Psychopathic Traits in Nursing and Criminal Justice Majors: A Pilot Study 1 (original) (raw)
Psychopathic Personality Traits in Students Entering Helping Professions
2019
Psychopathy is often misrepresented as a sign of criminality and deviance. However, current literature suggests that psychopaths make up approximately one-fifth of the general population. Some people use these characterological traits to their benefit in positions of leadership. In this study, students from a Christian university in the Pacific Northwest were selected to participate in a survey, based upon their chosen major (Business, Psychology, and Religion). It was hypothesized that Business students would have the highest total levels of psychopathy and religion majors would show the lowest levels of psychopathy. Since religion often serves as a protective factor, it is further predicted that religion will mitigate the effects of psychopathy, and will be negatively correlated with psychopathic traits. Multiple one-way ANOVAs and Tukey post hoc tests were used to determine which degrees had statistically significant differences, and a correlational study examined the possibility of religion as a mitigating factor. Results indicated that Religion students had the highest levels of primary psychopathy as well as overall psychopathy levels, whereas Business students had the highest PSYCHOPATHIC PERSONALITY TRAITS iv levels of secondary psychopathy. It was also determined that primary and secondary psychopathy had no significant relationship to one another, and that total psychopathy levels had no significant differences between age and gender. The implications of this study show the potential for individuals with more psychopathic personality traits to enter prosocial leadership roles, such as clergy, and the benefit of pre-employment personality screening.
Psychopathic personality traits and delinquent careers: An empirical examination
International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 2008
Purpose: Few studies have simultaneously investigated psychopathic traits in relation to assorted dimensions of a delinquent career. The current study examined the role that psychopathy might play in facilitating research on the small subset of youth at risk for persistent antisocial behavior.
2020
In recent years, there has been an increasing focus on the successful psychopath: An individual who manages to achieve occupational success despite exhibiting core psychopathic traits such as callousness. Several studies suggest this phenomenon is underpinned by a specific configuration of adaptive psychopathic traits that may facilitate positive behaviour in combination with protective variables such as education. In addition, research indicates that psychopathic personalities may be further enabled in occupational domains by specific facial cues pertaining to their underlying personality traits. The present study examined these assertions in a two-part cross-sectional design. Part 1 assessed the extent to which self-report psychopathy (as a function of education) predicted professional success in an occupational sample of 161 participants. In part 2, a convenience sample of 131 participants selected their preferred leaders from male- and female-face pairs communicating high and lo...
While the Psychopathic Personality Inventory (PPI) has gained increasing attention as a measure of noncriminal psychopathy, absent has been research involving samples including business people. This study investigated the validity of the PPI with such a population by examining the association between psychopathic traits and moral decision-making among MBA students. Sixty-six MBA students were assessed using the PPI, the MACH-IV (a measure of Machiavellianism), the Ethical Position Questionnaire (EPQ), and the Defining Issues Test (DIT-2). Only PPI Machiavellian Egocentricity was associated with level of post-conventional moral reasoning. MACH-IV Machiavellianism was a stronger predictor of the Subjectivist ethical position than were PPI subscales. However, a combination of MACH-IV Machiavellianism and four PPI scales accounted for 46% of the variance in Subjectivism. Results suggested that Machiavellian Egocentricity and Machiavellianism are distinct constructs. Benning, Patrick, Hicks, Blonigen, & Krueger (2003)’s two factor model of the PPI was also supported. In general, the findings provided further validation for the PPI as a tool for assessing psychopathic traits among “mainstream” individuals, including business people.
Greed is good? Student disciplinary choice and self-reported psychopathy
Personality and Individual Differences, 2011
The idea of the organisational psychopath has become not only popular in recent times, but increasingly relevant, thanks to the alleged role of high-profile members of the commercial sector in the global recession. To test the proposition that self-reported sub-clinical psychopathy might be disproportionately more common amongst those people electing to study commerce/business at University, 903 first-year students enrolled in a range of academic degrees completed a survey containing Levenson's Self-Report Psychopathy Scale and Paulhus' (1991) Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding. Even after accounting for social desirability, commerce students reported higher levels of primary psychopathy than other students, regardless of sex.
