Measures of Subclinical Psychopathy and Everyday Sadism are Still Redundant: A Conceptual Replication and Extension of Blötner and Mokros (2023).

Abstract

Objective: Various psychological concepts with different names reflect essentially the same content. A recent study (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2023.112102) found short scales of subclinical psychopathy and everyday sadism to be affected by this so-called jangle fallacy: Latent factors of psychopathy and everyday sadism were almost perfectly correlated, the nomological networks of psychopathy and sadism measures were almost identical, and in some cases, core criteria of psychopathy were more strongly related to sadism and vice versa.

Method: The present research (Ns = 1076 and 507; self-report) is an extended replication of the aforementioned study utilizing long scales instead of short scales for both constructs and corresponding criteria that were more pertinent to their potential distinction.

Results: As in the original study, the latent psychopathy and sadism factors were almost perfectly correlated. The nomological networks of the psychopathy and sadism scales were almost identical, with numerous focal correlates of psychopathy being equally or even more strongly related to sadism and vice versa.

Conclusion: These findings corroborate the earlier findings of the jangle fallacy of subclinical psychopathy and everyday sadism, calling into question the existence of everyday sadism as a unique construct.