DEVELOPMENT OF A CALIFORNIA Q-SET INDICATOR OF PRIMARY PSYCHOPATHY

Seven judges described the personality characteristics of the primary psychopath by sorting the 100 items of the California Q-set in a force d-normal distribution. Item scores resulting from these sorts were agg regated across judges to form a Psychopathy Prototype. The reliability of the seven-judge aggregate prototype was .90. To examine the reliab ility of scores derived from the prototype, the personalities of 65 ta rget subjects were described by two peer judges using the California Q -set (Block, 1961). For each subject, Psychopathy Prototype scores wer e derived by correlating each judge's Q-sort profile with the Psychopa thy prototype. Findings indicated that the peer-generated psychopathy scores correlated r = .61 between judges. Using the Spearman-Brown for mula, Psychopathy Prototype scores have reliabilities of .75, .82, and .86 when aggregated over two, three, and four peer judges, respective ly. To further explore properties of the measure, the Psychopathy Prot otype was compared with independently developed California Q-set proto types describing the narcissist and the female hysteric. The results r evealed some interesting contrasts among these concepts and serve to s upport our contention that the Psychopathy Prototype has utility in re gard to distinguishing between pathologies with overlapping features.