Content
- History of appearance
- Usage
- Scale
- Signs
- Interpersonal
- Emotional
- Lifestyle related
- Antisocial
- Questions
- Criticism
- Known estimates
- Video about tests for psychopathy
Test for detecting psychopathy, known as Hare's checklist, is not the most accurate diagnostic tool. But one of the most famous. In addition, it is quite simple to use in everyday life, although without the comments of a psychiatrist and additional diagnostic methods, it can say little about a person.
History of appearance
The original test was started in 1975 by Robert Hare, a psychotherapist from Canada. The list was released in 1980. In the West, it is used despite the fact that about 40 years have passed since its invention. The list initially consisted of 20 questions.
In 1991, an updated and revised version of the test was published. It has been given the modern name "psychopathy checklist." And in 2003 the document was supplemented with additional information and questions.
R. Hare was born in 1934, had a successful career in criminal psychology, and retired in 2000, stopping his research on psychopathy.
Usage
Hare's checklist (test in original or revised version) is used in scientific research, clinical or legal purposes, for the diagnosis of psychopathy or for his refutation.
Most often, it is used to determine the potential danger to the surrounding prisoners or convicts. The list is especially in demand in prisons and high security psychiatric wards.
This is due to the fact that psychopaths are prone to repetition of violent crimes, from murder to sexual assault. Therefore, Hare's list is used as an additional tool to determine the type and length of incarceration. In addition, it shows the presence or absence of the need for psychiatric treatment.
Hare's list is also used in scientific psychiatry and psychology, as an auxiliary tool for the study of this deviation in the psyche.
Scale
Hare's list is commonly used as a control test in the US and UK.
In the process, participants need to read several questions or statements and rate them on a scale:
- 2 - fits completely;
- 1 - partly suitable;
- 0 - not suitable at all.
As a result, you can get a maximum of 40 points. In the US, you need to get 30 out of 40 for a diagnosis. In the UK, the threshold is lower, 25 points are enough for being recognized as a psychopath.
To identify a tendency to this mental illness, the test is used by psychiatrists in other countries. The definition scale is the same. To make a diagnosis, in some cases, it is enough to score more than half of the points, in others the UK or US system is followed.
Signs
Hare's checklist (test), among other things, makes it possible to assess which of the characteristics characteristic of psychopaths are present in a person. Testing must be done by a psychiatrist in order to interpret the results correctly. But knowledge of the traits characteristic of people diagnosed with psychopathy can be useful in everyday life.
Interpersonal
The most common trait that all psychopaths have in common is chronic deceit. They can tell lies, either to achieve their goals, or to hide their motives, or for no reason at all.
People with this diagnosis are skillful manipulators. They use their charm and ingenuity to charm those who may be of use to them. If the manipulation hurts the victims or causes them inconvenience, persons with this diagnosis do not feel any remorse about this. Sometimes, on the contrary, they rejoice in the suffering of others or experience something like a scientific interest, observing the behavior of the victims. But most often psychopaths resort to manipulation in order to achieve a particular goal.
Also, persons with such a diagnosis are characterized by extremely high self-esteem. Due to this combination, the percentage of psychopaths is higher among people with power or achieved serious career success than among ordinary people.
Emotional
The most striking signs of psychopathy are associated with the emotional sphere.
So, they are characterized by the absence of:
- feelings of guilt and remorse;
- sympathy for the victim;
- empathy.
This partly explains why murderers with such mental disabilities commit crimes, and often several, never regret or attach any importance to what they did. Some criminals with this diagnosis are capable of emotions, but experience them in a different way. For example, a psychopath may regret the death of a victim. But only because the dead will no longer give him any moral pleasure with his sufferings.
However, it must be remembered that empathy may be absent not only in psychopaths, and this trait indicates such a mental disorder only in combination with other signs. Another distinguishing feature of a person with such a diagnosis is the rejection of responsibility for their illegal actions.
Lifestyle related
The psychopath can be betrayed by the peculiarities of his lifestyle.
Among the most characteristic features:
- irresponsible, impulsive behavior;
- lack of long-term plans, the desire to live only in the present moment;
- the desire to live at someone else's expense, a parasitic lifestyle;
- lack of realistic plans.
These signs, apart from the others, do not necessarily indicate psychopathy or addiction to it. However, they can be indicative of other mental problems and become a reason for consulting a psychologist.
Antisocial
Although there are many psychopaths among those who have built successful careers, they usually do not have developed social skills. In order to control behavior in public, they need to make an effort.
However, it must be borne in mind that not all people who experience difficulties in adapting to society are psychopaths. This is just one of the signs.
When it comes to crime, such people are particularly resourceful. Therefore, they can be difficult to calculate.
Questions
Hare's classic test consists of 20 questions. They can be paraphrased into statements, you can use other words to convey the essence of the phrase. The task of most of the questions is to draw a psychological portrait of the respondent and identify potentially problematic features of his personality. The rest, in one way or another, are aimed at finding out the presence or absence of a person's criminal past.
