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Antagonistic personality and symptoms of psychological distress: Feeling less bad about being impaired
... Indeed, previous genetic research supports a causal role of perceived negative parenting (i.e., indifferent, abusive, and/or overcontrolled) in the etiology of adult antisocial personality (Dotterer et al., 2023), which may help explain the lasting effects of perceived dysfunctional parenting on later functioning. While sadism, psychopathy (Boland et al., 2018;Hart et al., 2024;Miller et al., 2018), and dysfunctional parenting (Silberschatz & Aafjes-van Doorn, 2017) are linked to enhanced functional impairment in adulthood, the interplay among these constructs has yet to be explored. It is possible that relations between perceived dysfunctional parenting in adolescence and maladaptive outcomes in adulthood may be partially due to enhanced sadistic and psychopathic tendencies that were presumably influenced by perceived dysfunctional parenting. ...
... For example, those who are aggressive and struggle to connect with others likely experience impairment in their social and family lives; similarly, difficulty with impulse control likely increases the probability of problems with general life skills, work, and engaging in risky behavior. Indeed, both sadism and psychopathy demonstrate relations with enhanced functional impairment (Boland et al., 2018;Hart et al., 2024;Miller et al., 2011); however, there is currently debate in the literature about whether these constructs account for variance in impairment beyond basic personality traits, such as agreeableness and conscientiousness in the FFM (Hilbig et al., 2021;Lynam & Miller, 2015). Theoretically, sadism and psychopathy possess several defining characteristics that are not captured by the low pole of agreeableness and conscientiousness, which may contribute to impairment beyond these broader personality traits. ...
... Participants provided consent, completed measures in a pseudorandomized order, then were debriefed and compensated. The data were part of a larger study, and some results have been previously published (Hart et al., 2024); however, the main analyses reported herein are novel. See Table 1 for descriptive statistics and reliability of each measure. ...
Although exposure to dysfunctional parenting styles in childhood can have lasting, negative impacts on overall functioning into adulthood, it remains unclear why. We explored the idea that perceived dysfunctional parenting may influence the cultivation of antisocial personality traits that remain into adulthood and account for links between perceived dysfunctional parenting and current life impairment. As such, in an adult sample ( N = 446; M age = 46.10; 51% female; 78.0% White), we investigated whether one’s current level of sadism and psychopathy mediated the relationship between reports of perceived exposure to dysfunctional parenting in childhood and current functional impairment, beyond effects of basic personality such as agreeableness and conscientiousness. Participants completed validated measures of sadism, psychopathy, agreeableness, conscientiousness, perceived dysfunctional parenting, and functional impairment. We found that perceived dysfunctional parenting styles (i.e., maternal indifference, maternal abuse, maternal/paternal overcontrol) experienced during childhood enhanced current functional impairment via heightened levels of current psychopathy; however, these effects became nonsignificant when including agreeableness and conscientiousness in modeling. Moreover, conscientiousness partially mediated effects of maternal indifference, maternal abuse, and maternal/paternal overcontrol on functional impairment. Perceived dysfunctional parenting in childhood may contribute to the cultivation of personality constructs that are maintained into adulthood that influence present-day functional impairment.
... For example, LWA relates to personality constructs that are broadly indicative of maladjustment, such as borderline personality (Ferguson, 2023) and broad personality domains such as disinhibition (or low conscientiousness), antagonism (or low agreeableness), detachment (or low extraversion), psychoticism, psychopathy and antagonistic narcissism (selfishness, exploitation, manipulation, and antisocial orientations), and negative affectivity or neuroticism (Costello et al., 2022). Each of these constructs (or a close relative of each construct) has been associated with self-acknowledged distress and/or life impairments (Hart, Lambert, Cease, & Castagna, 2024;Miller et al., 2018;Sleep et al., 2021) and tendencies to want to possess lower levels of each construct (e.g., Miller et al., 2018). More recently, Love and Sharman (2024) showed that LWA related to increases in depression, impairment as distinct from happiness that, in theory, should account for a negative relation between LWA and happiness (for similar ideas on this distinction, see Baumeister, 2010;Diener et al., 2002;Lang & Heckhausen, 2001;Tangney et al., 2004). ...
... Note the final sample size is acceptable vis-à-vis the power analyses. Some analyses which used this data set have been published (Lambert et al., in press;Hart, Garrison et al., 2024;Hart, Lambert, Cease, & Castagna, IPIP-Extroversion facet (Maples-Keller et al., 2019), but the cheerfulness facet, in particular, accounts for why Extroversion relates to indicators of happiness (Schimmack et al., 2004). Responses were averaged to index cheerfulness. ...
