Understanding the Manifestation of Psychopathic Personality Characteristics Across Populations

Psychopathic personality traits have been identified in research on criminal and noncriminal samples... . A large body of research exists on criminal psychopathy; however, limited empirical understanding has emerged for noncriminal psychopathy. It is unknown whether the empirical knowledge on criminal psychopathy is generalisable to psychopathic personality in the broader community... . The current thesis sought to address the lack of research on psychopathy outside of the correctional setting... . The present research aimed to develop a greater understanding of psychopathic traits across specific populations, incorporating three samples. These were a community based sample (n = 115), criminal sample of community based probation and parole offenders (n =44) and business sample consisting of working professionals and students completing a Master of Business Administration Degree (n = 60). The results of the thesis provided support for theories of criminal and noncriminal psychopathy, suggesting that theoretical differences may be attributed to populations examined. Implications for the current study lie within advancing the empirical data on noncriminal psychopathy, including psychopathic traits differences between offenders and individuals in corporate positions.