TY - JOUR
T1 - Deconstructing the association between psychopathy and political orientation
T2 - Is it attributable to moral intuitions or moral competency?
AU - Gay, Jeremy G.
AU - Lishner, David A.
AU - Vitacco, Michael J
AU - Beussink, Courtney
PY - 2019/10/15
Y1 - 2019/10/15
N2 - Past research has found evidence for an association between psychopathy and political orientation. We suggest this relationship could be explained by individual differences in psychopathic traits and location along the conservative-liberal continuum corresponds to similar variability in moral competence or reliance on certain moral intuitions. To explore these possibilities, two direct replication studies were conducted in which measures of psychopathy, political orientation, moral competency, and moral intuitions were administered to two samples of Amazon Mechanical Turk participants (N = 240 in Study 1, N = 224 in Study 2). After aggregating the data, multiple regression analyses revealed Cold-heartedness, but not Fearless Dominance or Self-Centered Impulsivity, was positively associated with political conservatism. This association was largely attributable to differences in prioritizing individuating moral intuitions, as opposed to binding moral intuitions. Neither psychopathic traits nor political orientation were appreciably associated with moral competency.
AB - Past research has found evidence for an association between psychopathy and political orientation. We suggest this relationship could be explained by individual differences in psychopathic traits and location along the conservative-liberal continuum corresponds to similar variability in moral competence or reliance on certain moral intuitions. To explore these possibilities, two direct replication studies were conducted in which measures of psychopathy, political orientation, moral competency, and moral intuitions were administered to two samples of Amazon Mechanical Turk participants (N = 240 in Study 1, N = 224 in Study 2). After aggregating the data, multiple regression analyses revealed Cold-heartedness, but not Fearless Dominance or Self-Centered Impulsivity, was positively associated with political conservatism. This association was largely attributable to differences in prioritizing individuating moral intuitions, as opposed to binding moral intuitions. Neither psychopathic traits nor political orientation were appreciably associated with moral competency.
KW - Moral intuitions
KW - Moral judgment
KW - Political affiliation
KW - Psychopathy
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85066632391&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1016/j.paid.2019.05.054
DO - 10.1016/j.paid.2019.05.054
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85066632391
SN - 0191-8869
VL - 149
SP - 128
EP - 134
JO - Personality and Individual Differences
JF - Personality and Individual Differences
ER -