The influence of subclinical psychopathic traits on responding to others' awkward requests

Psychopathy is characterised by a postulated deficit in emotional empathy, with intact cognitive empathy. Although studies have examined performance on laboratory tasks within incarcerated populations, there is a paucity of work exploring how subclinical psychopathic traits translate into everyday social interactions.

The present study investigated this by screening 502 university students with the Psychopathic Personality Inventory and comparing 20 high-scoring (10F; mean age = 19.85 years) and 19 low-scoring (15F; mean age = 21.00 years) participants on their responses to the Social Strategy Task. This comprises social scenarios that each end with an awkward request posed by the main character. Participants provided verbal responses and rated the awkwardness of each situation. Verbal responses were classified into positive or negative social strategies, denoting the extent of compliance with requests.

The groups were compared using analysis of variance and t-tests. The high psychopathic trait group used fewer positive social strategies than the low group was less polite in emotional tone and perceived situations as less awkward.

The findings are considered in relation to the postulated dissociation between intact cognitive empathy and impaired emotional empathy. The potential implications for clinical interventions are briefly discussed.