- Ryan H Murphy: Southern Methodist University, The O'Neil Center for Global Markets and Freedom, SMU Cox School of Business, P.O. Box 750333, Dallas, TX, 75275, United States.
Rentfrow et al. (2013) constructs a cross-section of the "Big Five" personality traits and demonstrates their relationship with outcomes variables for the continental United States and the District of Columbia. Hyatt et al. (Forthcoming) creates a means of describing psychopathy in terms of the Big Five personality traits. When these two findings are combined, a state-level estimate of psychopathy is produced. The estimate is conjectural, and if correct, it only describes the levels of psychopathy of states in relation of one state to one another, and is contingent on one particular conceptualization of psychopathy. Among the typical predictions made regarding psychopathy, the variable with the closest bivariate relationship with this new statistical aggregate is the percentage of the population in the state living in an urban area. There is no clear bivariate relationship of regional psychopathy with homicide, violent crime, or property crime rates.