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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.