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Psychology Colloquia

14 November 2006

Title

"Self-Report Measures of Psychopathic and Schizotypal Personality Characteristics: A Confirmatory Factor Analysis of Hypothetical Antisocial Behavior and Hypothetical Psychosis-Proneness in a College Sample"
 

Speaker

Amber Bonogofsky is a 6th year graduate student in the Clinical Psychology Program at the University of Montana. Her supervisor is Dr. David Schuldberg. Her research interests include psychopathy and serious mental illness, such as schizophrenia. She recently completed an assistantship at Partnership Health Center, providing therapy and referrals to community resources for underserved populations. She is currently teaching Psychology of Personality, and hopes to one day be a life coach to Britney Spears.
 

Time & Venue

4:10pm, SS 356
 

Abstract

This study sought to separate the constructs of hypothetical psychopathy and hypothetical psychosis-proneness. This was attempted by performing Confirmatory Factor Analyses on different proposed factor structures of both psychopathic and schizotypic subclinical symptoms using data from a college sample. The study attempted to provide evidence for existing factor structures of each construct. Research suggests that the constructs overlap in their factor structures, as do their measures, although psychopathy and schizotypy are considered to be separate disorders. This study sought to separate structural overlap in self-report measures of these two constructs.

As conceptualized by Robert Hare, originator of the Psychopathy Checklist Revised (PCL-R; 2003), psychopathy reflects two interrelated but distinct factors. The first symptom factor (Factor 1) reflects the shallow and remorseless emotional life of the psychopath. The next symptom factor (Factor 2) reflects a lifestyle of impulsive and antisocial behaviors. Further research into the factor structure of psychopathy has produced three, four, and even five-factor models of the construct (Cook & Michie, 2001; Lynam, 2002; Miller, Lynam, Widiger, & Leukefeld, 2001; Skeem, Mulvey, & Grisso, 2003; Widiger & Lynam, 1998;). Cook & Michie's Three-Factor Model divides the original PCL-R Factor 1 (emotional detachment) component into separate interpersonal (Arrogant and Deceitful Interpersonal Style), and affective (Deficient Emotional Experience) factors.

Similarly, schizotypal characteristics appear to represent several distinct factors. Confirmatory Factor Analysis by Raine & Benishay (1995) determined that the nine subscales of the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire fit best with a three-factor model of schizotypy. Others, including Mason (1995), have compared different theories of schizotypy using Confirmatory Factor Analysis and tested two, three, and four-factor models. The two-factor result seemed to reflect the difference between positive and negative schizotypal symptoms; the three-factor model suggested another factor the researchers called "cognitive disorganization/social anxiety," and the four factor model confirmed what Claridge et al. found: A model consisting of Introvertive Anhedonia, Impulsive Nonconformity, Cognitive Disorganization, and Unusual Experiences (1996).

Hans Eysenck proposed that schizotypal personalities and psychopathic personalities have similar underlying properties, specifically characteristics of impulsiveness and social nonconformity, and that they are simply at different places on the continuum he describes as "psychoticism" (Eysenck & Eysenck, 1975). His Psychoticism scale has been criticized on the grounds that it cannot sufficiently separate the constructs of psychosis and psychopathy because of the overlap in factors (Bishop, 1977; Block, 1977). By using Confirmatory Factor Analysis, this study sought to use self-report questionnaires that measure subclinical symptomology of schizotypy and psychopathy to identify whether they are indeed separate constructs or whether they overlap, specifically in the areas of impulsive nonconformity and introvertive anhedonia.

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last revised 3 November 2006

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