly correlated with prefrontal activation during personal (emotionally salient) MJ, while Machiavellian egocentricity, rebellious nonconformity, coldheartedness, and carefree non-planfulness were the core traits that exhibited the same dynamics as prefrontal activity during impersonal (more logical) MJ. Furthermore, ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and left lateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) were the prefrontal regions most positively correlated with psychopathic traits during personal MJ, and the right vmPFC and right lateral PFC were most correlated with impersonal MJ decision-making.

The current study aimed to examine the effects of inconsistent responding on Psychopathic Personality Inventory–Revised (PPI-R; Lilienfeld & Widows, 2005) scale scores and the utility of the IR scale in detecting such responding in a correctional setting. The study employed an internally controlled method of simulating inconsistent responding by inserting ascending levels of computer-generated random responses into PPI-R protocols. Participants were 218 male inmates from a medium-security prison in central Kentucky in the United States. Results indicated that psychometric properties of PPI-R scores were substantially attenuated at as low as 40% of random responding. Additionally, results indicated that an Inconsistent Responding (IR) Scale cut-off of 40 would provide the best balance between sensitivity and specificity in detecting invalid PPI-R protocols. Overall, this study highlighted the utility of the IR Scale in self-report psychopathy measures and the need to consider such response biases in research and clinical settings.

Neuropsychological studies of psychopathy have yielded inconsistent findings with respect to executive functions (EF). This may be due to heterogeneity of psychopathy, with some studies using performance-based tests showing a stronger association between EF and Antisocial-Impulsivity (AI) than Fearless-Dominance (FD) traits. Variability in findings may also be due to limited ecological validity of performance-based tests of EF. In this present study, we evaluated the relationship between AI and FD psychopathy traits and subjective ratings of EF in everyday life. Participants were 524 healthy adults who completed the Psychopathic Personality Inventory and the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function - Adult (BRIEF-A). Hierarchical regression analysis was conducted accounting for demographic characteristics and mood. Results revealed that more severe AI and FD were both associated with worse inhibitory control. More severe AI was also related to difficulty monitoring the effect of one's behavior on others and keeping organized. More severe FD was related to better emotional control and cognitive flexibility. These findings indicate that psychopathy traits are associated with subjective ratings of EF in everyday life. Although FD and AI showed some differences with respect to their association with EF, impulsivity appears to be a more general feature of psychopathy.

There are a number of prominent trait-based models and assessments of psychopathy that posit the existence of a varying number of central traits, which differ in their relation to one another and the degree to which they manifest similar empirical networks. In the current study (N = 347), we examined Lilienfeld's popular 3-factor model and measure (Psychopathic Personality Inventory-Short Form; Kastner, Sellbom, & Lilienfeld, 2012; Lilienfeld & Andrews, 1996) in relation to adverse developmental factors, self and informant ratings of general personality and "near neighbor" personality styles from the Dark Triad (e.g., narcissism), as well as internalizing symptoms and externalizing behaviors. The 3 factors-Fearless Dominance, Self-centered Impulsivity, and Coldheartedness-manifested relatively limited relations with one another (median r = .22) and demonstrated varying empirical networks such that Self-centered Impulsivity was associated with substantial maladaptivity, Fearless Dominance was associated with a mixture of adaptive and maladaptive correlates, and Coldheartedness' relations to the external criteria fell in between and manifested a relatively small number of significant correlations. There was little evidence that the psychopathy factors in general, and Fearless Dominance more specifically, interacted with one another in the prediction of externalizing behaviors or interacted with adverse developmental/parental experiences to predict these behaviors. These results are relevant to ongoing discussions regarding the manner in which psychopathy is conceptualized and assessed. (PsycINFO Database Record

