Refining the link between psychopathy, antisocial behavior, and empathy: a meta-analytical approach across different conceptual frameworks

The current meta-analysis included 431 records (N= 123,414) to comprehensively explore the complex interaction between psychopathy, antisocial behavior, and empathy. First, empathy domains (cognitive and affective) were used to provide critical insights for distinguishing antisocial behavior from psychopathy. Cognitive empathy was more impaired in antisocial groups (gcognitive= -.40; gaffective= -.11), while high psychopathy samples displayed larger deficits in affective empathy (gaffective= -.44; gcognitive= -.23), although this dissociation was not clear in correlational analyses. Secondly, the specific associations between empathy domains and psychopathy dimensions were evaluated. Psychopathy traits closely related to antisocial behavior were mildly associated with both empathy domains (r= -.07 to -.14). Callous-affective traits were largely associated with affective empathy (r= -.32 to -.35) and moderately correlated to cognitive empathy (r= -.26). Diverging results were found for the interpersonal dimension, as boldness-adaptive manifestations were unrelated to cognitive empathy (r= .05), while non-adaptive interpersonal traits were negatively associated with both empathy domains (rcognitive= -.14; raffective= -.25). Overall, these findings suggest that: (1) psychopathy and antisocial behavior display distinct empathic profiles; (2) psychopathy dimensions are differentially associated with cognitive and affective empathy; (3) the interaction between interpersonal traits and empathic processes is different across the conceptual models of psychopathy.

Differentiating Perpetrators of Intimate Partner Violence From Other Violent Offenders Using a Statistical Learning Model: The Role of Cognition and Life History Variables

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a widespread crime that victimizes over 4-million women per year in the United States and results in significant monetary cost and unmeasured physical and psychological consequences for victims. Specialized IPV offender treatment programs demonstrate limited effectiveness, which may be due to an insufficient understanding of the factors that differentiate between IPV perpetrators and non-IPV violent offenders. In this study, we utilized classification and regression tree (CART) analysis to identify combinations of factors that best discriminate IPV perpetrators from non-IPV violent offenders. We also compared cognitive abilities between IPV perpetrators and non-IPV violent offenders using standardized neurocognitive tests. CART analysis presented two pathways for identifying offenders as IPV perpetrators: (a) extensive nonviolent criminal history and (b) moderate-to-severe expression of interpersonal traits of psychopathy without attentional deficits. In addition, a third pathway identified non-IPV violent offenders: (c) low levels of interpersonal psychopathic traits and no history of neurodevelopmental diagnosis. IPV perpetrators demonstrated intact cognition relative to test norms, and study groups did not significantly differ on cognitive performance. These findings suggest that individuals with multiple arrests for nonviolent crime or individuals with interpersonal traits of psychopathy without attentional difficulties may be at enhanced risk for IPV perpetration.

Associations Between Psychopathy and the Trait Meta-Mood Scale in Incarcerated Males: A Combined Latent Variable- and Person-Centered Approach

The present study sought to replicate and extend current knowledge on the relevance of emotion regulation (ER) for psychopathy. In a large sample of incarcerated adult males ( N = 578), latent profile analysis (LPA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) were employed to examine person- and variable-centered associations between self-reported ER and both self-report and clinical ratings of psychopathy. With LPA, participants were classified into three profiles corresponding to low, medium, and high ER. The low-ER profile displayed higher affective traits across psychopathy assessments compared with the other profiles. The same pattern of findings was evident for overt behavioral features of psychopathy, but not for interpersonal traits. SEM results were consistent with LPA findings: interpersonal (positively), affective, and lifestyle (negatively) facets had unique associations with a superordinate ER latent variable. Findings replicate and extend prior associations between psychopathy and ER and suggest differential links between ER and affective and interpersonal traits of psychopathy.