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The Triarchic Psychopathy Model is Embedded Within the Five Factor Model: No Need for Reconfiguration

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Abstract

The triarchic model of psychopathy conceptualizes psychopathy as underlain by three distinct trait domains: Boldness, Meanness, and Disinhibition. In addition to the original Triarchic Psychopathy Measure (TriPM), several alternative measures of the TriPM have been developed from existing personality inventories, including the NEO Personality Inventory-Revised, which assesses five-factor model traits. Although proponents of the TriPM have suggested that the FFM domains require reconfiguration to capture the content of the triarchic domains, others have argued that the Boldness, Meanness, and Disinhibition are well-captured by traditional FFM domains. The goal of this paper is to examine the convergence between the triarchic and FFM domains, and to evaluate the extent to which reconfiguring the domains provides additional incremental variance in psychopathy-related outcomes. In the present study, 431 participants completed several measures via Amazon Mechanical Turk, including the TriPM, its alternative scales, measures of the FFM, and criterion scales related to psychopathy. Consistent with previous research, findings indicate strong convergence between Meanness and low Agreeableness, Disinhibition and low Conscientiousness, and Boldness and a composite score of low Neuroticism and high Extraversion. Reconfigured domains did not appear to add significant incremental variance to psychopathy-related outcomes when compared to the traditional FFM domains.

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Data Availability

The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in OSF at https://osf.io/52deh/.

Notes

  1. Although a total score can be summed using the TriPM, it is rarely used given that the subscales do not work like a true syndrome (i.e., not all are positively correlated). As such, scores for each respective domain (e.g., Boldness) are most commonly reported.

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No funding was received for conducting this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Family Institute at Northwestern University, Illinois, USA

    Katherine L. Collison

  2. Department of Psychological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, USA

    Donald R. Lynam

  3. Department of Psychology, University of Georgia, 618 Library Place, Evanston, IL, 60201, USA

    Joshua D. Miller

Authors
  1. Katherine L. Collison
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  2. Donald R. Lynam
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  3. Joshua D. Miller
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Correspondence to Katherine L. Collison.

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The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of Purdue University (Approval #1804020535). The procedures used in this study adhere to the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki.

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Collison, K.L., Lynam, D.R. & Miller, J.D. The Triarchic Psychopathy Model is Embedded Within the Five Factor Model: No Need for Reconfiguration. J Psychopathol Behav Assess 45, 1034–1045 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-023-10080-6

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