Question for statistics people

[Simon PayntonParticipant]

I have a question about statistics and the correlation coefficient r.

A study found that psychopathy (defined as callousness – indifference to the suffering of others – and impulsivity), and narcissism, are correlated by a factor of r = 0.42 for n = 8,538 people.

So, “20% of the variation is related”.  What does this mean?  Does it mean that 20% of narcissists show strong signs of psychopathy?

[_Robert_Participant]

Slightly different measures of the relationship between the two.

In correlation analysis (r = 0.42) both Y and X are assumed to be random variables. In linear regression (Percent of Variation = 20%) Y is assumed to be a random variable and X is assumed to be a fixed variable.

When using hard and accurate measurement data…this is a weak relationship. For social science this could be maybe be considered a medium relationship depending on how well that sample represents the population.

[Simon PayntonParticipant]

Thanks.  So I can say there’s a relationship, but a weak one.  I guess I would need to know how psychopathy correlates with the general population, in order to say how significant is the correlation between narcissism and psychopathy.

[Reg the Fronkey FarmerModerator]

At +4.2 there is a positive correlation between the two variables but as it is under 0.5 it would not be significant enough to make any bold statement about to give support to an argument. But it would be worth mentioning. The range is always between -1 and +1 so the further from zero shows the positive or negative correlation between the variables. Anything above +0.7 or -0.7 would merit further study.

[Simon PayntonParticipant]

If 1% of the population are reckoned to be psychopaths, can I work out from this the value of r relative to the general population?

A big difficulty is that these “dark” personality traits are lumped in together: so the terms “psychopath”, “narcissist” and “sociopath” tend to get confused.

I have been in contact with a self-identified psychopath, and she seemed perfectly nice.

[jakelafortParticipant]

Simon, do you know whether psychopaths are subject to anxiety?

[jakelafortParticipant]

Scrap my question Simon. Did a little reading..

[Simon PayntonParticipant]

Psychopaths are maligned in my opinion.  They’re not all anti-social.

[jakelafortParticipant]

Psychopathy is maligned. But there are psychopaths who are revered.

[Simon PayntonParticipant]

A lot of people with dark personality traits (e.g. machiavellianism, narcissism, sadism) end up in positions of power.  I think Adolf Hitler had all those three.

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