Psychological reactance as a motivation in psychopathy

• Published in: Personality and individual differences 2019-03, Vol.139, p.355-359
• Main Authors: Lewing, C. Allen, Caraway, S. Jean
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antisocial personality disorder; Assessment; Levenson's Self-Report Psychopathy Scale; Motivation; Psychological reactance; Psychopathy; Self report; Therapeutic Reactance Scale; Three-factor model of psychopathy; Undergraduate students
• ISSN: 0191-8869; 1873-3549
• DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2018.12.007

This study proposed that among persons with elevated levels of psychopathy would be the motivational tendency to maintain or restore freedoms perceived as threatened or lost, known as psychological reactance (PR). Exploring the relationship between these two distinct characterological traits is essential to understanding the motivations of psychopaths in society, as well as clinical and forensic settings. This study also examined the relationship of PR to the three-factor model of psychopathy (i.e., egocentric, antisocial, and callous). College undergraduates (N = 169) were administered the Therapeutic Reactance Scale (Dowd et al., 1991) and Levenson's Self-Report Psychopathy Scale (Levenson, Kiehl, & Fitzpatrick, 1995) to assess these constructs. Sequential (hierarchical) regression analyses that controlled for demographics known to be predictors of psychopathy evidenced PR as a salient predictor of psychopathy, specifically the self-serving, manipulative, angry and impulsive facets. Although procedures were implemented to attempt to control for socially desirable response sets, omission of these sets did not appear to impact the results. Treatment implications are presented.