Liberals tend to indicate being less happy than conservatives; although one perspective suggests this happiness gap reflects liberals’ enhanced concern over the systemic maltreatment of others, the “maladjustment perspective” suggests it reflects, in part, liberals’ tendencies to reject aspects of conservatism that support agency and produce some life benefits. Some evidence seems to favor the maladjustment perspective; but, here, we sought to build on this perspective by examining its predictions in the context of Left-wing Authoritarianism (LWA). LWA is positively associated with liberalism, but, relative to liberalism, it encompasses aspects more rejecting of conservatism. US adults (N = 446) completed measures of LWA, happiness, agency, life impairment, and antagonistic personality constructs (e.g., sadism). The data supported the maladjustment perspective in the context of LWA: After accounting for liberalism (and demographics inclusive of age and sex), LWA was negatively related to happiness and positively related to agency deficiencies and life impairments; the latter two characteristics (reflective of maladjustment) completely accounted for LWA’s negative relation to happiness. These findings were generally consistent across LWA’s three facets. LWA also had a positive relationship to antagonistic personality constructs; hence, LWA is probably not conducive to enhanced concern over the systemic maltreatment of others. Additional analyses revealed that the anti-conventional facet of LWA completely accounted for relationships between liberalism and happiness, agency deficiencies, and life impairments. The results offer some novel insight into the ideological happiness gap.
... While the literature has found success employing structural equation modelling (SEM) as a quantitative approach to subtyping antisocial individuals within the construct of psychopathy, these classes are almost exclusively defined by samples of male offenders (e.g., including violent offenders, psychopathic offenders, sex offenders or mixed offenders; see Neumann, Hare, & Pardini, 2015, for findings in psychiatric samples). The use of forensic samples is intuitive and undoubtedly important; however, psychopathy and antisocial behaviours are conceptualized as existing on a spectrum (Patrick, 2022) and at least the first-order factors (e.g., interpersonal manipulation and antisocial behaviour) are linked to greater dysfunction and impairment in the general population (Hart et al., 2024;Miller et al., 2018;Sleep et al., 2022). As such, the heavy reliance on male offenders to define what is known about antisocial profiles has left a serious gap in knowledge of these profiles in the general population. ...
The extent to which latent profiles of psychopathy manifest across the full spectrum of psychopathy (i.e., general population) is unknown. The present study sought to address this gap by subtyping adults based on psychopathic features and exploring whether these profiles differ based on external correlates: motivational tendencies, impulsivity, triarchic psychopathy, anxiety/depression and personality traits. A demographically representative sample of US adults ( N = 446; M age = 46.10; 51% female; 78.0% White) completed measures of four‐factor psychopathy, motivational tendencies, impulsivity, anxiety/depression and personality traits. We identified four latent profiles of psychopathy that were conceptually similar to profiles reported in male offender samples. The impulsive‐antisocial profile (i.e., high antisocial behaviour, erratic lifestyle; comparatively lower interpersonal manipulation, callous affect) was characterized by lack of premeditation, sensation seeking, low behavioural inhibition and reduced reward responsiveness when compared to the non‐antisocial psychopathic profile (i.e., high interpersonal manipulation, callous affect, erratic lifestyle; comparatively lower scores on antisocial behaviour). Overall, we found evidence in favour of the suitability of self‐reported psychopathy to profile individuals in the general population and its ability to distinguish between these subtypes on theoretically relevant external variables.
... The weak correlation between the Dissociality dimension of the IDCP-PTQ and the distress dimension of the IPDS can be explained by the ego-syntonic tendencies inherent in antagonistic individuals. Individuals with an antagonistic profile typically do not experience significant distress from their rude, aggressive, and insensitive behaviors (Hart et al., 2024). Despite the weak correlation with distress, a correlation of the expected magnitude (r ø .20) ...
With the advent of the new diagnostic model for personality disorders in the 11th revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11), researchers and practitioners in World Health Organization signatory countries are urged to implement it. This study aims to develop a brief, reliable, and valid scale for assessing maladaptive personality traits according to the ICD-11 model, using the item pool of the Dimensional Clinical Personality Inventory (IDCP-2). Quantitative and qualitative criteria for item selection were applied to a sample of 251 Brazilian adults. As a result, the 25 items (five items per factor) were selected, demonstrating promising evidence of validity based on the internal structure with a database of 1,659 Brazilian adults. In addition, we found good evidence of validity based on relationships with external variables, particularly those related to personality pathology, in a sample of 617 Brazilian adults. The implications of these findings are discussed.
Neuroticism predicts behaviors symptomatic of behavior dysregulation. One idea is that Neuroticism encompasses deficits in executive functioning; despite this link being empirically substantiated, it remains poorly understood. If Neuroticism is associated with executive functioning deficits due to it activating impulsivity in response to negative emotion, and if Negative Urgency (NU) is the specific aspect of emotional impulsivity that amplifies impulsivity in response to negative emotion, then Neuroticism’s link to executive functioning deficits should be enhanced in individuals higher in NU. A large representative sample of US adults ( N = 446; M age = 46.10; 51.1% female; 78.0% White) completed validated measures of Neuroticism, NU and Positive Urgency (PU), and executive functioning deficits. As predicted, we found that Neuroticism’s link to executive functioning deficits was moderated by NU (after controlling for PU) but not PU (after controlling for NU); specifically, Neuroticism’s relation to executive functioning deficits was over twice as large for people with elevated (+1 SD) versus de-elevated (−1 SD) levels of NU. Furthermore, NU moderated relations between each Neuroticism facet (e.g., Anxiety, Anger) and executive functioning deficits. The findings extend understanding of how Neuroticism relates to executive functioning, suggesting utility in distinguishing between PU and NU and potentially studying Neuroticism and NU as interacting.
