The Psychopathic Personality Inventory (PPI) is a personality test for traits associated with psychopathy in adults. The PPI was developed by Scott Lilienfeld and Brian Andrews to assess these traits in non-criminal (e.g. university students) populations, though it is still used in clinical (e.g. incarcerated) populations as well. In contrast to other psychopathy measures, such as the Hare Psychopathy Checklist (PCL), the PPI is a self-report scale, rather than an interview-based assessment. It is intended to comprehensively index psychopathic personality traits without assuming particular links to anti-social or criminal behaviors. It also includes measures to detect impression management or careless responding.
Factor structure
Development
Original subscales The items used in the original version of the PPI were based on a number of conceptual constructs theorized (by previous researchers such as Hervey Cleckley and Robert D. Hare) to be related to psychopathy. It consists of a series of statements to which subjects respond on how accurately the statement describes them using a 4-point Likert scale ("false, "mostly false", "mostly true", "true"). Factor analysis of the initial 160 items revealed 8 factors:
Machiavellian egocentricity (ME): A ruthless and self-centered willingness to exploit others Social potency (SOP): The ability to charm and influence others Coldheartedness (C): A distinct lack of emotion, guilt, or regard for others' feelings Carefree nonplanfulness (CN): Difficulty in planning ahead and considering the consequences of one's actions Fearlessness (F): An eagerness for risk-seeking behaviors, as well as a lack of the fear that normally goes with them Blame externalization (BE): Inability to take responsibility for one's actions, instead blaming others or rationalizing one's behavior Impulsive nonconformity (IN): A disregard for social norms and culturally acceptable behaviors Stress immunity (STI): A lack of typical marked reactions to traumatic or otherwise stress-inducing events Additionally, the PPI also included two special validity scales designed to detect participants who were giving random, inconsistent, or insincere answers. This was to avoid attempts at malingering, and to eliminate subjects who seemed to have difficulty understanding multiple items.
Revised factors In 2005, the PPI was revised. The new version, called the PPI-R, included a reorganization of the 8 subscales into two (sometimes three) new higher-order factors: PPI-1: Fearless dominance (FD), consisting of the social potency, stress immunity, and fearlessness subscales. Associated with less anxiety, depression, and empathy as well as higher well-being, assertiveness, narcissism, and thrill-seeking. PPI-2: Self-centered impulsivity (SCI), consisting of the carefree nonplanfulness, impulsive nonconformity, Machiavellian egocentricity, and blame externalization subscales. Associated with impulsivity, aggressiveness, substance use, antisocial behavior, negative affect, and suicidal ideation. A person may score at different levels on the different factors, but the total score indicates the overall extent of psychopathic personality. Higher scores on factor I are associated with emotional stability and social efficacy, as well as reduced empathy. Higher scores on factor II are associated with maladaptive tendencies, including aggressiveness, substance use problems, negative feelings and suicidal ideation. Scores on the two major factors tend to be only moderately correlated.
Use of coldheartedness Although independent analyses of the PPI's factor structure have shown support for the validity of the new 2-factor model, there is some data that suggests that a 3-factor model may be better. Many analyses of the PPI tend to exclude coldheartedness and focus only on FD and SCI, but some studies have shown the two factors to be less statistically reliable when coldheartedness is not also considered separately. Thus, some researchers are starting to use it as a distinct third factor in their analyses, as such meanness was a central part of Cleckley's conceptualization of a psychopath (see The Mask of Sanity). Coldheartedness has also been shown to be distinct from the other two factors when comparing across other personality models, such as the Five-factor model (FFM). In particular, coldheartedness has significantly negative correlations with the openness and agreeableness dimensions of the FFM. In 2015, researchers from Baylor University proposed the connection between psychopaths' coldheartedness and their inability to “catch” the contagious yawning. Those who had more psychopathic qualities were less likely to yawn while watching the yawning clip.
Relationship to other psychopathy theories The fearless dominance and self-centered impulsivity factors are similar to the concepts of primary and secondary psychopathy. Like primary psychopathy, FD traits are related to a lack of emotional responsivity but accurate perception of emotions in others. Conversely, secondary psychopathy and SCI traits are related to difficulties in both emotional perception and control of negative emotional responses, such as anxiety, irritation, and aggressiveness.
Validity
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