Abstract
The seven articles in this Special Section of the Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment underscore the point that, at least in the psychopathy domain, parsimony is frequently an inaccurate scientific heuristic. These articles highlight the multidimensionality of youth psychopathy, suggesting that (a) the full constellation of psychopathy tends to outperform callous-unemotional traits alone in statistically predicting external criteria, (b) psychopathy subdimensions often interact statistically in predicting such criteria, and (c) psychopathy subdimensions often bear markedly different external correlates, including criminal offending, trait anxiety, and emotion processing. I offer five recommendations for future research on psychopathy and argue that that a full comprehension of this condition will require a better understanding of its subdimensions, and their interrelations, placement within the general personality domain, physiological correlates, and genetic and environmental underpinnings.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, fifth edition (DSM-5). Washington, D.C.: Author.
Andershed, H., Colins, O., Salekin R. T., Lordos, A., Kyranides, M., & Fanti, K. (2018). Callous-unemotional traits only versus the multidimensional psychopathy construct as predictors of various antisocial outcomes during early adolescence. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, xx, xxx–xxx. (this volume).
Beaton, D. E. (2003). Simple as possible? Or too simple? Possible limits to the universality of the one half standard deviation. Medical Care, 41, 593–596.
Book, A., Costello, K., & Camilleri, J. A. (2013). Psychopathy and victim selection: The use of gait as a cue to vulnerability. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 28, 2368–2383.
Clark, L. A., Watson, D., & Reynolds, S. K. (1995). Diagnosis and classification of psychopathology: Challenges to the current system and future directions. Annual Review of Psychology, 46, 121–153.
Cleckley, H. M. (1941). The mask of sanity. St. Louis: Mosby.
Colins, O. F., Andershed, H., Frogner, L., Lopez-Romero, L., Veen, V., & Andershed, A. K. (2014). A new measure to assess psychopathic personality in children: The child problematic traits inventory. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 36, 4–21.
Colins, O., Andershed, H., Salekin, R. T., & Fanti, K. (2018). Comparing different approaches for subtyping children with conduct problems: Callous-unemotional traits only versus the mutidimensional psychopathy construct. Journal of psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, xx, xxx–xxx. (this volume).
Cronbach, L. J. (1975). Beyond the two disciplines of scientific psychology. American Psychologist, 30, 116–127.
Fanti, K. A., Kyranides, M. N., Lordos, A., Colins, O., & Andershed, H. (2018). Unique and interactive associations of callous unemotional traits, impulsivity (DI) and narcissism (GM traits) with child and adolescent conduct disorder symptoms. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, xx, xxx–xxx. (this volume).
Fiske, S. T., & Taylor, S. E. (2013). Social cognition: From brains to culture. New York: Sage.
Frick, P. J. (2003). The inventory of callous-unemotional traits. Unpublished rating scale, The University of New Orleans, New Orleans.
Frick, P. J., Lilienfeld, S. O., Ellis, M., Loney, B., & Silverthorn, P. (1999). The association between anxiety and psychopathy dimensions in children. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 27, 383–392.
Frogner, L., Andershed, A-K., & Andershed, H. (2018). Psychopathic personality works better than CU traits for predicting fearlessness and ADHD symptoms among children with conduct problems. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, xx, xxx-xxx. (this volume).
Garber, J., & Hollon, S. D. (1991). What can specificity designs say about causality in psychopathology research? Psychological Bulletin, 110, 129–136.
Gillen, C. T., Lee, Z., Salekin, K. L., Iselin, A-M. R., Harrison, N. A., Clark, A. P., Colins, O., & Salekin, R. T. (2018). Psychopathic traits in adolescence: The importance of examining components in face processing, voice processing and emotional skill. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessement, xx, xxx–xxx. (this volume).
Hall, J. R., Benning, S. D., & Patrick, C. J. (2004). Criterion-related validity of the three-factor model of psychopathy: Personality, behavior, and adaptive functioning. Assessment, 11, 4–16.