We developed a multidimensional coping inventory to assess the different ways in which people respond to stress. Five scales (of four items each) measure conceptually distinct aspects of problem-focused coping (active coping, planning, suppression of competing activities, restraint coping, seeking of instrumental social support); five scales measure aspects of what might be viewed as emotion-focused coping (seeking of emotional social support, positive reinterpretation, acceptance, denial, turning to religion); and three scales measure coping responses that arguably are less useful (focus on and venting of emotions, behavioral disengagement, mental disengagement). Study 1 reports the development of scale items. Study 2 reports correlations between the various coping scales and several theoretically relevant personality measures in an effort to provide preliminary information about the inventory's convergent and discriminant validity. Study 3 uses the inventory to assess coping responses among a group of undergraduates who were attempting to cope with a specific stressful episode. This study also allowed an initial examination of associations between dispositional and situational coping tendencies.
Tests of statistical interactions (or tests of moderation effects) in personality disorder research are a common way for researchers to examine nuanced hypotheses relevant to personality pathology. However, the nature of statistical interactions makes them difficult to reliably detect in many research scenarios. The present study used a flexible, simulation-based approach to estimate statistical power to detect trait-by-trait interactions common to psychopathy research using the Triarchic model of Psychopathy and the Psychopathic Personality Inventory. Our results show that even above-average sample sizes in these literatures (e.g., N = 428) provide inadequate power to reliably detect trait-by-trait interactions, and the sample sizes needed to detect interaction effect sizes in realistic scenarios are extremely large, ranging from 1,300 to 5,200. The implications for trait-by-trait interactions in psychopathy are discussed, as well as how the present findings might generalize to other areas of personality disorder research. We provide recommendations for how to design research studies that can provide informative tests of interactions in personality disorder research, but also highlight that a more realistic option is to abandon the traditional approach when testing for interaction effects and adopt alternative approaches that may be more productive. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented challenges for adolescents, who tended to experience more emotional instability, impulsivity, and aggressive behavior driven by the fear of infection and the uncertainty of network information. In the present study, we investigated the relationship between Internet addiction and aggressive behavior, and the mediating effects of depression and anxiety. There were differences in Internete addiction and aggressive behavior in gender, thus the moderating role of gender between them were explored. A total of 1148 middle school students were invited to complete the Buss Perry Aggression Questionnaire, the Internet Addition Scale, the Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS), and the Self-rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) separately. The results suggested that 1) there was a significant positive correlation between Internet addiction and aggressive behavior; 2) anxiety, but not depression, mediated the effect of Internet addiction on aggressive behavior; 3) gender did not moderate the effect of Internet addiction on aggressive behavior. The practical implication of the current findings on boosting adolescents' mental health was discussed and further suggestions were provided.
Despite clinical theory suggesting that individuals are largely unaware of personality-related problems (Gallrein et al., 2013; Oltmanns & Powers, 2012); work in this area shows that individuals possess insight into their pathological traits and the impairment they may cause. Individuals generally dislike pathological traits and desire change in the direction of greater adaptivity (Lamkin et al., 2018; Miller et al., 2018). Individuals may also be able to make small, intentional changes in some personality domains (e.g., neuroticism; Hudson & Fraley, 2015; Hudson & Roberts, 2014) but not others (no positive change in conscientiousness or agreeableness). It remains unclear why many individuals exhibit relatively little change in their pathological traits (e.g., antagonism), given their awareness of the problems these traits cause and their desire for change. The goal of the present study was to explore the relation between personality disorder (PD) traits and desire for change, perceived impairment and benefits, and barriers to change among an online sample (N = 497). Findings suggest that most individuals were uninterested in changing their trait levels; however, individuals with elevated PD traits were more interested in change than those with lower levels. Pathological traits were generally perceived as impairing rather than beneficial; however, mean level analyses revealed similar levels of perceived impairment and benefits for those relatively high on antagonism. Individuals reported that personality change was stymied in part because it was too hard, they were unmotivated to make the changes, or they did not know how to go about making such changes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
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.
