Interpersonal Perception of Psychopathy: A Social Relations Analysis

This study used Kenny's (1994) social relations model to examine the interpersonal perception of psychopathic traits among well–acquainted sex offenders. Members of 10 outpatient therapy groups (N = 63) who were court–ordered to attend treatment completed a self–report measure of psychopathy and rated one another on psychopathy–related traits. These interpersonal ratings were partly in the eye of the beholder (perceiver variance). Participants who saw themselves as higher in psychopathy were likely to see others as psychopathic (assumed similarity). There were smaller but significant levels of consensus (target variance) for some judgments of psychopathy. Participants who scored higher on the self–report measure of psychopathy were more likely to be seen as psychopathic by their fellow group members and as at higher risk for re–offending.