An estimated 300,000 of them live in Britain. But could you be one of them?
Now an online tool could help reveal whether you’re secretly harboring psychopathic tendencies you didn’t even know you had.
Based on the work of Professor Michael Levenson, an expert in psychology at Oregon State University, the 27-point quiz explores how you approach love, your life goals and how you interact with others.
The results, including a percentage score, can help people understand how they score on the psychopathy scale.
Research shows that people with high scores are six times more likely to commit violent crimes – although experts say not all psychopaths end up being criminals.
Based on the work of Professor Michael Levenson, an expert in psychology at Oregon State University, the 27-point quiz explores how you approach love, your life goals and how you interact with others.
The results, including a percentage score, can help people understand how they score on a psychopathy scale
The quiz, which is accessible herefirst asks how much you agree or disagree that success is based on the survival of the fittest.
It also assesses whether you end up in the same trouble again and again.
Other lifestyle and wellness questions include how important money is to your goals, whether cheating is justified, and how much you enjoy manipulating the feelings of others.
After completing the test, participants discover whether they have more psychopathic or sociopathic tendencies.
Sociopathic personalities are characterized by impulsive, irresponsible, and often criminal behavior. It is also called antisocial personality disorder.
According to some experts, psychopaths are born, while sociopaths are made.
The quiz also records how impulsive you are compared to other quiz participants.
However, it notes that the results should only be used as a guide, and not as “the sole means of evaluating an individual’s psychopathic traits.”
In general, people described as psychopaths exhibit characteristics such as antisocial behavior, untruthfulness, irresponsibility, and a lack of remorse or empathy.
Research has shown that psychopaths often exhibit reduced emotional responses to gruesome or disturbing stimuli, allowing them to engage with such content without experiencing the discomfort or disgust that most people would feel.
Only around 0.6 percent of British adults are believed to have clinically significant levels of psychopathic traits.
The disorder is diagnosed using a 20-item Hare Psychopathy Checklist, which includes characteristics such as lack of empathy, pathology and impulsivity.
Each is scored on a three-point scale, with zero meaning not applicable and two fully applicable.
Earlier this year, a British researcher warned that more women are psychopaths than commonly thought.
Dr. Clive Boddy from Anglia Ruskin University said signs of psychopathy in women are different from men and can take the form of sexually seductive and manipulative behaviour.
Only around 0.6 percent of British adults are considered to have clinically significant levels of psychopathic traits. In the photo the Joker, who is often considered a psychopath
Current scientific evidence suggests that male psychopaths outnumber females by approximately six to one.
But Dr. Boddy thinks the true ratio of male to female psychopathy is about 1.2 to one – up to five times higher than previously suggested.
Experts used to believe that antisocial personality disorders were lifelong conditions. But now some believe they can be treated and even cured.
According to the NHS, there is evidence that behavior can improve over time with therapy, even if core traits such as lack of empathy persist.
Talking therapies, such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), are sometimes used to treat antisocial personality disorder.
Community-based programs can also be an effective long-term treatment method for people with antisocial personality disorders, clinicians say.
Social therapy focuses on the person’s risk of offending and works to meet their emotional and psychological needs.
However, there is little evidence to support the use of medications to treat antisocial personality disorder, health officials say.
Certain antipsychotics and antidepressants may be helpful in some cases.