Recent evidence suggests that people’s personality disorder (PD) trait levels relate positively to attitudes toward that PD trait, but amid this evidence has arisen an incongruity. In separate studies, people’s PD
trait levels relate positively to rating that PD trait as beneficial and impairing, so explanations for the positive relation between PD trait levels and PD trait attitudes are needed. We tested 2 explanations using a sample including adults (N = 457) who self-reported PD trait levels as well as PD trait benefit, impairment, and attitudes. The maximization hypothesis, which argues that higher PD trait levels
correspond more strongly to trait-corresponding benefit than impairment, received some support. The weighting hypothesis, which argues that people disproportionately weigh PD trait benefits over impairments upon generating attitudes of a PD trait, received general support. Mediation analyses indicated that for each PD trait domain, the indirect effect of PD trait levels on trait-corresponding attitudes was stronger via trait-corresponding benefit compared with impairment. We also obtained evidence that relations between PD trait levels and trait-corresponding attitudes or benefit ratings, but not impairment ratings, were enhanced as perceived control over that trait’s expressions increased. Findings help illuminate some of the mystery surrounding PD trait evaluation.
Stressful life events have a major impact on adverse mental health outcomes, although not all individuals are equally affected. According to the buffering hypothesis, there may be personality traits that protect individuals against mental distress in the face of adversity, playing thus a moderating role between life stressors and mental distress. In the present online study (N = 574), Dark Triad of personality (i.e., Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy) were investigated as moderators between cumulative stressful life events and mental distress (i.e., psychosis, anxiety, and depression). Those who experienced more stressful events during lifetime, and scored higher in Machiavellianism, had higher scores on a psychosis instrument. Narcissism buffered the impact of stressful events on psychosis and depression. The results are discussed in terms of unique profiles associated with each of the traits.
Objective
This is a narrative review of validation and outcome studies using the Weiss Functional Impairment Rating Scale (WFIRS). The objective of the review is to establish a framework for understanding functional impairment and create a definition for functional response and remission.
Methods
We conducted a literature search via MEDLINE, EBSCO and Google Scholar with no date restrictions and reviewed bibliographies of selected publications. Publications found in languages other than English were translated and clarification obtained from the author(s) if needed. Inclusion criteria were any manuscript that was either a WFIRS psychometric validation study or a clinical trial using the WFIRS as an outcome. There were no exclusion criteria.
Results
The WFIRS has been validated in multiple cultures, and in clinical, research and control populations. The WFIRS has robust psychometric properties across ages, psychiatric status and informants. Outcome studies show variable improvement, with different response patterns between domains and among different interventions.
Conclusion
Symptom improvement and remission needs to be complemented with evaluation of functional improvement and remission to obtain a full picture of clinical status over the course of treatment.
Objective
The present research profiled antisocial personality constructs in relation to tactical self‐presentation behaviors and various beliefs associated with such tactical behavior.
Method
An MTurk sample (N = 524; Mage = 37.89; 61% female) completed indices of the Dark Triad (DT; narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy) and self‐reported their use of various self‐presentation tactics, their beliefs about the subjective logic for executing the tactics (which encompassed ratings of the tactics’ utility, ease of execution, and normativity), and the potential for each tactic to arouse self‐recrimination.
Results
Results revealed high convergence between the DT constructs on a relatively malignant approach to self‐presentation. DT constructs related to enhanced usage, enhanced subjective logic, and reduced self‐recrimination ratings for all the tactics, except pro‐social ones (exemplification and apologizing). Nonetheless, results also revealed some notable anticipated instances of nonconvergences between the DT constructs and tactic usage.
Conclusions
The findings highlight that DT constructs function rather similarly at the level of self‐presentation and suggest value in considering the DT constructs as indicative of strategic, subjectively logical image cultivation and defense behavior.
Interaction plots are used frequently in psychology research to make inferences about moderation hypotheses. A common method of analyzing and displaying interactions is to create simple-slopes or marginal-effects plots using standard software programs. However, these plots omit features that are essential to both graphic integrity and statistical inference. For example, they often do not display all quantities of interest, omit information about uncertainty, or do not show the observed data underlying an interaction, and failure to include these features undermines the strength of the inferences that may be drawn from such displays. Here, we review the strengths and limitations of present practices in analyzing and visualizing interaction effects in psychology. We provide simulated examples of the conditions under which visual displays may lead to inappropriate inferences and introduce open-source software that provides optimized utilities for analyzing and visualizing interactions.
Given advantages of freely available and modifiable measures, an increase in the use of measures developed from the International Personality Item Pool (IPIP), including the 300-item representation of the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO PI–R; Costa & McCrae, 1992a Costa, P., & McCrae, R. (1992a). The five-factor model of personality and its relevance to personality disorders. Journal of Personality Disorders, 6, 343–359.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] [Google Scholar]) has occurred. The focus of this study was to use item response theory to develop a 60-item, IPIP-based measure of the Five-Factor Model (FFM) that provides equal representation of the FFM facets and to test the reliability and convergent and criterion validity of this measure compared to the NEO Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI). In an undergraduate sample (n = 359), scores from the NEO-FFI and IPIP–NEO–60 demonstrated good reliability and convergent validity with the NEO PI–R and IPIP–NEO–300. Additionally, across criterion variables in the undergraduate sample as well as a community-based sample (n = 757), the NEO-FFI and IPIP–NEO–60 demonstrated similar nomological networks across a wide range of external variables (rICC = .96). Finally, as expected, in an MTurk sample the IPIP–NEO–60 demonstrated advantages over the Big Five Inventory–2 (Soto & John, 2017 Soto, C. J., & John, O. P. (2017). The next Big Five Inventory (BFI–2): Developing and assessing a hierarchical model with 15 facets to enhance bandwidth, fidelity, and predictive power. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 113, 117–143.[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] [Google Scholar]; n = 342) with regard to the Agreeableness domain content. The results suggest strong reliability and validity of the IPIP–NEO–60 scores.
