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Bold, Mean, Disinhibited: How 3 Psychopathic Traits Show Up in Everyday Writing : ScienceAlert (opens in a new tab)

sciencealert.com · 2026-10-08

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Claim 1 of 6Not checkedA new study from University of Mississippi researchers Ky Bray and Laura Drislane says the three triarchic psychopathy traits — boldness, meanness, and disinhibition — can show up in people's everyday writing.View evidenceHide evidence

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Claim 2 of 6Not checkedBray and Drislane recruited 307 undergraduate students and 144 formerly incarcerated people from the community, who completed the Triarchic Psychopathy Measure and wrote about a high point, a low point, and a turning point in their lives.View evidenceHide evidence

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Claim 3 of 6Not checkedPeople who scored high on boldness tended to use fewer anxiety-related words in their writing overall.View evidenceHide evidence

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Claim 4 of 6Not checkedHigher meanness was linked to less use of negative-emotion words when writing about a life's major turning point.View evidenceHide evidence

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Claim 5 of 6Not checkedDisinhibition had the strongest language effect: higher scores were associated with fewer positive words across all three prompts, more negative language for high points and turning points, and more substance-use words for low points and turning points.View evidenceHide evidence

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Claim 6 of 6Not checkedThe story says the research was published in Personality and Individual Differences and was meant to show psychopathic traits in everyday behavior, not to diagnose psychopathy from writing.View evidenceHide evidence

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Investigating interpersonal and affective features of psychopathy through language use

Personality and Individual Differences · 2026

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Papers considered

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Crossref, PubMed, Europe PMC · 16 candidate papers

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Investigating interpersonal and affective features of psychopathy through language use

Personality and Individual Differences · 2026 · Crossref

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Candidate

Examining the Item-Level Structure of the Triarchic Psychopathy Measure: Sharpening Assessment of Psychopathy Constructs

2019 · Crossref

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And 10 more candidates considered.