There are up to five times more psychopathic women than previously thought, according to a recent study.
- Female psychopaths are up to five times more common than currently believed.
- The latter tend to use words rather than violence to achieve their goals.
- Cases of psychopathy in women are underestimated and underreported due to gender bias.
For many people, the word “psychopath” conjures up images of masked, knife-wielding attackers, as most depictions in media or films are of men. Furthermore, current scientific data suggests that male psychopaths outnumber females approximately six to one. However, Clive Boddy, an expert on psychopathy at Anglia Ruskin University (England) revealed that female psychopaths are more common than previously thought.
In a studythe results of which will be presented on March 16 at the Cambridge festival, he showed that by using measures of primary psychopathy, excluding the antisocial behavioral characteristics of psychopathy and focusing on its essential elements, the report of the male psychopathy to female psychopathy could be up to five times higher than previously suggested.
Psychopathic women use words rather than violence to achieve their ends
According to the researcher, gender bias plays a role in the underreporting of cases. “People generally attribute psychopathic characteristics to men rather than women. So even when women exhibit some of the key traits associated with psychopathy, such as insincerity, deception, lack of empathy, and lack of emotional depth, because these traits are considered masculine characteristics, they may not be labeled as such, even when they should be.” he explained.
He added that female psychopaths tend to use words rather than violence to achieve their goals, which is different from how male psychopaths tend to operate. “If female psychopathy is expressed differently, measures designed to capture and identify criminal male psychopaths may be inadequate to identify noncriminal female psychopaths.”
Psychopathy: Implications for “the criminal justice system” and “leadership selection decisions”
According to Clive Boddy, we need to find a simple and effective way to identify them, because they represent a greater potential threat to society than previously suspected. “This has implications for the criminal justice system, as current risk management decisions involving partners and children may be flawed. It also has implications for decisions about selecting leaders of organizations, as one cannot automatically assume that female leaders are more honest, more caring and more involved in issues, such as corporate social responsibility.”
At the conference in March, the psychopathy expert will detail how female psychopaths are more manipulative than men, use different techniques to make a good impression and rely more on deception and sexual seduction to gain advantages social and financial.
