Psychological profile of a psychopath, in 12 traits

The term "psychopathy" it is unclear to most people because multiple meanings are attached to it. In fact, even within psychology this word is used to designate very different realities, the most questionable criterion being the relationship between psychopathy and criminality.

Authors such as Hervey Cleckley and Robert Hare have tried to delimit the psychological profile of psychopaths, describing personality traits and behavior patterns characteristic of those to whom such qualification applies. Let's see what conceptualizations exist around psychopathy and what is the classic profile of this alteration.

• Related article: "Differences between psychopathy and sociopathy"

What is psychopathy?

Psychopathy is a personality disorder not recognized by the main diagnostic classifications. It is characterized by a lack of empathy and feelings of guilt, as well as egocentricity, impulsiveness and the tendency to lie and manipulation. In contrast, sociopathy is associated to a greater extent with antisocial personality disorder.

In popular language this term is usually associated with criminal conduct, especially serial murders; However, the truth is that psychopaths they do not always commit crimes and can be perfectly adapted to society. In fact, authors like Kevin Dutton (2013) have vindicated the virtues of the psychopathic personality in the current context.

The current conception of psychopathy draws heavily on the works of Hervey Cleckley and Robert Hare. In his book The mask of sanity (1941) Cleckley made the most influential description of psychopathy to date, while Hare was based on this work to create the well-known PCL scale (1991), which assesses the traits psychopathic.

According to the triarchic model of Patrick et al. (2009), psychopathy is made up of three main traits: daring, disinhibition and pettiness. Psychopaths are known to feel less fear than other people, that they have more difficulty controlling their impulses and that their lack of empathy leads them to use others to their advantage.

For his part, Garrido (2000) divides psychopathy into two dimensions: the emotional and interpersonal area and the lifestyle. In the first one he includes signs such as egocentrism, the tendency to manipulation and lack of guilt, while behavioral factors include the need for stimulation, impulsivity and criminal behavior.

• You may be interested: "Manipulative people have these 5 traits in common"

Psychological profile of psychopaths

In this section we will synthesize the personality traits of psychopaths according to the classifications made by Cleckley and Hare.

The presence of these characteristics, therefore, indicates the similarity of a certain person with the concept of psychopathy handled by experts.

1. Lack of empathy

Psychopathy has been linked to a deficit of empathy, that is, the ability to understand the mental state of other people or to put oneself in their shoes. However, studies suggest that psychopaths have the ability to empathize, but "activate" it at will; This would explain both the coldness and the social skills that characterize them.

Simon Baron-Cohen, who popularized the concept of the “Theory of mind”, Stated that psychopaths have cognitive but not emotional empathy, and that therefore the suffering of others does not cause them discomfort. These deficits have been associated with less activation in the fusiform and extrastriate cortex, which are related to face recognition.

2. Egocentricity and narcissism

Egocentrism, or the inability to assume points of view outside of one's own, is closely related to a lack of empathy. Very often psychopaths are also narcissists; this means that they tend to think that they are superior to others and more important than them.

3. Superficial charm

The typical profile of the psychopath is that of a charming and sociable person, with good social skills. An extreme example may be the case of the murderer Ted Bundy, who seduced his victims in order to win his trust and received multiple love letters and marriage proposals after being sentenced to death.

4. Emotional poverty

The brain alterations typical of psychopathy make the range of emotions felt by these people is limited. Specifically, in addition to emotional coldness, psychopaths are characterized by feel fewer negative emotions, especially fear, while it is believed that they feel positive emotions in a normal way.

5. Antisocial and criminal behavior

Scores on psychopathy tests correlate with substance abuse, incarceration, gender-based violence, rape, and pedophilia. Economic and war crimes, as well as participation in organized crime, are also more frequent in psychopaths than in the general population.

Like antisocial disorder, predisposition to psychopathy can manifest itself in childhood in behaviors such as theft, frequent lies, vandalism and violence towards people and animals; These signs are classified as "Conduct Personality Disorder."

6. Difficulty learning from experience

According to research, psychopaths' problems learning from experience are due to alterations in the connection between the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala. These structures are related to executive functions and emotional learning, respectively.

Psychopaths seem to have more difficulties than the general population to associate the punishments they receive with the behaviors that have caused them. Another biological explanation is the presence of reduced levels of cortisol and serotonin, related to aversive conditioning and behavioral inhibition.

7. Impulsiveness and lack of planning

The impulsivity of psychopaths may be caused by decreased arousal in the frontal cortex, combined with an increase in testosterone levels and a reduction in serotonin levels. All of this could reduce self-control., facilitating impulsive behaviors such as drug abuse or physical aggression.

This is also related to a lack of long-term planning. There is usually an absence of vital goals; behavior is guided to a greater extent by momentary impulses.

8. Insincerity and manipulation

The insincerity and the tendency to manipulation typical of psychopaths can be manifested with greater or less subtlety, but there are two very common characteristics in people with moderate levels of psychopathy that may not manifest many of the other features that we have viewed.

9. Predisposition to boredom

The biological disorders of psychopaths lead them to a need for continuous stimulation. This makes it easy for them to get bored, a trait shared by very outgoing people (who have a low level of brain activation at rest) and by others with disorders that affect the brain, As the ADHD.

10. Parasitic lifestyle

The manipulation and egocentricity of psychopaths make them tend to take advantage of others to meet your basic needs. Thus, they often live off other people's money, such as their parents or partners.

11. Absence of remorse

Even when they carry out behaviors that harm other people, such as some of those mentioned in the previous sections, psychopaths they don't usually feel guilty about their actions; Their lack of emotional empathy allows them to commit crimes or manipulate others without remorse.

12. Sexual promiscuity

Often psychopaths have many different relationships that last a short time. In addition, given their interpersonal difficulties and to establish commitments, they are involved in them in a superficial and are primarily concerned with sex and the practical utilities they can derive from their couples

Bibliographic references:

• Cleckley, H. (1941). The mask of sanity: An attempt to clarify some issues about the so-called psychopathic personality (6th Ed.). Saint Louis: C. V. Mosby Co.

• Dutton, K. (2013). The wisdom of psychopaths. Barcelona: Ariel.

• Garrido, V. (2000). The psycho. A chameleon in today's society. Alzira: Algar.

• Hare, R. D. (1991). The Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (Hare PCL-R). Toronto: Multi-Health Systems.

• Hare, R. D. (2011). Without conscience: The disturbing world of the psychopaths among us. New York: Guilford Press.

• Patrick, C., Fowles, D. & Krueger, R. (2009). Triarchic conceptualization of psychopathy: Developmental origins of disinhibition, boldness, and meanness. Development and Psychopathology, 21 (3): 913–938.

• Vernon, P. A., Villani, V. C., Vickers, L. C. & Harris, J.A. (2008). A behavioral genetic investigation of the Dark Triad and the Big 5. Personality and Individual Differences, 44 (2): 445–452.