Personality Disorders as Emergent Interpersonal Syndromes: Psychopathic Personality as a Case Example

Rethinking aversive personality: Decomposing the Dark Triad traits into their common core and unique flavors

OBJECTIVE

To explain and predict unethical behavior, much attention has been devoted to the "Dark Triad of Personality", a set of three socially aversive personality traits: Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy. Despite its popularity, research on the Dark Triad has been beset by recurring concerns surrounding the distinctiveness of its components. Herein, we propose an alternative theoretical view that conceptualizes the Dark Triad traits as specific manifestations of the common core of aversive traits (conceptualized as the Dark Factor of Personality, D) flavored by unique, essentially non-aversive characteristics.

METHOD

In two studies (total N > 1000), we test this idea by examining the conceptual and empirical overlap and specificity of the Dark Triad traits vis-à-vis D and each other.

RESULTS

Findings support the conceptualization of the Dark Triad traits as flavored manifestations of D and also reveal a marked discrepancy between the current conceptualization of the Dark Triad traits and the empirical structure of its subdimensions. In fact, evidence clearly failed to support the existence of a triad of traits.

CONCLUSION

Conceptualizing single aversive traits as a conjunction of core D aspects and essentially non-aversive characteristics (admiration; disinhibition vs. planfulness; vulnerability vs. boldness) holds promise to move the field forward.

Thinking outside the ballot box

A deeply heterogeneous set of ideological cohorts have shaped the course of history. From anarchists and authoritarians to Zionists and Zapatistas, the expansive alphabet of politics demands an equally expansive psychological vocabulary to describe political belief systems. We propose that constructing such a vocabulary is best facilitated by decentering familiar models that emphasize psychological differences between leftists and rightists. Synthesizing recent developments in the fields of personality, political science, and psychopathology, we characterize individual variation in politics as high-dimensional, heterarchical, intrapersonally eclectic, and contextually shaped and activated. Developing a data-driven taxonomic model of political-psychological phenomena will help create a foundational base of knowledge within political psychology that is more rigorous, more replicable, and certainly richer to investigate.

Scenario-specific aberrations of social reward processing in dimensional schizotypy and psychopathy

The feelings of reward associated with social interaction help to motivate social behaviour and influence preferences for different types of social contact. In two studies conducted in a general population sample, we investigated self-reported and experimentally-assessed social reward processing in personality spectra with prominent interpersonal features, namely schizotypy and psychopathy. Study 1 (n = 154) measured social reward processing using the Social Reward Questionnaire, and a modified version of a Monetary and Social Incentive Delay Task. Study 2 (n = 42; a subsample of Study 1) investigated social reward processing using a Social Reward Subtype Incentive Delay Task. Our results show that schizotypy (specifically Cognitive-Perceptual dimension) and psychopathy (specifically Lifestyle dimension) are associated with diverging responses to social scenarios involving large gatherings or meeting new people (Sociability), with reduced processing in schizotypy and heightened processing in psychopathy. No difference, however, occurred for other social scenarios-with similar patterns of increased antisocial (Negative Social Potency) and reduced prosocial (Admiration, Sociability) reward processing across schizotypy and psychopathy dimensions. Our findings contribute new knowledge on social reward processing within these personality spectra and, with the important exception of Sociability, highlight potentially converging patterns of social reward processing in association with schizotypy and psychopathy.

All Walks of Life: Editorial for the Special Issue on "The Impact of Psychopathy: Multidisciplinary and Applied Perspectives"

We are grateful for the opportunity to serve as Guest Editors of this Special Issue on "The impact of psychopathy: Multidisciplinary and applied perspectives." Psychopathy is a serious public health concern that has long attracted scholarly and clinical interest in both mental health and criminal justice fields. However, given its robust link with criminal behavior, research on psychopathy has largely developed with a primary emphasis on (male) adults within correctional settings. While the preponderance of work remains focused on these adult offenders, research on psychopathy has expanded in recent decades to include studies within a variety of more diverse populations and contexts. The goal of this Special Issue has been to highlight some of the most recent research in these areas, toward a more deliberate emphasis on the broad impacts that psychopathy can impart across all walks of life. To this end, while only two of the papers included in the Special Issue focused on forensic samples (and more specifically on treatment and recidivism), all 10 papers have nonetheless offered a clear focus on the detrimental impacts that individuals with psychopathic traits can impart within society. Indeed, included manuscripts focused on the impact of psychopathy within romantic relationships (in both middle and older adulthood), within parent-child dyads, within the workplace, and within society at large. Across these studies, the significant, detrimental impact that individuals with heightened psychopathic traits impart is highlighted, not only for their victims, but also for their family, friends, and colleagues. In this Editorial, we would like to emphasize some main themes that emerged from their contributions.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly? A Triarchic Perspective on Psychopathy at Work

