Computer criminal behavior is related to psychopathy and other antisocial behavior

Psychopathy is a personality disorder that can be conceived of as a collection of traits from general models of personality. The present study examined the relations between psychopathy assessed via the Elemental Psychopathy Assessment Short Form (EPA-SF) and basic personality, antisocial behavior, and computer crime in a sample of 235 participants recruited through Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk). Results indicated relatively strong support for the validity of the EPA-SF as it bore expected relations to personality, antisocial behavior, and computer crime. Results also underscored the utility of differentiating among the various components of psychopathy, and revealed the relative importance of Interpersonal Antagonism and Disinhibition and the relative insignificance of emotional stability. Finally, results suggested computer criminal behaviors, like other forms of antisocial behavior, correlated with violent and nonviolent antisocial behavior and psychopathy. Implications for the use of the EPA-SF in the assessment of psychopathy and the utility of considering computer crime as an indicator of general antisocial behavior are discussed.