AUTHOR=Krüppel Jonas , Yoon Dahlnym , Zerres Katharina , Brunner Franziska , Mokros Andreas 

TITLE=In the I of the beholder: an attempt to capture the implicit self-concept regarding psychopathy

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=15

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1346029

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1346029

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=<p>This article explores the implicit self-concept pertaining to psychopathy. Two online studies showed inconsistent results, with Study 1 (<italic>n</italic> = 243) suggesting that psychopathy is linked to an implicit self-concept marked by low empathy and Study 2 (<italic>n</italic> = 230) implying no such relationship. In a sample of offenders and community controls (Study 3a, <italic>n</italic> = 166), higher scores on the <italic>Psychopathy Checklist-Revised</italic> (PCL-R) were related to an implicit self-concept of being less rather than more antisocial, and the implicit self-concept showed incremental validity compared to the explicit self-concept. The retesting of an offender subsample (Study 3b, <italic>n</italic> = 47) yielded no evidence for temporal stability or convergent validity. The implicit self-concept of highly psychopathic individuals thus appears to vary, depending on the social context. Future studies should replicate these results in different samples, using additional external correlates.</p>