ABSTRACT

The current chapter reviews psychopathy through the lens of structural personality models, specifically the Five Factor Model. This is advantageous because it allows a much broader perspective for understanding psychopathy as a relatively specific set of normal personality traits. Understanding psychopathy through this framework allows this massive body of basic research to be brought to bear on psychopathy to inform assessment, etiology, course, and treatment. Multiple researchers are studying the development and continuity of FFM traits over time, the processes underlying and outcomes attributable to specific domains within the FFM, and the basic processes underlying Agreeableness and Conscientiousness. The structural personality approach to psychopathy also facilitates examining negative affective traits, including anxiety, depression, and shame or guilt, and how these emotions relate to behavior. To the extent that psychopathy can be connected to this vast literature, this empirical literature can be leveraged to increase our understanding of psychopathy.