How easy is it to spot a psychopath?

Psychopaths make up roughly 1% of the population, though their natural charm and subtle manipulation tactics mean they often walk undetected.

In the 1970s, prison psychologist Bob Hare developed a test for psychopathy that’s still in use today. It focuses on things like lack of empathy, superficial charm, manipulation, impulsivity, irresponsibility, lack of realistic long-term goals, an inflated sense of self-worth, and criminal versatility.

The root cause of psychopathy is a fault in the amygdala, which processes emotions. This causes them to express and feel fear differently. Where most people are repulsed by seeing a grisly crime-scene photo, psychopaths are merely curious about what’s happened in the scene.

Interviews with psychopathic killers have revealed a common motive: wanting to know what it’s like to kill someone. They also admit to enjoying the sense of control involved. Combine this with a total lack of empathy, and we can begin to understand how senseless murders are committed.

Psychopathy isn’t considered curable. It’s simply a part of an individual’s personality. But it doesn’t necessarily hold people back. If anything, it’s believed that psychopaths can attain powerful positions in society as capitalism often rewards psychopathic behavior, like making tough decisions without remorse.

In his book The Psychopath Test, journalist Jon Ronson studied Hare’s work and worried that he recognized psychopathic tendencies in himself. Martha Stout, author of The Sociopath Next Door, assured Ronson that anyone who is anxious about being a psychopath isn’t one (since they lack anxiety and fear).

As part of Ronson’s research, he met with two suspected psychopaths: Haitian kill-commando Emmanuel “Toto” Constant and professional job-cutter “Chainsaw” Al Dunlap. Both displayed a remorseless attitude towards others, and admitted that they enjoy manipulating people, but denied being psychopaths.

It’s possible that the business world is run by more psychopaths than we’d like to admit. But being quick to diagnose people as such can be potentially dangerous. Even Bob Hare, inventor of the psychopath test, admits that it's merely a blunt tool.

The problem with systems like the psychopath test (and the unreliable Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM, which was heavily influenced by it and shares some of its problems) is that they can easily lead to over-diagnosis and misdiagnosis.

In theory, having a simple checklist for psychopaths seems like a great idea. But assessing someone against a list of personality traits can be a recipe for disaster, as it’s all too easy to accuse someone of being a psychopath simply because you don’t like their behavior.