A meta‐analysis of psychopathy‐, antisocial PD‐ and FFM associations

The Eye of the Beholder: Attitudes toward divorced parents and perception of children's happiness in Peru and Spain

Studies of divorce's effects on children have been oriented toward the parents' characteristics, ignoring their extended families. In the current study we collected data from 414 participants, both divorced parents and the children's extended families in Peru (155) and Spain (259). Participants completed a questionnaire on attitudes toward the parents, and the Short Dark Tetrad questionnaire. Multivariate tests were conducted on participants' responses, showing that negative attitudes toward parents are not very strong but that attitudes toward fathers are more negative than attitudes toward mothers. Custodial parents are perceived less negatively, and parents who share custody are perceived the least negatively. Extended family members hold more negative attitudes against parents than the parents themselves. Mothers have significantly more negative attitudes toward fathers than the fathers towards mothers. Dark traits are a significant predictor of negative attitudes toward the mother but not toward the father. The perception of unhappiness in the child was predicted by negative attitudes toward the parents. Non-parents tend to evaluate both parents more negatively compared to parents' mutual perceptions. There was an effect on dark traits, negative attitudes against parents, and perception of unhappiness in the child. Peruvians scored significantly higher in all variables.

The Dark Tetrad: analysis of profiles and relationship with the Big Five personality factors

The Dark Tetrad (DT) is composed of the traits of Narcissism, Machiavellianism, Psychopathy, and Sadism. Most studies analyzing the DT have employed a variable-centered approach, analyzing the traits separately. In the present study, we treat DT as a whole, adopting a person-centered approach. We analyzed different homogeneous subgroups of individuals characterized by specific DT profiles, aiming to examine their relationship with Big Five personality factors. A sample of 1149 participants (50.1% women, 18-79 years) completed The Short Dark Triad and the Assessment of Sadistic Personality instrument to assess DT, while the Mini-IPIP was used to assess the Big Five personality factors. Cluster analysis yielded five groups: Narcissism, Machiavellianism, Mean DT, Low DT, and High DT group. The main results showed that the High DT group was distinguished by higher levels of extraversion and lower levels of agreeableness and conscientiousness (compared with the Low DT group). Moreover, the Narcissism group was characterized by higher scores on emotional stability, openness to experience, and extraversion. Finally, distribution according to gender varied across DT groups (more men than women in the High DT group and the opposite in the Low DT group). Limitations and future lines of research are discussed.

Pathways to antisocial behavior: a framework to improve diagnostics and tailor therapeutic interventions

The Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD), and antisocial behavior (ASB) in general, is associated with significant impact on individuals themselves, their environment, and society. Although various interventions show promising results, no evidence-based treatments are available for individuals with ASPD. Therefore, making informed choices about which treatment can be applied to an individual patient is complicated. Furthermore, contradictory findings on therapy effectiveness and underlying factors of ASB, such as cognitive impairments and personality traits, fuel the debate whether the conceptualization of ASPD in the DSM-5 is accurate and whether this population can be seen as homogeneous. A conceptual framework, based on the reciprocal altruism theory, is presented in which we propose different pathways to ASB. These pathways suggest underlying dynamics of ASB and provide an explanation for previous contradictory research outcomes. This framework is intended to serve as a clinically relevant model that provides directions for improving diagnostics and matching treatments to underlying dynamics in the antisocial population.

The Effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), Mental Illness, and Personality Differences on Attitudes Toward Self-Efficacy Among Females on Parole/Probation

Female offenders released from prison often face challenges within the community such as lack of employment, inconsistent attendance in substance use treatment, and complying with parole and probation conditions, which typically decreases their self-efficacy and motivation to refrain from reoffending. Despite this, much is still unknown of psychological factors that could impact female offenders' attitudes toward self-efficacy, such as mental illness symptoms, Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), and personality differences. Thus, this cross-sectional study explored whether mental illness symptoms, ACEs, and personality differences were associated with attitudes toward self-efficacy (N = 398). Results suggest that mental illness symptoms, ACEs, and neuroticism negatively associated with attitudes toward self-efficacy in contrast to extraversion and conscientiousness. Parole/probation reentry and therapeutic implications are discussed.

