Are you a psychopath?

I first came across The Hare Psychopathy Checklist (PCL-R), in Jon Ronson`s (rather comical book), The Psychopath Test.

Dr. Robert D. Hare is a researcher of criminal psychology and he put a list together, as a tool to diagnosis psychopathic behavior and tendencies.  It works on a symptom rating scale which allows for the comparison of a subject's degree of psychopathy to be measured against that of a prototypical psychopath.

Robert Hare`s general commentary on Ronson`s book  surmise: "In short, we think that Ronson’s book trivializes a serious personality disorder and its measurement, which is not helpful to those who have the disorder or to their unfortunate victims."

Whilst it is reiterated that this checklist should only be used by trained and experienced clinicians, you can`t but help look at those around or even at yourself and think..... maybe? 

The Hare Psychopathy Checklist (PLC-R) - this is this revised version.
1.) Glibness and superficial charm
2.) Grandiose (exaggeratedly high) sense of self worth
3.) Need for stimulation/ Prone to boredom
4.) Pathological lying
5.) Cunning and manipulative
6.) Lack of remorse or guilt
7.) Shallow affect (superficial emotional responsiveness)
8.) Callousness and lack of empathy
9.) Parasitic lifestyle
10.) Poor behavioral controls
11.) Sexual promiscuity
12.) Early behavior problems
13.) Lack of realistic long-term goals
14.) Impulsivity
15.) Irresponsibility
16.) Failure to accept responsibility for own actions
17.)  Many short-term marital relationships
18.) Juvenile delinquency
19.) Revocation of conditional release
20.) Criminal versatility

A psychopath is defined as "A person with an antisocial personality disorder, manifested in aggressive, perverted, criminal, or amoral behavior without empathy or remorse." Therefore, it doesn`t mean that a psychopath will inevitably be a serial killer or anything of that sort.
Apparently psychopathic characteristics are prevalent in our society and tend to gravitate towards certain professions. These are the job fields most like to have psychopaths (this has never been proven though):
CEO, Lawyers, Media, Sales, Surgeons, Journalists, Police Officers, Clergyperson, Chef, Civil Servants. 


Best movies with psychopathic characters:
- Alfred Hitchcock`s, Psycho (1960) - Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins)
- Stanley Kubrick, A Clockwork Orange (1971) - Alex DeLarge ( Malcolm McDowell )
- Rob Reiner`s, Misery (1990) - Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates)
- Jonathan Demme`s, Silence of the Lambs (1991) - Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins)
- Oliver Stone`s, Natural Born Killers (1994) - Mickey Knox (Woody Harrelson) Mallory Knox (Juliette Lewis,)
-  Ben Stiller`s, The Cable Guy (1996) - The cable guy  (Jim Carrey)
- David Fincher`s, Fight Club (1999) - The Narrator/Tyler Durden (Edward Norton)
- Mary Harron`s, American Psycho (2000) - Patrick Bateman (Christopher Bale)
-  Christopher Nolan`s,  The Dark Knight (2008) - The Joker (Heath Ledger)