Subclinical Psychopathy Research Articles

Approach/avoidance tendencies in dark personalities

Although there are strong correlations among “dark” personalities (psychopathy, Machiavellianism, narcissism), they differ in important ways. The present study examined differences in approach vs. avoidance tendencies using Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory. A Structural Equations Model addressed the degree to which these variables differ in their associations with Behavioral Inhibition Systems (BIS) and Behavioral Activation Systems (BAS). Results showed predicted differences in Machiavellianism, subclinical psychopathy and narcissism, with respect to BIS and BAS. Specifically, Machiavellianism was positively associated with BIS, psychopathy was negatively associated with BIS, and narcissism was positively associated with certain aspects of BAS. Implications are discussed for the Dark Triad and the role of reinforcement in personality, more broadly.

Relationships between age of females and attraction to the Dark Triad personality

The current study extended previous literature that had investigated the attractiveness of the Dark Triad (DT) personality to youthful women (Carter, Campbell, & Muncer, 2014), by comparing responses between two age groups. Participants (N=1001 females) consisted of undergraduate students and women sampled from various North American communities. Participants read descriptions of male personalities and rated their attractiveness. Descriptions of male characters were designed to portray a combination of high scores on the Dark Triad traits (Machiavellianism, narcissism, and sub-clinical psychopathy), and results were compared to ratings on a low-scoring DT personality. Results were generally supportive of the hypotheses, such that younger women were more attracted to the Dark Triad traits than were older women; older women also rated the low-scoring DT personality as significantly more attractive than did younger women. However, inconsistent with previous literature, younger women rated the low-scoring DT personality as significantly more favorable than the high-scoring DT personality. Further, the participants' level of fertility did not significantly influence attractiveness ratings. The current study's findings may deepen understanding of the ways in which mating strategies change with age, as well as the qualities that women desire in a mate, in order to improve mating success.

The Relation Between Different Facets of Creativity and the Dark Side of Personality

This study examined the relation between different facets of creativity and personality, focusing on the dark side of personality. In a sample of 247 students, psychometric measures for the assessment of the dark triad of personality (subclinical narcissism, Machiavellianism, subclinical psychopathy), personality organization (structural deficit: identity diffusion, primitive defenses, reality testing), and the conventional 5 Factor personality variables were administered. Creativity was operationalized via divergent thinking measures and via self-assessment creativity scales. Regression analyses revealed openness as strongest predictor for both self-estimated creativity and divergent thinking performance. Self-estimated creativity was also significantly predicted by narcissism and reduced reality testing. Correlational analyses further revealed that divergent thinking performance was weakly negatively correlated with Machiavellianism and subclinical psychopathy, but it was positively associated with openness and extraversion. According to our findings, facets of the bright side of personality (such as openness) seem to have a much stronger link to creativity than less desirable personality traits do.

The dark triad: Emotional and interpersonal characteristics

The Dark triad is a construct of pathological personality traits, which consists of three components conceptually different, but still with significant empirical overlap: narcissism, Machiavellianism and subclinical psychopathy. The concept of Dark Triad found its place in the current structural models of personality, such as the Big-five and HEXACO model, and also an Interpersonal circumplex, within which the personal qualities project itselves into certain patterns of interpersonal behavior. This paper provides a brief theoretical overview of the basic elements of the Dark Triad, and an overview of current research related to (un) justified observation of the three constituent dimensions as a single construct in theoretical and empirical terms. Also, the paper presents an overview of the emotional dysfunctions typical for the triad, as well as the problems and consequences in the area of interpersonal and social relations.

The Short Form of the Five-Factor Narcissism Inventory: Psychometric Equivalence of the Turkish Version

