Data from: The strategy of psychopathy: primary psychopathic traits predict defection on low-value relationships

Recent evidence suggests that psychopathy is a trait continuum. This has unappreciated implications for understanding the selective advantage of psychopathic traits. Whereas clinical psychopathy is typically construed as a strategy of unconditional defection, subclinical psychopathy may promote strategic conditional defection, broadening the adaptive niche of psychopathy within human societies. To test this, we focus on a ubiquitous real-life source of conditional behaviour: the expected relational value of social partners, both in terms of their quality and the likely quantity of future interactions with them. We allow for conversational interaction among participants prior to their playing an unannounced, one-shot prisoner’s dilemma game, which fosters naturalistic interpersonal evaluation and conditional behavior, while controlling punishment and reputation effects. Individuals scoring higher on Factor 1 (callous affect, interpersonal manipulation) of the Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy Scale show two forms of conditional defection: one after being interrupted more frequently during the conversation, the other after failing to discover cues to future meetings with an interlocutor. Both interaction effects support the hypothesis that primary subclinical psychopathy potentiates defection on those with low expected relational value. These data clarify the function and form of psychopathic traits, while highlighting adaptive variation in human social strategies.新近研究证据表明，心理变态（psychopathy）是一种特质连续体。该结论对于理解心理变态特质的选择优势具有尚未被充分重视的启示意义。尽管临床心理变态通常被视为一种无条件背叛策略，但亚临床心理变态或可推动策略性条件背叛行为，进而拓展心理变态特质在人类社会中的适应生态位。为验证这一假说，本研究聚焦于现实生活中一种普遍存在的条件性行为来源：社交伙伴的预期社交价值，涵盖其自身社交质量以及与该伙伴未来互动的潜在频次两个维度。实验中，我们允许被试在参与未预先告知的单次囚徒困境博弈（one-shot prisoner’s dilemma game）前进行对话互动，以此营造自然的人际评价与条件性行为场景，同时控制惩罚与声誉效应的干扰。在莱文森自我报告心理变态量表（Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy Scale）的因子1（冷酷情感、人际操控）上得分更高的个体，表现出两种形式的条件背叛行为：一种是在对话中被更频繁打断后出现的背叛行为，另一种是在未察觉与对话伙伴未来会面线索后出现的背叛行为。上述两种交互效应均支持如下假说：原发性亚临床心理变态会助长个体对预期社交价值较低对象的背叛行为。本研究数据阐明了心理变态特质的功能与表现形式，同时凸显了人类社会策略的适应性变异。