What Makes a "Successful" Psychopath? Longitudinal trajectories of antisocial behavior and impulse regulation in criminals as a function of psychopathology.

Lasko, EN, and Chester, DS (2021). What makes a "successful" psychopath? Longitudinal trajectories of antisocial behavior and impulse regulation in offenders as a function of psychopathology. Personality disorders: theory, research, and treatment, 12(3), 207-215. https://doi.org/10.1037/per0000421

Commentary

This study was investigating a compensatory model of "successful" psychopathology.

To test this, we reviewed a 7-year longitudinal study of pathways to desire in 1,354 adjudicated adolescents.

The analysis showed that higher initial psychopathology was associated with a rapid increase in general inhibitory control and suppression of aggression over time, and that this effect was magnified among offenders who had less recidivism.

In support of the researchers' hypothesized compensatory model, the results suggest that psychopathic individuals who develop greater self-regulatory control over antisocial impulses are relatively more "successful" than their less-regulated counterparts.

He also talks about the importance of the five-factor model for understanding psychopathology and the important role of integrity in the forms taken by individuals.