The list of questions from the classic version of the test is as follows. The wording may vary slightly depending on the translation.
- Does the person feel like an extremely significant person?
- Does a person need constant stimulation?
- Does the person enjoy manipulating others?
- Is a person capable of lying to achieve personal goals?
- Is it true that he does not ask for forgiveness in any situation?
- Does a person have a reputation for being charming and persuasive?
- Is the person prone to weak display of their emotions?
- Is it true that he is incapable of empathizing with others?
- Is it true that he was not in a long, serious relationship?
- Does he lead a promiscuous sex life?
- Is it possible to call a person impulsive and living only for today?
- Is he prone to irresponsible behavior?
- Is it natural for a person not to take responsibility for their actions?
- Does he consider it right to strive to get as much from other people as possible?
- Does the person have difficulty controlling their behavior?
- Did he have any behavioral problems as a child?
- Is it natural for him not to set goals for the long term?
- Does the person have experience of criminal activity before coming of age?
- Did he break a promise or a given word?
- Does he have experience in committing various crimes?
The revised version divides the questions and answers into 4 areas - emotional, antisocial, interpersonal and lifestyle. There is also a 40-question test. It takes into account the assessment of how a person is able to socially adapt.
Criticism
Hare's checklist (a test for the definition of psychopathy) has been criticized more than once and called not reliable enough. And it’s not unreasonable.
The concept was criticized for being divorced from reality and oversimplified. The researchers also pointed out that the list ignores the context and dynamic nature of human behavior. Other experts have expressed distrust of the test due to the fact that it is vulnerable to so-called "labeling effects".
Vulnerable to criticism is the fact that Hare's list embodies a fundamental attribution error. That is, a situation where personal reasons are overestimated, and circumstances are underestimated, when the behavior of an individual is interpreted.
Psychiatrists also point out that some of the signs from the list can be signs:
- hypomania;
- dysfunctions of the frontal lobe;
- mania;
- Asperger's syndrome.
These dubious criteria include:
- superficial charm;
- Difficulty controlling behavior
- irresponsibility;
- excessive agility;
- lack of empathy;
- promiscuous sex life;
- excessively high self-esteem;
- impulsiveness.
A number of studies have shown that the assessments that were obtained using this test depend on the personality of the interviewer. For example, how much he empathizes with the person being asked the questions.
Forensic scientists have pointed to the need for research on how race, class, and worldview of evaluators affect outcomes. There is the possibility of unconsciously making biased judgments about people in communities that the interviewer does not understand or against which he or she has biases.
Other weaknesses in the development of R. Heira.
For example, recent research has led psychiatrists to question the test's effectiveness and have posed questions such as:
- Does Hare's list work as well as other tools?
- more importantly, include the interviewee's crime history or personality assessment;
- Couldn't a test work just because it detects psychopathy better than random guessing?
When the inter-expert reliability of the list was checked, it showed high reliability in controlled experiments. But in reality, it was difficult for different specialists to coordinate estimates among themselves. This was especially true for assessments of personal characteristics.
In 2010, it was revealed that Hare himself had stopped publishing one of the peer-reviewed articles because she was citing him incorrectly and incorrectly paraphrasing his research. She came out with a three-year delay. Its authors argued that the Hare test was mistakenly accepted as a basic tool in psychiatry and allows other factors to be ignored to define psychopathy.
They also talked about how the checklist overestimates the importance of criminality in the concept of psychopathy. The authors also noted that this state of affairs leads to overdiagnosis of psychopathy and the abuse of the test in order to ensure that someone is judged.
Due to concerns that the test might fail, including because the evaluators were not sufficiently trained, a manual on how to use the tool was published in 2011. This reduced the risk of misuse of the list, including with different racial or social groups.
Known estimates
The test results of the most famous personalities are usually made known to the public. Among them, the following are especially distinguished.
| Name | Result |
Clifford Olson
|
38 of 40 |
| Brian Dugan | 38 of 40 |
| Ted Bundy | 39 of 40 |
| Charles Guito | 37.5 out of 40 |
| Peter Landin | 39 of 40 |
| Brian David Mitchell | 34 of 40 |
| Eileen Wornson | 32 of 40 |
| Paul Bernardo (serial killer, acted with accomplice Karla Homolka) | 35 of 40 |
| Karla Homolka (worked with Paul Bernardo) | 5 of 40 |
Filmed in the documentary film Psychopath (2000), Wayne scored 40 points out of 40 on the test. This result is considered rare.
The test developed by R. Heir has shown himself to be a good tool for defining psychopathy. The checklist was revised and questions arose more than once. However, it is reliable enough for an experienced psychiatrist to make an accurate diagnosis.
Video about tests for psychopathy
How to understand if your partner is a psychopath:
