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Assessment of Psychopathy: Addressing Myths, Misconceptions, and Fallacies

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Psychopathy

Part of the book series: History, Philosophy and Theory of the Life Sciences ((HPTL,volume 27))

Abstract

Psychopathy is a contentious construct with respect to both theory and operationalization. A number of myths, misconceptions, and fallacies regarding the assessment of psychopathy hinder scientific progress and impede this construct’s applied consideration across settings and contexts. We review these widespread erroneous ideas with an eye to guiding the reader towards an improved understanding of scientifically-informed means of conceptualizing and applying psychopathy assessment. More specifically, we consider whether “gold standards” exist for psychopathy measurement, differing psychopathy measures capture the same underlying subdimensions, and the DSM-5 diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder affords an adequate operationalization of psychopathy. We also consider the relevance of the controversial construct of boldness to psychopathy. Moreover, we discuss whether it is scientifically acceptable to rely on total psychopathy scores or use cut scores for a “psychopathy diagnosis.” In light of psychopathy being an important criminal justice construct, we ask whether the Psychopathy Checklist – Revised is an unparalleled measure of violent recidivism, as numerous scholars have asserted. We conclude by considering the appropriateness for various assessment modalities (self-report, informant-reports, and brief forms) for psychopathy measurement.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Reliability refers to the degree to which a test score is measuring an underlying theoretical construct with consistency.

  2. 2.

    Validity refers to the degree to which a test score is measuring what it is purported to measure per the theory underlying the test.

  3. 3.

    Construct validity refers to whether a test score converges with theoretically expected extra-test variables (convergent validity) as well as diverges from theoretically unrelated extra-test variables (discriminant validity).

  4. 4.

    Self-report assessment refers to the practice by which individuals respond to questions about themselves, usually via questionnaires or interviews. In the current chapter, self-report refers exclusively to questionnaire-based assessment.

  5. 5.

    Informant-based assessment refers to a measurement modality in which someone other than the person being evaluated, typically a friend, romantic partner, family member, or co-worker, reports on the person’s psychological characteristics.

  6. 6.

    Content validity refers to whether a test or scale provides sufficient content coverage to adequately canvas the universe of the theoretical construct being measured.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

    Martin Sellbom

  2. Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Scott O. Lilienfeld

  3. University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia

    Scott O. Lilienfeld

  4. Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Robert D. Latzman

  5. Eastern Kentucky University, Richmond, KY, USA

    Dustin B. Wygant

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  1. Martin Sellbom
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  2. Scott O. Lilienfeld
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  3. Robert D. Latzman
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  4. Dustin B. Wygant
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Correspondence to Martin Sellbom .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Rijeka, Rijeka, Croatia

    Luca Malatesti

  2. Bioethics Centre, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

    John McMillan

  3. Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Rijeka, Rijeka, Croatia

    Predrag Šustar

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Sellbom, M., Lilienfeld, S.O., Latzman, R.D., Wygant, D.B. (2022). Assessment of Psychopathy: Addressing Myths, Misconceptions, and Fallacies. In: Malatesti, L., McMillan, J., Šustar, P. (eds) Psychopathy. History, Philosophy and Theory of the Life Sciences, vol 27. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-82454-9_9

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