NCJ Number
234415
Journal
Aggression and Violent Behavior Volume: 16 Issue: 2 Dated: March/April 2011 Pages: 120-134
Date Published
April 2011
Length
15 pages
Annotation
This study examined the consensus that psychopaths are impulsive.
Abstract
Extant models and measures for assessing psychopathy include impulsivity as a key feature of this disorder. In this article, the authors review literature that demonstrates how psychopathy-and-impulsivity relations differ as a function of manifestations of psychopathy in both person-oriented studies (i.e., mean impulsivity scores among psychopathy subtypes) and variable-oriented studies (i.e., correlations with psychopathy measures' factor scores). Also, emerging models of psychopathy within Gray's Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory (RST) challenge the notion that impulsivity is the primary personality trait associated with increased Behavioral Approach System (BAS) function that is associated with some RST models of psychopathy. Finally, recent studies with student and community samples challenge the notion that the more dysfunctional forms of impulsivity may be appropriate markers of "successful psychopathy." The authors conclude that the blunt assertion that "psychopaths are impulsive" is no longer defensible, and that future models of psychopathy need to consider more complex associations among the various manifestations of these two constructs. (Published Abstract)