Hare, R. D. (1985). The psychopathy checklist. Vancouver: Unpublished manuscript, University of British Columbia.
Hare, R. D. (1991/2003). Manual for the psychopathy checklist-revised (PCL-R). Toronto: Multihealth Systems.
Hare, R. D., & Neumann, C. S. (2005). Structural models of psychopathy. Current Psychiatry Reports, 7, 57–64.
Harpur, T. J., Hare, R. D., & Hakstian, A. R. (1989). Two-factor conceptualization of psychopathy: Construct validity and assessment implications. Psychological Assessment: A Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 1, 6–17.
Haslam, N., & Ernst, D. (2002). Essentialist beliefs about mental disorders. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 21, 628–644.
Hicks, B. M., & Patrick, C. J. (2006). Psychopathy and negative emotionality: Analyses of suppressor effects reveal distinct relations with emotional distress, fearfulness, and anger-hostility. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 115, 276–287.
Ishikawa, S. S., Raine, A., Lencz, T., Bihrle, S., & Lacasse, L. (2001). Autonomic stress reactivity and executive functions in successful and unsuccessful criminal psychopaths from the community. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 110, 423–432.
Jefferys, W. H., & Berger, J. O. (1992). Ockham's razor and Bayesian analysis. American Scientist, 80, 64–72.
Jonason, P. K., Luevano, V. X., & Adams, H. M. (2012). How the dark triad traits predict relationship choices. Personality and Individual Differences, 53, 180–184.
Kendall, P. C., Brady, E. U., & Verduin, T. L. (2001). Comorbidity in childhood anxiety disorders and treatment outcome. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 40, 787–794.
Latzman, R. D., Lilienfeld, S. O., Latzman, N. E., & Clark, L. A. (2013). Exploring callous and unemotional traits in youth via general personality traits: An eye toward DSM-5. Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment, 4, 191–202.
Levenson, M. R., Kiehl, K. A., & Fitzpatrick, C. M. (1995). Assessing psychopathic attributes in a noninstitutionalized population. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68, 151–158.
Lilienfeld, S. O. (2003). Comorbidity between and within childhood externalizing and internalizing disorders: Reflections and directions. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 31, 285–291.
Lilienfeld, S. O. (2013). Is psychopathy a syndrome? Comment on Marcus, Fulton, and Edens. Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment, 4, 85–86.
Lilienfeld, S. O., & Widows, M. R. (2005). Manual for the psychopathic personality inventory-revised (PPI-R). Lutz, Florida: Psychological Assessment Resources.
Lilienfeld, S. O., Waldman, I. D., & Israel, A. C. (1994). A critical examination of the use of the term and concept of comorbidity in psychopathology research. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 1, 71–83.
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.
Lilienfeld, S. O., Watts, A. L., & Smith, S. F. (2015a). Successful psychopathy: A scientific status report. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 24, 298–303.
Lilienfeld, S. O., Watts, A. L., Smith, S. F., Berg, J. M., & Latzman, R. D. (2015b). Psychopathy deconstructed and reconstructed: Identifying and assembling the personality building blocks of Cleckley's chimera. Journal of Personality, 83, 593–610.
Lilienfeld, S. O., Smith, S. F., & Watts, A. L. (2016). The perils of unitary models of the etiology of mental disorders—The response modulation hypothesis of psychopathy as a case example: Rejoinder to Newman and Baskin-Sommers (2016). Psychological Bulletin, 142, 1394–1403.
Lilienfeld, S. O., Watts, A. L., Smith, S. F., & Latzman, R. D. (in press-a). Boldness: Conceptual and methodological issues. In C. J. Patrick (Ed.), Handbook of psychopathy. New York: Guilford.
Lilienfeld, S. O., Watts, A. L., Smith, S. F., & Latzman, R. L. (in press-b). Boldness: Conceptual and methodological issues. In C. J. Patrick (Ed.), Handbook of psychopathy (2nd ed.). New York: Guilford.
Lykken, D. T. (1995). The antisocial personalities. Hillsdale. Erlbaum.
