Game: Spot the Psychopath
For some personality characteristics found in psychopaths, having the dial turned up high can actually help you succeed in life.
How good are you at spotting the characteristics of a psychopath?
Some psychopathic characteristics can help you succeed in life - can you spot them in these well known people?
Play the gameTest: Your Psychopathic Traits
Come back for Psychopath Night to test yourself and find out where you sit on the spectrum
These tests were devised by Professor Kevin Dutton, University of Oxford. He is a best selling author and an expert on the psychopathic personality. To visit his website go to: www.kevindutton.co.uk(This link opens in a new window). Follow him on Twitter: @profkevindutton(This link opens in a new window)
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An analysis of Charles Dickens' psychopathic traits shows he would have scored a total of 73%. But would Adolf Hitler have scored higher or lower?
Bet that surprised you! Dickens trounces Hitler on physical fearlessness and is also cooler under pressure – which makes him more "macho" than Hitler. Hitler, on the other hand, maxes out on narcissism and emotional detachment making him much colder than Dickens. All in all a close run thing – but Dickens edges it.
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So Adolf Hitler scores 69% for his psychopathic traits. How do you think Winston Churchill compares?
It's not the first time these two have gone head-to-head! Hitler gives Churchill a real pasting when it comes to narcissism and emotional detachment but Churchill is more physically fearless and cool under pressure. Churchill actually scores very low on emotional detachment making him as warm as Hitler is cold. But (thank goodness!) Churchill had the moral courage to act tough when he had to.
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Winston Churchill scores 66% for his psychopathic characteristics. Oscar Wilde was one of the most creative and popular playwrights of the Victorian era - but do his psychopathic traits score higher or lower than Churchill?
Two very warm individuals. Not much to choose between them when it comes to narcissism but Wilde builds up an unassailable lead with his rebelliousness and coolness under pressure scores. Churchill makes up a bit of ground on physical fearlessness, but not enough. Incidentally, if I were to tell you that one of these two had won the Nobel Prize for literature would you guess it was... Churchill?
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With a total of 71%, Oscar Wilde has one of the highest psychopathic scores so far. Queen front-man Freddie Mercury may seem to have a lot in common with him, but in psychopathic terms, does he score higher or lower?
Imagine a night on the town with these two! Freddie matches Oscar in both the narcissism and rebelliousness stakes (not surprising for two highly creative artists) and both are warm and empathic (though Freddie is so low on emotional detachment he just about edges it). But Oscar streaks ahead on physical fearlessness and coolness under pressure: Freddie might have had a great stage presence but in everyday life he was anything but confident.
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Freddie Mercury scores a psychopathic trait level of 48%. How do you think another highly creative individual, William Shakespeare, will compare to him?
Freddie and the Bard are pretty much identical when it comes to physical fearlessness and emotional detachment ratings (both are warm-hearted scaredy-cats!) But Freddie likes the limelight more and has more of a rebellious streak than Will – who, in contrast, is less easily flustered than Freddie. A close one this, but it's Freddie by a whisker – though neither will be going to the Psychopath Olympics!
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William Shakespeare scores a total of 46%. Do you think that Sir Isaac Newton, the British scientist who discovered gravity and laid the foundations of physics and maths, has psychopathic traits that are higher or lower?
Britain's greatest ever writer against, arguably, our greatest ever scientist – and the words 'chalk' and 'cheese' immediately spring to mind! Both Shakespeare and Newton score very low on physical fearlessness and rebelliousness (revolutionaries they most certainly are not!) but that's where the similarity ends. Newton beats Shakespeare on narcissism and emotional detachment (he'd beat most people, in fact) while Shakespeare does the honours when it comes to coolness under pressure.
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Finally, if scientific genius Sir Isaac Newton scored 61% on the psychopathic scale, where will Britain's first female Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher sit?
Irresistible force meets immovable object? Not at all! Newton's second victory on the spin comes quite easily at the expense of the Iron Lady who, despite her public persona, was actually rather warm and empathic behind the scenes. Like Churchill, however, she had the inner steel to be able to override her emotions and favour her head over her heart – which made her a formidable political force in anyone's book!
Finish the game and find out your score!
