The Influence of Psychopathy on Incarcerated Inmates' Cognitive Empathy.

(1) Background: there is an ongoing debate about whether psychopathic traits increase or decrease cognitive empathy/Theory of Mind. (2) Methods: using a representative sample of 204 Spanish convicted inmates incarcerated at the Pereiro de Aguiar Penitentiary in Ourense, Spain, we investigated the relationship between two tools for the assessment of psychopathy, the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) and the Comprehensive Assessment of Psychopathic Personality (CAPP), and the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET), a well-known measure of cognitive empathy. (3) Results: The results showed no clear connection between the scores on the psychopathy assessment tools and RMET performance. This lack of association was stronger when the age variable was included in the multivariate analysis. (4) Conclusions: the results of this study failed to detect any clear link between psychopathy and cognitive empathy performance. Accordingly, our results indicate that psychopathy neither improves nor worsens cognitive empathy.

Increasing the Utility of the Comprehensive Assessment of Psychopathic Personality-Lexical Rating Scale (CAPP-LRS): Instrument Adaptation and Simplification.

The Comprehensive Assessment of Psychopathic Personality-Lexical Rating Scale (CAPP-LRS) is a self-report instrument designed to index psychopathy according to the CAPP psychopathy framework. Developed with the expressed goal of advancing the state of knowledge regarding the specific features of psychopathy, the CAPP model and associated instruments have garnered increasing attention and support in the field. Despite the conceptual strength of the CAPP model, the advanced lexical structure of its primary research tool (the CAPP-LRS) has led researchers to question the utility of the instrument for use with some populations of interest (e.g., forensic/correctional and adolescent/young adult samples). The aim of the present work was to address this issue by creating a lexically simplified, though functionally equivalent, version of the CAPP-LRS to increase accessibility to critically relevant populations. A set of two studies (N = 602) describes the adaptation protocol and the initial validation of the modified instrument.

Psicopatía y adicciones en mujeres: Estudio comparativo utilizando el Psychopathy Checklist Revised y el Comprehensive Assessment of Psychopathic Personality / Psychopathy, addictions and female gender: Comparative study using the Psychopathy Checklist Revised and the Comprehensive Assessment of Psychopathic Personality

La investigación en psicopatía se ha centrado tradicionalmente en laevaluación de varones con el Psychopathy Checklist Revised (PCL-R). Lainvestigación en mujeres utilizando otros instrumentos de evaluación esmuy escasa. El objetivo de este estudio es evaluar la psicopatía, utilizandovarios instrumentos, es una muestra que incluya mujeres y varones. 204internos (edad media (SD) = 40,93 (11,8)), 28 mujeres (13,7%), delCentro Penitenciario de Pereiro de Aguiar (Ourense) participaron eneste estudio. Se recogieron variables sociodemográficas, consumo desustancias,antecedentes delictivos y fueron evaluados con los siguientesinstrumentos: PCL-R, Comprehensive Assessment of PsychopathicPersonality (CAPP) y el International Personality Disorder Examination.En esta muestra representativa de la población penitenciaria se observóque en el PCL-R los varones obtenían puntuaciones significativamentemás elevadas en la faceta 4 que mide la conducta antisocial. Las mujeresobtuvieron puntuaciones significativamente más elevadas en el CAPPen el dominio Self, que mide la conducta narcisista. No se obtuvoningún síntoma o ítem que permitiese discriminar claramente a lasmujeres psicopáticas de los varones psicopáticos utilizando un modelode Máquinas de Vectores Soporte. El constructo de la psicopatía essimilar para las mujeres y los hombres en esta muestra. Las mujerespresentan puntuaciones más elevadas de narcisismo y los varones deantisocialidad. Para valorar mejor estas diferencias psicopatológicas esmejor combinar el PCL-R con otro instrumento como el CAPP. Ningúnsíntoma o ítem tiene una puntuación que pueda recomendarse comométodo que permita discriminar a las mujeres psicopáticas de losvarones psicopáticos. (AU)

Traditionally, psychopathy research has focused on assessing menwith the Psychopathy Checklist Revised (PCL-R). Research on womenwith other assessment tools is scarce. The objective of this study is toevaluate psychopathy, using various tools, in a sample with both womenand men. The study involved 204 inmates (mean age (DS) = 40.93(11.8)), 28 women (13.7%), in the Pereiro de Aguiar penitentiary(Ourense). Sociodemographic, substance use, and criminal variableswere collected, and all were evaluated with the following tools: PCL-R,Comprehensive Assessment of Psychopathic Personality (CAPP),and the International Personality Disorder Examination. In thissample, when assessed with the PCL-R, males obtained significantlyhigher scores on facet 4, which measures antisocial behaviour.Women obtained significantly higher scores on the Self domain inthe CAPP, measuring narcissism. No symptom or item was able toclearly discriminate psychopathic women from psychopathic men ina Support Vector Machine model. The construct of psychopathy issimilar for women and men in this representative penitentiary sample.Women showed higher scores for narcissism and men for antisociality.It is better to combine the PCL-R with another tool such as the CAPPto assess these psychopathological differences. No symptom or itemhas a score that can be recommended as a method for discriminatingpsychopathic women from psychopathic men. (AU)

Construct Validity of the Comprehensive Assessment of Psychopathic Personality (CAPP): Examining the Internal Structure and Generalizability of CAPP Self-Ratings Across Gender and Ethnicity.

The Comprehensive Assessment of Psychopathic Personality (CAPP) is a recently developed conceptual model of psychopathy designed to index the disorder across 33 personality traits. Although recent research has evidenced support for the CAPP model with respect to the convergent, criterion, and predictive validity of CAPP instruments, little work has examined the optimal internal structure and generalizability of the model and associated measures. The present study sought to elaborate on the construct validity and psychometric properties of the CAPP Lexical Self Rating Scale and determine the utility of the instrument across men and women, and individuals of Caucasian and East Asian descent. Within a large sample of self-identified offenders (N = 1,414), we found strong support for a three-factor model comprising domains reflecting interpersonal dominance, behavioral disinhibition, and deficient emotional attachment. Analyses examining the generalizability of the model provide further insight into its applicability for diverse populations.

Further Validation of the Comprehensive Assessment of Psychopathic Personality-Self-Report (CAPP-SR) in Lithuanian Offender and Nonoffender Samples.

The Comprehensive Assessment of Psychopathic Personality (CAPP) is an emerging integrative model that makes use of 33 symptoms to characterize psychopathic personality disorder, but operationalizations of this model have not endured extensive validation to date. The current study sought to validate the recently published CAPP-Self-Report (CAPP-SR). Participants derived from two Lithuanian offender (n = 231) and nonoffender (n = 312) samples. They were administered the CAPP-SR, Triarchic Psychopathy Measure, Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire, and a subsample of offenders also had Offender Assessment System risk assessment scores available. The results showed that CAPP-SR total, domain, and symptom scores were associated with TriPM and Aggression Questionnaire scores in a manner consistent with conceptual expectations. CAPP-SR symptoms specifically reflective of aggression, anger, and antagonism were most strongly associated with Offender Assessment System risk scores. The findings provide support for construct validity of CAPP-SR scores as well as have implications for the CAPP model more broadly, which are discussed.

Can the Comprehensive Assessment of Psychopathic Personality Be Used to Measure the Triarchic Model Constructs of Boldness, Meanness, and Disinhibition? A Scale Derivation Study.

Can the components of the triarchic model of psychopathy (i.e., boldness, meanness, disinhibition) be operationalized using the item pool comprising the Comprehensive Assessment of Psychopathic Personality (CAPP) model? To address this question, the authors first derived CAPP-based triarchic scales using standard item-selection procedures and then examined the external correlates of these provisional scales in three archival data sets: (a) U.S. jail inmates administered the institutional rating scale version of the CAPP and (b and c) prototypicality ratings of the CAPP traits provided by Swedish forensic mental health professionals and U.S. probation officers. Although most research on triarchic constructs has relied exclusively on self-report inventories, the results suggest that the CAPP model can be reorganized to reflect boldness, meanness, and disinhibition and that its institutional rating scale items can effectively quantify these constructs using interview and file review data. Implications for future research on the measurement and assessment of psychopathic traits are discussed.

Diagnosing Psychopathy through Emotional Regulation Tasks: Heart Rate Variability versus Implicit Association Test.

BACKGROUND: Nowadays, the assessment of psychopathy relies on semistructured interviews plus file reviews. In order to improve the predictive validity of psychopathy at the individual level, tools that are not based on the rating of signs and symptoms are in great need. SAMPLING AND METHODS: The present study was conducted in a representative sample of 204 Spanish sentenced inmates. These inmates have served at least 6 months of their sentence at the Pereiro de Aguiar (Ourense, Spain) penitentiary. Psychopathy signs and symptoms were scored through interview and file review. The Implicit Association Test (IAT) and heart rate variability (HRV) experiments were also conducted. The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) was performed as a control measure. RESULTS: Spectral HRV indices were able to detect psychopathic inmates at a significant level, while IAT experiments and the IGT could not discriminate them. HRV indices showed a more significant difference when assessing the affective-interpersonal dimensions of psychopathy. CONCLUSIONS: An HRV experiment is better than IAT in order to detect psychopathy in a representative sample of Spanish inmates.