Hostname: page-component-5d84bcc8dc-cszgk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-09-13T20:42:50.195Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Triarchic conceptualization of psychopathy: Developmental origins of disinhibition, boldness, and meanness

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 July 2009

Christopher J. Patrick*
Affiliation:
University of Minnesota
Don C. Fowles
Affiliation:
University of Iowa
Robert F. Krueger
Affiliation:
Washington University–St. Louis
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Christopher J. Patrick, Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Elliott Hall, 75 East River Road, Minneapolis, MN 55455. E-mail: cpatrick@umn.edu.

Abstract

The clinical concept of psychopathy (“psychopathic personality”) is generally considered to entail persistent behavioral deviancy in the company of emotional–interpersonal detachment. However, longstanding debates continue regarding the appropriate scope and boundaries of the concept. Here, we review alternative historic descriptions of the disorder together with empirical findings for the best-established assessment instruments in use with adolescents and youth as a basis for formulating an integrative, triarchic model of psychopathy. The essence of the triarchic model is that psychopathy encompasses three distinct phenotypic constructs: disinhibition, which reflects a general propensity toward problems of impulse control; boldness, which is defined as the nexus of social dominance, emotional resiliency, and venturesomeness; and meanness, which is defined as aggressive resource seeking without regard for others (“dysaffliated agency”). These differing phenotypic components are considered in terms of relevant etiologic and developmental pathways. The triarchic conceptualization provides a basis for reconciling and accommodating alternative descriptive accounts of psychopathy, and a framework for coordinating research on neurobiological and developmental processes contributing to varying manifestations of the disorder.

Information

Type
Regular Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable