On the relationship between psychopathic traits and cognitive empathy, affective empathy, and empathic concern

A key distinction is between primary psychopathic traits (e.g., egocentricity and callousness) and secondary psychopathic traits (e.g., antisocial behaviour). Here we investigated the link between psychopathic traits and three different components of empathy: affective empathy (feeling what others are feeling), cognitive empathy (understanding others' perspective), and empathic concern (feelings of sympathy, care, and concern for others). While previous research suggests reductions in empathy for those higher psychopathic traits, this work has not isolated the selective associations between primary and secondary psychopathic traits and each of these three components of empathy. Here, in a cross-sectional study, N = 300 adults completed measures of primary and secondary psychopathic traits, cognitive empathy, affective empathy, and empathic concern, and the selective associations between each psychopathic trait and the components of empathy was assessed. Results showed that egocentricity was selectively associated with reduced empathic concern, while callousness was associated with strongly reduced affective empathy and empathic concern. In contrast, the secondary psychopathic trait of antisociality was selectively associated with reduced cognitive empathy. The components of empathy explained the most variance in callousness (58 %) and the least in antisociality (8 %). These findings highlight the importance of considering the multifaceted nature of both psychopathic traits and empathy. • Egocentricity associated with reduced empathic concern • Callousness associated with reduced affective empathy and empathic concern • Antisociality associated with reduced cognitive empathy • Callousness most strongly linked to empathy