Is it the inventory, the meta-analysis, or the construct? Reply to the comments on Marcus, Fulton, and Edens

Replies to comments by Neumann et al. (see record 2013-01797-001), Patrick et al. (see record 2013-01797-002), Benning (see record 2013-01797-003), Lilienfeld (see record 2013-01797-004), and Blonigen (see record 2013-01797-005) on the original article by Marcus, Fulton, and Edens (see record 2011-23134-001). We wish to thank all of the authors for their thought-provoking and insightful comments about our meta-analysis. All of the comments addressed two of the major findings from our meta-analysis: (a) that the two factors of the Psychopathic Personality Inventory (PPI; Lilienfeld & Andrews, 1996; Lilienfeld & Widows, 2005), Fearless Dominance (FD) and Self-Centered Impulsivity (SCI), are orthogonal or weakly correlated; and (b) that FD was positively correlated with desirable traits indicative of psychological health (i.e., positive emotionality) and negatively associated with traits indicative of distress and psychopathology (i.e., negative emotionality; NEM). Where the commentators differed was in the meaning that they ascribed to this pattern of results.