Psychopathic personality traits predict competitive wins and cooperative losses in negotiation

• Psychopathic personality features were related to a competitive world-view.
• Psychopathic traits improved performance in competitive negotiations.
• Psychopathic traits hindered performance in cooperative negotiations.
• Psychopathic traits can contribute to both success and failure in negotiations.

Corporate corruption has recently called attention to the relevance of psychopathic personality traits—the absence of conscience, remorse, or scruples—in business settings; yet, little is known about how these personality traits affect business practices. We present two studies testing whether psychopathic personality traits are related to social perspective and cognitive decision-making biases relevant to negotiation, and whether those traits affect outcomes in a negotiation simulation. Psychopathic personality features were associated with a competitive world-view, including selfish social motivations and illusions of conflict with others. In mixed-motive negotiations, psychopathic traits predicted greater personal monetary gains when success favored competitive actions, but predicted monetary loss when success depended on cooperation. Results suggest that psychopathic personality traits can both bolster and hinder success in business.