Psychopathy and the Induction of Desire

by Kristopher Brazil

Personal accounts of people who have been in relationships with psychopathic individuals have suggested that the psychopathic partner was charming, relaxed, confident, and exciting upon their first few interactions, only to have this positive impression wear off with time. A recent study in Evolutionary Psychological Science by Dr. Adelle Forth and I argues that this capacity of psychopathic individuals to make themselves look attractive and desirable to potential romantic partners may be why psychopathy is even around: it provides some individual reproductive benefit to those exhibiting the traits, particularly men, whose reproductive involvement may sometimes last just a few minutes.

The study had 46 young men assessed on psychopathic traits go on a date with a female confederate that was video recorded for two minutes capturing how the men varying on psychopathy tended to behave interpersonally within that context. 108 women participants then viewed and rated a random selection of two equally attractive men’s videos for dating desirability without knowing that the men were assessed on psychopathic traits. Results showed that across all of the young men, psychopathy was positively correlated with average desirability ratings from women even after controlling for their physical attractiveness. Additionally, as psychopathic traits differed greatly across the two men viewed by  women raters, the man with higher psychopathic traits tended to receive relatively greater desirability ratings. Overall, these findings provide evidence for the idea that psychopathic individuals are good at displaying a desirable interpersonal style in dating contexts, generating favorable short-term impressions from viewers. The findings may help validate the experiences of those who have been influenced by psychopathic individuals in the past. The researchers also emphasize that even though individual reproductive benefits may be a reason that psychopathy is around, the costs are also apparent (e.g., not having a tribe to rely on, shorter life span, etc.), which may help explain why psychopathy is relatively rare. See the full study at: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs40806-019-00213-0