In this episode, Dr. Schug focuses on the issue of psychopaths on college campuses. He speaks with students and faculty who talk about some of their experiences and, in the second half of the episode, he speaks with Dr. Liane Leedom, a psychiatrist and Associate Professor of Counseling and Psychology at the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut. Click here to listen to the episode.
Researchers have used self-report inventories to investigate symptoms of psychopathy in college students. These studies show that traits of psychopathy may be found in about 10% of students. These traits also correlate with other variables such as law breaking behavior, cheating in class and sexual coercion. Psychopathic features also correlate with a love style called “ludus.” Individuals who score high on items like “I enjoy playing the ‘game of love’ with a number of different partners” are characterized as having a ludus or game-playing love style. This love style correlates significantly with not only psychopathy but also with narcissism and Machiavellianism. (See Jonason, P. K., & Kavanagh, P. (2010). The dark side of love: Love styles and the Dark Triad. Personality and Individual Differences, 49(6), 606-610. doi:10.1016 for an example of research on love and psychopathy in college students.)
She points out some important differences between the clinical concept of psychopathy and the way in which psychopathic traits are measured with self-report measures but also discusses some of the ways in which college students with psychopathic traits do real harm to other students.