Prevalence of psychopathy in a community sample of Spanish adults: Definitions and measurements matter

The main objective of this work is to examine the prevalence of psychopathy in the general adult population from the main currently existing theoretical perspectives of psychopathy, using for this purpose the five-factor or Big Five model as a common language that allows the comparison and integration of the personality traits considered as defining psychopathy by these different perspectives. The NEO Personality Inventory-Revised (NEO PI-R) was applied to a sample of 682 adults of the general Spanish population. The prevalence of clinical and subclinical psychopathy was calculated according to six different definitions of these two constructs based on Hare's, Lilienfeld's, triarchic, and DSM-5-hybrid models, and the simultaneous presence of a minimum number of personality traits that differed from the sample mean by one standard deviation. Prevalence rates for the different definitions were consistently low, indicating that the prevalence of clinical psychopathy in the general Spanish population is around 0.55%, and that of subclinical psychopathy is around 1.65%. There were no significant sex differences in the prevalence of psychopathy. These results question the alarmist claims that warn about the existence in society of a very high number of people with psychopathy who can cause many social, economic, physical, and psychological damage to others.

Adolescents' Personality Development - A Question of Psychosocial Stress

Following the relational-developmental systems approach, this three-wave study examines whether acute stress (T2) mediates the relationship between the development of personality traits from the beginning of 8th grade (T1, M age = 15.63, SD = 0.59; 22 girls) to the end of 9th grade (T3). Using the Montréal Imaging Stress Task, which is a task that provokes acute social stress by negative social feedback, this study combined the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), heart rate, and longitudinal survey data of 41 adolescents. Mediation analysis revealed that stress-induced left insula activation partially mediates the longitudinal stability of conscientiousness. These results highlight the impact of negative social feedback during stress on students' personality development.

Bold, mean and disinhibited: getting specific about the mediating role of self-control and antisocial outcomes in youth

Self-control and psychopathy are correlated with antisocial behaviors among diverse samples, and a spate of recent studies examined their direct associations with criminal outcomes. However, research has largely overlooked mediation effects between psychopathy, self-control and deviant outcomes. The current study examined self-control mediation effects related to the triarchic psychopathy construct and juvenile delinquency, crime seriousness, conduct disorder (CD), and aggression outcomes. The sample consisted of N = 567 (M = 15.91 years, SD = 0.99, range = 14-18 years) southern-European youth from Portugal. Study design was cross-sectional, quantitative and non-experimental. Mediation analysis using path analysis procedures indicated that low self-control mediates the relation between the Boldness, Disinhibition and Meanness factors of the triarchic psychopathy construct and the delinquency, crime seriousness, CD and aggression outcomes. Findings suggest that self-control is a mediator of triarchic psychopathic features and diverse externalizing behavior outcomes, which adds specificity to their interrelationship as general predictors of antisocial behavior.

Personality predictors of creative achievement and lawbreaking behavior

This article investigates how Big Five personality traits are related to creative achievements and lawbreaking behavior in a large sample (N = 1669) of Polish adults. Structural equation modelling with personality modelled as a bi-factor structure demonstrated a weak, yet significant link (r = .21) between latent factors of creative achievements and lawbreaking behavior. A general factor of personality was unrelated to creative achievement, but negatively linked to lawbreaking behavior. Lawbreaking behavior was also negatively predicted by conscientiousness and agreeableness, while only openness positively predicted creative achievement. A person-centered analysis illustrated three distinct personality profiles: resilient, undercontrolled, and overcontrolled that differed in both lawbreaking behavior and creative achievements.

On the Comparability of Basic Personality Models: Meta-Analytic Correspondence, Scope, and Orthogonality of the Big Five and HEXACO Dimensions

Models of basic personality structure are among the most widely used frameworks in psychology and beyond, and they have considerably advanced the understanding of individual differences in a plethora of consequential outcomes. Over the past decades, two such models have become most widely used: the Five Factor Model (FFM) or Big Five, respectively, and the HEXACO Model of Personality. However, there is no large-scale empirical evidence on the general comparability of these models. Here, we provide the first comprehensive meta-analysis on (a) the correspondence of the FFM/Big Five and HEXACO dimensions, (b) the scope of trait content the models cover, and (c) the orthogonality (i.e., degree of independence) of dimensions within the models. Results based on 152 (published and unpublished) samples and 6,828 unique effects showed that the HEXACO dimensions incorporate notable conceptual differences compared to the FFM/Big Five dimensions, resulting in a broader coverage of the personality space and less redundancy between dimensions. Moreover, moderator analyses revealed substantial differences between operationalizations of the FFM/Big Five. Taken together, these findings have important theoretical and practical implications for the understanding of basic personality dimensions and their assessment.

