Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-sh8wx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-20T22:18:03.778Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

11a - What Do We Talk about When We Talk about Psychopathy? Commentary on an Integrative Biobehavioral Trait Perspective on Antisocial Personality Disorder and Psychopathy

from Part III - Individual Disorders and Clusters

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 February 2020

By
David K. Marcus  and
Madeline G. Nagel
Edited by
Carl W. Lejuez  and
Kim L. Gratz
Carl W. Lejuez
Affiliation:
University of Kansas
Kim L. Gratz
Affiliation:
University of Toledo, Ohio
Get access

Summary

Because the triarchic model of psychopathy posits that psychopathy encompasses the three dispositional constructs of boldness, meanness, and disinhibition, this formulation serves as an inclusive framework that can incorporate the primary elements of most models of psychopathy. Such a broad framework has numerous advantages for generating and organizing research on psychopathy. One limitation of this framework, however, is that it may not clarify what aspects of psychopathy are necessary or sufficient for identifying the condition. In the current commentary, the authors argue that none of the elements of the triarchic model are necessary or sufficient for psychopathy. Cleckley’s psychopaths were not mean, Karpman’s psychopaths were not disinhibited, and many contemporary theorists argue that boldness is not a necessary component of psychopathy. This difficulty defining the essential elements of psychopathy is not unique to the triarchic model and remains a challenge for the field.

