Relationship between psychopathy, personality and human values in a prison sample

Abstract Our aim was to understand to what extent the characteristics of psychopathy are correlated with personality traits and human values in a sample of imprisoned inmates. To this end, a total of 56 prisoners were evaluated, predominantly female (80.4%) with a mean age of 33.44 (SD=7.15). The following instruments were employed: (1) Hare scale, (2) Human Values Questionnaire (BVQ), (3) Big Five Personality Traits Inventory (BFI-S) and (4) Demographic Questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient were applied. The results indicated a positive correlation between a socially deviant/antisocial lifestyle (Factor 2) and the dimensions of neuroticism (r s =0.44; p<0.001), openness to experience in the BFI-S (r s =0.26; p<0.05) and experimentation in the BVQ (r s =0.36; p<0.001). It was concluded that the present study contributes to an understanding of personality traits and values related to psychopathy, expanding the nomological network of this construct.