Citation

Reidy DE, Shelley-Tremblay JF, Lilienfeld SO. Aggress. Violent Behav. 2011; 16(6): 512-524.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.avb.2011.06.002

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Psychopathic personality (psychopathy) is associated with a heightened risk for physical aggression, although the nature of this link remains unclear. Despite widespread claims that psychopathy is associated with reactive aggression, the evidence for this assertion is mixed. We provide a comprehensive review of behavioral, cognitive, and biological research on the relation between psychopathy and aggression, and conclude that although psychopathy is clearly associated with instrumental aggression, its association with reactive aggression is not robust. In fact, at least some research points to a potential protective role of psychopathy against reactive aggression. We conclude that future research must clarify the differential implications of the separable components of the broad psychopathy construct before the relations between psychopathy and physical aggression can be adequately understood.