Historical conceptualizations have framed personality disorders (PDs) as unchanging and ego-syntonic. However, recent evidence suggests that individuals with PD traits may have some insight into their personality and consider those traits to be somewhat ego-dystonic. To replicate and extend previous findings, participants (N = 328) self-reported their PD trait levels, likability of those traits, impairment, capability for change, and desired trait levels. The results demonstrated that individuals with PD traits tolerate but still dislike those traits, believe that they cause them problems, and are interested in reducing them. Level of PD trait did not relate to perception of capability for change. Likability and impairment moderated most of the relations between actual PD trait and desired level. That is, there was a stronger correlation between actual and desired levels among individuals who liked the trait more; there was also greater agreement between actual and desired levels among individuals who found the traits less impairing. For 2 of the traits—Negative Affectivity and Detachment—individuals who felt more capable of changing these traits demonstrated greater agreement between their actual and desired levels. These data suggest that individuals with PD traits do not generally see them as particularly likable and see them as impairing; such impressions may have important implications for where individuals ultimately prefer to reside on these PD trait domains.
Objective: The Dark Triad (DT) describes a set of three closely related personality traits: Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy; Mental Toughness (MT) refers to a psychological construct combining Confidence, Commitment, Control, and Challenge. High MT is related to greater physical activity (PA) and, relative to males, females have lower MT scores. The aims of the present study were: 1. to investigate the association between DT, MT and PA; 2. to compare DT, MT and PA scores of males and females.
Methods: A total of 341 adults (M = 29 years; 51.6% female; range: 18-37 years) took part in the study. Participants completed a series of questionnaires assessing DT, MT, and PA.
Results: Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy were all significantly associated with higher mental toughness scores (rs = .45, .50, and .20 respectively). DT traits and MT were associated with more vigorous PA. Compared to their male counterparts, female participants had lower scores for DT traits (overall score and Psychopathy), while no gender differences were found for MT or PA.
Conclusions: Dark Triad traits, high mental toughness, and vigorous physical activity are interrelated. This pattern of results might explain why, for instance, successful professional athletes can at the same time be tough and ruthless.
Objective
The Dark Triad (DT) describes a set of three closely related personality traits: Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy. Mental toughness (MT) refers to a psychological construct combining confidence, commitment, control, and challenge. High MT is related to greater physical activity (PA) and, relative to men, women have lower MT scores. The aims of the present study were 1) to investigate the association between DT, MT, and PA, and 2) to compare the DT, MT, and PA scores of men and women.
Methods
A total of 341 adults (M=29 years; 51.6% women; range: 18–37 years) took part in the study. Participants completed a series of questionnaires assessing DT, MT, and PA.
Results
Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy were all significantly associated with higher MT scores (rs =0.45, 0.50, and 0.20, respectively). DT traits and MT were associated with more vigorous PA. Compared to men, women participants had lower scores for DT traits (overall score and psychopathy), while no differences were found for MT or PA in both sexes.
Conclusion
DT traits, high MT, and vigorous PA are interrelated. This pattern of results might explain why, for instance, successful professional athletes can at the same time be tough and ruthless.
The term dark personalities refers to a set of socially aversive traits in the subclinical range. Not extreme enough to invite clinical or forensic attention, they can get along (even flourish) in everyday work settings, scholastic settings, and the broader community. Along with my research group, I have studied a constellation of these personalities—Machiavellianism, narcissism, psychopathy, and everyday sadism—under the label “Dark Tetrad.” We have argued that, because of their overlap, these four traits should be studied in concert. Recently developed inventories now facilitate identification of the unique contributions of each trait. The present review highlights key advances and controversies emerging from work on these malevolent, yet fascinating, characters.
Psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and narcissism are three constructs that have been collectively referred to as the "Dark Triad." Although researchers were initially interested in comparing similarities and differences between these constructs, in recent years researchers have combined items from the measures to create an overall measure of the Dark Triad as a single construct. The authors raise theoretical concerns regarding this approach, arguing that Machiavellianism and narcissism can be viewed as features or traits of psychopathy. They also provide empirical evidence from a large, correctional sample (N = 972) to demonstrate that a latent Dark Triad could not be estimated using confirmatory factor analysis because more than 100% of the variance was attributed to psychopathy. Moreover, the Dark Triad traits, by and large, did not confer incremental validity above and beyond psychopathy, and none of the interaction models indicated that additional information would be gained from considering the Dark Triad traits in constellation.
