Reconstruing the "reconstruction" of psychopathy: A comment on Cooke, Michie, Hart, and Clark

In this comment on Cooke, Michie, Hart, and Clark (2004) we highlight critical problems in the estimation of parameters for their hierarchical three-factor model of psychopathy, as assessed with the Hare Psychopathy Checklist (PCL-R; Hare, 1991, 2003), and their interpretation of these factors as causally related to socially deviant behavior. We argue that there is nothing "causal" about a model in which cross-sectional data are used to assert that antisocial tendencies are consequences of other more fundamental psychopathic traits. We present an equally viable model, based on the PCL-R four-factor solution (Hare, 2003), in which antisocial tendencies play a fundamental role in the construct of psychopathy, consistent with previous research and clinical tradition.