Unveiling the unknown : a study of the relationship between psychopathy and cyber-aggression

• Main Author: Wong, Nataniel
• Other Authors: Olivia Choy
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2019
• Subjects: DRNTU::Social sciences::Psychology::Deviant psychology; DRNTU::Social sciences::Psychology::Applied psychology
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/76839
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Psychopathy has traditionally been associated with aggression, but in the digital age, less research has been conducted on the relationship between cyber-aggression and psychopathy. Furthermore, past studies utilized a framework that was designed to be tested on an incarcerated population, leading to less relevant application for the broader population at large. This study hypothesized that there would be a significant relationship between cyber-aggression and psychopathy, such that higher psychopathy levels would correspond to higher cyber-aggression levels. 231 non-incarcerated participants completed the Triarchic Psychopathy Measure (TriPM) and the Cyber-Aggression Questionnaire for Adolescents (CYBA). Potential confounding variables, such as gender, social adversity and number of social media platforms used, were considered. Bivariate and multivariate regression results supported the hypothesis. Gender and the number of social media platforms used were also found to be significantly associated with cyber-aggression, after taking psychopathy into account.. Lastly, the study considers explanations to account for observed results, as well as a general direction for future research efforts.