Adult ADHD and emerging models of maladaptive personality: a meta-analytic review

BACKGROUND

ADHD is a highly consequential disorder that is estimated to affect 2.5% of the adult population. Emerging models of psychopathology posit that disorders like ADHD can be usefully situated within general models of individual differences in personality, such as those recently implemented in the DSM and ICD for the diagnosis of personality disorder. Previous research and systematic reviews have linked adult ADHD to the personality traits Conscientious Inhibition and Negative Emotionality. However, there have been some inconsistencies in the literature and research embedding ADHD-personality connections in the DSM-5 and ICD-11 personality disorder models has been limited. The goal of this paper was to systematically review associations between adult ADHD and personality traits, organized within a maladaptive five factor framework.

METHOD

A comprehensive literature search yielded 13 papers whose effects were meta-analyzed.

RESULTS

Results supported associations between ADHD and low Conscientious Inhibition and high Negative Emotionality. However, interesting patterns of variability were observed, potentially related to issues such as instrumentation and facet variation.

CONCLUSION

Results support the clinical application of personality assessment for suggesting risk for ADHD symptoms, and point to important directions for further research.

Unraveling the Personality Profile of the Sexual Murderer

Although sexual homicide offenders (SHOs) evince personality disorders, few prior studies have examined all personality disorders or utilized control groups of offenders. Drawing on data from 616 adult male sex offenders including 85 who were SHOs, the current study examined the personality profile of the SHOs, by comparing them with a group of violent nonhomicidal sex offenders (VNHSOs) and a group of nonhomicidal sex offenders (NHSOs) on clinical diagnostics of personality disorders and various crime characteristics. The personality profile of SHOs is comprised primarily of Schizoid and Borderline Personality Disorders, and these offenders were significantly likely to select a victim, use a weapon, and use drugs and alcohol before their offenses, but less likely to force their victim to engage in sexual acts or humiliate them. The comorbidity of Schizoid, Borderline, and Antisocial Personality Disorder features presents unique personality dysfunction that facilitates the lethal sexual violence of SHOs relative to their nonhomicidal sexual offender peers.

"We Boil at Different Degrees": Factors Associated With Severity of Attack in Sexual Killing

Degree of injury, as measured by the Homicide Injury Scale (HIS), was examined to advance understanding of the dynamics of sexual killing. A total of 350 nonserial, male sexual killers were included, and the different ways that the sexual element of their offenses and the act of killing were connected was accounted for by determining that cases were either directly sexual (the sexual element and killing were closely bound), or indirectly sexual (killing was not a source of sexual stimulation). The two groups, direct and indirect sexual killers, were each subjected to multiple linear regression analyses to examine the group-specific relationship between level of injury and predictor variables previously found to be associated with increased severity of attack. No differences in the mean total HIS scores between the indirect and the direct cases were found, suggesting a comparable emotional intensity between the groups. However, given that the groups differed in terms of the functional role of fatal violence, severity of attack could not be sufficiently explained as driven by anger. In line with this hypothesis, different predictors appeared to be associated with increased degree of injury sustained by victims of indirect compared with direct sexual killers. As such, situational components appear to play a role in the behavior of indirect sexual killers, whereas the behavior of direct perpetrators tends to be linked with the enactment of existing deviant fantasies. The role of anger in sexual homicide is discussed further, and overall, it is argued that irrespective of whether violence was initially driven by anger, evidence of sexual arousal to severe violence must be scrutinized within sexual homicide research as well as in psycholegal contexts.

Cognitive-Emotional and Inhibitory Deficits as a Window to Moral Decision-Making Difficulties Related to Exposure to Violence

In the present review, we illustrate how exposure to violence results in an increased probability of developing functional impairments of decision mechanisms necessary for moral behavior. We focus in particular on the detrimental effects of exposure to violence on emotional (e.g., Empathy), cognitive (e.g., Theory of Mind), and inhibitory control abilities. Relying on studies that document impaired moral behavior in individuals with deficits in these abilities, we propose a "model" of how exposure to violence can affect moral behavior. We then discuss how impaired moral decision making can also be a factor increasing the likelihood of reiterating violence: agents who lack abilities such as understanding and resonating with others' emotions or inhibitory control, can lead to an increase of violent displays. Thus, if not properly addressed, the noxious effects of exposure to violence on morality can lead to a violence generating cycle. We conclude proposing that interventions targeted at improving moral behavior can maximize their efficacy focusing on mitigating the impact of violence on the basic cognitive, emotional, and inhibitory abilities discussed.