Four studies examined the construct validity of two global self-esteem measures. In Studies 1 through 3, the Single-Item Self-Esteem Scale (SISE) and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSE) showed strong convergent validity for men and women, for different ethnic groups, and for both college students and community members. The SISE and the RSE had nearly identical correlations with a wide range of criterion measures, including domain-specific self-evaluations, self-evaluative biases, social desirability, personality, psychological and physical health, peer ratings of group behavior, academic outcomes, and demographic variables. Study 4 showed that the SISE had only moderate convergent validity in a sample of children. Overall, the findings support the reliability and validity of the SISE and suggest it can provide a practical alternative to the RSE in adult samples. More generally, the findings contribute to the research literature by further elaborating the nomological network of global self-esteem.
We present new measures of well-being to assess the following concepts: 1. Psychological Well-Being (PWB); 2. Positive Feelings,
Negative Feelings, and the balance between the two (SPANE-P, N, B); and 3. Positive Thinking. The PWB scale is a short 8–item
summary survey of the person’s self-perceived functioning in important areas such as relationships, self-esteem, purpose and
meaning, and optimism. The scale is substantially correlated with other psychological well-being scales, but is briefer. The
scale provides a single overall psychological well-being score and does not yield scores for various components of well-being.
The Scale of Positive and Negative Experience (SPANE) yields a score for positive experience and feelings (6 items), a score
for negative experience and feelings (6 items), and the two can be combined to create an experience balance score. This 12-item
brief scale has a number of desirable features compared to earlier measures of positive and negative feelings. In particular,
the scale assesses with a few items a broad range of negative and positive experiences and feelings, not just those of a certain
type, and is based on the frequency of feelings during the past month. A scale to measure Positive Thinking is also presented.
Basic psychometric statistics are presented for the scales based on 573 college students at five universities.
The development of a 21-item self-report inventory for measuring the severity of anxiety in psychiatric populations is described. The initial item pool of 86 items was drawn from three preexisting scales: the Anxiety Checklist, the Physician’s Desk Reference Checklist, and the Situational Anxiety Checklist. A series of analyses was used to reduce the item pool. The resulting Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) is a 21-item scale that showed high internal consistency (α = .92) and test—retest reliability over 1 week, r (81) = .75. The BAI discriminated anxious diagnostic groups (panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, etc.) from nonanxious diagnostic groups (major depression, dysthymic disorder, etc). In addition, the BAI was moderately correlated with the revised Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale, r (150) = .51, and was only mildly correlated with the revised Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, r (153) = .25.
This paper was published as Journal of Counseling Psychology, 2008, 55 (3), pp. 385-399. It is available from http://psycnet.apa.org/?fa=main.doiLanding&doi=10.1037/0022-0167.55.3.385. Doi: 10.1037/0022-0167.55.3.385 Metadata only entry This article describes the development of a measure of dispositional authenticity and tests whether authenticity is related to well-being, as predicted by several counseling psychology perspectives. Scales were designed to measure a tripartite conception of authenticity, comprising self-alienation, authentic living, and accepting external influence, which was supported with exploratory factor analysis. Multigroup confirmatory factor analysis showed that the factor loadings were invariant across sample, ethnicity, and gender. The scale showed substantial discriminant validity from the Big Five personality traits, nonsignificant correlations with social desirability, and 2- and 4-week test-retest correlations ranging from r = .78 to .91. Each subscale was strongly related to self-esteem and aspects of both subjective and psychological well-being. This article provides the first direct test of several theoretical models that view authenticity as integral to well-being.
Adult psychopaths have deficits in emotional processing and inhibitory control, engage in morally inappropriate behavior, and generally fail to distinguish moral from conventional violations. These observations, together with a dominant tradition in the discipline which sees emotional processes as causally necessary for moral judgment, have led to the conclusion that psychopaths lack an understanding of moral rights and wrongs. We test an alternative explanation: psychopaths have normal understanding of right and wrong, but abnormal regulation of morally appropriate behavior. We presented psychopaths with moral dilemmas, contrasting their judgments with age- and sex-matched (i) healthy subjects and (ii) non-psychopathic, delinquents. Subjects in each group judged cases of personal harms (i.e. requiring physical contact) as less permissible than impersonal harms, even though both types of harms led to utilitarian gains. Importantly, however, psychopaths' pattern of judgments on different dilemmas was the same as those of the other subjects. These results force a rejection of the strong hypothesis that emotional processes are causally necessary for judgments of moral dilemmas, suggesting instead that psychopaths understand the distinction between right and wrong, but do not care about such knowledge, or the consequences that ensue from their morally inappropriate behavior.
