Psychopathy, impulsivity, and personality structure

It has been suggested that impulsivity is a core feature of psychopathy. However, certain findings in the research literature do not seem to mesh with this notion and suggest that primary and secondary variants of psychopathy may differ in their manifestation of impulsivity-related features. We carried out a correlational analysis and group comparisons on a sample of 106 non-criminal females. Variables that were measured include the Fearless Dominance (PPI-FD) and Impulsive Antisociality (PPI-IA) factors of the Psychopathic Personality Inventory (PPI); The Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-Revised, short version (EPQ-R-S); The Impulsiveness Questionnaire (I₇) and Dickman's Functional and Dysfunctional Impulsivity Scales (FI/DI). The results presented a remarkably clear personality structure, supporting the notion that the PPI has two orthogonal facets revealing different patterns of association with impulsivity, and that these comprise different intercorrelated factors (PPI-FD, Venturesomeness, Extraversion, and FI, which form one intercorrelated factor; and PPI-IA, Impulsivity, Neuroticism, and DI, which form a second intercorrelated factor), suggesting that the personality structure revealed in this study is a gestalt.