Components of the Triarchic Model of Psychopathy and the Five-Factor Model Domains Share Largely Overlapping Nomological Networks

The triarchic model of psychopathy is a recently developed model of psychopathy that identifies three primary domains: Boldness, Meanness, and Disinhibition. These traits overlap substantially with general and pathological five-factor model of personality (Boldness = low Neuroticism + high Extraversion; Meanness = low Agreeableness; Disinhibition = low Conscientiousness). In the current study (total N = 1,266), we compare domains from the triarchic model of psychopathy and five-factor model in relation to self- and informant-report of external criteria (e.g., pathological traits, antisocial behavior), and quantified their absolute similarity using a profile-matching approach. The corresponding traits from these models show large interrelations and very similar convergent and divergent relations, suggesting that unaltered traits from one can be considered excellent representations of the other. Results are discussed in terms of the benefits of using a unifying trait-based model to study psychopathy, as well as personality disorders more broadly.

Aberrant personality tendencies and academic success throughout engineering education

OBJECTIVE

In a longitudinal field study, we investigated the predictive associations between six aberrant personality tendencies (schizotypal, avoidant, borderline, antisocial, narcissistic, obsessive-compulsive) and academic success of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics students.

METHOD

Bachelor students of Industrial Engineering at a Dutch technical university (N = 432, M_age  = 18.45; 87.3% male) filled out the NEO-PI-R and aberrant tendencies were operationalized by the five-factor model (FFM) compound technique. Indicators of academic achievement (grades) and persistence (credit points earned per year, re-enrollment, study duration) were made available by the academic office.

RESULTS

Validities across the 3 years of the study program consistently support the role of two aberrant tendencies: Individuals with high antisocial tendency reached lower academic achievement, took longer to finish their study, and had a higher risk of dropout. The obsessive-compulsive tendency was associated with higher grade-point average, faster study progress, and higher retention rates and effects were still visible while controlling for known predictors (high school grades, Conscientiousness). Contrary to our expectations, we found no evidence for inverted U-shaped relationships.

CONCLUSIONS

We used the compound technique for aberrant tendencies based on the FFM in the academic context and our findings support the importance of personality-based psychopathological tendencies for academic success.

The Polish adaptation of the Five-Factor Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory – Short Form (FFOCI-SF): A preliminary study

Background

The Five-Factor Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory – Short Form (FFOCI-SF) is an instrument used to measure obsessive-compulsive personality disorder, which is one of the most widespread personality disorders. The FFOCI-SF is a shorter version of the FFOCI that was developed on the basis of the Five Factor Model of per-sonality treated as a general framework for identifying different traits useful in describing maladaptive person-ality. This paper presents the psychometric parameters of the Polish adaptation of the FFOCI-SF.

Participants and procedure

Our sample consisted of 328 respondents aged 18-75 (61% women) from Poland. The voluntary and anony-mous procedure consisted of completing inventories in a self-reported, paper-and-pencil way. The respondents received the FFOCI-SF, the Personal Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5) and the Big Five Inventory-2 (BFI-2).

Results

The findings suggest that there is acceptable internal consistency for most of the scales and some problems with the differentiation between some scales in factor analysis. Additionally, we present the hierarchical struc-ture of the facets included in the instrument with two factors analogous to the metatraits of personality (Alpha and Beta). The criterion validity of the inventory was established by correlations on the one hand with Big Five traits (BFI-2) and on the other hand with another measure of the obsessive-compulsive personality disorder traits, namely appropriate scales from the Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5).

Conclusions

This study confirms that the FFOCI-SF is a valid measure for scientific purposes. In order to use it for diagnostic purposes, further research is suggested on clinical samples. The findings also suggest that the FFOCI-SF can be useful in exploring new solutions in structure of the obsessive-compulsive personality disorder facets.

