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Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences pp 1–5Cite as

Fearless Dominance

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Synonyms

Boldness; Fearlessness; Parmia

Definition

Fearless dominance is a broad set of traits encompassing a lack of sensitivity to potential threat, physical and interpersonal boldness, social poise and persuasiveness, relative immunity to stressors, and emotional resilience. The relevance of fearless dominance to psychopathic personality has been a flash point of contention in the literature.

Introduction

Psychopathic personality (psychopathy) is a condition characterized by a distinctive constellation of interpersonal, affective, and behavioral features (Cleckley 1941/1988; Hare 1991/2003). Specifically, psychopathy is marked by superficial charm and poise conjoined with grandiose narcissism, callousness, guiltlessness, dishonesty, manipulativeness, emotional detachment, and poor impulse control, among other traits. This combustible combination of traits places psychopathic individuals at heightened risk for antisocial and criminal behaviors, although such actions are not...

Keywords

  • Emotional Detachment
  • Stress Immunity
  • Psychopathy Checklist
  • Relative Immunity
  • Emotional Resilience

These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Scott O. Lilienfeld & Ashley L. Watts

Authors
  1. Scott O. Lilienfeld
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  2. Ashley L. Watts
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Scott O. Lilienfeld .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Virgil Zeigler-Hill

  2. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. Lakehead University, Orillia, Canada

    Beth A. Visser

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© 2016 Springer International Publishing AG

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Lilienfeld, S.O., Watts, A.L. (2016). Fearless Dominance. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1075-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1075-1

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

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