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A psychopath may seem quite like a normal person.
And his behavior is not always antisocial – on the contrary, he can be a successful professional.
At the same time, they display traits such as a reduced capacity for empathy and remorse, deceitfulness, self-centeredness and superficial emotional reactions.
It is often difficult to determine who is in front of us: a charming person who has reached career heights through hard work, or a devious schemer who will occasionally deal with anyone without remorse.
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They occupy high positions
According to an anonymous survey conducted by Oxford University psychologist Kevin Dutton while writing his book «The Wisdom of Psychopaths» , psychopaths most often are:
- CEO;
- lawyer;
- presenter (radio or television);
- sales specialist;
- surgeon;
- journalist;
- police officer;
- civil servant;
- head chef
2. Prefers night to morning and day
Australian scientists say that psychopaths are more like owls than larks. In addition to psychopaths, this includes people characterized by narcissism and Machiavellianism.
They prefer the dark time of day, when others sleep and become more vulnerable.
3. They don’t yawn
Yawning is associated with empathy. As you know, psychopaths do not tend to do this – at least in most cases. Therefore they are less likely to start yawning after someone. An American study of contagious yawning and psychopathy, conducted in 2015, fully confirms this.
4. They love bitter food
Bitter taste is associated with antisocial personality traits, as published in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Appetite in 2015, which showed that psychopaths and sadists love bitter food. For example, gin and tonic, strong black coffee, dark chocolate, broccoli, cabbage, radishes and beer.
5. They take a lot of selfies
Psychologists revealed a connection between the desire to constantly take selfies and tendencies toward Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy. Participants in the experiment who were suspected of psychopathic disorder spent more time on social networks than others and took pictures of themselves more often.
6. They like to create things
Psychopaths are characterized by high creativity.
For example, Van Gogh became an outstanding artist, even though he was quite mad and cut off his own ear. Picasso, who showed psychopathic traits, simultaneously created a new direction in painting – Cubism. Beethoven was prone to sadism and treated relatives cruelly, but he wrote great music.
The stereotype that brilliant people are partially mentally ill is therefore not unfounded.
7. They listen to rap
People who score highest on psychopathy tests enjoy listening to rap. But classic rock, jazz and pop music are of little interest to psychopaths.
