Workplace Psychopathy

My PhD student Ryan Cook and I are currently developing/validating a novel measure of workplace psychopathic tendencies based on a the conditional reasoning approach.  

The Conditional Reasoning Test of Workplace Psychopathy ("the CRT" for short below) is designed to indirectly capturing psychopathic tendencies of individuals, without the test-taker being aware this is what the test is measuring. 

The CRT includes a series scenarios that test-takers must read. Each scenarios is followed by a question and four response options. Some options are associated with what so-called "justification mechanisms" that are typical of corporate psychopaths (e.g., impulsivity, social superiority, insensitivity). As such, depending on the response options chosen by the individual across all the test, their overall score signals lower or higher psychopathic tendencies. 

We have already conducted several studies with several thousands of participants from Canada, the U.S., and the U.K. in total. Our results demonstrate the following:

• The CRT does indeed capture workplace psychopathy, and is correlated with self-reported measure of psychopathy (including the SRP-III, the TriPM, and the short dark triad).
• It demonstrate reliability, both in terms of internal consistency and test-retest reliability. 
• It is related to relevant outcomes, including counter-productive work behaviors, cyber-slacking, cheating, and selfish decision-making (i.e., in a dictator game).
• It is less "fakable" than other tools traditionally used in selection, including measures of personality (HEXACO), dark triad, or integrity measures.
• Test-takers are unable to identify that the CRT is assessing psychopathy.
• Reactions to the CRT (e.g., in terms of perceived justice) are rather positive, and are only slightly influenced by feedback provided to test-takers.
• The CRT shows very small sub-group differences in scores (e.g., based on gender, race, disability status).

We are currently developing new studies to test the CRT in various organizational contexts.

If you are interested in research collaboration or using the CRT for workplace psychopathy in practice, please contact us.