Individuals who are high in psychopathic traits are known to cheat, lie, and manipulate others. One of the factors that may influence this behaviour is interpersonal judgment accuracy and tendency. There is some indication that increased psychopathic traits may be related to the ability to accurately judge the personality traits and emotions of others, and subsequently select individuals with characteristics that make them more vulnerable to manipulation and victimization. Alternatively, psychopathic traits may be related to a tendency to view others as possessing more vulnerable traits in general. The current study explored this topic by examining the relationship between psychopathic traits and the ability to accurately judge others’ personality traits and emotional states, as well the tendency to judge others as being more vulnerable. These relationships were examined in the overall sample as well by sex of judge and target. Male and female undergraduate students (N = 131) completed measures of psychopathic traits and narcissism. They were also asked to complete three tasks: 1) judge the personality traits and emotional states of individuals shown in brief video clips, 2) complete a memory task, select individuals who they would like to get to know better, and judge their vulnerability to being taken advantage of based on viewing photographs and brief written descriptions, and 3) judge brief displays of emotion. Results indicated that higher levels of psychopathic traits were related to enhanced judgment accuracy for certain traits and emotional states, but these relationships often varied depending on sex of judge and target. As well, psychopathic traits appeared to have a stronger relationship with judgment tendency than judgment accuracy, suggesting that individuals who are high in psychopathic traits tend to view others in a more negative light that may make them seem more vulnerable to manipulation. Judgment tendency also varied depending on sex of judge and target. Psychopathic traits showed stronger relationships with both judgment accuracy and tendency than narcissism. The results of the current study highlight the importance of continuing to study male and female psychopathy separately to gain an understanding of how psychopathic traits may manifest differently between the sexes.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:NSHD.ca#10222/38566 |
| Date | 30 September 2013 |
| Creators | Demetrioff, Sabrina |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
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