Psychopathic Personality Inventory – Revised Short Version (PPI-SV)

Abstract

The Psychopathic Personality Inventory – Revised Short Version (PPI-SV) is a 47-item, self-report instrument developed by Jessica Marie Forshee in 2006. It serves as a condensed measure of trait psychopathy, derived from the original 154-item Psychopathic Personality Inventory–Revised (PPI-R). The PPI-SV was specifically designed for efficient use in research settings, particularly when assessing non-clinical populations, while aiming to retain the essential psychometric properties and the two-factor structure of the full scale.

Keywords

Psychopathy, Psychopathic Personality Inventory, PPI-SV, Forensic Psychology, Personality Assessment, Antisocial Behavior, Fearless Dominance, Impulsivity, Self-report.

Authors

Jessica Marie Forshee, Christina N. Lacerenza (referenced user of the instrument).

Purpose

The primary purpose of the PPI-SV is to offer a time-efficient and psychometrically rigorous measure of psychopathic personality traits. Developed via Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), the instrument ensures that the shortened item set maintains high fidelity to the established factor structure of the PPI-R, thereby providing a valid alternative for large-scale studies where respondent fatigue is a concern.

The scale is instrumental in assessing stable, subclinical dimensions of psychopathy across various populations, contributing to research on personality, risk-taking, emotional processing, and antisocial behavior.

Construct

The PPI-SV operationalizes psychopathy as a dimensional personality construct, aligning with the theoretical model underlying the PPI-R. This model posits that psychopathy consists of two higher-order factors that are distinct from, though related to, traditional measures of criminality or antisocial personality disorder.

The two primary factors measured by the PPI-SV, consistent with the PPI-R structure, are:

• Factor 1: Fearless Dominance (or Boldness). This factor captures the affective and interpersonal characteristics, including emotional resilience, low anxiety, high self-assurance, and manipulative tendencies. This dimension reflects a successful or adaptive style of psychopathy.
• Factor 2: Self-Centered Impulsivity. This factor reflects lifestyle deviance and antisociality, encompassing irresponsibility, lack of planning, externalization of blame, and impulsive behavior. This dimension is more closely associated with traditional measures of antisocial behavior and criminality.

Validity

The validity of the PPI-SV is supported by its developmental methodology, which employed Confirmatory Factor Analysis to confirm that the 47 selected items adequately loaded onto the expected two-factor structure. This ensures strong internal structural validity.

In terms of external validation, the PPI-SV demonstrates high concurrent validity with the full PPI-R total score, indicating that the short form accurately estimates the construct measured by the original instrument. Furthermore, the PPI-SV shows expected patterns of convergent validity, correlating positively with measures of sensation-seeking, aggression, and narcissistic traits, while exhibiting inverse correlations with measures of empathy and trait anxiety.

Reliability

The PPI-SV generally demonstrates good internal consistency, essential for a reliable research instrument. Across various samples, the Cronbach’s alpha coefficients for the total scale score typically meet or exceed the acceptable threshold, often falling in the 0.80 to 0.90 range. The primary factor scores (Fearless Dominance and Self-Centered Impulsivity) also exhibit strong internal reliability.

Although the specific test-retest reliability statistics were established in the original 2006 thesis, the instrument is designed to measure stable personality traits, suggesting that scores should remain consistent over reasonable periods, making the scale reliable for longitudinal studies of psychopathic tendencies.

Factor Analysis

The creation of the PPI-SV was rooted in a rigorous Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) conducted by Forshee (2006) on the original PPI-R item pool. The objective of the CFA was to identify the minimum number of items necessary to retain the robust two-factor model that defines the PPI-R.

The results of the Factor Analysis confirmed that the 47 selected items successfully maintained the differentiation between the Fearless Dominance and Self-Centered Impulsivity factors. This methodology ensures that the PPI-SV is not merely a random selection of items but a statistically validated short form that preserves the theoretical structure of the comprehensive Psychopathic Personality Inventory.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report Personality Inventory.

Format: 47 items responded to on a 4-point Likert-type scale.

Language Available: English (Original).

Population Group: General population; frequently used with student and non-clinical adult samples.

Age Group: Typically utilized with adolescents and adults (18+).

