We investigated the relation between psychopathy, assessed using the Psychopathy Checklist: Screening Version (PCL:SV— Hare, Cox, & Hart, in press), and observers' ratings of normal personality made using the revised Interpersonal Adjective Scales—Big 5 Version (IASR-B5—Trapnell & Wiggins, 1991). Subjects were 24 men: 12 university students and 12 incarcerated offenders. PCL:SV ratings were significantly (p < .05) correlated with the IASR-B5 dimensions of Dominance (r = .66), Love (r = −.82), Conscientiousness (r = .83), Openness (r = .76), and Neuroticism (r = −.46). These correlations were not attributable to stereotyped perceptions of students or offenders. The results suggest that observer ratings may be a useful adjunct to self-reports in the study of personality pathology. The advantages and disadvantages of observer ratings relative to self-reports are discussed.
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Hart et al. (1994) studied this question.