A Research Of Psychopathic Subtypes Based On The TriPM Model

Psychopathy is a heterogeneous construct that reflects the configuration of interpersonal,affective,lifestyle,and antisocial related traits.Both theoretical concepts and recent empirical studies indicate that there are different psychopathic subtypes with distinct characteristics,etiology,and developmental pathways in populations with high psychopathic traits.The current research is constituted by two related studies.Study 1examined the psychopathic subtypes in a mixed sample of Chinese college students(n= 791).Based on the subscales of the TriPM and other psychopathy-related traits including trait anxiety,emotion dysregulation,and behavioral inhibition/activation system(BIS/BAS),we obtained three distinct psychopathic variants through latent profile analysis in a subsample(n = 131)with high psychopathic characteristics: 1)successful psychopathy displayed the high level of boldness and meanness,but low scores on disinhibition,trait anxiety,emotion dysregulation,and BIS;2)primary psychopathy evidenced moderately high scores on the boldness,meanness,and disinhibition,but low scores on the trait anxiety and BIS;3)secondary psychopathy exhibited low boldness scores,high level on the meanness,disinhibition,trait anxiety,emotion dysregulation,and BIS.Given the exsist of psychopathic subtypes reflect the interaction of different psychopathic dispositions,in study 2,we examined the predictive contributions of threat sensitivity,poor inhibitory control,and their interaction to emotion dysregulation in 694 Chinese undergraduates.Our results suggested that two dispositions have independent contributions to emotion dysregulation.Additionally,the interactive effects of two dispositions for emotion dysregulation provide evidence that deficits associated with poor inhibitory control can be selectively suppressed by low threat sensitivity or exacerbated by high threat sensitivity.Moreover,the broad nomological network of the TriPM not only provides perspectives from neurobiological and developmental precursors to further understand the psychopathic subtypes but also information for clinical assessment and intervention of psychopathy.