The Utility of the Personality Assessment Inventory in the Assessment of Psychopathy

Abstract

To assess the utility of the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI; Morey, 1991) in the assessment of psychopathy, 92 male criminal defendants were administered the Psychopathy Checklist Revised (PCL-R; Hare,1991) and the PAI. Included were only those defendants who produced valid PAI protocols. Those scoring at least 30 on the PCL-R scored significantly higher on the Antisocial Features subscales ANT-A (Antisocial Behaviors) and ANT-S (Stimulus Seeking) than either the Low (PCL-R; total less than 20) or Moderate (PCL-R; total = 20–29) psychopathy groups. No significant differences between psychopathy groups were observed for ANT-E (Egocentricity). Regression analyses with PCL-R total, factor 1 and factor 2 of the PCL-R as the criteria, and the Antisocial Features subscales as the predictors revealed that only ANT-A significantly correlated with PCL-R total score and ANT-A and ANT-S with Factor 2. None of the Antisocial features scales correlated significantly with PCL-R factor 1. The results demonstrate that the PAI is capable of assessing the behavioral but not the affective/interpersonal aspects of psychopathy.