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Clarifying Fearlessness in Psychopathy: an Examination of Thrill-Seeking and Physical Risk-Taking

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Abstract

Fearlessness has been described among the traits associated with psychopathy; however, disparities in conceptualizations of fear and how related elements are operationalized among different measures of psychopathic traits have led to some enduring controversy. Here we address a subset of elements characterizing fearlessness represented in thrill-seeking and physical risk-taking among a large sample of incarcerated individuals (n = 688). We examine these relationships utilizing Hare’s Psychopathy Checklist Revised (PCL-R), the Psychopathy Personality Inventory-Short Form (PPI-SF), and the Zuckerman Sensation Seeking Scale (SSS). Among males, the Thrill and Adventure Seeking (TAS) scale of the SSS was not related to features of the PCL-R, but was highly correlated with Fearless Dominance (FD) of the PPI-SF. Among females, TAS was only modestly correlated with PCL-R total score, but neither of the two PCL-R factors. PPI-SF FD remained a strong predictor of TAS among females. We argue for a careful consideration of the boundaries of the term “fearlessness” as it relates to diverse manifestations of behavior and varied conceptualizations of psychopathy. We also reiterate apparent differences between males and females in the presentation of psychopathic traits.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the inmates and staff with the New Mexico and Wisconsin Departments of Corrections, without their valuable cooperation this work would not be possible. This work was supported in part by the National Institutes of Health (grant numbers R01MH109329 R01DA026964, R01DA026505, R01MH071896, R01DA020870, R01MH070539, PI Kiehl). JMM is supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse through Grant Number F31 DA043328–01. Anonymized data utilized for these analyses are stored on local servers and will be shared by the senior author upon reasonable request. This study was not preregistered in any research registry prior to publication.

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  1. Nathaniel E. Anderson and Matthew Widdows contributed equally to this work.

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  1. The Mind Research Network (MRN) of Lovelace Biomedical Research Institute (LBRI), 1101 Yale Blvd. NE, Albuquerque, NM, 87106, USA

    Nathaniel E. Anderson, Matthew Widdows, J. Michael Maurer & Kent A. Kiehl

  2. Department of Psychology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 87106, USA

    J. Michael Maurer & Kent A. Kiehl

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The lead authors, Anderson & Widdows, were responsible for study conceptualization, data analysis, and writing of the manuscript. Co-Author, Maurer, aided in data collection, analysis, and editing of manuscript. Senior author, Kiehl, was responsible for supervising study conceptualization, data collection, analysis, and aided in manuscript preparation and editing.

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Correspondence to Nathaniel E. Anderson or Kent A. Kiehl.

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Anderson, N.E., Widdows, M., Maurer, J.M. et al. Clarifying Fearlessness in Psychopathy: an Examination of Thrill-Seeking and Physical Risk-Taking. J Psychopathol Behav Assess 43, 21–32 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-020-09847-y

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