Does psychopathy have an upside in vocational contexts? Applying the triarchic model of psychopathy, we propose that the dimensions of boldness, disinhibition, and meanness have different relations to workplace outcomes. Focusing on boldness and in line with socioanalytic personality theory, we propose that political skill moderates the relation between boldness and job performance. Using a sample of 477 target-coworker pairings, we found interaction effects of boldness and political skill on contextual and task performance, and the buffering of counterproductive work behavior. Furthermore, political skill moderated the relation between boldness and adaptive performance. Disinhibition and meanness were positively correlated with counterproductive work behaviors, thereby reflecting the dark core of psychopathy. In sum, boldness is a trait linked to career success in the absence of the other traits that make up psychopathy as a whole. Furthermore, we encourage the use of the triarchic model as an overarching framework in vocational contexts.

The nonlinear association between grandiose and vulnerable narcissism: An individual data meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE

Narcissism can manifest in grandiose and vulnerable patterns of experience and behavior. While largely unrelated in the general population, individuals with clinically relevant narcissism are thought to display both. Our previous studies showed that trait measures of grandiosity and vulnerability were unrelated at low-to-moderate levels of grandiose narcissism, but related at high levels.

METHOD

We replicate and extend these findings in a preregistered individual data meta-analysis ("mega-analysis") using data from the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI)/Hypersensitive Narcissism Scale (HSNS; N = 10,519, k = 28) and the Five-Factor Narcissism Inventory (FFNI; N = 7,738, k = 17).

RESULTS

There was strong evidence for the hypothesis in the FFNI (β_{Grandiose < 1 SD}  = .08, β_{Grandiose > 1 SD}  = .36, β_{Grandiose > 2 SD}  = .53), and weaker evidence in the NPI/HSNS (β_{Grandiose < 1 SD}  = .00, β_{Grandiose > 1 SD}  = .12, β_{Grandiose > 2 SD}  = .32). Nonlinearity increased with age but was invariant across other moderators. Higher vulnerability was predicted by elevated antagonistic and low agentic narcissism at subfactor level.

CONCLUSION

Narcissistic vulnerability increases at high levels of grandiosity. Interpreted along Whole Trait Theory, the effects are thought to reflect state changes echoing in trait measures and can help to link personality and clinical models.

Do the Big Five personality traits interact to predict life outcomes? Systematically testing the prevalence, nature, and effect size of trait-by-trait moderation

Personality researchers have posited multiple ways in which the relations between personality traits and life outcomes may be moderated by other traits, but there are well-known difficulties in reliable detection of such trait-by-trait interaction effects. Estimating the prevalence and magnitude base rates of trait-by-trait interactions would help to assess whether a given study is suited to detect interaction effects. We used the Life Outcomes of Personality Replication Project dataset to estimate the prevalence, nature, and magnitude of trait-by-trait interactions across 81 self-reported life outcomes ( n ≥ 1350 per outcome). Outcome samples were divided into two halves to examine the replicability of observed interaction effects using both traditional and machine learning indices. The study was adequately powered (1 − β ≥ .80) to detect the smallest interaction effects of interest (interactions accounting for a Δ R2 of approximately .01) for 78 of the 81 (96%) outcomes in each of the partitioned samples. Results showed that only 40 interactions (5.33% of the original 750 tests) showed evidence of strong replicability through robustness checks (i.e., demographic covariates, Tobit regression, and ordinal regression). Interactions were also uniformly small in magnitude. Future directions for research on trait-by-trait interactions are discussed.

