What Is The Prevalence Of Psychopathy? Interesting Facts And Discoveries
The prevalence of psychopathy in the general population appears to be much higher than previously thought.
In principle, worldwide, the prevalence of psychopathy is estimated at one in every 100 people. However, a study carried out by the Department of Personality, Evaluation and Clinical Psychology of the Complutense University of Madrid, where the average prevalence of psychopathy was calculated based on various investigations, estimated that it was 4.5%. for the general adult population. Of course, this percentage varies depending on which segments of the population we look at, as we will see later. In some types of people, psychopathy is more common.
But… Why does this difference exist? What are the causes that cause psychopathy to not be properly diagnosed? In this article We explain the problem in calculating the prevalence of psychopathy and present the figures found for the different population groups
Psychopathy is classified within the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) within the personality disorders as antisocial personality disorder. The psychopath has a type of abnormal personality, although this does not constitute a psychological disorder in itself As we see, the term psychopathy has a vague definition. Actually, it is used to describe those antisocial traits and behaviors that other disorders cannot describe.
But within the general population, although we don’t really know very well what it means to be a psychopath, there is a clear consensus that a serial killer has a very high degree of psychopathy. Well, this really doesn’t have to be like this.
This confusion comes from psychology, where psychopathic traits have been studied, especially in criminals. People who exhibit behavior that conflicts with social or legal norms are clearly at high risk of ending up in prison. Psychopathy It has been widely used in the field of criminal and penitentiary psychology to describe differences in behavior between criminals.
All this has caused psychopath to be identified with criminal. But not all criminals show signs of psychopathy, nor is psychopathic disorder the origin of all criminal behavior. And, on the other hand, many psychopaths, not being criminals, do not recognize themselves as psychopaths.
It is not criminal behavior that defines psychopathy but, as in other personality disorders, a series of characteristic traits (or lack thereof) and behavioral patterns.
Besides, There is an erroneous tendency to associate psychopathy and sociopathy Psychopathy is characterized by a lack of empathy and guilt, as well as egocentrism, impulsivity, and the tendency to lie and manipulate. Sociopathy also presents most of these traits. But there is a clear difference between psychopathy and sociopathy. A psychopath knows what he is doing and acts for his own benefit. While sociopathy is associated with inherited and inevitable behavior. The sociopath presents little or no premeditation in his actions.
Equating psychopathy with sociopathy assumes that psychopathy is, like sociopathy, a rather individual problem of genetic origin. And forget the socialization component that is probably influencing its proliferation, in recent years. Some authors have shown the benefits of psychopathic behavior in today’s society
The traits and concepts that currently describe psychopathy are based largely on the work of Hervey Cleckley and Robert Hare and include: lack of empathy, egocentrism and narcissism, superficial charm, emotional poverty, antisocial and criminal behavior, difficulty learning from experience, impulsivity and lack of planning, insincerity and manipulation, predisposition to boredom, parasitic lifestyle, lack of remorse, sexual promiscuity.
Additionally, some people with high levels of psychopathy, Far from being criminals or classified as dangerous to society, they adapt perfectly to it ; They are the so-called “integrated psychopaths.” For some people, psychopathy allows them to achieve and enjoy success in their lives, the so-called “successful psychopaths” benefit from some typical traits of psychopathy such as courage, high self-confidence or charisma to achieve highest on the social scale.
Measurement of this psychological trait
The PCL-R (The Psychopathy Checklist) has become, over the years, the standard for evaluating psychopathy. This test developed by Robert Hare is made up of 20 items, it is actually an evaluation scale, where a series of questions are asked and each one is given a score between 0 and 2 points. This test, however, was developed primarily to assess psychopathy in prison populations.
The use of other tools to measure psychopathy greatly affects the calculation of prevalence, obtaining very different results between investigations.
What do we know about the prevalence of psychopathy?
In recent years, there has been a strong interest in studying the presence and influence of psychopathy in the general population and its prevalence and influence in all sectors and areas of daily life. From the world of work and the predisposition of psychopaths to hold certain jobs, to relationships: psychopathy is associated with promiscuity. Do they choose a specific personality trait to pair with? As we see, the questions and objects of study can be infinite and quite interesting to solve.
The study “Prevalence of psychopathy in the general adult population: A systematic review and meta-analysis”, mentioned in the introduction, summarized all the scientific research, where the prevalence of psychopathy in different population groups had been calculated, including prison population and general population This study allowed us to draw a series of interesting conclusions.
Psychopathy is underdiagnosed in the general population
The aforementioned study, based on several international investigations, calculated that the prevalence of psychopathy in the general adult population was higher than previously thought, standing at 4.5% Furthermore, a significant difference in the prevalence of psychopathy is observed between men (7.9%) and women (2.9%).
Studies present very variable results
The prevalence of psychopathy in the general population obtained in the studies reviewed shows considerable variation, ranging from a minimum of 0% to a maximum of 21%.
These differences depend on many factors, such as the tool used to define and measure psychopathy, the gender of the participants, the type of general population sample and the countries of origin of the participants. The study results suggest that the first three factors, but not country of origin, have a significant impact on the prevalence of psychopathy.
As we can deduce, this result highlights a basic problem in prevalence studies. The studies cannot vary depending on the tool used because otherwise they will never be reliable. For example, if the PCL-R is used, the result for the prevalence of psychopathy in the general adult population is only 1.2%. However, if other instruments are used, such as self-reports of psychopathic personality traits, the prevalence of psychopathy in the general adult population reaches 5.4%.
The prevalence of psychopathy is different between adult groups
Another interesting result of this work is related to the discovery of differences in the prevalence of psychopathy between different adult groups. In particular, The prevalence of psychopathy among workers in some organizations and companies (managers, executives, publicists) is significantly higher than among university students or the general population (12.9% vs. 8.1% and 1.9%, respectively).
It may seem surprising that students present more traits of psychopathy than the general population. However, this is logical, since most of the professions that present more traits of psychopathy require a university degree.
The professions with the most psychopaths
Not all professions seem to have the same percentage of psychopaths. It is evident that Psychopathic traits help achieve success in some types of career paths : unscrupulous businessmen, self-centered managers, lying politicians, unscrupulous investors, remorseless salespeople, surgeons without empathy, lying lawyers, lying telemarketing employees, the list is long. In fact, many authors have highlighted the benefits and virtues of personality and psychopathic traits in the current work context.
Some of these occupations are typically associated with white-collar professions, giving birth to the term “white collar psychopathy” Robert Hale defined them as “informal and untrustworthy workers, predatory and unethical businessmen, corrupt politicians or unscrupulous professionals who use their prestige and power to harm their clients.” These reflections make us think about the people at the forefront of different financial scandals, such as the arrest of Bernard Maddof in 2008.
A study carried out in the United Kingdom, by psychologist Kevin Dutton, with a sample of 5,400 people, determined the 10 professions with the greatest traits of psychopathy :
On the other hand, the 10 professions that presented the lowest levels of psychopathic traits were:
Socio-health assistants
Nurses
Therapists
Artisans
Stylists
charity workers
Teachers
creative artists
Doctors
Accountants
It was also mentioned in this study that people who held managerial positions at work had higher rates of psychopathic traits. Also jobs with a high occupational risk component, such as police, firefighters, military, etc They had more psychopaths in their ranks, compared to other professions.
These results seem quite logical since the first list includes professions where being cold, calculating, unempathetic, manipulative, or presenting other psychopathic personality traits can be beneficial in one’s career. However, the real problem is that the world and society we live in values these traits.