Population Details: Used to assess subclinical psychopathic traits in research settings, distinguishing it from instruments used solely for forensic diagnosis.

Test Methodology: Respondents rate the degree to which they agree with each statement using a four-point scale. The response format is: 1= False, 2= Mostly False, 3= Mostly True, 4=True.

The original PDF containing this instrument, as referenced in Lacerenza (2012), can be downloaded here: http://etd.fcla.edu/CF/CFH0004163/Lacerenza_Christina_N_201205_BS.pdf

Keywords

Psychological assessment, Personality traits, Impulsivity, Factor Analysis, Clinical screening, Research instrument, Deviance, Boldness.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not provided in source material.

Affiliation Email addresses: Not provided in source material.

Correspondence Address: Not provided in source material.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The PPI-SV was developed by Forshee in 2006 as part of academic research. While the original PPI-R is proprietary and managed by Psychological Assessment Resources (PAR), the PPI-SV, being derived from a thesis, is often utilized freely in non-commercial academic research. Users intending to administer the scale for research or clinical purposes must verify the current copyright and licensing requirements, particularly if used in conjunction with the full PPI-R methodology.

Reference’s

• Forshee, Jessica Marie. (2006). Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the Psychopathic Personality Inventory-Revised and Development of a Short Version. University of Arkansas.
• Lacerenza, Christina N. (2012). An exploratory factor analysis of self-reported state and trait guilt. Burnett Honors College at the University of Central Florida. Honorary thesis.
• Lilienfeld, S. O., & Widows, M. R. (2005). The Psychopathic Personality Inventory–Revised (PPI-R) Professional Manual. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.

Items of the Psychopathic Personality Inventory – Revised Short Version (PPI-SV)

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

1. If I’m at a dull party, I like to stir things up.
2. I have always seen myself as something of a rebel.
3. I might like to travel around the country with some motorcyclists and cause trouble.
4. I would find the job of a movie stunt person exciting.
5. When I am faced with a moral decision, I ask myself, “Am I doing the right thing?
6. When people mistreat me, I’d rather forgive them than try to get even.
7. It would bother me to cheat on a test even if no one was hurt by it.
8. Parachute jumping would really scare me.
9. I could be a good “con artist.”
10. I like to stand out in a crowd.
11. It would be fun to fly a small airplane by myself.
12. When someone is hurt by something I say or do, that’s their problem.
13. I like to act first and think later.
14. When I’m in a frightening situation, I can “turn off” my fear almost at will.
15. To be honest, I believe that I am more important than most people.
16. If I do something that gets me in trouble, I don’t do it again.
17. If I really want to, I can persuade most people of almost anything.
18. I get restless when my life gets too predictable.
19. I can’t imagine being sexually involved with more than one person at a time.
20. I don’t care about following the “rules”; I make my own rules as I go along.
21. I feel bad about myself after I tell a lie.
22. I like to watch violent movies.
23. I’m hardly ever the “life of the party.”
24. I agree with the motto, “If you are bored with life, risk it.”
25. I like (or would like) to play sports with a lot of physical contact.
26. I do not like loud, wild parties.
27. In school or at work, I try to “stretch” the rules just to see what I can get away with.
28. I’m good at flattering people who can help me.
29. When I’m told what to do, I often feel like just doing the opposite.
30. People I thought were my “friends” have gotten me into trouble.
31. I don’t take advantage of people even when it would be good for me.
32. I like to poke fun at established traditions.
33. To be honest, I try not to help people unless there’s something in it for me.
34. I sometimes lie just to see if I can get someone to believe me.
35. It might be exciting to be on a plane that was about to crash but somehow landed safely.
36. It’s easy for me to talk about things I don’t know much about.
37. I’m sure people would be pleased to see me fail in life.
38. I get blamed for many things that aren’t my fault.
39. Some people have made up stories about me to get me in trouble.
40. Sometimes I do dangerous things on a dare.
41. If I can’t change the rules, I try to get others to bend them for me.
42. I like to do things on the spur of the moment.
43. I like my life to be unpredictable and surprising.
44. I would like to have a “wild” hairstyle.
45. I would like to hitchhike across the country with no plans.
46. I think long and hard before I make big decisions.
47. When life gets boring, I like to take chances.