Theses and Dissertations

Advisor

McKinney, Cliff

Committee Member

Nadorff, Danielle

Committee Member

Nadorff, Michael

Committee Member

Prince, Pauline

Date of Degree

8-13-2024

Original embargo terms

Immediate Worldwide Access

Document Type

Dissertation - Open Access

Major

Applied Psychology (Clinical Psychology)

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Department of Psychology

Abstract

Psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and narcissism are three personality constructs collectively associated with antagonism, callousness, and engagement in socially aversive behaviors. These overlapping personality constructs are theorized to have features that meaningfully distinguish each of them from one another, such as variations in impulsivity. However, investigating the interrelations between existing measures of psychopathy, Machiavellianism, narcissism, and impulsivity presents several methodological challenges. Five Factor Model (FFM) approaches to these four multidimensional constructs provide a promising avenue for examining the associations between these personality domains and impulsivity. This study examined a comprehensive, multidimensional model of impulsivity (i.e., the UPPS-P model of impulsivity) in relation to newly developed FFM-based measures of psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and narcissism using a combination of variable- and person-centered statistical approaches across two distinct samples. Data were analyzed from an archival sample of 918 undergraduate students and 756 MTurk users to provide information on generalizability and replication of results. Hypotheses were tested using a combination of path analyses, latent profile analyses, and multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVA). Results suggest various impulsivity dimensions are associated with underlying aspects of psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and narcissism that may be challenging to delineate when examining domain-level representations of these antagonistic personality constructs. Additionally, results highlight how examining patterns of impulsivity facets may distinguish these personality features. Overall, findings may contribute to a more theoretically precise understanding of how impulsive processes differentiate socially aversive personality features.

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