Bad Is Stronger Than Good

Abstract. Organizational scholars increasingly realize the importance of a dark personality in the workplace. Although a great deal has been learned in terms of the utility of dark personality for the prediction of workplace outcomes, the field has yet to consolidate in terms of which models and measures best reflect the nature of dark personality traits. To facilitate this discussion, the present review examines and evaluates both established and emergent models and measures of dark personality. Further, to inform future research, it also summarizes evidence concerning methodological issues that have been shown to impact levels of dark traits or to moderate their relationships with work outcomes. Finally, the paper considers the implications of widespread practices in the field of dark personality and makes recommendations for future theorizing, research practices, and implementation.

Locating the Dark Triad in a Multidimensional Personality Space

The Dark Triad traits of Psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and Narcissism should be clearly recognizable within a multidimensional personality space. Two such personality spaces were investigated in this study: HEXACO (Honesty-Humility, Emotionality, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Openness to Experience); and the Zuckerman-Kuhlman-Aluja Personality Questionnaire (ZKA-PQ) space (Extraversion, Neuroticism, Activity, Sensation Seeking, and Aggressiveness). Our sample comprised 289 participants (137 males, 145 females, 7 unspecified) who completed these three questionnaires: HEXACO-60, ZKA-PQ/SF, and the SD3, assessing the Dark Triad. We reduced the dimensionality of each space to that of a 2D representation using Smallest Space Analysis (SSA). Three research questions guided the data analysis: (a) Do the HEXACO and ZKA-PQ SSA spaces conform to the structure of a radex? (b) Will these spaces remain invariant following the entry of the Dark Triad traits into the analyses? (c) Where will the Dark Triad traits be located in each SSA space? For ZKA-PQ space, the structure was clearly indicative of a radex, both prior to entering the Dark Triad traits into the analysis, and subsequent to this. Psychopathy and Machiavellianism were in close proximity in the Aggressiveness region; Narcissism was positioned at the common origin. In contrast, HEXACO space did not conform to a radex; furthermore, the presence of the Dark Triad traits distorts this 2D SSA space.

Psychopathy: Current Knowledge and Future Directions

Research on psychopathy has progressed considerably in recent years against the backdrop of important advances in the broader field of clinical psychological science. My major aim in this review is to encourage integration of investigative work on dispositional, biobehavioral, and developmental aspects of psychopathy with counterpart work on general psychopathology. Using the triarchic model of psychopathy as a frame of reference, I offer perspective on long-standing debates pertaining to the conceptualization and assessment of psychopathy, discuss how dispositional facets of psychopathy relate to subdimensions of internalizing and externalizing psychopathology, and summarize findings from contemporary biobehavioral and developmental research on psychopathy. I conclude by describing a systematic strategy for coordinating biobehavioral-developmental research on psychopathy that can enable it to be informed by, and help inform, ongoing research on mental health problems more broadly. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, Volume 18 is May 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

Evaluating the validity of brief prototype-based informant ratings of triarchic psychopathy traits in prisoners

The validity of self-report psychopathy assessment has been questioned, especially in forensic settings where clinical evaluations influence critical decision-making (e.g., institutional placement, parole eligibility). Informant-based assessment offers a potentially valuable supplement to self-report but is challenging to acquire in under-resourced forensic contexts. The current study evaluated, within an incarcerated sample (n = 322), the extent to which brief prototype-based informant ratings of psychopathic traits as described by the triarchic model (boldness, meanness, disinhibition; Patrick et al., 2009) converge with self-report trait scores and show incremental validity in predicting criterion measures. Self/informant convergence was robust for traits of boldness and disinhibition, but weaker for meanness. Informant-rated traits showed incremental predictive validity over self-report traits, both within and across assessment domains. These findings indicate that simple prototype-based informant ratings of the triarchic traits can provide a useful supplement to self-report in assessing psychopathy within forensic-clinical settings.

