Fearlessness, Stress Immunity, and Coldheartedness.
The PPI–R also contains three validity scales designed to
detect aberrant response styles that are potentially prob-
lematic among psychopathic individuals: Virtuous
Responding (formerly Unlikely Virtues), Deviant
Responding, and Inconsistent Responding (formerly
Variable Response Inconsistency).Construction of the PPI and PPI–R
The PPI, consisting of 187 items, was developed over
the span of several years in the late 1980s. It was con-
structed largely in response to a perceived need for an
easily administered questionnaire measure of psy-
chopathy that would facilitate research on, and the
clinical assessment of, psychopathy. In contrast to
most previous measures of psychopathy, it was devel-
oped to be applicable to nonclinical (e.g., student, com-
munity) as well as clinical (e.g., offender, substance
abuse) samples. Prior to the construction of self-report
measures of psychopathy, most of the research on this
condition was limited to offenders, primarily because
extant measures of psychopathy required access to
detailed file information. The development of the PPI
and other self-report measures of psychopathy has
facilitated research concerning the manifestations of
this condition in community and student settings, per-
mitting investigators to examine the characteristics of
“successful” or “adaptive” individuals with high lev-
els of psychopathic traits.
The PPI was designed to detect the key personality
traits of psychopathy, such as superficial charm, dis-
honesty, manipulativeness, guiltlessness, callousness,
fearlessness, self-centeredness, externalization of
blame, and poor impulse control. The initial constructs
targeted for inclusion in the PPI were derived from a
comprehensive review of the clinical and research lit-
eratures on psychopathy, including the seminal writ-
ings of Hervey Cleckley, Benjamin Karpman, David
Lykken, Robert Hare, and Herbert Quay. In an effort
to distinguish psychopathy from cognate but separa-
ble constructs (e.g., antisocial personality disorder,
crime proneness), items explicitly assessing antisocial
and criminal behaviors were not included in the
prospective item pool. To enhance the likelihood that
the psychopathic respondents would be willing to
endorse trait-relevant items, most PPI items were
phrased to be socially normative.
The PPI items and constructs were progressively
refined by means of factor analyses on three successiveundergraduate samples, with a total sample size of
1,156 participants. The eight lower-order factors that
make up the PPI emerged across all three rounds of test
development and appeared to assess the core affective
and interpersonal traits of psychopathy. The three valid-
ity scales of the PPI assist with detection of socially
desirable responding and malingering, which may be
particular causes for concern in forensic settings.
The PPI was revised in 2005 to reduce its length,
decrease its reading level, eliminate psychometrically
suboptimal and culturally specific items, and develop
norms for general population and offender samples.
Based on factor analyses of large student, community,
and offender samples, a number of inadequately func-
tioning PPI items were eliminated or rewritten. The
revised version of the test, the PPI–R, consists of 154
items divided into the same eight content scales and
three validity scales as the PPI.Higher-Order Factor Structure
Higher-order-factor analyses of the PPI–R content
scales have generally yielded a two-factor structure.
One factor, called “Fearless Dominance,” consists of
the Social Influence, Fearlessness, and Stress Immu-
nity content scales. The other factor, called “Self-
Centered Impulsivity,” consists of the Machiavellian
Egocentricity, Rebellious Nonconformity, Blame
Externalization, and Carefree Nonplanfulness content
scales. The eighth PPI–R content scale, Coldhearted-
ness, does not load substantially on either higher-
order factor. The analyses indicate that the two PPI–R
higher-order factors display markedly divergent corre-
lates. For example, Fearless Dominance correlates
negatively with indices of depression, anxiety, and
suicidality, whereas Self-Centered Impulsivity corre-
lates positively with these indices.Reliability
The test-retest reliability of the PPI–R Total score
(average 20-day retest interval) in a general popula-
tion sample is .93, with the test-retest reliabilities of
the PPI–R content scales ranging from .82 to .95. The
internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha) of the PPI–R
Total score in a general population sample is .92, with
internal consistencies of the PPI–R content scales
ranging from .78 to .87. These test-retest and internal
consistency figures are comparable with, and slightly
higher than, those generally reported for the PPI. ThePsychopathic Personality Inventory (PPI)——— 641P-Cutler (Encyc)-45463.qxd 11/18/2007 12:43 PM Page 641