Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-hgkh8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-27T03:37:34.526Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

An Empirical Classification of Psychopathic Personality

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

R. Blackburn*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB9 2UB

Summary

Personality profiles of 79 non-psychotic male offenders admitted to a security hospital were subjected to a cluster analysis. Four profile types were generated, classifying four-fifths of the sample, and differences were found between the types in previous antisocial behaviour. Two of the types were identifiable as primary and secondary psychopaths, while the remaining two showed little resemblance to the concept of the psychopathic personality. The primary psychopaths were extraverted but not neurotic, while the secondary psychopaths were neurotic, but not extraverted. Both were highly impulsive but distinguished by a dimension of sociability-withdrawal.

Type
Papers
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1975 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Blackburn, R. (1971a) MMPI dimensions of sociability and impulse control. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 37, 166.Google Scholar
Blackburn, R. (1971b) Personality types among abnormal homicides. British Journal of Criminology, 11, 1431.Google Scholar
Cleckley, H. (1964) The Mask of Sanity. St. Louis: Mosby.Google Scholar
Eysenck, H. J. (1964) Crime and Personality. London: Roudedge & Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Hare, R. D. (1970) Psychopathy: Theory and Research. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Hewitt, L. & Jenkins, R. L. (1946) Fundamental Patterns of Maladjustment. State of Illinois.Google Scholar
Karpman, B. (1948) The myth of the psychopathic personality. American Journal of Psychiatry, 104, 523–34.Google Scholar
Lorr, M. (1966) Approaches to typing: a critique. In Explorations in Typing Psychotics (ed. M. Lorr). Oxford: Pergamon.Google Scholar
McCord, W. & McCord, J. (1964) The Psychopath: an Essay on the Criminal Mind. New York: Van Nostrand.Google Scholar
Quay, H. G. (1964) Dimensions of personality in delinquent boys as inferred from the factor analysis of case history data. Child Development, 35, 479–84.Google ScholarPubMed
Stein, K. B. (1968) The TSC scales: the outcome of a cluster analysis of the 550 MMPI items. In Advances in Psychological Assessment (Vol. 1) (ed. P. McReynolds). Palo Alto: Science and Behaviour Books.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.