This thesis aimed to investigate the cognitive, affective and social-psychological correlates of primary (selfish, uncaring) and secondary (reckless, prone to boredom) psychopathic traits. The results of Chapter 2 indicate that both primary and secondary psychopathic traits are associated with reduced empathic functioning. These results were supported by findings from Chapter 3, which suggest that elevated levels of secondary psychopathic traits may be linked with a lack of generosity for the out-group, but pro-social sentiment for the in-group. Chapter 4 used eye tracking to examine the cognitive mechanisms underlying empathic functioning and showed that primary psychopathic traits were linked with abnormal eye scan paths during an expression recognition task, indicated by reduced dwell time on the eye region of emotional faces. Chapter 5 further examined emotion recognition in an offending sample and revealed poor fearful face recognition among sexual and violent offenders. Furthermore, primary psychopathic traits were linked with greater impairment in fearful face recognition. Taken together, these findings show that primary and secondary psychopathic traits are linked with different patterns of performance on psychological tests. These results support the view that the variance accounted for by these traits should be considered separately in research and in clinical practic
