A latent variable analysis of the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised and behavioral inhibition system/behavioral activation system factors in North American and Swedish offenders.

An influential neurobiological model of personality is the Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory, which postulates how basic motivational systems (behavioral activation system [BAS], behavioral inhibition system [BIS]) can help account for the development and expression of individual differences in personality. Earlier research has documented a link between psychopathic personality and the BIS/BAS scale (Carver & White, 1994), which was developed to measure the behavioral inhibition and activation systems. However, no studies have examined how latent BIS/BAS factors and the 4 empirically derived Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) psychopathy factors (Hare & Neumann, 2008) are associated across different cultures. In the current study, structural equation modeling was used to determine how the 4 PCL-R factors were able to predict BIS/BAS factors using 2 large independent samples of male offenders (North American N = 908; Swedish N = 242). The results were in line with theory and revealed a negative relationship between the PCL-R Affective factor and the BIS factor as well as positive relationships between the PCL-R Antisocial and Lifestyle factors with the BAS factor. Overall, the results of the current study provide evidence of cross-cultural generalizability for the associations between the PCL-R factors and the BIS-BAS factors. Taken together, the PCL-R psychopathy factors were able to account for meaningful variance in the BIS-BAS factors and further support a dimensional approach to understanding the psychopathy construct across cultures.