Exploring psychopathic personality traits and moral development in a non-criminal sample
Bewsey, Kyle. Exploring Psychopathic Personality Traits and Moral Development in a Non-Criminal Sample. Doctor of Philosophy (Clinical Psychology), May 2013, 88 pp., 17 tables, references, 95 titles. This study explored psychopathic personality traits among a non-criminal, college undergraduate sample. Much research has been done on conceptualizing the construct of psychopathy, but this work has been conducted primarily with incarcerated individuals using a structured interview, The Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R; Hare, 1991, 2003). The goal of the current study was to assess psychopathic traits among non-criminal individuals using The Self-Report Psychopathy Scale-Version Four (SRP-IV; Paulhus, Neumann, & Hare, in press), and compare how SRP-IV scores were associated with a well recognized semi-structured interview for psychopathy, The Psychopathy Checklist-Screening Version (PCL: SV; Hart, Cox, & Hare, 1995). The study also examined whether psychopathic personality traits could be predicted using a measure of normal-range personality, based on the five-factor model (FFM; Digman, 1990), and a measure developed by Loevinger (1976) related to ego development. Five-Factor Model Rating Form (FFMRF; Mullins-Sweat, Jamerson, Samuel, Olson, & Widiger, 2006) scores and Total Protocol Ratings (TPR score) on the Washington University Sentence Completion Test (WUSCT; Hy & Loevinger, 1996) were used to predict psychopathy scores. Correlations of SRP-IV scores and PCL: SV scores with FFMRF scores and WUSCT TPR scores were also examined for their uniformity. As predicted, there were significant, negative correlations between FFM domains, Agreeableness and Conscientious, and SRP-IV scores, as well as significant, negative correlations between WUSCT TPR scores and SRP-IV scores. These correlations ranged from small to strong for both SRP-IV overall scores and for SRP-IV factor scores (i.e., Interpersonal Manipulation, Callous Affect, Erratic Lifestyle, and Criminal Tendencies). Additionally, FFM domain scores and WUSCT TPR scores significantly predicted SRP-IV scores. FFM domains, Agreeableness and Conscientiousness, and WUSCT TPR scores, were the strongest predictors of SRP-IV scores. Similar results were found when FFM domain scores and WUSCT TPR scores predicted SRP-IV factor scores. Results also indicated Agreeableness and Conscientious explained an additional 24% of the variance in psychopathy scores, after controlling for WUSCT TPR scores. Conversely, WUSCT TPR scores explained an additional 5% of the variance in psychopathy scores after controlling for Agreeableness and Conscientiousness. Finally, as predicted, the differences in correlations between psychopathy scores (i.e., PCL: SV, SRP-IV), and Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and WUSCT TPR scores were not statistically significant providing evidence that correlates of psychopathic traits can be measured among non-criminal individuals using a self-report measure, the SRP-IV, and that these findings are concordant with those based on a standardized structured assessment for psychopathy. Limitations of the study, implications, and recommendations for future research are also discussed.
Criminal and Noncriminal Psychopathy: The Devil is in the Detail
Corporate Psychopathy, 2019
Psychopathy is prevalent and problematic in criminal populations, but is also found to be present in non-criminal populations. In 1992, Robert Hare declared that psychopaths may also "be found in the boardroom", which has since been followed by an interest in the issue of non-criminal, or even successful, psychopathy. In this chapter the paradox of criminal and noncriminal psychopathy is discussed with specific attention given to the similarities and differences that account for psychopathic personality across contexts. That psychopathy is a condition typified by a constellation of traits and behaviours requires wider research across diverse populations, and thus the streams of research related to criminal and non-criminal psychopathy are presented and the implications of these contrasting streams are explored. Understanding the Details Research and case presentations have observed vast variation in psychopathic personality, from high performing executives to violent offenders (Babiak, 1995;
Do psychopathic traits predict professional success?
Journal of Economic Psychology, 2018
Does psychopathy predict professional success? Psychopathy and professional success are multidimensional constructs, and thus certain elements of psychopathy may be related more strongly to certain elements of professional success. Also, psychopathic traits, comprising self-centered impulsivity, fearless dominance, and coldheartedness, may not predict professional success above and beyond the Big Five. We investigated whether self-centered impulsivity, fearless dominance, and coldheartedness predicted professional satisfaction (satisfaction with salary, with promotion, and with career) as well as material success (annual salary, number of promotions, and professional standing) in an occupational sample (N = 439). Selfcentered impulsivity was inversely related to professional satisfaction, whereas fearless dominance was positively related to professional satisfaction and material success. Coldheartedness was related to neither of them. Adding the Big Five, as well as participant gender and time in job, as predictors revealed that extraversion and selfcentered impulsivity predicted professional satisfaction, whereas only extraversion predicted material success; fearless dominance was no longer a significant predictor of material success. Taken together, self-centered impulsivity was negatively linked, whereas fearless dominance was positively linked, to professional success. The findings highlight the differential contribution of impulsiveness-versus fearlessnessrelated elements of psychopathic traits to professional satisfaction.
Journal of Criminal Justice, 2008
Both the criminal career and psychopathy literatures have empirically shown that approximately 5 percent of the criminal population accounts for the preponderance of the incidence of crime; however, these areas of inquiry are largely independent. The current study sought to integrate these literatures using a state population of incarcerated delinquents (n = 723). Descriptive, regression, and ROC-AUC analyses produced significant evidence of the effects of personality and affective psychopathic traits on career criminality net the effects of demographic and mental health controls. Psychopathic traits nearly doubled the total explanatory power of the regression model for career criminality and correctly predicted career criminal membership with accuracies ranging from 70 to 88 percent. Implications of these findings and suggestions for increased integration of criminal career and psychopathy research are proffered.