Ferdinand Karl Piëch: A Psychobiography of a Ruthless Manager and Ingenious Engineer

The dark sides of personalities have gained importance during the past two decades. Psychobiography deals with the life of extraordinary individuals throughout the life span by applying selected theories to analyse specific life aspects. This study uses Theodore Millon's (1990, 2011) personality theory to explore the life of Ferdinand Karl Piëch (1937-2019), an Austrian engineer and business executive who was the chairman of the executive board of the Volkswagen Group (1993-2002) and the chairman of the supervisory board from 2002 to 2015. Piëch was also known for having a complex and controversial personality. This study aims to explore the life and work of Ferdinand Karl Piëch through the lens of Millon's personality theory. This study has four specific aims. Firstly, to provide an accurate and objective description of Piëch's life history. Secondly, to formulate an accurate description of Piëch's personality on the basis of existing biographical data. Thirdly, to interpret Piëch's personality through the use of Millon's theoretical framework and identify the personality prototypes that correspond with his personality characteristics. Fourthly, to contribute to expanding the field of "dark personality aspects" from a psychobiographical perspective, especially the personalities of extraordinary individuals. The findings suggest that although Piëch demonstrated the characteristics of three personality prototypes, the assertive-sadistic prototype is the best fit for his personality characteristics. Conclusions are drawn and recommendations for theory and practice are given.

Social dominance and multiple dimensions of psychopathology: An experimental test of reactivity to leadership and subordinate roles

Background

Theory and research suggest that social dominance is important for multiple forms of psychopathology, and yet few studies have considered multiple dimensions of psychopathology simultaneously, and relatively few have used well-validated behavioral indices.

Method

Among 81 undergraduates, we used a well-validated experimental approach of assigning participants to a leadership or subordinate position, and we examined how self-rated severity of depression, social anxiety, manic tendencies, and psychopathy relate to psychophysiological and affective reactivity to this role.

Results

Consistent with hypotheses, manic symptoms related to more discomfort in the subordinate role compared to the leadership role, as evidenced by more decline in positive affect, more discomfort, and a larger RSA decline, while depression symptoms related to a more positive response to the subordinate role than the leadership role, including more positive affect and more comfort in the assigned role. Social anxiety was related to discomfort regardless of the assigned role, and those with higher psychopathy symptoms did not show differential response to assigned roles.

Limitations

Findings are limited by the mild symptom levels and absence of hormonal data.

Conclusions

Findings provide novel transdiagnostic evidence for the importance of social dominance to differentiate diverse forms of psychopathology.

An Other Perspective on Five Factor Machiavellianism

Previous research has found that traditional assessments of Machiavellianism have insufficient construct coverage and strongly overlap with psychopathy. Tackling these issues, Collison et al. developed the Five Factor Machiavellianism Inventory (FFMI), comprising antagonism, agency, and planfulness. Research by Kückelhaus et al. strongly supports the FFMI's construct validity. However, both of these previous studies share the limitation of common source bias. Therefore, in this study, target participants provided the FFMI self-assessments and coworkers assessed targets in terms of social competency, vocational environments, and occupational success. In a sample of 425 target-coworker dyads, we found that the traditional measures of MACH show a high degree of similarity with psychopathy, while the FFMI is discriminant from psychopathy and shows divergence from traditional measures of MACH with reference to coworker ratings of social competencies, vocational environments, and occupational success. Finally, we explored the interactive relations of the FFMI factors as emergent interpersonal syndromes. The number of significant interactions (18%) clearly exceeded a false positive rate of 5%. Implications and limitations are discussed.

Social and Economic Political Ideology Consistently Operate as Mutual Suppressors: Implications for Personality, Social, and Political Psychology

Right–left political views can be decomposed into distinct economic and social dimensions that bear differing relations with external criteria. In three community samples (total N = 1,487), we identified replicable suppressor situations in which statistically controlling for either social or economic political ideology increased the other ideology dimension’s relations with variables reflecting cognitive rigidity, authoritarianism, dangerous worldview, and lethal partisanship. Specifically, positive bivariate relations between social conservatism and these outcomes were enhanced after controlling for economic conservatism, whereas, after controlling for social conservatism, positive bivariate relations between economic conservatism and external criteria became negative and negative bivariate relations were enhanced. We identified similar, albeit less consistent, suppressor phenomena for general personality. Taken together, our results suggest that social and economic conservatism differ substantially in their psychological implications, and that following statistical control, these differences emerge in samples in which social and economic conservatism are highly positively correlated.

