Is fearless dominance relevant to the construct of psychopathy? Reconciling the dual roles of theory and clinical utility.

Blonigen DM. Is fearless dominance relevant to the construct of psychopathy? Reconciling the dual roles of theory and clinical utility. Personality disorders. 2013 Jan 1; 4(1):87-8.

Comments on the original article by Marcus et al. (see record 2011-23134-001). Since its introduction to the field, the Psychopathic Personality Inventory (PPI; Lilienfeld and Andrews, 1996)-particularly its two-factor model (Benning, Patrick, Hicks, Blonigen, and Krueger, 2003)-has captured much attention among scholars and generated considerable debate over a number of fundamental issues pertaining to this construct. The present meta-analytic review is therefore quite timely and should provide a valuable contribution to the literature and further constructive debate. In their work, Marcus et al. provide a thoughtful and balanced discussion regarding the evidence for the construct validity of fearless dominance (FD) and self-centered impulsivity (SCI), and they suggest a number of implications of these findings for our conceptualization of psychopathy. A key question highlighted by the authors, which lies at the heart of many of the issues they raise, is whether or not FD should be considered a central (or even relevant) component of psychopathy. Addressing this question will ultimately require a reconciliation of two issues: (1) FD is aligned with many classic clinical conceptions of the disorder, particularly primary psychopathy; (2) As a standalone construct, FD is not especially maladaptive and is weakly related to overt forms of deviance.