Scientists believe that, contrary to stereotypes, there are quite a few people among serial killers who can be called psychopaths. At the same time, we all exhibit psychopathic traits to one degree or another. The Swedish newspaper tells what typical personality traits can be used to recognize a psychopath.
Scientists believe that there are quite a few people among serial killers who can be called psychopaths. But we all have psychopathic traits to one degree or another.
To begin with, psychopathy is not a psychiatric diagnosis - it's good to know. Despite the fact that many consider this term outdated, it is used in judicial practice. In closed prisons, approximately 15-20 criminals meet enough criteria to qualify as psychopaths. Forensic psychiatrist Marianne Kristiansson and MD Karolina Sörman write about this in their book Psychopath: Reality Behind Myths (Psykopaten - verkligheten bortom myten). Both of them conduct research at the Department of Clinical Neurology at the Karolinska Institute.
Approximately 1% of all men in the world can be classified as psychopaths. Very little has been studied about women with psychopathic traits, so there is no way to say for sure about them.
This is how the concept is described in the most modern triarchical theoretical model of psychopathy, which was developed by the American professor Christopher Patrick. His idea is that new research on psychopathy within neuroscience should draw on three specific areas.
An older model that has been the most frequently followed in recent decades and is still used as a standard in Swedish jurisprudence, as well as in North America, is the so-called 20-item PCL-R (Hare Checklist) questionnaire. With its help, the degree of psychopathicity of criminal groups is determined.
Using the Hare checklist, which includes criteria for defining psychopathy, a person is awarded one point for properties inherent in his personality to one degree or another, and two points for those that are completely inherent. The maximum you can get is 40 points. In different countries, a different number of points is considered sufficient to characterize a person as a psychopath.
There is a lot of controversy surrounding this list, especially in the United States, as it is considered outdated, although many still use it in the judicial field.
People with personality disorders (and this is already a diagnosis) often have psychopathic traits. The difference between these two concepts is that when forming a set of criteria for defining personality disorder, criminal and asocial behavior is emphasized.
When it comes to psychopathy, disregard for other people is noted, even if it is not a violation of the law. Next, we will describe people who fit the criteria for both concepts.
In the American Diagnostic Manual and the European Disease Classification System, the diagnosis of personality disorder is based on behavioral characteristics. In many ways, he is similar to psychopathy, and often it is put just to criminals. As already mentioned, in closed correctional institutions, 15-20% of detainees have obvious psychopathic features. Most people with psychopathy are also diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder, according to The Psychopath: Reality Behind Myths.
In the course of a study conducted among 4,000 male conscripts who independently passed the test for psychopathy and scored a lot of points, two groups were identified: on the one hand, audacious, adventurous and adventurous young people who are not prone to anxiety and depression, on the other, those who are characterized by anxiety, depression and bodily ailments.
Here are three criminal types, with varying degrees of psychopathicity, modeled on an imaginary bank robbery. They are described in The Psychopath: Reality Behind Myths.
Patrick
Strong psychopathic traits. This is a controlled and cold psychopathy, making him incredibly brave and calm in stressful situations, such as during a bank robbery. Able to plan very complex crimes without a trace of excitement. Typical of his group, a person with great potential. If he had not got into a criminal environment, he could have achieved a lot in another area. Can manage other people and is good at organizing them. The frontal lobes of his brain, the very ones with which a person makes decisions, are very well developed. Others, according to scientists, are much less developed. For example, those with the help of which we evaluate different things or form our own moral compass, preferring, say, not to kill anyone. Patrick is smart and sociable, this is misleading to many. Even in prisons, many fall for the overconfident and manipulative Patrick.
One of the reasons for the incredible courage and fearlessness of such a person is that his sympathetic nervous system works differently from ours.
Klas
His features of psychopathy are less pronounced. He is impulsive, but not so stress-resistant. He clearly got nervous when chaos broke out at the bank during a robbery planned by Patrick. Claes's brain reward system works in a slightly unusual way. In addition, it has problems with the so-called working memory. It is difficult for him to retain information in his working memory. He probably has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. It is difficult for him to plan something, complete what he started and concentrate. He is easy to control, which is very convenient for Patrick when, for example, he is thinking of a crime.
Anders
He was diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder, but he has no pronounced traits of psychopathy. He is able to evaluate himself from the outside. He wants to get better and get out of the criminal world. In correctional institutions, he is actively involved in rehabilitation programs.
Maria Carling