Psychopath numbers?

foofighter

foofighter

Jedi Council Member
Hi!

Does anyone have the latest and greatest on the number of psychopaths in an average population, and the differences between men and women? I know Cleckley and Stout talks about 4%, and then there was the article that mentioned 5% and a 1/10,1/100 ratios for men/women. Are there any updated or other studies on this?

In a recent Swedish article the numbers were reduced to "1-2% of all men, and less women", resulting in the end total "tens of thousands" rather than "hundreds of thousands". This is what the so-called Swedish experts stated. But it seems all wrong.
 
1-2% is a conservative number that is quite possibly accurate. The problem with such tests is that they are difficult to do. It is not possible to take a random sample of adults and give them the PCL-R. So very few studies are done. It is best to read the actual study to see how they got their numbers. Remember that in Poland in the 60s, only 0.6% of the population were psychopaths.
 
As far as I know, he got that number while working in the coal-mining industry in Silesia in the 60s. He studied the local population, and in a pathocracy, where psychopaths are visibly in all positions of power, their identification was probably much easier than in a more 'open' society. Also, he was in contact with other researchers doing similar studies, as Polish psychiatry/psychology had a much more advanced knowledge of psychopathy in general compared to Western psychology.

There have been very few studies devoted to the percentage of psychopaths in populations, as far as I know. One is quoted elsewhere in the forum--a twin-study showing that approximately 5% of UK-born twins showed psychopathic traits. This could mean any number of things: the psychopathic population is increasing (this is undoubtedly true), variations of psychopathy (e.g. schizoid, asthenic, borderline, etc) are being included in "psychopath" as they share similar traits (this is also probably true). In short, no one knows for sure, but the number of psychopaths in any population is probably anywhere from 1-6%. This would mean that Lobaczewski's number of 6% (which includes all psychobiological deviations) is probably much higher now, and that's a scary thing.
 
Then you have to consider all the "personality disorders" which may be nothing more than varieties of psychopathy, like clinical narcissists (everybody has narcissistic behaviors, that doesn't make you a narcissist) and borderline and a few others.
 
Well for the UK study I'm pretty sure they tested the kids for "callous, unemotional", or factor 1 of the PCL. This would presumably include ALL personality disorders characterized by callousness (psychopathy, narcissism, borderline, schizoid, asthenic, etc). So the problem is trying to differentiate all the types/variations that they classified under the overarching term "psychopathy".
 
hkoehli said:
The problem with such tests is that they are difficult to do. It is not possible to take a random sample of adults and give them the PCL-R. So very few studies are done.
Click to expand...
Can you tell me what a PCL-R is and why is it so difficult to administer to a random sample of adults? Ok, just googled it and got "psychopathic checklist-revised by Robert Hare. Is this because it 'favours' persons with criminal tendencies?
 
It's because it requires a full study of a person's past and personal life, including interviews with relatives, background checks, etc. It's not a simple do-it-yourself questionnaire. Also, anyone administering the test needs to be qualified to do so, as many people misuse the PCL-R and get wonky results.
 
Thanks for the feedback, in particular to hkoehli. So on the one hand it seems very difficult to get good numbers, and few thorough studies have been made, and on the other it seems (as Laura points out) that the real numbers could be higher than the current guesstimates, due to mis-diagnosis or possibly multi-diagnosis complications. After all, if the fundamental issue is an absence of empathy, then I guess it could materialize in a number of different varieties in combination with other issues.

Again, thanks for the feedback!
 
hkoehli said:
Anyone administering the test needs to be qualified to do so, as many people misuse the PCL-R and get wonky results.
Click to expand...
Indeed. A documentary about the PCL-R (and Hare's new test, the B-SCAN) was recently re-aired here in Canada (Checklist: A Measure of Evil). It raises the serious issue of these tests being used (both currently and potentially) by unqualified individuals, and for the wrong reasons. The most alarming scenario raised was the B-SCAN being used in the workplace by psychopaths against non-psychopaths.
 
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