Psychopathy is characterised by a postulated deficit in emotional empathy, with intact cognitive empathy. Although studies have examined performance on laboratory tasks within incarcerated populations, there is a paucity of work exploring how subclinical psychopathic traits translate into everyday social interactions.The present study investigated this by screening 502 university students with the Psychopathic Personality Inventory and comparing 20 high-scoring (10F; mean age = 19.85 years) and 19 low-scoring (15F; mean age = 21.00 years) participants on their responses to the Social Strategy Task. This comprises social scenarios that each end with an awkward request posed by the main character. Participants provided verbal responses and rated the awkwardness of each situation. Verbal responses were classified into positive or negative social strategies, denoting the extent of compliance with requests.The groups were compared using analysis of variance and t-tests. The high psychopathic trait group used fewer positive social strategies than the low group was less polite in emotional tone and perceived situations as less awkward.The findings are considered in relation to the postulated dissociation between intact cognitive empathy and impaired emotional empathy. The potential implications for clinical interventions are briefly discussed.

An abbreviated version of the Psychopathic Personality Inventory — Revised (PPI-R; Lilienfeld & Widows, 2005) was recently developed to facilitate assessment in settings with time constraints (PPI-R-40; Eisenbarth, Lilienfeld, & Yarkoni, 2015). However, the shortened measure precludes use of the Inconsistent Responding (IR) scales embedded in the full PPI-R. In the present study, we develop a new inconsistent responding scale for the PPI-R-40 and provide initial evidence of its reliability and validity in a sample of undergraduate students (N = 974) and a sample of forensic psychiatric inpatients (N = 200) that previously completed the PPI-R. Across both samples our newly constructed scale, the Inconsistent Responding-Short-10 (IRS-10), correlated moderately with existing IR scales of the PPI-R ( r s = .35–.48) and was associated with several external indicators of inattentiveness, including trait conscientiousness among undergraduates and symptoms of psychosis among forensic inpatients. ROC curve analyses demonstrated that IRS-10 scores strongly discriminated between respondent and randomly-generated protocols and tentative cut scores for profile invalidity are proposed based on rates of sensitivity and specificity. Overall, our findings suggest that the IRS-10 is capable of detecting inconsistent or careless completion of the PPI-R-40 and may improve the integrity of future research and clinical practice with this instrument.

It has been suggested that impulsivity is a core feature of psychopathy. However, certain findings in the research literature do not seem to mesh with this notion and suggest that primary and secondary variants of psychopathy may differ in their manifestation of impulsivity-related features. We carried out a correlational analysis and group comparisons on a sample of 106 non-criminal females. Variables that were measured include the Fearless Dominance (PPI-FD) and Impulsive Antisociality (PPI-IA) factors of the Psychopathic Personality Inventory (PPI); The Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-Revised, short version (EPQ-R-S); The Impulsiveness Questionnaire (I7) and Dickman's Functional and Dysfunctional Impulsivity Scales (FI/DI). The results presented a remarkably clear personality structure, supporting the notion that the PPI has two orthogonal facets revealing different patterns of association with impulsivity, and that these comprise different intercorrelated factors (PPI-FD, Venturesomeness, Extraversion, and FI, which form one intercorrelated factor; and PPI-IA, Impulsivity, Neuroticism, and DI, which form a second intercorrelated factor), suggesting that the personality structure revealed in this study is a gestalt.

Background: In this study, we examined the impact of personality traits, assessed with the psychopathic personality inventory revised version (PPI-R), on medical students' likelihood of selecting a surgical specialty. Methods: This is a cross-sectional questionnaire-based study of 360 4th-year medical students at a single university. We used the PPI-R previously developed to evaluate “adaptive” traits within nonclinical (student) populations. Students were asked to express their specialty of choice. Medical specialties were categorized as surgical and nonsurgical. Logistic regression was used to identify predictors and appropriate adjustments were made for demographic factors. Results: The survey was completed by 335 out of 360 students. The prevalence of students aspiring to a surgical career was 23.6%. They exhibited higher PPI-R total score, self-centered impulsivity (SCI) factor score, Machiavellian egocentricity, social influence, and fearlessness content scale scores. Logistic regression showed that SCI score was a significant predictor for the likelihood of expressing interest toward a surgical career. Discussion: Our findings expand previous research on the usefulness of the nonclinical use of psychopathic personality traits to investigate career choice.

