Abstract

HAUCK FILHO, Nelson; TEIXEIRA, Marco Antônio Pereira  and  DIAS, Ana Cristina Garcia. Psychopathy: the construct and its assessment. Aval. psicol. [online]. 2009, vol.8, n.3, pp. 337-346. ISSN 1677-0471.

Psychopathy is a constelation of disruptive personality traits and antisocial behaviors. This paper presents a selective review on psychopathy literature focusing some problematic conceptual and assessment issues. Psychopathy is presented as a psychological construct resulting from decades of clinical and empirical research, and it is argued that it can be measured in general population due to its dimensional nature. Finally, psychopathy and antisocial personality disorder are distinguished, although they are correlated constructs. The need for more empirical research on psychopathy in Brazil and the development or adaptation of measures of the construct are emphasized.

Keywords : Psychopathology; Antisocial personality disorder; Psychological assessment.

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