Exploring the role of boldness in the Triarchic psychopathy model

Abstract

According to the Triarchic Psychopathy Model, boldness reflects a syndrome of social dominance, emotional resilience, venturesomeness, and high social efficacy. Based on theoretical assumptions, boldness is an adaptive component of psychopathy and can, therefore, be useful for identifying “successful” expressions of psychopathy. The present study aimed to investigate the relationships between boldness and different prosocial and antisocial criteria (e.g. empathy, impulsivity and aggression) and investigate whether boldness adds incrementally to the established components of psychopathy (i.e. meanness and disinhibition) in predicting these outcomes. Data were collected from the sample of 600 students (308 maleand 292 female) using the Triarchic Psychopathy Measure, the Interpersonal Reactivity Index, the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale-11, and the Reactive-Proactive Aggression Questionnaire. The results have shown that boldness is associated with low personal distress and low non-planning impulsivity. However, boldness was also related to maladaptive tendencies (higher motor impulsivity and higher proactive aggression). The research findings suggest that boldness is related to both adaptive and maladaptive tendencies.