Abstract. This study provides initial insights on the relation between psychopathic traits (disinhibition, meanness, and boldness) and academic fraud (prevalence and severity), while considering important mediators of fraud (perceived capability, opportunity, motivation, and rationalization). Based on a large sample of university students ( N = 967), two structural equation models (test and replication) were built to test the study’s main hypothesis and probe the robustness of the results. A direct link from disinhibition to prevalence was found, suggesting that disinhibition is associated with social deviance in the academic context. Higher motivation for cheating exclusively mediated this path. In meanness, rationalization explained lower rates of perceived severity of academic fraud, indicating that cognitive self-justifications trigger dishonest behavior in meanness. Boldness explained the prevalence of academic fraud via perceived capability, suggesting that low-fear, although adaptive in evaluation contexts, may increase the perceived capability for cheating. The reported significant associations support that academic fraud is part of the nomological network of psychopathy and unveil the complexity of the phenomenon.

中文翻译：

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精神病态特征、学术欺诈以及动机、机会、合理化和感知能力的中介作用

摘要。本研究提供了关于精神变态特征（去抑制、卑鄙和大胆）与学术欺诈（普遍性和严重性）之间关系的初步见解，同时考虑了欺诈的重要中介（感知能力、机会、动机和合理化）。基于大量大学生样本（N = 967），建立了两个结构方程模型（检验和复制）来检验研究的主要假设并探讨结果的稳健性。发现去抑制与流行之间存在直接联系，这表明去抑制与学术环境中的社会偏差有关。更高的作弊动机完全调节了这条路径。平均而言，合理化解释了学术欺诈的严重程度较低，表明认知自我辩护会引发卑鄙的不诚实行为。大胆通过感知能力解释了学术造假的普遍性，这表明低恐惧虽然在评估环境中具有适应性，但可能会增加对作弊的感知能力。报告的重要关联支持学术欺诈是精神病法理网络的一部分，并揭示了这一现象的复杂性。