What Do We Talk about When We Talk about Psychopathy? Commentary on an Integrative Biobehavioral Trait Perspective on Antisocial Personality Disorder and Psychopathy

Because the triarchic model of psychopathy posits that psychopathy encompasses the three dispositional constructs of boldness, meanness, and disinhibition, this formulation serves as an inclusive framework that can incorporate the primary elements of most models of psychopathy. Such a broad framework has numerous advantages for generating and organizing research on psychopathy. One limitation of this framework, however, is that it may not clarify what aspects of psychopathy are necessary or sufficient for identifying the condition. In the current commentary, the authors argue that none of the elements of the triarchic model are necessary or sufficient for psychopathy. Cleckley’s psychopaths were not mean, Karpman’s psychopaths were not disinhibited, and many contemporary theorists argue that boldness is not a necessary component of psychopathy. This difficulty defining the essential elements of psychopathy is not unique to the triarchic model and remains a challenge for the field.