The clinical concept of psychopathy ("psychopathic personality") is generally considered to entail persistent behavioral deviancy in the company of emotional-interpersonal detachment. However, longstanding debates continue regarding the appropriate scope and boundaries of the concept. Here, we review alternative historic descriptions of the disorder together with empirical findings for the best-established assessment instruments in use with adolescents and youth as a basis for formulating an integrative, triarchic model of psychopathy. The essence of the triarchic model is that psychopathy encompasses three distinct phenotypic constructs: disinhibition, which reflects a general propensity toward problems of impulse control; boldness, which is defined as the nexus of social dominance, emotional resiliency, and venturesomeness; and meanness, which is defined as aggressive resource seeking without regard for others ("dysaffliated agency"). These differing phenotypic components are considered in terms of relevant etiologic and developmental pathways. The triarchic conceptualization provides a basis for reconciling and accommodating alternative descriptive accounts of psychopathy, and a framework for coordinating research on neurobiological and developmental processes contributing to varying manifestations of the disorder.
Three main sources of intrinsic appeal and satisfaction from performing violent acts are described. First, sadism involves deriving pleasure directly from the suffering of the victim. An opponent-process model is suggested. Second, the quest for thrilling sensations to escape from boredom can produce violent acts, including many in which the harmful consequences were not intended. Third, threatened egotism entails that one's favorable view of self (orpub1ic image) has been attacked, and violent responses are directed toward the source of this attack. Relevant individual differences (respectively, low guilt, high sensation seeking, and narcissism) moderate these patterns. Analyzing the intrinsic appeal of evil acts is a useful complement to analyzing situational determinants of violence.
This article reports the development and validation of a scale to measure global life satisfaction, the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS). Among the various components of subjective well-being, the SWLS is narrowly focused to assess global life satisfaction and does not tap related constructs such as positive affect or loneliness. The SWLS is shown to have favorable psychometric properties, including high internal consistency and high temporal reliability. Scores on the SWLS correlate moderately to highly with other measures of subjective well-being, and correlate predictably with specific personality characteristics. It is noted that the SWLS is Suited for use with different age groups, and other potential uses of the scale are discussed.
People higher in sadism presumably experience pleasure upon witnessing another person's suffering (i.e., the “sadistic-pleasure mechanism”). However, some data suggests that this foundational hypothesis may be inaccurate; we propose the data are consistent with assuming that people higher in sadism are less reactive to negative stimuli (i.e., the blunted-reactivity mechanism). In this preregistered study, we pitted predictions from a sadistic-pleasure mechanism against predictions from a blunted-reactivity mechanism. Participants (N = 508) read about a target who suffered various humiliating social situations; as a between-subjects manipulation, they imagined they were the target (self-condition) or that the target was an unknown third party (other condition). The data were inconsistent with the sadistic-pleasure mechanism but consistent with the proposed blunted-reactivity mechanism of sadism. Specifically, as suggested by the blunted-reactivity mechanism, people with higher sadism indicated less reactivity (as indexed by less target suffering and less displeasure) to the same extents in the self and the other condition.
Antagonism, the low pole of Agreeableness, references traits related to immorality, combativeness, grandiosity, callousness, and distrustfulness. It is a robust correlate of externalizing behaviors such as antisocial behavior, aggression, and substance use; in fact, in many cases, it is the strongest trait correlate. It represents the core of many important and impactful psychopathological constructs (e.g., psychopathy, antisocial and narcissistic personality disorders). It is also central to models of general and disordered personality, psychopathology, and interpersonal behavior. As Neuroticism is core to understanding the intense distress and suffering that comes with internalizing disorders, Antagonism is core to understanding the impairment and suffering (to the individual and society at large) that comes with externalizing disorders.
Psychopathy is characterized by a constellation of traits including callousness, superficial charm, grandiosity, exploitativeness, irresponsibility, and impulsivity (e.g., Cleckley, 1941/1955; Hare, 2003). Despite longstanding interest, the nature and scope of the construct as well as the centrality and sufficiency of its components remain debated (i.e., Fearless Dominance/Boldness; Miller & Lynam, 2012; Lilienfeld et al., 2012). Recently, the Triarchic Model of Psychopathy (TriPM; Patrick, Fowles, & Krueger, 2009)has garnered considerable interest, positing that psychopathy can be characterized by three partially overlapping, phenotypic domains: Boldness, Meanness, and Disinhibition. The present meta-analysis sought to examine the relations between these domains and other well-validated psychopathy measures and theoretically relevant outcomes in its nomological network. Across outcomes, Meanness and Disinhibition demonstrated robust convergent and criterion validity with other models of psychopathy as well as with pathological traits and externalizing outcomes; however, they manifested limited discriminant validity in relation to one another. In addition, empirical evidence for Boldness in relation to maladaptive outcomes was much weaker. Specifically, Boldness evinced the most robust relations with markers of adaptive functioning and only small relations with central criterion variables (e.g., externalizing behavior).
The term dark triad refers to the constellation of narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy. Over the past few years, the concept has gained momentum, with many researchers assuming that the dark triad is a prominent antecedent of transgressive and norm-violating behavior. Our purpose in this meta-analytic review was to evaluate (a) interrelations among narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy; (b) gender differences in these traits; (c) how these traits are linked to normal personality factors; and (d) the psychosocial correlates of the dark triad. Our findings show that dark triad traits are substantially intercorrelated, somewhat more prevalent among men than women, predominantly related to the Big Five personality factor of agreeableness and the HEXACO factor of honesty-humility, and generally associated with various types of negative psychosocial outcomes. We question whether dark triad traits are sufficiently distinct and argue that the way they are currently measured is too simple to capture the malevolent sides of personality. Because most research in this domain is cross-sectional and based on self-reports, we recommend using a cross-informant approach and prospective, longitudinal research designs for studying the predictive value of dark triad features.