Lynam, D. R., & Derefinko, K. J. (2006). Psychopathy and personality. In C. J. Patrick (Ed.), Handbook of psychopathy (pp. 133–155). New York: Guilford.
Lynam, D. R., Hoyle, R. H., & Newman, J. P. (2006). The perils of partialling: Cautionary tales from aggression and psychopathy. Assessment, 13, 328–341.
Maassen, G. H., & Bakker, A. B. (2001). Suppressor variables in path models: Definitions and interpretations. Sociological Methods and Research, 30, 241–270.
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.
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 Treatment, 3, 305–326.
Miller, J. D., & Lynam, D. R. (2015). Understanding psychopathy using the basic elements of personality. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 9, 223–237.
Patrick, C. J. (2006). Back to the future: Cleckley as a guide to the next generation of psychopathy research. In C. J. Patrick (Ed.), Handbook of psychopathy (pp. 605–617). New York: Guilford Press.
Patrick, C. J. (2010). Triarchic psychopathy measure (TriPM). PhenX Toolkit online assessment catalog, https://www.phenxtoolkit.org/index.php?pageLink=browse.protocoldetails&id=121601.
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.
Patterson, G. R., DeBaryshe, B. D., & Ramsey, E. (1989). A developmental perspective on antisocial behavior (Vol. 44, no. 2, p. 329). Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.
Paulhus, D. L., Robins, R. W., Trzesniewski, K. H., & Tracy, J. L. (2004). Two replicable suppressor situations in personality research. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 39, 303–328.
Ridder, K. A., Kosson, D. S. (2018). Investigating the components of psychopathic traits in youth offenders. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, xx, xxx–xxx. (this volume).
Sansone, R. A., & Sansone, L. A. (2012). Borderline personality and externalized aggression. Innovations in Clinical Neuroscience, 9, 23–26.
Sellbom, M. (2011). Elaborating on the construct validity of the Levenson self-report psychopathy scale in incarcerated and non-incarcerated samples. Law and Human Behavior, 35, 440–451.
Short, R. M., Sonuga-Barke, E. J., Adams, W. J., & Fairchild, G. (2016). Does comorbid anxiety counteract emotion recognition deficits in conduct disorder? Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 57, 917–926.
Sleep, C. E., Lynam, D. R., Hyatt, C. S., & Miller, J. D. (2017). Perils of partialing redux: The case of the dark triad. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 126, 939–950.
Somma, A., Andershed, H., Borroni, S., Salekin, R. T., & Fossati, A. (2018). Psychopathic personality traits in relation to self-report delinquency in adolescence: Should we mind about interaction effects. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, xx, xxx–xxx. (this volume).
Tabb, K. (2018). Philosophy of psychiatry after diagnostic kinds. Synthese (in press).
Vitacco, M. J., & Kosson, D. S. (2010). Understanding psychopathy through an evaluation of interpersonal behavior: Testing the factor structure of the interpersonal measure of psychopathy in a large sample of jail detainees. Psychological Assessment, 22, 638-649.
Walker, J. L., Lahey, B. B., Russo, M. F., Christ, M. A. G., McBurnett, K., Loeber, R., Stouthamer-Loeber, M., & Green, S. M. (1991). Anxiety, inhibition, and conduct disorder in children: Relations to social impairment. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 30, 187–191.
Watson, D., Clark, L. A., Chmielewski, M., & Kotov, R. (2013). The value of suppressor effects in explicating the construct validity of symptom measures. Psychological Assessment, 25, 929–941.
Watts, A. L., Waldman, I. D., Smith, S. F., Poore, H. E., & Lilienfeld, S. O. (2017). The nature and correlates of the dark triad: The answers depend on the questions. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 126, 951–968.
Wittgenstein, L. (1953). Philosophical investigations. New York: Blackwell.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of Interest
Scott O. Lilienfeld declare that he have no conflict of interest.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lilienfeld, S.O. The Multidimensional Nature of Psychopathy: Five Recommendations for Research. J Psychopathol Behav Assess 40, 79–85 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-018-9657-7
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-018-9657-7