Risk anything! Secondary, rather than primary psychopathy, is associated with diverse risk-taking in evolutionarily relevant domains.

Abstract

Although there has been much interest in psychopathy and risk-taking, not many studies have looked at primary and secondary psychopathy in evolutionarily relevant domains. In the present questionnaire study, relationships between sex, domain-specific risk-taking, and primary and secondary psychopathy were investigated in an online sample of 373 (75 male) participants. Secondary psychopathy related to more diverse risk-taking than primary psychopathy, supporting the competitive disadvantage-theory of psychopathy (Mealey, 1995). In men, primary psychopathy had an association with between-groups risk, and in women, secondary psychopathy correlated with within-group risk. The results are discussed with regard to sex differences in psychopathy and risk from evolutionary perspective