Recent research suggests subclinical sadism should be included in the Dark Triad. However, research on the assessment of sadism as a trait is lacking. To address this, we developed a new self-report measure, the Assessment of Sadistic Personality (ASP). In Study 1, 199 university students completed a preliminary 20-item version of the ASP, measures of the Dark Triad, agreeableness, honesty-humility, emotional intelligence, and sadistic tendencies. Internal consistency was acceptable and convergent validity was supported. After reducing the ASP to nine items, 202 university students completed a replication of Study 1. Internal consistency and convergent validity was again supported. When ASP items were combined with Dark Triad items, exploratory factor analysis supported the anticipated four-factor structure. These results provide evidence for the reliability and validity of the ASP as a new measure of subclinical sadism appropriate for use in conjunction with existing measures of the Dark Triad.
G*Power (Erdfelder, Faul, & Buchner, 1996) was designed as a general stand-alone power analysis program for statistical tests commonly used in social and behavioral research. G*Power 3 is a major extension of, and improvement over, the previous versions. It runs on widely used computer platforms (i.e., Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Mac OS X 10.4) and covers many different statistical tests of the t, F, and chi2 test families. In addition, it includes power analyses for z tests and some exact tests. G*Power 3 provides improved effect size calculators and graphic options, supports both distribution-based and design-based input modes, and offers all types of power analyses in which users might be interested. Like its predecessors, G*Power 3 is free.
The first section of the chapter reviews research on psychopathy. The first section ends with an overview of some theories that may account for the increased risk of violence among psychopathic individuals. In the second section, the authors review research on sadistic personality disorder. The chapter is concluded by highlighting some important similarities and differences between psychopathy and sadistic personality disorder with respect to clinical presentation, violence history, and possible etiology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Objectives Borderline personality disorder is the most well-studied personality disorder in psychiatry. Despite its great influence in the study of these conditions, it has not been properly recognized that borderline personality disorder is atypical.
Design A critical analysis of the differences between borderline and other personality disorders is made.
Method A comparison is made between borderline personality disorder and other personality disorders with respect to diagnostic criteria, relationship to normal personality variation and treatment options.
Results Analysis of the operational criteria for borderline and schizotypal personality disorders shows that these are the only personality disorders that are dominated by discrete symptoms rather than traits. Cluster analysis of a data set of personality traits obtained between 1976 and 1978 (before borderline personality disorder became fashionable in the UK) could find no profile that supports the existence of a borderline personality disorder grouping, and the study of published papers on treatment in personality disorder shows a 3 : 1 ratio for borderline personality disorder compared with all other personality disorders combined, approaching 9 : 1 when unspecified (probably mainly borderline) conditions are taken into account.
Conclusions Borderline personality disorder is incorrectly classified as a personality disorder and does an injustice to those who suffer from it. It is better classified as a condition of recurrent unstable mood and behaviour, or fluxithymia, which is better placed with the mood disorders than in odd isolation as a personality disorder. Copyright
Previous cross-sectional research in Western societies has linked adolescent stimulation-seeking, fearlessness, and body size to antisocial behavior. However, it is unclear how early in life these factors exert their influence, and nothing is known about their specificity to aggressive behavior per se. This study tests the hypotheses that stimulation-seeking, fearlessness, and increased body size at age 3 years predict aggression at age 11 years.
Behavioral measures of stimulation-seeking and fearlessness, together with height and weight, were measured at age 3 years and related to ratings of aggression at age 11 years in 1130 male and female Indian and Creole children from the island of Mauritius.
Aggressive children at age 11 years were characterized by increased measures of stimulation-seeking, fearlessness, height, and weight at age 3 years. Stimulation-seeking and height were independently related to aggression, whereas the fearlessness-aggression relationship was mediated by height. Large body size at age 3 years but not 11 years was related to increased aggression at age 11 years, indicating a critical period in development for the influence of body size on aggression.
Results (1) implicate large body size, stimulation-seeking, and fearlessness in the development of childhood aggression; (2) suggest that there may be a critical period in development in which biological processes influence later aggression; and (3) highlight the importance of early processes in the etiology of aggression.
Advanced social psychology: The state of the science
- R F Baumeister
Baumeister, R. F. (2010). The self. In R. F. Baumeister, & E. J. Finkel (Eds.), Advanced
social psychology: The state of the science (pp. 139-175). Oxford University Press.
Multi-Health Systems
- D L Paulhus
- C S Neumann
- R D Hare
Paulhus, D. L., Neumann, C. S., & Hare, R. D. (2014). Manual for the self-report
psychopathy scale (4th ed.). Multi-Health Systems.