Literature reviewudTraditionally, aggressiveness and impulsivity have been defined,udmeasured and predicted based on the overt behaviour that is often displayed byudthose who possess a high level of these characteristics. As such, this has led to audview of human nature as either impulsive, aggressive or neither. This paperudexplores current theories regarding the development of aggressiveness andudimpulsivity and their nature, and argues that impulsivity and aggressiveness canudbe conceptualised as personality characteristics that exist on a continuum, andudthat each and every individual possesses some level of both. This paper furtherudexamines the nature and development of psychopathy as a personality disorder,udand posits that this cluster of interrelated but relatively independent facets is alsouddimensional in nature. Finally, the current paper examines the role of impulsivityudand aggressiveness in psychopathy, and suggests directions for future research.ududEmpirical studyudThe present study investigated the role of impulsivity and aggressiveness inudsubclinical psychopathy within an undergraduate university sample. One hundredudand fifty three participants (122 female, 28 male, 3 gender unidentified)udcompleted self-report measures in the areas of impulsivity, aggressiveness andudpsychopathy. Correlation analysis and stepwise regression models wereudconstructed in accordance with the aim of the study, which was to clarify the roleudof impulsivity and aggressiveness in psychopathic characteristics, and touddetermine the utility of self-report measures in psychopathy research. The resultsudof the study supported the hypothesis predicting a positive relationship betweenudimpulsivity, aggressiveness and psychopathy scores, and that high levels of bothudimpulsivity and aggression were a better predictor of psychopathy scores thanudeither impulsivity or aggressiveness alone. Partial support was received for theudhypotheses predicting differential relationships between components ofudimpulsivity, aggressiveness and psychopathy. Specifically, impulsivity scoresudwere found to significantly correlate with the erratic lifestyle scale. However, audsignificant negative relationship was not found between empathy scores andudcallous affect scores, contrary to predictions. Post hoe stepwise regression wasudundertaken to examine which, if any, aspects of impulsivity and aggressivenessudwere predictive of aspects of psychopathy. The results of the post hoe analysisudwere discussed with reference to current theories regarding the nature ofudpsychopathy.
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