The effect of labelling on judgements of psychopathy as moderated by mental health stigma and baseline attitudes of psychopathy

Empirical knowledge of psychopathy is often misrepresented in the media and miscommunicated to the general public. This can have practical implications in legal settings. This research investigated how the labels used when discussing individuals characterised by psychopathic traits impacts lay judgements and attributions of them. Participants (n = 477) read a randomised vignette that differed by the sex of the depicted character and the label used to describe them; namely ‘no label’, ‘having a clinical diagnosis’, and ‘displaying psychopathic personality traits’. Measures of mental health stigma and baseline beliefs about psychopathy were used as moderator variables. Results indicated that participants judged male (relative to female) characters, and those labelled as having either a psychopathy diagnosis or psychopathic personality traits (relative to no label conditions) more harshly. No interaction was found between these main effects, and neither mental health stigma nor beliefs about psychopathy moderated these differences. We call for more education around psychopathy targeted towards the general population; with results conveying international practical applications around the reporting and depiction of psychopathy in the media and within legal settings.