Narcissism is named after Narcissus, a famous character from Greek mythology who was fated to fall in love with himself. Narcissism is an important and complex phenomenon studied in many subfields of psychology that include, but are not limited to, clinical (therapeutic), organizational, developmental, and social psychology (Sherman et al., 2015). Narcissism is characterized by grandiosity, arrogance, and a callous defense of one's self-image as perfect; interest in others is only a means for regulating self-esteem (Kubarych, Deary, & Austin, 2004).The narcissistic personality was first introduced as a psychological concept by Walder (as cited in Campbell & Miller, 2011). Freud saw narcissism as an unhealthy relationship between one's ego and libido, and he advanced the concept of narcissism by introducing the ego-libido personality type characterized by independence, extraversion, and an inability to commit to long-term relationships; yet narcissists usually attract attention and admiration, taking leadership roles (1991; 1950). Psychodynamic theoreticians such as Kernberg and Kohut are credited for making elaborate efforts at understanding and treating narcissistic personalities and establishing foundations for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder's (DSM) criteria of narcissistic personality disorder (Campbell & Miller, 2011). Kernberg (2004) envisioned narcissism as originating from a maladaptive pattern that originates in early childhood. On the other hand, Kohut (1971; 1977) defined childhood narcissism and exhibitionism as normal. However, a failure in transforming narcissistic patterns into healthier ones creates a narcissistic personality disorder in the later stages of development. Within terms of the psychoanalytical structural model, Kernberg defined narcissism as a libidinal investment in the self (Kernberg, 2004).Based on the predominantly psychodynamic literature, Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) was first included in the 3rd Edition of the DSM (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 1980) and assessment instruments were subsequently developed. In a text revision of DSM-IV (DSM-IV-TR; APA, 2000) and earlier versions, NPD was mainly defined by categorical criteria. The DSM-IV-TR stressed narcissism of the grandiose type over the vulnerability type (Miller et al., 2013). In DSM-V (APA, 2013), narcissistic traits were introduced and incorporated into the NPD criteria (Few et al., 2013; Miller, Gentile, Wilson, & Campbell, 2013).SubtypesNarcissism is usually conceptualized within a continuum that ranges from normal to maladaptive or pathological forms. The pathological form of narcissism is usually studied within the context of psychodynamic theories, while the normal form is studied more through empirical methods (Blais & Little, 2010). Pathological narcissism has been insufficiently studied due to different reasons, the lack of psychometrically sound measures being foremost (Schoenleber, Roche, Wetzel, Pincus, & Roberts, 2015). Scientific study of narcissism is seen as fragmented and under-pursued (Blais & Little, 2010). Miller and Campbell (2010) asserted that the scientific understanding of pathological narcissism is predominantly speculative and lacks empirical support.The normal, sub-clinical form (trait narcissism) is also a crucial construct in the study of personalities (Paulhus, 2001). Subclinical narcissism, subclinical psychopathy, and Machiavellianism have been defined as the dark triad. All of these traits are linked to emotional coldness, aggressiveness, deception, and self-promotion (Paulhus & Williams, 2002). On the other hand, it has also been suggested that most people can exhibit narcissistic behaviors, with the claim that a moderate level of narcissism may in fact even contribute to success and better functioning (Kets de Vries & Miller, 1985). Trait narcissism has been shown to predict a wide range of psychological phenomena in many studies from recent decades (Ames, Rose, & Anderson, 2006). …

Psychopathic traits are associated with cortical and subcortical volume alterations in healthy individuals.

Research suggests psychopathy is associated with structural brain alterations that may contribute to the affective and interpersonal deficits frequently observed in individuals with high psychopathic traits. However, the regional alterations related to different components of psychopathy are still unclear. We used voxel-based morphometry to characterize the structural correlates of psychopathy in a sample of 35 healthy adults assessed with the Triarchic Psychopathy Measure. Furthermore, we examined the regional grey matter alterations associated with the components described by the triarchic model. Our results showed that, after accounting for variation in total intracranial volume, age and IQ, overall psychopathy was negatively associated with grey matter volume in the left putamen and amygdala. Additional regression analysis with anatomical regions of interests revealed total triPM score was also associated with increased lateral orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and caudate volume. Boldness was positively associated with volume in the right insula. Meanness was positively associated with lateral OFC and striatum volume, and negatively associated with amygdala volume. Finally, disinhibition was negatively associated with amygdala volume. Results highlight the contribution of both subcortical and cortical brain alterations for subclinical psychopathy and are discussed in light of prior research and theoretical accounts about the neurobiological bases of psychopathic traits.

A Mokken analysis of the Dark Triad ‘Dirty Dozen’: Sex and age differences in scale structures, and issues with individual items

The Dark Triad (DT: Machiavellianism, narcissism, and subclinical psychopathy) have often been measured using a 12-item scale: The ‘Dirty Dozen’. Many articles report participants’ scale scores as well as their total score because structural models, based on classical test theory analysis, have indicated DT can be represented both as three correlated scales and a single scale. As DT are proposed to underlie a ‘male’ reproductive strategy of short-term, low-investment mating, sex differences have been of particular theoretical interest. Using two samples – one of student-aged participants; another comprised of a broader national sample – we applied Mokken analysis to investigate whether the same hierarchical structure existed across sex and age. For student women, the exclusion of one psychopathy item produced a single hierarchical DT scale. For student men, items formed a three-item narcissism scale and a six-item Machiavellianism–psychopathy scale. For non-student women and men, all twelve items constituted a unidimensional DT scale. Across all groups, item ‘difficulty’ was similar: Narcissism items were most easily endorsed and psychopathy items had the lowest rate of endorsement. Results are discussed in relation to the problematic empirical status of the Dirty Dozen psychopathy subscale, and in relation to sex and age differences.

