Self-reported attentional control differentiates the major factors of psychopathy

The dual-deficit model identifies unique correlates of the two major factors associated with psychopathy (Patrick, 2007). Factor 1 is associated with deficits in amygdala-mediated emotion, while Factor 2 is related to deficits in higher-order cognitive processes. Research suggests that attention to environmental and contextual cues is critical for emotion and cognition (Ochsner & Gross, 2005). Therefore, and by extension, attention may also be important to deficits in both Factor 1 and Factor 2. The present study utilizes a sample of male prisoners in order to examine the relationship between self-reported attentional control (Derryberry & Reed, 2002) and the major factors of psychopathy, as assessed by three different methods. Across all three measures, Factor 1 is associated with superior attentional control, whereas Factor 2 is related to inferior attentional control. Furthermore, results provide support for the external validity of three commonly used methods for assessing psychopathy. We propose that anomalous attentional control may contribute to both major symptom clusters associated with psychopathy.