Psychopathy and heart rate variability: A new physiological marker for the adaptive features of boldness.

Abstract

The boldness disposition of the triarchic model of psychopathy is theorized to entail, aside from maladaptive proclivities (narcissism, fearless risk-taking), some adaptive features (e.g., immunity to stressful events, high self-esteem, and emotional resilience) that seem to predispose high boldness individuals to an effective emotional regulation in response to environmental demands. The high frequency band of heart rate variability -an index of parasympathetic cardiac vagal activity-is a well-validated physiological index of emotional self-regulation and mental health resilience. The aim of this study was to examine the unique predictive contributions of triarchic dispositions of boldness, meanness, and disinhibition on resting vagally mediated heart rate variability (vmHRV) in a sample of 241 undergraduates (60 men) assessed via the Triarchic Psychopathy Measure (TriPM; Patrick, 2010). A hierarchical regression analysis was conducted on vmHRV in which TriPM Boldness, Meanness, and Disinhibition scores were entered as predictors, along with gender, age, body mass index, mean resting heart rate, and respiratory activity. Results showed that only TriPM Boldness -but not Meanness or Disinhibition-scores significantly predicted vmHRV (positively), thus evidencing that adequate emotional self-regulation is one of the adaptive features encompassed by the boldness disposition. These findings encourage further use of vmHRV as a physiological marker of boldness and contribute to shedding light on the nomological network surrounding the construct of boldness in psychopathy.

Understanding Empathy Deficits and Emotion Dysregulation in Psychopathy: The Mediating Role of Alexithymia

“…This adds to the view that boldness may be an adaptive feature of psychopathy (Berg et al, 2017;Du & Templer, 2022;Lilienfeld et al, 2015;Neo et al, 2018;Wallace et al, 2022). Prior research has already linked boldness to higher heart rate variability (Segarra et al, 2022), lower levels of neuroticism (Miller et al, 2016), and various other positive outcomes (for a meta-analytical review, see Sleep et al, 2019). Our results add to this literature by highlighting the role of alexithymia (or the lack thereof) in shaping the adaptive qualities of boldness and its positive impact on emotional functioning.…”

Understanding empathy deficits and emotion dysregulation in psychopathy: The mediating role of alexithymia

“…This adds to the view that boldness may be an adaptive feature of psychopathy [ 95 , 98 – 101 ]. Prior research has already linked boldness to higher heart rate variability [ 102 ], lower levels of neuroticism [ 103 ], and various other positive outcomes (for a meta-analytical review, see [ 104 ]). Our results add to this literature by highlighting the role of alexithymia (or the lack thereof) in shaping the adaptive qualities of boldness and its positive impact on emotional functioning.…”

Increased cardiac vagal tone in childhood-only, adolescent-only, and persistently antisocial teenagers: the mediating role of low heart rate

“…Such variables include risk-taking (Latvala et al, 2015), fearlessness (Boisvert et al, 2020;Portnoy & Farrington, 2015), stimulation-seeking (Boisvert et al, 2020;Oldehinkel, Verhulst, & Ormel, 2008;Portnoy & Farrington, 2015), and a lower likelihood of being sanctioned for antisocial behavior (Armstrong & Boutwell, 2012). Another possible mediator to be considered is the psychopathic feature of boldness which has been associated with increased vagal tone (Segarra, Poy, Branchadell, Ribes-Guardiola, & Molto, 2022). We caution that mediation was partial, accounting for 47.06% of the relationship, leaving a substantial amount of variance that could be accounted for by these other factors.…”