Investigating the Relationship Between DSM-5 Personality Disorder Domains and Facets and Aggression in an Offender Population Using the Personality Inventory for the DSM-5

This study explored associations between aggression and the Personality Inventory for the DSM-5 (PID-5) domains and facets in 208 male offenders. Regression analyses revealed no significant domain-level relationships using either the APA-three facets only (Krueger, Derringer, Markon, Watson, & Skodol, 2013) or the Krueger, Derringer, Markon, Watson, and Skodol (2012) scoring algorithms. The PID-5 facets of Hostility and Risk Taking were significantly associated with aggression. These findings highlight the importance of a facet-level analysis when exploring the PD-aggression relationship. The authors call attention to how this knowledge can contribute to clinical-forensic practice and note limitations associated with using only PID-5 domain-level scoring approaches. More research is required to determine whether a universally accepted scoring approach can be adopted and promoted alongside future versions of the PID-5.

A Bayesian Account of Psychopathy: A Model of Lacks Remorse and Self-Aggrandizing

This article proposes a formal model that integrates cognitive and psychodynamic psychotherapeutic models of psychopathy to show how two major psychopathic traits called lacks remorse and self-aggrandizing can be understood as a form of abnormal Bayesian inference about the self. This model draws on the predictive coding (i.e., active inference) framework, a neurobiologically plausible explanatory framework for message passing in the brain that is formalized in terms of hierarchical Bayesian inference. In summary, this model proposes that these two cardinal psychopathic traits reflect entrenched maladaptive Bayesian inferences about the self, which defend against the experience of deep-seated, self-related negative emotions, specifically shame and worthlessness. Support for the model in extant research on the neurobiology of psychopathy and quantitative simulations are provided. Finally, we offer a preliminary overview of a novel treatment for psychopathy that rests on our Bayesian formulation.

Nomological consistency: A comprehensive test of the equivalence of different trait indicators for the same constructs

OBJECTIVE

Across all subfields of psychology, it is common practice to use different indicators of allegedly the same personality constructs, resting upon the (often implicit) assumption that the indicators measure equivalent constructs. However, there is a lack of approaches allowing for a strict and comprehensive test of the equivalence assumption. We propose investigating nomological consistency to test the equivalence assumption across inventories allegedly measuring the same set of constructs. Nomological consistency refers to the degree to which different indicators of constructs in a theoretical or structural model (such as the Big Five) show similar (non-)associations with a set of external criteria, thus testing the consistency of the nomological net spanned by different indicators.

METHOD

In a large-scale study based on a convenience sample (N = 2,846; 64.9% female), we provide an empirical demonstration of nomological consistency across three commonly used Big Five inventories by comparing the pattern of associations of the Big Five constructs across inventories with five external criteria using a multifaceted analytic approach.

RESULTS

Although results showed some level of consistency across the Big Five inventories under scrutiny, there was also a relevant extent of nomological inconsistency.

CONCLUSIONS

Testing nomological consistency allows for a more conclusive judgment on the equivalence of different indicators across inventories.

Using Bayesian methods to update and expand the meta-analytic evidence of the five-factor model's relation to antisocial behavior

The Five Factor Model (FFM) of personality is the dominant hierarchical model of personality. Previous work has demonstrated the importance of the FFM domains and facets in understanding a variety of antisocial behaviors ranging from non-violent antisocial behavior to a variety of aggression outcomes. The aim of the present meta-analysis was to quantitatively summarize the empirical work that has examined these relations, as well as update and expand previous work in this area using Bayesian meta-analytic methods. A comprehensive search of available literature on the FFM and antisocial behavior was conducted and posterior distributions of effect sizes were computed for the FFM domains (across 12 antisocial outcomes). The meta-analytic results supported the primary importance of (low) Agreeableness and (low) Conscientiousness in predicting antisocial behavior across antisocial outcomes, with the exception of the outcome related to child molestation. The importance of Neuroticism was more dependent on the specific antisocial outcome under examination. The results are discussed in the context of the descriptive research on the FFM and antisocial behavior, and how Bayesian methods provide additional utility in estimation and prediction compared to more common frequentist methods. Furthermore, we recommend that future work on the FFM and antisocial behavior move towards process-level analyses to further examine how traits are implicated in different forms of antisocial behavior.

Is Evaluative Conditioning Moderated by Big Five Personality Traits?