The aim of this cross-sectional study was to test the idea that the psychopathic trait “Fearless dominance” (FD) may be associated with reduced psychological stress symptoms and better stress coping strategies in psychiatric patients, whereas the factor “Self-centered impulsivity” (SCI) may be associated with more stress and maladaptive stress coping. The investigation included 626 individuals with psychiatric disorders treated in a psychiatric rehabilitation program. The participants were tested with the Psychopathic Personality Inventory Revised (PPI-R) and completed several clinical scales measuring stress experience and stress coping (Symptom-Checklist Revised, Trier Inventory for Chronic Stress, The Stress Coping Style Questionnaire 78). Consistent with the hypothesis, structural equation modeling results showed that self-reported stress levels and adaptive stress coping strategies might be explained by psychopathic FD traits in the psychiatric sample. Supplemental subscale analyses showed that especially the PPI-R scales Stress Immunity and Social Influence were positively related to adaptive stress coping. The second model of SCI did not fit our data well. In conclusion, individuals with psychopathic FD traits may experience less stress symptoms during residential care. Well-designed prospective trials may ultimately answer the question whether psychopathic traits could be viewed as serving a buffer function in the development of depression.

Three studies examined Jones’ (Perspectives on Psychological Science, 9, 445-451, 2014) suggestion that psychopathic individuals use mimicry to avoid detection. In study 1, student, community, and offender participants posed fearful facial expressions while looking at a prototypical fear face. Expressions were coded for facial movements associated with fear and were rated on genuineness by a separate sample of undergraduates. Across samples, psychopathic traits were associated with increased use of typical action units for fearful facial expressions and with genuineness ratings. In study 2, undergraduates completed the Psychopathic Personality Inventory and told a story about a time when they did something that they should have felt remorseful for but did not. Factor 1 traits were found to positively relate to genuineness scores given by a separate sample of undergraduates. Finally, in study 3, four videos of false remorse stories told by violent offenders were rated by a sample of undergraduates. The two high factor 1 videos received significantly higher genuineness ratings, supporting the relationship between factor 1 and affective mimicry. Overall, findings suggest that the psychopathic traits (specifically, factor 1) may be associated with the ability to accurately mimic emotional expression (fear and remorse) leading others to perceive emotional genuineness.

Some self-report measures of personality and personality disorders, including the widely used Psychopathic Personality Inventory-Revised (PPI-R), are lengthy and time-intensive. In recent work, we introduced an automated genetic algorithm (GA)-based method for abbreviating psychometric measures. In Study 1, we used this approach to generate a short (40-item) version of the PPI-R using 3 large-N German student samples (total N = 1,590). The abbreviated measure displayed high convergent correlations with the original PPI-R, and outperformed an alternative measure constructed using a conventional approach. Study 2 tested the convergent and discriminant validity of this short version in a fourth student sample (N = 206) using sensation-seeking and sensitivity to reward and punishment scales, again demonstrating similar convergent and discriminant validity for the PPI-R-40 compared with the full version. In a fifth community sample of North American participants acquired using Amazon Mechanical Turk, the PPI-R-40 showed similarly high convergent correlations, demonstrating stability across language, culture, and data-collection method. Taken together, these studies suggest that the GA approach is a viable method for abbreviating measures of psychopathy, and perhaps personality measures in general.

Item does not contain fulltext In individuals with psychopathy, the presence of emotional stimuli implicates a relatively weak distraction from performing cognitive tasks. This study assessed whether there is also a relationship between specific combinations of psychopathy-related traits present in the general population and sensitivity of cognitive processing to distraction by emotional stimuli. The participants (N = 80) were screened for these traits using the Psychopathic Personality Inventory and performed a classification task in the presence of pictures with a low or high arousal value. Emotional distraction (ED) was operationalized in terms of the response time on trials with high- versus low-arousal pictures. The interaction between affective-interpersonal and impulsive-antisocial traits was significantly associated with ED. This interaction reflected the fact that the association between affective-interpersonal traits (specifically fearlessness) and magnitude of ED was negative for individuals with relatively weak impulsive-antisocial traits (specifically carefree nonplanfulness) but positive for those with relatively strong impulsive-antisocial traits. These results suggest significant differences in vulnerability to ED as a function of the strength of specific combinations of psychopathy-related traits in non-clinical samples. 6 p.

