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Overview of the SRP 4 The Self-Report Psychopathy Scale™ 4th Edition (SRP 4™) is the first official self-report version of the gold standard Hare Psychopathy Checklist–Revised™ (PCL–R™). This unique tool contains 64 items that can be used to help identify psychopathic behaviors across the same factor structure found in the entire PCL family of scales. The SRP 4 also offers a Short Form (29 items) for use in settings where the administration of the full assessment may not be feasible or possible. The provision of community, college, and offender samples to provide context for scores (see Figure 1 for descriptions of the SRP 4 scales) makes the SRP 4 an invaluable tool for use in psychopathy research or to identify individuals who may require further assessment and treatment. Higher scores on the SRP 4 indicate the individual may possesses the traits highlighted in Figure 1 for the Total, Factor, and Facet Scores. Age Range: 18 years+ Reading Level: 5th grade (i.e., can be read by most fifth grade students) Administration Time: Full = 12 minutes Short = 3-10 minutes
Key Features of the SRP 4 • The SRP 4 demonstrates the established four-factor structure of psychopathy (e.g., Hare, 2003; see Figure 1). • Over 150 studies, spanning nearly 30 years, have examined its use (bibliography available in the SRP 4 Technical Manual). • It has three large reference samples (Community, College, and Offender). • It has been validated in both forensic and nonforensic samples. • It has been confirmed by dozens of independent research groups. Figure 1. Description of SRP 4 Scales.
Total Score Reflects overall psychopathy levels.
Factor 1
Factor 2
Selfish, callous, and uses other without guilt or remorse.
Interpersonal Facet Manipulates others for selfish purposes; uses superficial charm and deceit to exploit others.
Affective Facet Emotionally shallow; experiences little remorse, guilt, or empathy.
Chronically unstable, antisocial, and lives a socially deviant lifestyle.
Lifestyle Facet Self-indulgent, reckless lifestyle; sensation-seeking, impulsive, and irresponsible.
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Antisocial Facet
Preference for rule breaking; prone to violence, drug use, and other criminal behavior.
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Reference Samples The SRP 4 has the largest samples of any self-report psychopathy instrument. The SRP 4 includes three specific North American reference samples: • Community (N = 638), • College (N = 788), • and Offender (N = 304). Each sample represents a group of individuals who are of particular interest to psychopathy researchers, especially those who study psychopathy via self-report.
Reliability
Internal Consistency
Table 1. Cronbach’s Alpha: Reference Samples
Internal consistency refers to the extent to which all items on the same scale consistently measure the same content. Internal consistency estimates for the SRP 4 are presented for all three reference samples. As displayed in Table 1, coefficient alpha for the Total Score was high for all samples, ranging from .89 to .92. Strong results were also found for the
Test-Retest Reliability To assess test-retest reliability, a sample of 48 students (60% female) completed the SRP 4 twice, separated by a 10-week interval. SRP 4 Total Scores showed a test-retest correlation of .82, demonstrating a high degree of test-retest reliability. The Facet Scores ranged from .70 to .85. Other research has found similar results using earlier versions of the SRP (e.g., Gordts, Uzieblo, Neumann, Bussche, & Rossi, 2015).
Validity Validity in Non-Forensic Samples Evidence from a wide variety of sources supports the validity of the SRP 4 as a measure of psychopathy in non-forensic (i.e., college and community) samples. Although the behaviors are often not as heinous, the patterns of behavior of high SRP scorers parallel those of forensic psychopaths (e.g., Carré, Hyde, Neumann, Viding, & Hariri, 2013; Neumann & Pardini, 2012; Pardini, Raine, Erickson, & Loeber, 2014; Vitacco, Neumann, & Pardini, 2014). Specifically, research has linked higher psychopathy scores (as rated on the SRP) to higher rates of cheating on exams, higher rates of plagiarism, and higher rates of aggression.
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Validity in Forensic Samples Offenders in the SRP 4 Offender reference sample were rated on the PCL–R. Offenders who scored 30 or higher (N = 26) were labelled the “psychopathic” group, and those who scored less than 30 (N = 278) were labelled the “non-psychopathic” group. A comparison of SRP 4 scores between these two groups revealed that the psychopathic offenders scored significantly higher on all SRP 4 scales (see Figure 2), with large effect sizes (median Cohen’s d = 1.12). Figure 2. SRP 4 Scores in Psychopathic and Non-Psychopathic Offenders.
SRP 4: Total Score
SRP 4: Factor Score 120
SRP 4: Raw Score
SRP 4: Raw Score
230 197.5 165 132.5 100 Psychopathic
NonPsychopathic
107.5 95 82.5 70
Factor 1
Psychopathic
Factor 2 Non-Psychopathic
SRP 4: Facet Scores
SRP 4: Raw Score
70 60 50 40 30
Interpersonal
Affective Psychopathic
Lifestyle
Antisocial
Non-Psychopathic
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Convergent Validity Other Psychopathy Measures
In terms of convergent validity, SRP scores tend to converge (with moderate correlations) with scores on other self-report measures of psychopathy (see Table 2).
Dark Triad
SRP scales were moderately correlated with narcissism and Machiavellianism (see Table 3). These findings with the so-called “Dark Triad” are well replicated and suggest common elements among these three personalities. Importantly, the correlations among these personality traits rarely exceed .50, suggested that psychopathy is not redundant with other members of the Dark Triad (Williams, Paulhus, & Hare, 2007). Table 2. Correlations Between the SRP and Other Self-Report Psychopathy Scales
Note. N = 274 (Williams, Paulhus, & Hare, 2007). *p < .05 (two-tailed). Table 3. Correlations Between the SRP and the Dark Triad
Note. N = 274 (Williams, Paulhus, & Hare, 2007). *p < .05 (two-tailed).
References Carré, J. M., Hyde, L. W., Neumann, C. S., Viding, E., & Hariri, A. R. (2013). The neural signatures of distinct psychopathic traits. Social Neuroscience, 8, 122–135. Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Gordts, S., Uzieblo, K., Neumann, C., Bussche, E. V. D., & Rossi, G. (2015). Validity of the Self-Report Psychopathy Scales (SRP-III full and Short versions) in a community sample. Assessment. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1177/1073191115606205 Neumann, C. S., & Pardini, D. (2012). Factor structure and construct validity of the Self-Report Psychopathy (SRP) Scale and the Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory (YPI) in young men. Journal of Personality Disorders, 26, 1–15. Pardini, D. A., Raine, A., Erickson, K., & Loeber, R. (2014). Lower amygdala volume in men is associated with childhood aggression, early psychopathic traits, and future violence. Biological Psychiatry, 75, 73–80. Vitacco, M. J., Neumann, C. S., & Pardini, D. A. (2014). Predicting future criminal offending in a community-based sample of males using self-reported psychopathy. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 41, 345–363. Williams, K. M., Paulhus, D. L., & Hare, R. D. (2007). Capturing the four-factor structure of psychopathy in college students via self-report. Journal of Personality Assessment, 88, 205–219.
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B-Level
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