Evaluative conditioning (EC), a change in liking of a stimulus due to its paired presentation with a positive or negative stimulus, is a key concept in attitude formation. The present article examines to what extent EC effects are moderated by Big Five personality. For this purpose, 567 participants completed an EC procedure and the Big Five Inventory. People high on neuroticism and agreeableness showed stronger EC effects than people low on those personality traits. In conclusion, attitude formation via EC depends in part on Big Five personality. This novel insight has important ramifications for EC research and personality research. As to EC research, the moderation by neuroticism suggests that EC effects intensify with an increased focus on valent stimuli. As to personality research, our findings reinforce the fundamental nature of the Big Five because they are evidentially able to moderate such basic learning phenomena as EC.

Initial development of the Psychopathic Processing and Personality Assessment (PAPA) across populations

Three studies describe development of the Psychopathic Processing and Personality Assessment (PAPA). Study one outlines a literature review and Expert Delphi (n=32) to develop the initial PAPA. Study two validates the PAPA with 431 participants (121 male prisoners and 310 university students: 154 men, 156 women), also using the Levenson Self Report Psychopathy scale and a measure of cognitive schema and affect. Study three refined the PAPA, employing it with 50 male students and 40 male forensic psychiatric patients using clinical (interview) assessments of psychopathy: the Psychopathy Checklist - Screening Version and the Affect, Cognitive and Lifestyle assessment. The PAPA comprised four factors; dissocial tendencies; emotional detachment; disregard for others; and lack of sensitivity to emotion. It positively correlated with existing psychopathy measures. Variations across PAPA subscales were noted across samples when associated with clinical measures of psychopathy. Support for the validity of the PAPA was indicated across samples. Directions for research and application are outlined.

Psychopathy and Personality: Advances and Debates

Nine original articles comprise this special issue of the Journal of Personality addressing personality-based perspectives of psychopathy. In this introduction to the special issue, we review five advances and areas of agreement that are highlighted across the articles, including the utility of trait perspectives to psychopathy, the emergence of a prototypical trait profile of psychopathy, the importance of recognizing earlier developmental manifestations of psychopathy, the ongoing study and revelation of the basic neural underpinnings of psychopathy, and the important theoretical and empirical association between psychopathy and antisocial behavior. At the same time, several important debates remain, which are also highlighted in the special issue's articles. These debates center around the necessity and sufficiency of certain psychopathy traits, the role of traits alternatively labeled stable Extraversion, fearless dominance, or boldness, and the validity and utility of separating psychopathy from Machiavellianism as is done in research on the Dark Triad.

Identifying Essential Features of Juvenile Psychopathy in the Prediction of Later Antisocial Behavior: Is There an Additive, Synergistic, or Curvilinear Role for Fearless Dominance?

Despite years of research, and inclusion of psychopathy DSM-5, there remains debate over the fundamental components of psychopathy. Although there is agreement about traits related to Agreeableness and Conscientiousness, there is less agreement about traits related to Fearless Dominance (FD) or Boldness. The present paper uses proxies of FD and Self-centered Impulsivity (SCI) to examine the contribution of FD-related traits to the predictive utility of psychopathy in a large, longitudinal, sample of boys to test four possibilities: FD 1. assessed earlier is a risk factor, 2. interacts with other risk-related variables to predict later psychopathy, 3. interacts with SCI interact to predict outcomes, and 4. bears curvilinear relations to outcomes. SCI received excellent support as a measure of psychopathy in adolescence; however, FD was unrelated to criteria in all tests. It is suggested that FD be dropped from psychopathy and that future research focus on Agreeableness and Conscientiousness.

Self-reported psychopathy in the Middle East: a cross-national comparison across Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United States

BACKGROUND

The construct of psychopathy is sparsely researched in the non-Western world, particularly in the Middle East. As such, the extent to which the psychopathy construct can be generalized to other cultures, including Middle Eastern Arab cultures, is largely unknown.

METHODS

The present study investigated the cross-cultural/national comparability of self-reported psychopathy in the United States (N = 786), Egypt (N = 296), and Saudi Arabia (N = 341).

RESULTS

A widely used psychopathy questionnaire demonstrated largely similar properties across the American and Middle Eastern samples and associations between Five Factor Model (FFM) personality and psychopathy were broadly consistent. Nevertheless, several notable cross-cultural differences emerged, particularly with regard to the internal consistencies of psychopathy dimensions and the correlates of Coldheartedness. Additionally, in contrast to most findings in Western cultures, associations between psychopathy and FFM personality varied consistently by gender in the Egyptian sample.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings lend preliminary support to the construct validity of self-reported psychopathy in Arabic-speaking cultures, providing provisional evidence for the cross-cultural generalizability of certain core characteristics of psychopathy.

