Gender bias in the perception of psychopathy

Presently, there has been little research conducted on psychopathy in women. Gender bias could constitute one explanation for the lack of attention to the specific manifestation of this disorder in women. Therefore, this study aimed to further understand gender bias and differences in the manifestation and perception of psychopathy, in order to assist in the conceptualization of the female psychopath. Participants (United States citizens, non-clinical, non-incarcerated, non-institutionalized samples found via Qualtrics, an online research company) were assigned to read and respond to one of four vignettes. Each vignette addressed a typical or atypical psychopathic trait expressed by a male or female perpetrator to manipulate a target person; in addition, the psychopathic traits described were based on the literature on psychopathy and gender differences. They were designed so that participants would rate the degree to which they perceived the psychopathic behavior described in the vignette, as generally acceptable, and to what degree they perceived the behavior as unacceptable. Participants then filled out the Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy Scale to determine the effects of psychopathic traits, if any, on the vignettes' acceptability ratings. Overall, results indicated that gender bias, based on the perceptions of observers in this study, was not clearly a significant cause for the under-diagnosis of psychopathy in women. Results suggested that gender bias isn't the prime explanation for the apparent rarity of the diagnosed female psychopath. What was apparent was that males self-identified with psychopathic traits more readily on average than did females, and, depending upon how highly they identified with those traits, they tended to find such behavior in others increasingly acceptable---regardless of the gender of the person they were observing.