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Kristopher Brazil

Assistant Professor

Research Interests

The goal of my research is to understand the development and maintenance of psychopathy and other challenging personality characteristics that may foster antisocial behaviour and detachment from others. Psychopathy is a multidimensional personality construct consisting of interpersonal (e.g., manipulativeness), affective (e.g., callousness), and behavioural (e.g., impulsivity) traits that are persistent across time and context. Youth and adults who show higher levels of psychopathic traits tend to show higher levels of violence, antisocial behaviour, and treatment challenges compared to those lower in psychopathic traits. My research draws on developmental, relational, and evolutionary perspectives to seek new insights into how this condition may arise in the first place, how it may be prevented, and treated.

Primary research objectives are: (1) the nature and assessment of psychopathy in youth, (2) the role of relationships in the development and maintenance of psychopathy and its antisocial outcomes, and (3) using an evolutionary level of analysis to gain insights into understanding psychopathy. In addition to psychopathy, my research also explores other challenging personality characteristics, such as narcissism and Machiavellianism from the Dark Triad, Honesty-Humility from the HEXACO, and the Dark Factor of Personality.

 

Selected Publications

Brazil, K. J., Puchalski, A. J., & Volk, A. A. (2025). Short- and long-term links between HEXACO personality and adolescent psychopathic traits. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 47(3), Article 53. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-025-10230-y

Brazil, K. J., Mularczyk, K. P., Lee, S. C., & Forth, A. E. (2025). You are (not) forgiven: Psychopathic traits, forgiveness, and unforgiveness in romantic relationships. Current Psychology, 44(5), 3250–3262. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-025-07387-w

Brazil, K. J., Farrell, A. H., Boer, A. C., & Volk, A. A. (2025). Adolescent psychopathic traits and adverse environments: Associations with socially adaptive outcomes. Development and Psychopathology, 37(1), 477–489. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579424000051

Brazil, K. J., & Forth, A. E. (2024). Adolescent psychopathic traits, early adversity, and intimate partner violence. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 51(2), 213–229. https://doi.org/10.1177/00938548231219810

Brazil, K. J. (2024). Why might psychopathy develop? Beyond a protective function: A commentary on Zara et al. (2023). Journal of Criminal Psychology, 14(1), 16–23. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCP-04-2023-0023

Brazil, K. J., Cloutier, D., De Las Llagas, N., McMahon, S. G., Benevides, V., Book, A. S., & Visser, B. A. (2023). The chameleons of dating: Psychopathic traits are associated with mimicking prosocial personality traits in dating contexts. Evolutionary Psychological Science, 9(2), 260–269. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40806-023-00356-1

Brazil, K. J., Roy, S., Bubeleva, K. V., & Neumann, C. S. (2023). Sexual assault proclivity and sexual aggression in college men: Associations with psychopathic traits and sex drive. Journal of Criminal Justice, 87(July–August), Article 102089. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2023.102089

Brazil, K. J., Vance, G., Zeigler-Hill, V., & Shackelford, T. K. (2023). Men’s psychopathy and mating effort in intimate relationships: Links with jealousy and sexual coercion. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 52(6), 2421–2432. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-023-02587-6

Brazil, K. J., & Forth, A. E. (2020). Psychopathy and the induction of desire: Formulating and testing an evolutionary hypothesis. Evolutionary Psychological Science, 6(1), 64–81. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40806-019-00213-0

 

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