The development and validation of the successful psychopathy scale

Purpose The emerging construct of successful psychopathy is characterised by traits largely considered beneficial or adaptive in daily life, which might also be callous and manipulative in nature. To date, successful psychopathy remains poorly understood, with inconsistent and competing theoretical positions, an absence of empirical literature and no validated index of the construct. The purpose of these studies is to develop and validate a novel measure of successful psychopathic traits. Design/methodology/approach In this two-study manuscript, this paper describes the development and validation of the Successful Psychopathy Scale (SPS) to help bridge this research gap. Study 1 (n = 403) documents the development and testing of an item pool based on theoretical understandings and expert ratings, and Study 2 (n = 309) outlines the convergent validity of the scale. The final SPS comprised 54 items over 6 facets: callous-unemotional traits, decisiveness, confidence, stress immunity, social potency and manipulation. Rasch analysis was used to validate items and establish the reliability and internal validity of the SPS scale. The SPS satisfied expectations of unidimensionality with minor modifications, resolved by creating super-items. The final SPS was validated against existing measures of psychopathic traits, success expectancy and success motivation. Findings The SPS demonstrated strong internal consistency and convergent validity, showing expected relationships with established measures of psychopathy and constructs related to success. These findings support the conceptualization of successful psychopathy as a multidimensional construct that blends socially desirable traits with maladaptive tendencies, providing empirical evidence for the adaptive features within the broader psychopathy spectrum. Originality/value Overall, the development of this novel scale represents a necessary advancement in the field of successful psychopathy and provides a basis for international application in areas of personality research and occupational behavior.