Keywords

psychopathytriarchic modelboldnessmeannessdisinhibitionnecessary and sufficient
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Personality Disorders , pp. 267 - 269
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Buckels, E. E., Jones, D. N., & Paulhus, D. L. (2013). Behavioral confirmation of everyday sadism. Psychological Science, 24(11), 2201–2209.Google Scholar
Cleckley, H. (1976). The Mask of Sanity (5th ed.). St. Louis.: Mosby. (Original edition published in 1941)Google Scholar
Crego, C., & Widiger, T. A. (2016). Cleckley’s psychopaths: Revisited. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 125, 75–87.Google Scholar
Fulton, J. J., Marcus, D. K., & Zeigler-Hill, V. (2014). Psychopathic personality traits predict risky sexual behavior among college-age women. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 33, 143–168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gatner, D. T., Douglas, K. S., & Hart, S. D. (2016). Examining the incremental and interactive effects of boldness with meanness and disinhibition within the triarchic model of psychopathy. Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment, 3, 259–268.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hare, R. D. (1991). The Hare Psychopathy Checklist – Revised (PCL-R): Technical Manual. North Tonawanda, NY: Multi-Health Systems.Google Scholar
Hare, R. D., & Neumann, C. S. (2010). The role of antisociality in the psychopathy construct: Comment on Skeem and Cooke (2010). Psychological Assessment, 22, 446–454.Google Scholar
Hare, R. D., Neumann, C. S., & Mokros, A. (2018). The PCL-R assessment of psychopathy. In Patrick, C. J. (Ed.), Handbook of Psychopathy (2nd ed., pp. 39–79). New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Karpman, B. (1948). The myth of the psychopathic personality. American Journal of Psychiatry, 104, 523–534.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lilienfeld, S. O. (2013). Is psychopathy a syndrome? Comment on Marcus, Fulton, and Edens. Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment, 4, 85–86.Google Scholar
Lilienfeld, S. O., Patrick, C. J., Benning, S. D., Berg, J., Sellbom, M., & Edens, J. F. (2012). The role of fearless dominance in psychopathy: Confusions, controversies, and clarifications. Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment, 3, 327–340.Google Scholar
Marcus, D. K., Fulton, J. J., & Edens, J. F. (2013). The two-factor model of psychopathic personality: Evidence from the Psychopathic Personality Inventory. Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment, 4, 67–76.Google Scholar
Marcus, D. K., & Norris, A. L. (2014). A new measure of attitudes toward sexually predatory tactics and its relation to the triarchic model of psychopathy. Journal of Personality Disorders, 28, 247–261.Google Scholar
Marcus, D. K., Robinson, S. L., & Eichenbaum, A. E. (2019). Externalizing behavior and psychopathy: A social relations analysis. Journal of Personality Disorders, 33, 310–325.Google Scholar
McCord, W., & McCord, J. (1964). The Psychopath: An Essay on the Criminal Mind. Princeton, NJ: Van Nostrand.Google Scholar
Miller, J. D., Lamkin, J., Maples-Keller, J., Sleep, C. E., & Lynam, D. R. (2018). A test of the empirical profile and coherence of the DSM-5 psychopathy specifier. Psychological Assessment, 30, 870–881.Google Scholar
Miller, J. D., & Lynam, D. R. (2012). An examination of the Psychopathic Personality Inventory’s nomological network: A meta-analytic review. Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Practice, 3, 305–326.Google Scholar
Miller, J. D., & Lynam, D. R. (2015). Psychopathy and personality: Advances and debates. Journal of Personality, 83, 585–592.Google Scholar
Miller, J. D., Maples-Keller, J. L., & Lynam, D. R. (2016). An examination of the three components of the Psychopathic Personality Inventory: Profile comparisons and tests of moderation. Psychological Assessment, 28, 692–701.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Patrick, C. J. (2010). Triarchic Psychopathy Measure (TriPM). PhenX Toolkit Online assessment catalog. Retrieved from www.phenxtoolkit.org/index.php?pageLink=browse.protocoldetails&id=121601Google Scholar
Patrick, C. J., & Drislane, L. E. (2015). Triarchic model of psychopathy: Origins, operationalizations, and observed linkages with personality and general psychopathology.  Journal of Personality, 83(6), 627–643.Google Scholar
Patrick, C. J., Fowles, D. C., & Krueger, R. F. (2009). Triarchic conceptualization of psychopathy: Developmental origins of disinhibition, boldness, and meanness. Development and Psychopathology, 21, 913–938.Google Scholar
Poythress, N. G., & Hall, J. R. (2011). Psychopathy and impulsivity reconsidered. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 16, 120–134.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Preszler, J., Marcus, D. K., Edens, J. F., & McDermott, B. E. (2018). Network analysis of psychopathy in forensic inpatients. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 127, 171–182.Google Scholar
Robins, L. N. (1966). Deviant Children Grown Up. Baltimore, MD: Williams & Wilkins.Google Scholar
Skeem, J. L., & Cooke, D. J. (2010). Is criminal behavior a central component of psychopathy? Conceptual directions for resolving the debate. Psychological Assessment, 22, 433–445.Google Scholar
Smith, S. T., Edens, J. F., & McDermott, B. E. (2013). Fearless dominance and self-centered impulsivity interact to predict predatory aggression among forensic psychiatric inpatients. International Journal of Forensic Mental Health, 12, 33–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sylvers, P., Landfield, K. E., & Lilienfeld, S. O. (2011). Heavy episodic drinking in college students: Associations with features of psychopathy and antisocial personality disorder. Journal of American College Health, 59, 367–372.Google Scholar
van Geel, M., Goemans, A., Toprak, F., & Vedder, P. (2017). Which personality traits are related to traditional bullying and cyberbullying? A study with the big five, dark triad and sadism. Personality and Individual Differences, 106, 231–235.Google Scholar
Venables, N. C., Hall, J. R., & Patrick, C. J. (2014). Differentiating psychopathy from antisocial personality disorder: A triarchic model perspective. Psychological Medicine, 44, 1005–1013.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Verschuere, B., van Ghesel Grothe, S., Waldorp, L., Watts, A. L., Lilienfeld, S. O., Edens, J. F., … Noordhof, A. (2018). What features of psychopathy might be central? A network analysis of the Psychopathy Checklist – Revised (PCL-R) in three large samples. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 127, 51–65.Google Scholar
Wall, T. D., Wygant, D. B., & Sellbom, M. (2014). Boldness explains a key difference between psychopathy and antisocial personality disorder. Psychiatry, Psychology, and Law, 22(1), 94–105.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×