The influence of subclinical psychopathic traits on responding to others' awkward requests.
BACKGROUND
Psychopathy is characterised by a postulated deficit in emotional empathy, with intact cognitive empathy. Although studies have examined performance on laboratory tasks within incarcerated populations, there is a paucity of work exploring how subclinical psychopathic traits translate into everyday social interactions.


METHODS
The present study investigated this by screening 502 university students with the Psychopathic Personality Inventory and comparing 20 high-scoring (10F; mean age = 19.85 years) and 19 low-scoring (15F; mean age = 21.00 years) participants on their responses to the Social Strategy Task. This comprises social scenarios that each end with an awkward request posed by the main character. Participants provided verbal responses and rated the awkwardness of each situation. Verbal responses were classified into positive or negative social strategies, denoting the extent of compliance with requests.


RESULTS
The groups were compared using analysis of variance and t-tests. The high psychopathic trait group used fewer positive social strategies than the low group was less polite in emotional tone and perceived situations as less awkward.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings are considered in relation to the postulated dissociation between intact cognitive empathy and impaired emotional empathy. The potential implications for clinical interventions are briefly discussed.
a Department of Experimental Psychology , University College London , London , UK.
Karishma
K
Vyas
a Department of Experimental Psychology , University College London , London , UK.
Leila
L
Jameel
a Department of Experimental Psychology , University College London , London , UK.
Shelley
S
Channon
D000293:Adolescent; D000987:Antisocial Personality Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010555:Personality Inventory; D012938:Social Perception; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
Psychopathy; empathy; social behaviour; social cognition