The dark side of social anhedonia: how social anhedonia relates to psychopathy

Traditionally, social anhedonia has been considered from a pathological approach. Recently it has been considered a trait like construct. The Revised Social Anhedonia Scale (RSAS) is widely used to assess for social anhedonia. Yet, the research is inconsistent as to this scales factor structure and limited as to how this trait, and its components, relate to psychopathy in the context of the Big Five personality traits. This study attempted to replicate Cicero’s et al. (2016) findings that the RSAS is multidimensional, using a new short form, and explore how these components relate to psychopathy. This project was a two-part study, with data collected through self-report questionnaires completed by undergraduate students. Study one (N = 439) undertook exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, which identified a modified two-factor model as the best fit for the data. This scale contained twenty-five items, with the factors named Diminished Social Pleasure and Social Disinterest. Study two (N = 346) undertook multiple regression analyses. A weak correlation between social disinterest and psychopathy and a moderate correlation between social anhedonia and agreeableness and extraversion were identified. These findings support the multidimensionality of the RSAS and support future researchers to further understand personality and mental disorder.