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Primary Psychopathy
Primary psychopaths may present few symptoms of having a major psychological disorder. This may go hand in hand with the more manipulative personality traits characterising primary psychopathic behaviour. In addition, manipulation is also a key component featured in the Dark Triad personality test (Machiavellianism), which is positively correlated with primary psychopathy. It has also been further suggested that primary psychopathy and Machiavellianism reflect similar constructs, with Machiavellian behaviour being positively associated with the main traits of primary psychopathy. Further research has shown that psychopathy and Machiavellianism are "barely distinguishable" and features of the two often "overlap". This is further supported by research showing that Machiavellianism and primary psychopathy are situated in much of the same areas of the Interpersonal Circumplex., i.e., "cold-hearted" and "high dominance" sections. Other traits include impaired interpersonal skills, not being able to function adequately in social situations due to the mere nature of the traits such as a lack of empathy.

Secondary Psychopathy
Research suggests that secondary psychopathic traits may include remorse and being more tense in contrast to individuals labelled as primary psychopaths. Karpman believed that behaviours carried out by secondary psychopaths aren’t grounded in lack of empathy which is seen in primary psychopaths. An integral finding amongst secondary psychopathic traits is the tendency to be less risk averse and more risk tolerant. For example, a study showed that individuals with secondary psychopathic traits were more likely to consistently choose cards with considerably higher net loses opposed to ones that posed less risk and gain. This is consistent with other research, which also suggests a consistent positive association between impulsivity and secondary psychopathy. Whilst controlling for impulsivity, risky decision making was still prevalent amongst secondary psychopathic behaviour.

Development and Scoring
The purpose of the scale was to test for these two sub-groups of primary and secondary psychopathy as identified by Karpman as well as their attributions with "prosocial and antisocial behaviours". This was aimed at “non-institutionalised” populations in Levenson’s study. The wording of these response options is made to lessen the stigma around personality traits by reducing any means of condemnation.

The PCL-R (Psychopathy Checklist), is one of the key assessments used to signal psychopathy and traits associated with it in individuals, mainly used on institutionalised citizens in the population in contrast to the LSRP. The LSRP aimed to measure similarly what the PCL-R does by using similar “descriptors” for behavioural traits. These include tendency for regular deception, lack of empathy, remorse, and Machiavellian behaviour.

Examples of items from the self-report scale include: "I tell other people what they want to hear so that they will do what I want them to do" and "I often admire a really clever scam". These statements aimed to focus on typical moral dilemmas one may face as opposed to accentuating criminal behaviour. This was to account for the LSRP’s use on university students, making the scale easier to conceptualise.

Construct Validity
A study by Chad Brinkley in 2001 tested the concurrent and construct validity of the LSRP with the PCL-R with a sample of prison inmates. Small to moderate correlations were found between the LSRP and PCL-R, as well as associations between primary and secondary psychopathy ("factor 1" and "factor 2" in the PCL-R). Although the total correlations between the two measures were small, this was still nevertheless a significant finding from further statistical testing. This finding was also predominantly consistent across different demographics within the sample.

A study by Martin Sellbom in 2010 also studied male inmates and college students to assess construct validity in the LSRP. It was compared with various other measures such as the "Psychopathic Personality Inventory” (PPI), the “Machiavellianism Inventory-IV” and the “Emotional Empathy Scale”. Results signalled the LSRP had strong correlations with some aspects of these measures which tested for narcissistic, impulsive traits and prevalence of substance abuse . There were overall moderate correlations between the LSRP and the PPI but no significant correlations with the Emotional Empathy Scale . The LSRP therefore partially correlates with other predominant measures of psychopathy, but these correlations are not consistent across all self-report measures, with some differences seen between institutionalised and non-institutionalised populations.

The LSPR was tested against a range of other self-report measures which explored concepts associated with psychopathic behavioural traits. After analysing this, findings showed that there were correlations between the LSRP and other self-report measures assessing similar conducts such as "harm avoidance".

Internal Validity
Self-report psychopathy measures are susceptible to social desirability bias, in which individuals may alter their given responses according to what they think is socially acceptable or “desired”, therefore possibly giving unrepresentative psychopathy characteristics for that individual. This could stem from certain stigmas surrounding mental health disorders. This threats the internal validity of the assessment as the nature of the questionnaire may produce inaccurate findings of the population’s behavioural dispositions and thus the scale is not measuring what it intends to measure. For example, in Levenson’s study, responses could lead to wrong grouping of individuals, such as being classed as non-psychopathic when actual responses may lead to being put into the psychopathic group due to “underreporting”. However, an analysis into the effects of this bias on the LSRP and other measures found a negative relationship between psychopathy measures and social desirability, indicating that there was limited social desirability bias in the results. Alternatively, it has been suggested that due to dishonesty being a key feature of psychopathy, using self-report methods to assess people will no doubt lead to mistrust in results.

External Validity
The use of a Bobo doll to examine aggressive behaviours, threat the external validity of the experiment. For example, the nature of a Bobo doll is to be hit, thus, children's reasons for hitting the doll may stem from the mere purpose of a Bobo doll toy as opposed to actual aggression towards the doll. This has implications for real world application, where findings cannot be generalised to alternative contexts where aggressive behaviour is displayed, such as hooliganism in football games. This is due to the novelty of the Bobo doll experiment, which presumably could be inadequate at explaining every day acts of imitated aggression. However, studies have also found the study to be well applied to workplace and institutional aggression, meaning the external validity is somewhat. For example, Bandura's conclusion that aggressive behaviour is reinforced through condemnation, showcased how workplace bullying was amplified in contexts where it was not disapproved of. Therefore, although the experiment itself consists of novel situations, it nevertheless still helps understand the dynamics of real world aggression such as institutional bullying. Consequently, this understanding can help tackle these daily problems by ensuring anti-social behaviour is shown to be unacceptable in professional settings.