Exploring the Relationship between Psychopathy and Helping Behaviors in Naturalistic Settings: Preliminary Findings

ABSTRACT

This study examined the helping behavior of participants with high (High-P; 15 males, 13 females) and low (Low-P; 14 males, 16 females) psychopathic traits without their awareness. In the first of three tests, we found Low-P participants offered more help to an apparently lost female confederate than High-P participants. In the second test, High-P compared to Low-P males offered more help to an “injured” female experimenter, the reverse was true for females. In the third test, High-P compared to Low-P females offered more help to a female confederate who had apparently dropped papers they were carrying; whereas the reverse was true for males. Our preliminary findings indicate that context, gender and psychopathic traits interact and impact helping behavior.

KEYWORDS:

• Individual differences
• observational methods
• personality
• prosocial behaviour

Author notes

Mehmet K. Mahmut is a Lecturer in the Department of Psychology at Macquarie University and was awarded a PhD in 2008 from Macquarie University. Louise Cridland received a Masters of Organizational Psychology in 2012 from the University of New South Wales. Richard J. Stevenson is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at Macquarie University and received an DPhil in 1993 from Sussex University.