Psychopathy as an Emergent Interpersonal Syndrome: What Is the Function of Fearlessness?

Lilienfeld and colleagues (this issue) propose that some personality disorders can be conceptualized as emergent interpersonal syndromes (EIS). An EIS elicits negative interpersonal reactions in others. Further, an EIS results from statistical interactions between symptom dimensions that are uncorrelated. As a prototypical EIS, psychopathy is an interaction between boldness (or fearlessness) and interpersonal antagonism. The authors marshal many threads of research to develop an intriguing idea that suggests the "whole" of psychopathy is more than the sum of its parts. Unfortunately, the authors focus primarily on psychopathy, and fail to provide convincing quantitative data for the statistical interaction that forms the basis for their theory. Also missing from this model of personality pathology is a consideration of what function boldness serves; viewing boldness as a means to accomplish the (maladaptive) rewarding goals that motivate the individual high in antagonism and disinhibition may serve to flesh out this theory and our conceptualization of personality pathology more broadly.

Forms, Importance, and Ineffability of Factor Interactions to Define Personality Disorders

The emergent interpersonal syndrome (EIS) approach conceptualizes personality disorders as the interaction among their constituent traits to predict important criterion variables. We detail the difficulties we have experienced finding such interactive predictors in our empirical work on psychopathy, even when using uncorrelated traits that maximize power. Rather than explaining a large absolute proportion of variance in interpersonal outcomes, EIS interactions might explain small amounts of variance relative to the main effects of each trait. Indeed, these interactions may necessitate samples of almost 1,000 observations for 80% power and a false positive rate of .05. EIS models must describe which specific traits' interactions constitute a particular EIS, as effect sizes appear to diminish as higher-order trait interactions are analyzed. Considering whether EIS interactions are ordinal with non-crossing slopes or disordinal with crossing slopes, or entail nonlinear threshold or saturation effects may help researchers design studies, sampling strategies, and analyses to model their expected effects efficiently.

We Need to Talk About Development and Victims

The article by Lilienfeld and colleagues (this issue) proposes that the study of personality disorders could be substantially advanced by viewing at least some of them as emergent interpersonal syndromes. This commentary considers the need for a developmental approach in understanding how the emergent interpersonal syndromes arise. It also highlights the importance of systematically studying individual differences in victimization. We need to understand why some are more likely than others to be exploited, victimized, or remain in a dysfunctional relationship with an individual with a personality disorder.

Psychopathy as an Emergent Interpersonal Syndrome: Further Reflections and Future Directions

In our article (Lilienfeld et al., 2019), we hypothesized that psychopathy and some other personality disorders are emergent interpersonal syndromes (EISs): interpersonally malignant configurations of distinct personality subdimensions. We respond to three commentaries by distinguished scholars who raise provocative challenges to our arguments and intriguing suggestions for future research. We clarify the role of folk concepts in our understanding of psychopathy, offer further suggestions for testing our interactional hypotheses, consider the role of boldness in motivational accounts of psychopathy, and discuss future directions for incorporating developmental considerations and the role of victims in our EIS account. We are optimistic that this account will prove to be of heuristic value, and should encourage researchers and theoreticians to explore alternative models of psychopathy and other personality disorders.

Modeling Relations Between Triarchic Biobehavioral Traits and DSM Internalizing Disorder Dimensions

The biobehavioral traits of the triarchic model of psychopathy have well-known correlates with externalizing psychopathology. Although evidence also suggests associations with internalizing disorders, research has yet to formally model relationships between dimensions of internalizing psychopathology and triarchic traits. Employing a sample of 218 adults (50.2% female), the current study used confirmatory factor analysis to characterize how triarchic trait dimensions-delineated using different scale operationalizations-relate to internalizing when modeled as a single broad factor, and as distinct fear and distress subfactors. Findings demonstrated (a) robust opposing relations for triarchic boldness (+) and disinhibition (-), and an interactive association for the two, with general internalizing, along with a modest negative relationship for meanness; and (b) distinct associations for the three triarchic trait dimensions with fear and distress subfactors of internalizing. This work clarifies how facets of psychopathy relate to the internalizing psychopathology spectrum and provides a means for interfacing this spectrum with biological variables.