Sexe, mensonge et personnalité : les paroles et le regard des machiavéliques, des psychopathes et des narcissiques que vous côtoyez

Several behavioural cues have been described in the literature as betraying deception. Yet, the conclusions of dozens of studies are unequivocal and even contradicting on whether such cues truly reveal lies. One possible reason is that the effects on these cues of gender and personality were rarely examined simultaneously despite some scarce evidence that such an interaction may reveal more fruitful than when taking gender and personality separately. The current study aimed thus in understanding how gender interacts with some aspects of personality frequently associated with the tendency to deceive, namely the dark triad including machiavellianism, and subclinical psychopathy and narcissism, may account for behavioural cues to deceit during narration. A sample of 56 participants (28 men, 28 women) aged 17–28 years participated in this study. Participant were asked to give a truthful and a deceptive description of objects contained in a box with as much details as possible in answer to several questions given by an experimenter. The interview between the experimenter and each participant was video recorded and behavioural paraverbal and non-verbal cues were taken as dependent variables. Each participant also completed a version of the “Dirty Dozen Scale” allowing to estimate his/her degree of machiavellianism, and subclinical psychopathy and narcissism as to constitute two independent groups on the basis of a median-split (low and high degree of each personality facet). Our study highlights a dissociation among the three facets of personality since each one was associated with different behavioural cues of deception, especially when taken together with gender. The total time of speech, the frequency of eye blinks and the frequency of hesitations during narration were found to be the most sensitive. Globally, men with high degrees of dark facets of personality showed differences in these behaviours between truthful and deceptive descriptions. It is plausible that high degrees of dark facets of personality would result in less subtle behavioural cues in men than in women. Our results are discussed in light of emotional and cognitive factors influencing cues to deception.

Understanding Relationships Among the Dark Triad Personality Profile and Romantic Partners’ Conflict Communication

Consistent with calls from prior research, the aim of this study was to understand how reports of the Dark Triad (e.g., subclinical narcissism, subclinical psychopathy, and Machiavellianism) related to conflict communication in romantic relationships. Results indicated that individuals reporting higher levels of the Dark Triad personality structure also reported more frequent disagreement that was also intense and hostile. Moreover, Dark Triad personality reports were directly related to the use of contempt, criticism, stonewalling, and defensiveness, messages collectively known as the Four Horsemen as they predict relational termination (e.g., Gottman, 1993; Gottman & Levenson, 1992). Machiavellianism and subclinical psychopathy were better predictors of conflict communication compared to subclinical narcissism. Findings reinforce that personality is important in understanding conflict communication. Implications, limitations, and future directions are discussed.

Subclinical primary psychopathy, but not physical formidability or attractiveness, predicts conversational dominance in a zero-acquaintance situation.

The determinants of conversational dominance are not well understood. We used videotaped triadic interactions among unacquainted same-sex American college students to test predictions drawn from the theoretical distinction between dominance and prestige as modes of human status competition. Specifically, we investigated the effects of physical formidability, facial attractiveness, social status, and self-reported subclinical psychopathy on quantitative (proportion of words produced), participatory (interruptions produced and sustained), and sequential (topic control) dominance. No measure of physical formidability or attractiveness was associated with any form of conversational dominance, suggesting that the characteristics of our study population or experimental frame may have moderated their role in dominance dynamics. Primary psychopathy was positively associated with quantitative dominance and (marginally) overall triad talkativeness, and negatively associated (in men) with affect word use, whereas secondary psychopathy was unrelated to conversational dominance. The two psychopathy factors had significant opposing effects on quantitative dominance in a multivariate model. These latter findings suggest that glibness in primary psychopathy may function to elicit exploitable information from others in a relationally mobile society.

‘Utilitarian’ judgments in sacrificial moral dilemmas do not reflect impartial concern for the greater good

A growing body of research has focused on so-called ‘utilitarian’ judgments in moral dilemmas in which participants have to choose whether to sacrifice one person in order to save the lives of a greater number. However, the relation between such ‘utilitarian’ judgments and genuine utilitarian impartial concern for the greater good remains unclear. Across four studies, we investigated the relationship between ‘utilitarian’ judgment in such sacrificial dilemmas and a range of traits, attitudes, judgments and behaviors that either reflect or reject an impartial concern for the greater good of all. In Study 1, we found that rates of ‘utilitarian’ judgment were associated with a broadly immoral outlook concerning clear ethical transgressions in a business context, as well as with sub-clinical psychopathy. In Study 2, we found that ‘utilitarian’ judgment was associated with greater endorsement of rational egoism, less donation of money to a charity, and less identification with the whole of humanity, a core feature of classical utilitarianism. In Studies 3 and 4, we found no association between ‘utilitarian’ judgments in sacrificial dilemmas and characteristic utilitarian judgments relating to assistance to distant people in need, self-sacrifice and impartiality, even when the utilitarian justification for these judgments was made explicit and unequivocal. This lack of association remained even when we controlled for the antisocial element in ‘utilitarian’ judgment. Taken together, these results suggest that there is very little relation between sacrificial judgments in the hypothetical dilemmas that dominate current research, and a genuine utilitarian approach to ethics.

Elucidating the Construct Validity of the Psychopathic Personality Inventory Triarchic Scales

This study sought to replicate and extend Hall and colleagues’ (2014) work on developing and validating scales from the Psychopathic Personality Inventory (PPI) to index the triarchic psychopathy constructs of boldness, meanness, and disinhibition. This study also extended Hall et al.'s initial findings by including the PPI Revised (PPI–R). A community sample (n = 240) weighted toward subclinical psychopathy traits and a male prison sample (n = 160) were used for this study. Results indicated that PPI–Boldness, PPI–Meanness, and PPI–Disinhibition converged with other psychopathy, personality, and behavioral criteria in ways conceptually expected from the perspective of the triarchic psychopathy model, including showing very strong convergent and discriminant validity with their Triarchic Psychopathy Measure counterparts. These findings further enhance the utility of the PPI and PPI–R in measuring these constructs.

Who does that anyway? Predictors and personality correlates of cyberbullying in college

Less is known about cyberbullying behaviors in college populations because studies on this topic traditionally have focused on adolescent populations, have not measured correlates of this behavior within college samples, or have methodological weaknesses limiting their findings. By using a more comprehensive measure of cyberbullying behaviors and examining what is associated with its occurrence, the current study aims to extend the knowledge about cyberbullying behaviors in college. Results showed that approximately 52% of college students report engaging in cyberbullying behaviors and indicated that victims of CBB and individuals high on a subclinical measure of psychopathy were more likely to report having engaged in CBB. It was also found that victims of CBB, men, and individuals high on subclinical psychopathy engaged in a wider range of cyberbullying behaviors. Age was the only factor associated with a decrease in CBB.

Dimensions of Religious/Spiritual Well-Being and the Dark Triad of Personality

Background: In general, religious/spiritual dimensions are found to be negatively correlated with all kinds of psychiatric disorders such as depression, suicidal ideation and substance abuse. Contrary to these findings, the goal of this study was to investigate the relationship between dimensions of religious/spiritual well-being (RSWB) and less favorable aspects of personality - the so-called ‘dark triad' of personality traits, i.e. narcissism, machiavellianism and psychopathy - together with general deficits in personality structure. Sampling and Methods: A total of 312 college students (220 females) completed the Multidimensional Inventory for RSWB, the revised Narcissistic Personality Inventory, the Machiavellianism Inventory and the Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy Scale along with the 16-item Inventory of Personality Organization. Results: RSWB was confirmed to be negatively correlated with these negative aspects of personality, in particular with subclinical psychopathy. More specifically, there were several notable overlaps; narcissism, for instance, was found to be significantly positively associated with some RSWB subdimensions such as ‘hope' or ‘connectedness'. Conclusions: First deductions can be made from these data concerning an ambivalent role of spirituality in impaired personality structure. These associations might be further investigated especially in psychiatric patients diagnosed with personality disorders in order to describe potential psychopathological facets of religion and spirituality more adequately.

Greed is good? Assessing the relationship between entrepreneurship and subclinical psychopathy

Despite the stereotype of entrepreneurs as corporate psychopaths, there has been little research on the overlap between individual differences in entrepreneurship and subclinical psychopathy. In line with this issue, the current study investigated whether primary and secondary psychopathy are linked to a measure of entrepreneurial tendencies and abilities, as well as entrepreneurial activities and achievements. Participants were 435 working adults. Structural equation models revealed that individual differences in entrepreneurial tendencies and abilities were positively related to primary psychopathy, but unrelated to secondary psychopathy. Secondary psychopathy did not predict entrepreneurial activity; primary psychopathy predicted some entrepreneurial outcomes, albeit modestly, providing partial support for the‘corporate psychopath’ stereotype. Implications for entrepreneurship research and practice are discussed.