Psychopathy Deconstructed and Reconstructed: Identifying and Assembling the Personality Building Blocks of Cleckley's Chimera

The psychopathy field has long been beset by confusion and contention regarding the boundaries and features of this chimerical condition. We propose that this disagreement stems largely from the historical separation between psychopathy and basic personality psychology. Using findings from a meta-analysis of the correlations between the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) and normal-range personality traits as a launching point, we (a) deconstruct widely used measures of psychopathy into their constituent subdimensions and (b) examine the associations of these subdimensions with higher-order and lower-order personality dimensions drawn from the Big Five and Big Three frameworks. Our review of the adult psychopathy literature reveals broad agreement that psychopathy measures are imbued with low Agreeableness and low Conscientiousness. Nevertheless, substantial disagreement revolves around the place of largely adaptive features, especially high agentic Extraversion, low Neuroticism, and high Openness, within the psychopathy construct. We propose that ongoing debates regarding the nature and boundaries of psychopathy reflect a focus on two differing operationalizations of this condition, each of which reflects a different "species" of individual.

Psychopathy and the DSM

Psychopathy is one of the more well-established personality disorders. However, its relationship with the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) has been controversial. The purpose of this article is to trace and discuss the history of this relationship from the very first edition of the DSM to the current fifth edition. Emphasized in particular is the problematic relationship of DSM antisocial personality disorder with the diagnosis of psychopathy by Cleckley (1941, 1976) and the Psychopathy Checklist- Revised (Hare, 2003), as well as with the more recently developed models of psychopathy by Lilienfeld and Widows (2005), Lynam et al. (2011), and Patrick, Fowles, and Krueger (2009).

Callous-Unemotional traits in youth from a DSM-5 trait perspective

The current study investigated how the Callous-Unemotional (CU) trait specifier is empirically associated with the proposed trait system for personality pathology in DSM-5, and addressed the use of multiple raters in the assessment of CU traits and additional maladaptive traits in an adolescent community sample. Both mothers and adolescents (N = 197) participated in the present study. Results showed that CU traits are located in different parts of the personality space, and are significantly associated with four broad maladaptive trait dimensions, Negative Affect, Detachment, Antagonism, and Disinhibition. Despite moderate agreement between raters, self- and maternal-rated CU traits were related in a congruent manner with PID-5 traits, and adolescents provided incremental information in CU trait assessment above maternal ratings. The present results have clear implications for the conceptualization of CU traits within the overarching model of personality pathology, proposed in DSM-5, and partially supported the application of a multi-informant approach in CU trait assessment.

An examination of the correlates of fearless dominance and self-centered impulsivity among high-frequency gamblers

The Psychopathic Personality Inventory (PPI) is a commonly used assessment of psychopathy. Questions have been raised, however, regarding the validity of its Fearless Dominance (FD) factor. In the current study, the correlations manifested by FD and Self-centered Impulsivity (ScI) in relation to external criteria were examined in a sample of gamblers. Two key hypotheses were also tested: (a) does FD perform differently when paired with high scores on ScI, and (b) does FD serve as an index of narcissism. As expected, FD and ScI manifested a divergent pattern of correlations such that only ScI was associated with psychopathology or impairment. FD's relations with the external criteria were not generally moderated by scores on ScI. FD was significantly correlated with narcissism, but the two differed such that only narcissism was associated with any degree of maladaptivity. It remains unclear whether FD should be considered a core component of psychopathy.

The Continuum of Conscientiousness: The Antagonistic Interests among Obsessive and Antisocial Personalities

The five factor trait of conscientiousness is a supertrait, denoting on one hand a pattern of excessive labor, rigidity, orderliness and compulsivity, and on the other hand a pattern of strict rectitude, scrupulosity, dutifulness and morality. In both respects the obsessive-compulsive personality is conscientious; indeed, it has been labeled a disorder of extreme conscientiousness (Widiger et al., 2009). Antisocial personality disorder, in the present paper, is described as occupying the opposite end of the conscientiousness continuum. The antisocial is impulsive rather than compulsive, illicit rather than licit, and furtive rather than forthright.After clinically comparing the obsessive and antisocial personalities, the present paper invokes evolutionary theory to explain their resultant behavioral, ideological, political and demographic differences