Premium
Do psychopathic birds of a feather flock together? Psychopathic personality traits and romantic preferences
Author(s) -
Watts Ashley L.,
Rohr Jessica C.,
McCauley Katherine L.,
Smith Sarah Francis,
Howe Kristin Landfield,
Lilienfeld Scott O.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of personality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.082
H-Index - 144
eISSN - 1467-6494
pISSN - 0022-3506
DOI - 10.1111/jopy.12394
Subject(s) - psychology , psychopathy , big five personality traits , developmental psychology , personality , preference , social psychology , economics , microeconomics
Objective The goal of the present studies was to investigate whether people are especially attracted to psychopathic traits, and whether there are individual differences in such attraction. Method Female undergraduates ( N = 270; M age = 19; 57% White, 20% Asian, 8% Black) and female and male community members ( N = 426; M age = 37; 56% female; 81% Caucasian, 10% African American, 4% Asian) reported on their own personality and constructed their ideal mate for a dating, short‐term, and long‐term relationship from a list of 70 characteristics drawn from well‐validated criteria for psychopathic personality and diagnostic criteria for DSM‐5 personality disorders (PDs). Results Across both studies, absolute romantic preferences for psychopathic traits collapsed across time point were low on average, but higher than those for most all other PDs. In addition, they were higher for Factor 1 (i.e., interpersonal/affective) as opposed to Factor 2 (i.e., impulsive, antisocial) psychopathy traits. Participants with marked PD features, including Factor 2 psychopathy traits, were more inclined than others to endorse a preference for psychopathic males. Conclusions Relative attraction to psychopathic males and observed homophily may be avenues through which psychopathic traits persist in the population across time.