title: Using a genetic algorithm to abbreviate the Psychopathic Personality Inventory-Revised (PPI-R).
abstract: Some self-report measures of personality and personality disorders, including the widely used Psychopathic Personality Inventory-Revised (PPI-R), are lengthy and time-intensive. In recent work, we introduced an automated genetic algorithm (GA)-based method for abbreviating psychometric measures. In Study 1, we used this approach to generate a short (40-item) version of the PPI-R using 3 large-N German student samples (total N = 1,590). The abbreviated measure displayed high convergent correlations with the original PPI-R, and outperformed an alternative measure constructed using a conventional approach. Study 2 tested the convergent and discriminant validity of this short version in a fourth student sample (N = 206) using sensation-seeking and sensitivity to reward and punishment scales, again demonstrating similar convergent and discriminant validity for the PPI-R-40 compared with the full version. In a fifth community sample of North American participants acquired using Amazon Mechanical Turk, the PPI-R-40 showed similarly high convergent correlations, demonstrating stability across language, culture, and data-collection method. Taken together, these studies suggest that the GA approach is a viable method for abbreviating measures of psychopathy, and perhaps personality measures in general.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Neuroscience.
authors.forename: Hedwig
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Eisenbarth
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Emory University.
authors.forename: Scott O
authors.initials: SO
authors.lastname: Lilienfeld
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin.
authors.forename: Tal
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yarkoni
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000465:Algorithms; D000987:Antisocial Personality Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010552:Personality Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012016:Reference Values; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology; D055815:Young Adult