Prevalence of psychopathy: interesting facts and discoveries

The prevalence of psychopathy in the general population appears to be much higher than previously thought.

In principle, worldwide, the prevalence of psychopathy is estimated at one in 100 people. However, a study carried out by the Department of Personality, Evaluation and Clinical Psychology of the Complutense University of Madrid, where the mean prevalence of psychopathy was calculated based on various investigations, estimated it to be 4.5% for the general population adult. Of course, this percentage varies depending on which segments of the population we look at, as we will see later. In some types of people, psychopathy is more common.

But... Why does this difference exist? What are the causes that make psychopathy not properly diagnosed? In this article We explain the problem in calculating the prevalence of psychopathy and present the figures found for the different population groups..

• Related article: "The Major Theories of Personality"

What is psychopathy?

Psychopathy is classified within the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) within personality disorders as antisocial personality disorder.

The psychopath has an abnormal personality type, although this does not in itself constitute a psychological disorder. As we can see, the term psychopathy has a vague definition. Actually, it is used to describe those antisocial traits and behaviors that other disorders cannot describe.

But within the general population, although we don't really know very well what it means to be a psychopath, yes there is a clear consensus that a serial killer has a very high degree of psychopathy. Well this really does not have to be so.

This confusion comes from psychology, where psychopathic traits have been studied, especially in criminals. People who exhibit behaviors that conflict with norms, social or legal, are obviously quite at risk of ending up in prison. psychopathy has been widely used in the field of criminal and prison psychology to describe differences in behavior between criminals.

All this has caused psychopaths to be identified with criminals. But not all criminals show signs of psychopathy, nor is psychopathic disorder the origin of all criminal behavior. And that, on the other hand, many psychopaths, not being criminals, do not recognize themselves as psychopaths.

It is not criminal behavior that defines psychopathy but, as in other personality disorders, a series of traits (or lack thereof) and characteristic behavior patterns.

Also, there is an erroneous tendency to associate psychopathy and sociopathy. Psychopathy is characterized by a lack of empathy and guilt, as well as self-centeredness, impulsiveness, and a tendency to lie and manipulate. Sociopathy also exhibits most of these traits. But there is a clear difference between psychopathy and sociopathy. A psychopath knows what he is doing and acts for his own benefit. While sociopathy is associated with inherited and unavoidable behavior. The sociopath shows little or no premeditation in her actions.

The fact of equating psychopathy with sociopathy assumes that psychopathy is, like sociopathy, a rather individual problem and of genetic origin. And forget the socialization component that is probably influencing the proliferation, in recent years, of it. Some authors have shown the benefits of psychopathic behavior in today's society.

The traits and concepts that describe psychopathy today are largely based on the work of Hervey Cleckley and Robert Hare and include: lack of empathy, self-centeredness and narcissism, shallow charm, emotional poverty, antisocial and criminal behavior, difficulty learning from experience, impulsiveness and lack of planning, insincerity and manipulation, predisposition to boredom, parasitic lifestyle, absence of remorse, sexual promiscuity.

Also, some people with high levels of psychopathy, Far from being criminals or classified as dangerous for society, they adapt perfectly to it.; They are the so-called "integrated psychopaths". For some people, psychopathy allows them to achieve and enjoy success in their lives, the so-called "successful psychopaths", they benefit from some typical traits of psychopathy such as courage, high self-confidence or charisma to reach the top of the scale Social.

• You may be interested: "Antisocial behavior: what it is, risk factors and associated disorders"

Measurement of this psychological trait

The PCL-R (The Psychopathy Checklist) has become, over the years, the standard for the evaluation of psychopathy. This test developed by Robert Hare is made up of 20 items, it is actually a scale of evaluation, where a series of questions are asked and each one is given a score between 0 and 2 points. This test, however, was developed primarily to assess psychopathy in prison populations.

The use of other tools to measure psychopathy greatly affects the calculation of prevalence, obtaining very different results between investigations.

• Related article: "The Hare Psychopathy Rating Scale"

What do we know about the prevalence of psychopathy?

