Secondary Psychopathy, but not Primary Psychopathy, is Associated with Risky Decision-Making in Noninstitutionalized Young Adults

Abstract

Although risky decision-making has been posited to contribute to the maladaptive behavior of individuals with psychopathic tendencies, the performance of psychopathic groups on a common task of risky decision-making, the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT; Bechara, Damasio, Damasio, & Anderson, 1994), has been equivocal. Different aspects of psychopathy (personality traits, antisocial deviance) and/or moderating variables may help to explain these inconsistent findings. In a sample of college students (N = 129, age 18 to 27), we examined the relationship between primary and secondary psychopathic features and IGT performance. A measure of impulsivity was included to investigate its potential as a moderator. In a joint model including main effects and interactions between primary psychopathy, secondary psychopathy and impulsivity, only secondary psychopathy was significantly related to risky IGT performance, and this effect was not moderated by the other variables. This finding supports the growing literature suggesting that secondary psychopathy is a better predictor of decision-making problems than the primary psychopathic personality traits of lack of empathy and remorselessness.

Figure 1

Depiction of the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). Note: On each trial, participants select one of the card decks (A, B, C or D) to receive a win (adding to the “cash pile”) and/or a loss (adding to the “borrowed” row). Across trials, decks A and B produce large wins but even larger loses (thus are risky and produce net losses), while decks C and D produce small wins but even smaller losses (thus providing net gains).

Figure 2

The percentages of study participants who made a risky deck selection on each trial of the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT).

Figure 3

Mean risky deck selections across blocks (20 trials each) of the Iowa Gambling Test (IGT) for individuals with high and low levels of secondary psychopathy, as defined by median split on the Levenson Secondary Psychopathy Scale. Error bars represent −1/+1 SEM. In regression analyses, secondary psychopathy was not significantly related to risky selections averaged across trial blocks 1 and 2 (p > .05), but was positively related to risky selections averaged across blocks 3 through 5 (p = .024).