PSYCHOPATHY and MMPI-2 an Exploration of the Relationship
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RUNNING HEAD: PSYCHOPATHY AND MMPI-2 An Exploration of the Relationship between Psychopathy and the MMPI-2 by Luke Hockey BAppSci (Psych), GDip (Psych) Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Psychology (Forensic) Deakin University March, 2016 PSYCHOPATHY AND MMPI-2 Acknowledgments I would like to take this opportunity to thank a number of people for their support throughout the completion of this research thesis. First and foremost I would like to thank my two supervisors, Dr Stefanie Sharman and Dr Linda Byrne, who took over my supervision halfway through my candidature. They helped me through a number of setbacks including a very lengthy wait for ethics approval that was never given and the resulting change in thesis topic (yet again!). But we got there in the end! Thank you also to Dr Jim Vess for your continual support, ideas and assistance during the development, implementation and editorial components of this project. Thank you also to Amy Brandler for your invaluable time, support, insight and putting up with me when I was overwhelmed by it all. Finally, thank you to all my family and friends, who supported me and encouraged me every step of the way. Specifically I would like to thank my mum and dad, who without their never-ending, tireless support I never would have made it this far. PSYCHOPATHY AND MMPI-2 List of Tables Table 1.1: The Two-Factor Structure of Psychopathy, measured by the PCL-R ....................................................................................................... 32 Table 1.2: The four facet model of psychopathy ............................................. 33 Table 1.3: Items of the PCL-R and their position on the three-factor structure proposed by Cooke and Michie (2001) ......................................... 35 Table 1.4: The factor structure of the PPI ....................................................... 41 Table 2.1: A description of the eight validity and ten clinical scales of the MMPI-2 ......................................................................................... 56 Table 4.1: The correlations between the Psychopathic deviate subscales, overall psychopathy scores and the tree facets of psychopathy .... 99 Table 5.1: Comparison of fit indices on various number of classes, and log likelihood significance tests ......................................................... 132 Table 5.2: Pairwise comparisons of the 8 classes identified ........................ 134 Table 6.1: A brief summary of the subtypes, MMIP-2 profile interpretation and general presentation ............................................................. 146 Table 6.2: Distributions of the Megargee types within a forensic psychiatric sample and a forensic sample ..................................................... 148 Table 6.3: The characteristics of each group and the theoretical relationship with facets of psychopathy ........................................................... 155 - PSYCHOPATHY AND MMPI-2 Table 6.4: The ten different classification groups defined by Megargee and the number of cases which were assigned to each group ............ 161 Table 6.5: Mean PCL-R scores, number and percentage of individuals scoring 30 or more on the PCL-R assigned to ten different Megargee subgroups. .................................................................. 163 Table 6.6: Mean scores on the three factors for Group Delta and the other groups .......................................................................................... 165 Table 6.7: Mean scores on the four factors, two facets and total PCL-R scores for Group Able and the other groups .......................................... 166 Table 6.8: Mean scores, t-values and significance levels for the four facets, two factors and total PCL-R scores for Group How and the other groups. ......................................................................................... 167 - PSYCHOPATHY AND MMPI-2 List of Figures Figure 5.1: The 3 class solution ..................................................................... 133 - PSYCHOPATHY AND MMPI-2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements ................................................................................................. ii List of Tables .......................................................................................................... iii List of Figures ......................................................................................................... v Abstract ................................................................................................................ xiii CHAPTER ONE .................................................................................................... 1 Psychopathy ASPD and psychopathy ............................................................................... 2 History of psychopathy ............................................................................... 4 Assessment of psychopathy ......................................................................... 6 Psychopathy Checklist Revised PCL-R .......................................... 6 Psychopathy and the PCL-R ............................................................ 9 Controversies surrounding psychopathy and the PCL-R .......................... 11 Anti-social behaviour and psychopathy ........................................ 11 PCL-R as a risk assessment tool .................................................... 13 Field Reliability…………………………………………………..16 Difficulties in using the PCL-R ..................................................... 17 Psychopathy as a label ................................................................... 18 Treatability of individuals high in psychopathy ............................ 19 Taxonomy or Continuum .............................................................. 22 Unitary syndrome or distinct subgroups ....................................... 23 Models of psychopathy ............................................................................. 24 - PSYCHOPATHY AND MMPI-2 Anxiety .......................................................................................... 24 Primary vs secondary psychopathy ............................................... 25 Factor structure ............................................................................. 30 Two factor, four facet model of psychopathy ............................... 31 Three factor model ........................................................................ 34 Development of different models .............................................................. 36 Statistical considerations in the model-building process .............. 39 Development and factor structure of the PPI ............................................ 40 Self-report measures of psychopathy ........................................................ 42 Triarchic model of psychopathy ................................................................ 45 Negative emotionality and emotional regulation in psychopathy ............. 49 Summary. .................................................................................................. 52 CHAPTER TWO ................................................................................................. 55 Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory and Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (2nd Edition) History ....................................................................................................... 55 Development and descriptions of the MMPI and MMPI-2 ........... 56 Interpreting the MMPI-2 ........................................................................... 59 Further developments of the MMPI-2 related to the measurement of Psychopathy ............................................................................................... 60 Content Scales ........................................................................................... 60 Antisocial Practices Scale (ASP) .................................................. 61 Fears (FRS) ................................................................................... 62 Negative Treatment Indicators (TRT) ........................................... 62 - PSYCHOPATHY AND MMPI-2 PSY-5 subscales ........................................................................................ 63 Aggression (AGGR) ...................................................................... 63 Disconstraint (DISC) ..................................................................... 64 Neuroticism/Negative emotionality (NEGE) ................................ 64 Restructured Clinical (RC) scales ............................................................. 65 MMPI-2-RF ............................................................................................... 68 Antisocial Behaviour (RC4) .......................................................... 68 Psychopathic Deviate (Pd) scale (Clinical Scale 4) .................................. 70 Research base of MMPI/MMPI-2 ............................................................ 74 Advantages of using the MMPI-2 in the criminal justice system ............. 75 MMPI and MMPI-2 research with offenders ............................................ 76 Megargee system ........................................................................... 77 Research utilising the Megargee system ....................................... 78 CHAPTER THREE ...........................................................................................