Measuring malevolence: Quantitative issues surrounding the Dark Triad of personality

Paulhus and Williams (2002) proposed a constellation of malevolent traits referred to as the Dark Triad (subclinical narcissism, subclinical psychopathy, and Machiavellianism). They used the Dark Triad term to raise awareness about the need for researchers across different areas of psychology to include relevant theory and assessments of all three traits when predicting behaviour. However, there still remain misunderstandings, misinformation, and misperceptions about how to disentangle the psychometric and statistical web of interconnected variance associated with these three traits. We outline the statistical approaches that have been proposed (to date) in assessing the Dark Triad and relevant outcomes, and discuss some promising future directions. This paper is intended to inspire discussion and clarification for the nebulous issue of assessing and disentangling overlapping but distinguishable traits, including the Dark Triad of personality.

Behavioral Confirmation of Everyday Sadism

Past research on socially aversive personalities has focused on subclinical psychopathy, subclinical narcissism, and Machiavellianism—the “Dark Triad” of personality. In the research reported here, we evaluated whether an everyday form of sadism should be added to that list. Acts of apparent cruelty were captured using two laboratory procedures, and we showed that such behavior could be predicted with two measures of sadistic personality. Study 1 featured a bug-killing paradigm. As expected, sadists volunteered to kill bugs at greater rates than did nonsadists. Study 2 examined willingness to harm an innocent victim. When aggression was easy, sadism and Dark Triad measures predicted unprovoked aggression. However, only sadists were willing to work for the opportunity to hurt an innocent person. In both studies, sadism emerged as an independent predictor of behavior reflecting an appetite for cruelty. Together, these findings support the construct validity of everyday sadism and its incorporation into a new “Dark Tetrad” of personality.

The relative importance of psychopathy-related traits in predicting impersonal sex and hostile masculinity

This paper reports the relative contributions of several facets of subclinical psychopathy (i.e., callous affect, erratic lifestyle, interpersonal manipulation), subclinical narcissism (i.e., entitlement, exploitation), and trait aggression (i.e., anger) to the prediction of four enduring attitudes towards women and sexual assault (i.e., hostility towards women, negative attitudes regarding women, sexual dominance, impersonal sex) and a behavioral indicator of an impersonal sexual behavior (i.e., number of one-night stands). Survey data were collected from 470 single men living in the Detroit Metropolitan area. The importance of personality traits varied as a function of the outcome with anger most predictive of hostility toward women; erratic lifestyle most predictive of impersonal sexual attitudes and behavior, and entitlement most predictive of sexual dominance and negative attitudes toward women. These outcome-specific findings are interpreted and directions for future research are discussed.

Executive function as a function of sub-clinical psychopathy

Some aspects of executive function are thought to be dysfunctional in psychopathic individuals. We administered a small battery of neuropsychological tests (spatial alternation task, object alternation task, and Porteus Maze) to two samples of college students and obtained a measure of psychopathy via a self-report questionnaire. Psychopathic traits were related to the tests of object alternation and Porteus Maze but not to the spatial alternation task. Our results support the hypothesis of orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) dysfunction with sparing of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) in psychopathy and provide a downward extension of this theory to sub-clinical levels of psychopathy.

The strategy of psychopathy: primary psychopathic traits predict defection on low-value relationships

Recent evidence suggests that psychopathy is a trait continuum. This has unappreciated implications for understanding the selective advantage of psychopathic traits. Although clinical psychopathy is typically construed as a strategy of unconditional defection, subclinical psychopathy may promote strategic conditional defection, broadening the adaptive niche of psychopathy within human societies. To test this, we focus on a ubiquitous real-life source of conditional behaviour: the expected relational value of social partners, both in terms of their quality and the likely quantity of future interactions with them. We allow for conversational interaction among participants prior to their playing an unannounced, one-shot prisoner's dilemma game, which fosters naturalistic interpersonal evaluation and conditional behaviour, while controlling punishment and reputation effects. Individuals scoring higher on factor 1 (callous affect, interpersonal manipulation) of the Levenson self-report psychopathy scale defected conditionally on two kinds of low-value partners: those who interrupted them more during the conversation, and those with whom they failed to discover cues to future interaction. Both interaction effects support the hypothesis that subclinical primary psychopathy potentiates defection on those with low expected relational value. These data clarify the function and form of psychopathic traits, while highlighting adaptive variation in human social strategies.