A preliminary investigation of the construct of psychopathic personality (psychopathy) in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

Although the construct of psychopathy has received considerable attention i n humans, its relevance to other animals is largely unknown. We developed a measure of psychopathy for use in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), the Chimp anzee Psychopathy Measure (CPM), and asked 6 raters to complete this index on 34 chimpanzees. The CPM (a) demonstrated satisfactory interrater reliabi lity and internal consistency; (b) exhibited marginally significant sex dif ferences (males > females); (c) correlated positively with measures of extr aversion, agreeableness, and observational ratings of agonism, sexual activ ity, daring behaviors, teasing, silent bluff displays, and temper tantrums, and negatively with observational ratings of generosity; and (d) demonstra ted incremental validity above and beyond a measure of dominance. Although further validation of the CPM is needed, these findings suggest that the ps ychopathy construct may be relevant to chimpanzees.