Psychopathic traits and aggression: Which trait components predict aggressive responding in a laboratory task?

Psychopathy is a complex personality disorder comprising traits related to interpersonal and emotional callousness, egocentricity, and manipulativeness, cognitive and behavioral disinhibition, emotional resilience and fearlessness, and a bold interpersonal style. Aggressive behavior is considered by many one of the central behavioral correlates or consequences of psychopathy. In the current study, we examined the relations between psychopathic traits and aggression manifested in a behavioral shock paradigm in two samples (Sample 1: undergraduates - N = 101; Sample 2: community sample - N = 104). Across both samples, traits related to Antagonism and Disinhibition were significantly correlated with aggressive responding within this paradigm (i.e., shocking more frequently, intensely, and for a longer duration). When controlling for the overlap among psychopathy traits, only the Antagonism-related traits were uniquely correlated with aggressive responding. These findings are consistent with a growing literature that suggests that traits related to Antagonism both within psychopathy and a general trait framework are vital to the propensity to act aggressively towards others.