- Narcissism 21
- Fearlessness 28
- Emotional detachment 14
- Rebelliousness 19
- Coolness under pressure 20
- Narcissism 27
- Fearlessness 10
- Emotional detachment 27
- Rebelliousness 18
- Coolness under pressure 15
- Narcissism 18
- Fearlessness 25
- Emotional detachment 12
- Rebelliousness 17
- Coolness under pressure 20
- Narcissism 21
- Fearlessness 19
- Emotional detachment 13
- Rebelliousness 22
- Coolness under pressure 24
- Narcissism 20
- Fearlessness 9
- Emotional detachment 8
- Rebelliousness 20
- Coolness under pressure 10
- Narcissism 13
- Fearlessness 10
- Emotional detachment 9
- Rebelliousness 11
- Coolness under pressure 21
- Narcissism 26
- Fearlessness 10
- Emotional detachment 28
- Rebelliousness 12
- Coolness under pressure 9
- Narcissism 13
- Fearlessness 10
- Emotional detachment 14
- Rebelliousness 11
- Coolness under pressure 25
Your score:
You scored /7
Oh dear! Manipulating and deceiving others is a trait of many psychopaths, and it looks like they've managed to completely fool you.
Not bad - you managed to identify some of the high scorers, but a few of these characters still managed to surprise you. After all, manipulating and deceiving others is a trait of many psychopaths.
Congratulations - you're pretty good at spotting psychopathic characteristics. You'll want to tell all your friends how good you are. But remember, gradiose self-worth is a psychopathic trait...
What is psychopathy?
Being psychopathic doesn't necessarily mean that you're a serial killer – or even that you'll break the law. Actually, within the framework of clinical psychology, a psychopath is someone with a distinct cluster of personality traits including ruthlessness, fearlessness, narcissism, charm, charisma, impulsivity, persuasiveness, manipulativeness and a lack of conscience and empathy.
Sure, these traits may well come in handy if you aspire to be an axe-murderer! But they can also come in handy in the courtroom, on the trading floor, or in the operating theatre. It just depends on what else you've got going on in your personality, and the start you get in life.
Another misconception about psychopaths concerns diagnosis. A lot of people think that you're either a psychopath or you're not, that it's all very black and white. But there is evidence to suggest that it’s not as clear-cut as this. In fact, psychopathy – like height and weight, for example – lies on a spectrum.
At the sharp end you may well find your serial killers and axe murderers! But at the same time, all of us have our place at some point along the continuum. Some of us may score higher on some psychopathic traits than on others. But unless you score high on all of them, you don't really have anything to worry about!
What are the traits of psychopathy?
Delve into the lives of some of the most interesting and influential characters in history and you will find that in many cases the presence of a number of psychopathic traits was critical to their success.
Psychopathy is characterised by amoral and antisocial behaviour, an inability to establish meaningful personal relationships, a callous disregard for others, extreme egocentricity, a lack of remorse or conscience, and a failure to learn from experience.
Intriguingly, these qualities can sometimes code for greatness.
About the psychopathic spectrum
When most people think of psychopaths, Hannibal Lecter typically springs to mind! But actually, being psychopathic doesn't necessarily mean that you're a serial killer – or even that you'll break the law.
Some of us may score higher on some psychopathic traits than on others. But unless you score high on all of them, you don't really have anything to worry about! Another misconception about psychopaths concerns diagnosis. A lot of people think that you're either a psychopath or you're not, that it's all very black and white. But there is evidence to suggest that it's not as clear-cut as this. In fact, psychopathy – like height and weight, for example – lies on a spectrum.
This test is not a diagnostic tool nor is it psychometrically validated. It cannot be used to clinically diagnose psychopathic personality or any mental illness.
Within the framework of clinical psychology, a psychopath is someone with a distinct cluster of personality traits including ruthlessness, fearlessness, narcissism, charm, charisma, impulsivity, persuasiveness, manipulation and a lack of conscience and empathy. Sure, these traits may well come in handy if you aspire to be an axe-murderer! But they can also come in handy in the courtroom, on the trading floor, or in the operating theatre. It just depends on what else you've got going on in your personality, and the start you get in life.
At the sharp end you may well find your serial killers and axe murderers but, all of us have our place at some point along the continuum.
Background to the quiz
Professor Kevin Dutton has worked with the biographers of some well-known figures to look into their backgrounds and life stories to see where they fall on the psychopathic spectrum.
The famous faces were given a score out of 100 - a psychopath "percentage" - for the following psychopathic traits:
- Narcissism
- Fearlessness
- Emotional detachment
- Rebelliousness
- Coolness under pressure
These traits represent 5 characteristics of the Psychopath Personality Inventory (PPI)(This link opens in a new window) scale.