The Role of Intellectual Humility, Trauma, and Psychopathy in Gun Violence: Understanding Their Implications on a Path Toward Prevention

Gun violence has become a threatening phenomenon that has been affecting the lives of Americans nationwide. Individuals exhibiting psychopathic traits have a higher propensity for exhibiting gun violence. Trauma is also a significant factor associated with an increased risk for gun violence. We focused on determining the relationships between intellectual humility (IH), psychopathy, and childhood trauma to understand those predisposed toward gun violence, in hopes of contributing to future preventative measures against gun violence. A total of 162 participants above the age of 18 completed the Comprehensive Intellectual Humility Scale, Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale, Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy Scale, and Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Questionnaire. All scales were measured on a Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). A normality test, correlation analysis, linear regression models, and moderation analysis were performed. When looking at the relationship between these two traits, we found that psychopathy had a positive relationship with trauma (r = 0.75, p < 0.001). This means that there is a highly reactive at-risk population that is traumatized and psychopathic, which is more likely to use guns for violent purposes. A moderation analysis showed that the relationship between trauma and psychopathy was moderated by IH (F(3, 157) = 74.16, p < 0.001). So, increasing IH by systematically teaching the concepts associated with IH in schools could decrease the levels of psychopathy in traumatized individuals. This would lower a key trait that relates to an increased risk of committing an act of violence. We seek to enhance understanding of the relationships between predisposing traits for gun violence and explore IH's impact on these relationships.