Empathy and psychopathy seem to be two distant extremes, which only differ, with nothing similar. Therefore, the question that seems to be surprising is whether such a theoretical perspective is justified. Empathy exerts significant influence on social relationships and is associated with moral development, whereas psychopathy seems to be an opposite phenomenon, as it is associated with the lack of deep interpersonal bonds and the violation of legal norms. As studies from various disciplines and scientific areas indicate, such concepts as behavioral effectiveness, morality or altruism might help explain the complex nature of the interrelationship between psychopathy and empathy. The authors tried to explore and describe the complexity of the two presented concepts in the light of the conducted research, and the resulting theoretical and empirical implications.

Vast research has sought to better understand the origins and development of rape myth beliefs given the problematic influence of such misconceptions throughout global societies and criminal justice pathways. The current research aims to build on this body of literature by examining the contribution that psychopathic personality traits (affective responsiveness, cognitive responsiveness, interpersonal manipulation, egocentricity) and emotional intelligence may have upon rape myth beliefs. Furthermore, this study will investigate the extent to which sociodemographic characteristics (age, gender, ethnicity, education), and prior experience of sexual victimisation, contribute to variance in rape myth acceptance scores. In total 251 participants (M Age = 31.66) completed an online, self-report questionnaire which included contemporary measures of psychopathy and rape myth acceptance, never previously tested in combination. Results of a hierarchical multiple regression analysis indicate that egocentricity, age, and gender were significantly associated with rape myth beliefs. Emotional intelligence, as well as affective and interpersonal traits of psychopathy, were not directly related with rape mythology. Findings are interpreted alongside previous research, where we suggest there is an urgent need for larger, nationally representative samples, systematically recruited from the general population to help clarify uncertainty in existing literature emerging from small-scale opportunistic datasets.