In recent years there has been a strong interest in studying the presence and influence of psychopathy in the general population and its prevalence and influence in all sectors and areas of daily life. From the world of work and the predisposition of psychopaths to exercise certain jobs, to relationships: psychopathy is associated with promiscuity. Do they choose any particular personality trait to pair up with? As we can see, the questions and objects of study can be infinite and quite interesting to solve.

The study "Prevalence of psychopathy in the general adult population: A systematic review and meta-analysis", mentioned in the introduction, summarized all scientific research, where the prevalence of psychopathy had been calculated in different groups of population, including prison population and general population. This study allowed a number of interesting conclusions to be drawn.

• You may be interested: "Psychological profile of a psychopath, in 12 unmistakable traits"

Psychopathy is underdiagnosed in the general population

The aforementioned study, based on several international investigations, calculated that the prevalence of psychopathy in the general adult population was higher than previously thought, standing at 4.5%. In addition, a significant difference is observed in the prevalence of psychopathy between men (7.9%) and women (2.9%).

Studies show highly variable results

The prevalence of psychopathy in the general population obtained in the studies reviewed shows considerable variation, ranging from a minimum of 0% to a maximum of 21%.

These differences depend on many factors, such as the tool used to define and measure psychopathy, the gender of the participants, the type of sample from the general population and the countries of origin of the participants. The results of the study suggest that the first three factors, but not the country of origin, have a significant impact on the prevalence of psychopathy.

As we can deduce, this result highlights a basic problem in prevalence studies. The studies cannot vary depending on the tool used, otherwise they will never be reliable. For example, using the PCL-R, the result for the prevalence of psychopathy in the general adult population is only 1.2%. However, if other instruments are used, such as self-reports of psychopathic personality traits, the prevalence of psychopathy in the general adult population reaches 5.4%.

The prevalence of psychopathy is different between adult groups

Another interesting result of this work is related to the discovery of differences in the prevalence of psychopathy between different adult groups. In particular, the prevalence of psychopathy among workers in some organizations and companies (managers, executives, publicists) is significantly higher than among college students or the general population (12.9% vs. 8.1% and 1.9%, respectively).

It may seem surprising that students show more traits of psychopathy than the general population. However, this is logical, since most of the professions that present more features of psychopathy require a university degree.

The professions with the most psychopaths

Not all professions seem to have the same percentage of psychopaths. It is evident that psychopathic traits help achieve success in some types of career paths: unscrupulous businessmen, self-centered managers, lying politicians, unscrupulous investors, salesmen without remorse, surgeons without empathy, lying lawyers, lying telemarketers, the list is long. In fact, many authors have highlighted the benefits and virtues of personality and psychopathic traits in the current work context.

Some of these occupations are typically associated with office professions, giving birth to the term "white collar psychopathy". Robert Hale defined them as "informal and unreliable workers, predatory entrepreneurs and little ethicists, corrupt politicians or unscrupulous professionals who use their prestige and power to harm their customers". These reflections make us think of the people at the forefront of the various financial scandals, such as the arrest of Bernard Maddof in 2008.

A study carried out in the United Kingdom, by psychologist Kevin Dutton, with a sample of 5,400 people, determined The 10 professions with the highest traits of psychopathy:

• CEOs of companies
• Lawyers
• Radio or television presenters
• vendors
• surgeons
• Journalists
• priests
• policemen
• Chefs
• officials

On the other hand, the 10 professions that presented the lowest levels of psychopathic traits were:

• Social and health assistants
• nurses
• therapists
• craftsmen
• Stylists
• charity workers
• Teachers
• creative artists
• doctors
• accountants

It was also mentioned in this study that people who held managerial positions at work had higher rates of psychopathic traits. Also jobs with a high component of occupational risk, such as police, firefighters, military, etc. they had more psychopaths in their ranks, compared to other professions.

These results seem quite logical since in the first list there are professions where the fact of being cold, calculating, little empathic, manipulative or presenting other traits of the psychopathic personality can be beneficial in the career labor. However, the real problem is that the world and society we live in values ​​these traits.