Role-Taking Ability and Gough's Theory of Psychopathy

• NCJ Number: 131515
• Journal: International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology Volume: 35 Issue: 2 Dated: (Summer 1991) Pages: 107-118
• Author(s): P D O'Mahony; P G Murphy
• Date Published: 1991
• Length: 12 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Thirty prisoners and 30 university students were administered the socialization scale of the California Personality Inventory under "honest" and "fake good" conditions as a means of testing Gough's claim that the scale is immune to any significant degree of "faking good."

Abstract

While the scale succeeded in differentiating the two groups, both groups -- but especially the prisoners -- were able to make significant gains in measured socialization under the "fake good" condition. Three prisoners who were classifiable as "psychopaths," according to their "honest" results on the scale, were able to fake a "best citizen" profile. If it is granted that the scale is a valid measure of socialization, these results cast doubts on Gough's theory that socialization is strictly dependent on role-taking ability. 1 table and 26 references (Author abstract)