Practical Contributions of Psychopathy Research: Comment on Vize et al. (2026)

Abstract

Vize et al. reported the results of an ecological-momentary-assessment study of psychopathy-trait associations with affective and interpersonal experiences in daily life. Across two samples, they found minimal evidence that psychopathy traits explained momentary reports of affect and behavior or moderated the bidirectional effects of interpersonal experiences and affect. The study and results encourage more nuanced interpretations of psychopathy-assessment results in relation to actual manifestations in everyday life, at least among nonincarcerated individuals. In this commentary, I consider the relevance of the findings for the understanding of psychopathic harm and reflect more broadly on the contributions of psychopathy research for informing intervention, prevention, and policy.

Keywords

psychopathy affect evidence-based treatments policymaking

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