| Revision as of 10:50, 30 January 2003 edit213.48.249.251 (talk)No edit summary | Revision as of 10:51, 30 January 2003 edit undo213.48.249.251 (talk)No edit summaryNext edit → | ||
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| ------------- | ------------- | ||
| Glibness/superficial charm | Glibness/superficial charm | ||
| Grandiose sense of self-worth | Grandiose sense of self-worth | ||
| Pathological lying | Pathological lying | ||
| Conning/manipulative | Conning/manipulative | ||
| Lack of remorse or guilt | Lack of remorse or guilt | ||
| Shallow affect | Shallow affect | ||
| Callous/lack of empathy | Callous/lack of empathy | ||
| Failure to accept responsibility for own actions | Failure to accept responsibility for own actions | ||
| Affective | Affective | ||
| --------- | --------- | ||
| Need for stimulation/-proneness to boredom | Need for stimulation/-proneness to boredom | ||
| Parasitic lifestyle | Parasitic lifestyle | ||
| Poor behavioral controls | Poor behavioral controls | ||
| Early behavioral problems | Early behavioral problems | ||
| Lack of realistic, long-term goals | Lack of realistic, long-term goals | ||
| Impulsivity | Impulsivity | ||
| Irresponsibility | Irresponsibility | ||
| Juvenile delinquency | Juvenile delinquency | ||
| Revocation of conditional release | Revocation of conditional release | ||
| Behavioral | Behavioral | ||
| ---------- | ---------- | ||
| Promiscuous sexual behavior | Promiscuous sexual behavior | ||
| Many short-term marital relationships | Many short-term marital relationships | ||
| Criminal versatility | Criminal versatility | ||
Revision as of 10:51, 30 January 2003
Theoretically, psychopathy is a three-faceted disorder involving interpersonal, affective and behavioral characteristics.
Interpersonally, psychopaths are manipulative, grandiose,egocentric and forceful. Affectively, they are shallow and non-empathetic; they do not experience empathy, guilt or remorse. Behaviorally, they are impulsive, irresponsible and sensation seeking.
In contemporary research and clinical practice, psychopathy is most commonly assessed with the Hare Psychopathy Checklist Revised (PCL-R), which is a clinical rating scale with 20 items. Each of the items in the PCL-R is scored on a three-point scale according to specific criteria through file information and a semi-structured interview. Score 0 if the trait is absent, 1 if it is possibly or partially present and 2 if it is present. The item scores are summed to yield a total score ranging from 0 to 40 which is then considered to reflect the degree to which they resemble the prototypical psychopath. A score > 30 supports a disgnosis of psychopathy.
The items are as follows:
Interpersonal
Glibness/superficial charm
Grandiose sense of self-worth
Pathological lying
Conning/manipulative
Lack of remorse or guilt
Shallow affect
Callous/lack of empathy
Failure to accept responsibility for own actions
Affective
Need for stimulation/-proneness to boredom
Parasitic lifestyle
Poor behavioral controls
Early behavioral problems
Lack of realistic, long-term goals
Impulsivity
Irresponsibility
Juvenile delinquency
Revocation of conditional release
Behavioral
Promiscuous sexual behavior
Many short-term marital relationships
Criminal versatility
A note of caution - the test must be administered by a trained mental health practitioner under controlled conditions for it to have any validity.