The Science of Psychopathy and Some Strategies for Moving Forward

Abstract

Objectives: Despite wide interest in psychopathy, much remains unknown about its development and stability across the life-course.Hypotheses: We argue that research surrounding the construct of psychopathy will benefit from understanding and reflecting on the development of more normative personality styles.Methods: To begin filling the gaps, we first briefly review the existing research on the heritability, environmentality, and stability of psychopathic traits, focusing especially on callous-unemotional traits. Drawing on evidence that psychopathic traits can be reliably captured using measures of normative personality, we then discuss the broader literature on personality development and several leading developmental models.Results: We ultimately highlight preliminary evidence in favor of a genetic set-point theory for the development of psychopathic traits and discuss how this can guide research moving forward.Conclusion: Finally, we detail how findings from the broader personality literature can guide the design of future studies on the development of psychopathic traits.