The effect of psychopathic personality traits on loss aversion

Abstract

Though psychopathy has seen many definitions over time, recently it can be described as having a link to an emotional deficit and is a strong predictor of increased antisocial behaviour, displaying traits such as lack of remorse, deceitful and manipulative. Researchers have categorised these traits in a way that is easier to measure psychopathy. The Triarchic Psychopathy Measure (TriPM), has been found to be a worthy measure, focussing on three phenotypic sub groups, boldness, meanness and disinhibition. Research suggests that emotional dysfunction as well as abnormalities in attention control underlies the traits of psychopathy and also pays a contribution to loss aversion. The current study aims to study a topic where research is lacking, to determine whether there is a relationship between psychopathic traits in the general population and loss aversion. Data from 58 participants was collected through opportunity sampling. Participants completed both a TriPM questionnaire and a gambling task to measure loss aversion. Significant positive and negative correlations were found in relation to the boldness trait and gain and neutral trials. The findings are discussed with relevance to the current field of research into loss aversion and psychopathy and the present studies implications for psychopathic traits in the general population.