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Most people think of psychopaths as remorseless killers.
The truth is, however, that not every psychopath has to be a killer and not every killer has psychopathic traits. So how do you find out whether someone around you has psychopathic traits? Scientists are coming up with interesting findings.
They don’t feel connected to nature
As reported by a study published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology , people exhibiting a psychopathic trait do not feel connected to nature. In addition, such a person is more likely to settle in a city than somewhere in the countryside. Dean Fido , one of the study’s authors, stated that humans have always been closely linked to nature. However, we live in a world where we are constantly rushing somewhere, we always have a lot of work, and so we somehow have very little time left for nature.
As the Psypost portal writes , people who are close to nature are healthier, have a healthier perception of their personality and body, and are more empathetic toward other people. What is also important is that people who often go into nature experience less stress, anxiety and depression.
The research was conducted in January and involved 304 people from the United Kingdom
Each participant answered several questions, including, for example, the question of where they would like to live — in the city, in a suburban area or in the countryside.
In addition, the scientists also assessed the extent to which people exhibit dark traits and the extent to which they feel connected to nature. The research results are truly interesting. It turned out that people who score higher in dark personality traits prefer life in the city. Moreover, if a person scored high on the psychopathy scale, it was less likely that they felt connected to nature. This finding held regardless of whether the person was male or female. Such people often answered negatively, for example, to the question – ” my relationship to nature is an important part of who I am “.
Can nature strengthen our empathy?
The findings were confirmed by a second study, which involved 235 adult residents of the United Kingdom. It is important to note, however, that within the study the scientists did not assess psychopaths clinically. A psychopathic trait is something that each of us has to some extent; it does not necessarily have to be a pathological phenomenon. High scores on the psychopathy scale are often achieved, for example, by surgeons, who are able to keep a cool head even in the most demanding situations.
