Towards the investigation of personality deviance.

Abstract

This study derives from Foulds' (1971) model of personality deviance and is concerned with identifying measures of deviant traits characteristic of personality deviants of the ‘psychopathic’ type. The Character Disorder Scale of the SSI (Foulds, 1967) was employed as the criterion measure and three groups of female patients were studied. By the Kolmogorov‐Smirnov one‐sample test, 16 PF G, L and Q3 satisfied Foulds' distribution criterion for measures of deviant traits. Patients were described in terms of patterns of scores on these factors and two patterns associated with personality deviance were identified. These patterns accounted for half of the sample. None of the other six logically possible patterns was clearly associated with personality deviance. Cross‐validation was considered satisfactory. Further support was obtained using a different criterion of personality deviance (a rating scale devised by Presly & Walton, 1973). Since this study dealt only with the distributions of 16 PF scores, evidence of the temporal stability of G, L and Q3, and also the relevance of these measures to personality deviance of the psychopathic type, are discussed. Finally, some of the problems arising from the use of personality categories are considered.