The measurement of psychopathic personality traits via self-report has become an important tool in legal psychology. One prominent instrument is the Psychopathic Personality Inventory (PPI; Lilienfeld and Andrews, 1996), a well-validated questionnaire that is widely applied in many countries. In Germany, it is the only questionnaire assessing psychopathic traits that is available from a publisher with a manual edited for easy administration. Nevertheless, the PPI shows certain shortcomings: the high number of 154 items makes it less economic, it was developed on a non-representative undergraduate sample, and studies revealed an inconsistent factor structure. To overcome these points, a new questionnaire, the Questionnaire of Psychopathic Personality Traits [German: Fragebogen Psychopathischer Persönlichkeitseigenschaften (FPP)] was developed. The sample consists of n = 132 civilians (56% female) and n = 173 inmates of German correctional facilities (30% female). The FPP comprises 30 items, whose wording was short and adequate for inmates. It shows satisfying psychometric properties regarding factorial structure, item properties, and reliability. Partial invariance regarding both subsamples allows for interpretation of latent means. Results supported validity such as associations with self-reported crime, and inmates’ misconduct. The factorial structure was cross-validated on a second sample of N = 517 participants (71% female) from an online study. The FPP is useful in large-scale research studies as well as for clinical settings, e.g., for treatment planning in correctional facilities.

Atypical amygdala function and connectivity have reliably been associated with psychopathy. However, the amygdala is not a unitary structure. To examine how psychopathic traits in a nonforensic sample are linked to amygdala response to violence, this study used probabilistic tractography to classify amygdala subnuclei based on anatomical projections to and from amygdala subnuclei in a group of 43 male participants. The segmentation identified the basolateral complex (BLA; lateral, basal, and accessory basal subnuclei) and the central subnucleus (CE), which were used as seeds in a functional connectivity analysis to identify differences in neuronal coupling specific to observed violence. While a full amygdala seed showed significant connectivity only to right middle occipital gyrus, subnuclei seeds revealed unique connectivity patterns. BLA showed enhanced coupling with anterior cingulate and prefrontal regions, while CE showed increased connectivity with the brainstem, but reduced connectivity with superior parietal and precentral gyrus. Further, psychopathic personality factors were related to specific patterns of connectivity. Fearless Dominance scores on the psychopathic personality inventory predicted increased coupling between the BLA seed and sensory integration cortices, and increased connectivity between the CE seed and posterior insula. Conversely, Self-Centered Impulsivity scores were negatively correlated with coupling between BLA and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, and Coldheartedness scores predicted increased functional connectivity between BLA and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex. Taken together, these findings demonstrate how subnuclei segmentations reveal important functional connectivity differences that are otherwise inaccessible. Such an approach yields a better understanding of amygdala dysfunction in psychopathy. Hum Brain Mapp, 2014. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Language: en

The current investigation examined the associations between personality traits representing DSM-5 Section III Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD), its psychopathy specifier, and contemporary models of psychopathic personality disorder. We used two samples consisting of university students (n = 463) and community-dwelling participants (n = 148) recruited for subclinical psychopathic proclivities. Both samples were administered the Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (Krueger et al., 2012), Triarchic Psychopathy Measure (Patrick, 2010), and versions of the Psychopathic Personality Inventory (PPI; Lilienfeld & Widows, 2005). University students also completed the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis II Disorders-Personality Questionnaire (First, Gibbon, Spitzer, Williams, & Benjamin, 1997). Across both samples, the Section III ASPD traits were moderately strongly correlated with psychopathy measures, except the fearless-dominance/boldness domain. However, as would be expected, traits representing the Section III psychopathy specifier accounted for a substantial amount of variance within this domain. Furthermore, additional DSM-5 Section III personality traits augmented the characterization of psychopathy from the PPI and Triarchic perspectives.