Technology Which Is Used To Detect If Someone Is A Psychopath

Psychopaths are people who suffer from a mental disorder. Symptoms of psychopathy have been recognized in children with control disorders. By nature, psychopaths expresses self-serving behaviors with no consideration for others and they’re often associated with repeated misbehavior, crime, and violence.

That being said, it’s still difficult to manually spot a psychopath. However, with the advancement in the field of psychology, psychologists are able to develop new technologies that help to spot someone who has psychopathy.

Here are some ways on how you can test for psychopathy through modern technologies. 

1.      Psychopathy Checklist or Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R)

This is a psychological assessment tool that’s commonly used to evaluate the existence of psychopathy in individuals. It’s a 20-item inventory of distinguishing personality characteristics and noted behaviors, intentional to be done on the basis of a semi-organized interview along with a review of ‘collateral information’ such as official records.

2.      Electroencephalogram (EEG)

This is a monitoring method to record the electrical activity of the brain and it’s typically non-coercive with the conductors placed along the scalp, although interfering electrodes are sometimes used as in electrocorticography.

3.      Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)

This is a technique used for recording medical imaging to configure pictures of the structure of the human brain and the body’s physiological processes in both health and disease. To create pictures of the organs in the body, it uses strong magnetic fields, magnetic field gradients, and radio waves. The area of our brain which does the monitoring of our behavior, estimating consequences and incorporating emotional learning into our future decision-making process placed is the Prefrontal cortex.

This area has a specified quality, this means for psychopaths, they may underestimate the consequences of their actions and whatever they learn through emotions won’t affect any future decisions. There’s a section of our brain which is the prefrontal cortex that shows reduced grey matter in volume and thickness. If the psychopathy is severe, the greater this deficiency seems to be. When psychopaths decide to cooperate, they show little activation here. This will activate more when they observe an opponent being punished.

4.      Functional MRI (fMRI)

This technique measures brain activity by recognizing changes related to blood flow. This particular task depends on the fact that analytical blood flow and neuronal operation are combined. The blood flow of that region will also increase if that area of the brain is in use. When using Functional MRI, doctors may see the differences between psychopath participants and normal controls. They may find defects in the paralimbic system that they believe is related to psychopathy.

5.      Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)

It’s also known as repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation. This technique won’t require the introduction of any instruments into the brain. This is stimulation which a magnetic field is used to cause electric current in a particular area of the brain through electromagnetic induction.

Signs and Symptoms

There are 5 things that psychopaths do and traits:

?       They are very charming. Psychopaths come over as wonderful people, great at making small conversation. Their quick keen intelligence tends to pull people to them. They normally have fascinating stories as well. Their conclusive tales picture them in a favorable, yet convincing light. When people leave from conversations with a psychopath they generally feel pretty good.

?       They’re really arrogant and a bully. Psychopaths think the usual rules don’t apply to them and they believe they deserve to be the CEO. Also, they tend to have imposing ideas about their potential. They’re bullies that you might encounter at work.

?       They don’t experience deep regrets. A lack of guilt might be a signal that someone might be a psychopath. They aren’t capable of feeling any genuine contrition. They don’t recognize any responsibility for hurting other people’s feelings at home and at work. Instead, they blame other people and deny responsibility.

?       They take risks. Psychopaths have little value for welfare, mostly other people’s. They lie, cheat, and steal to get in the lead and this behavior can be toxic. Psychopaths who do plan their crimes well in advance and while they’re not all engaged in illegal activity, their misconduct is usually methodical, and they will allow few clues left in the scene. They tend to be intelligent which makes them great con artists.

Final Thoughts: Do you know that Female psychopaths are somewhat different? 

Although Male and Female psychopaths are alike in a lot of ways, studies found a distinction. One example is female psychopaths look like they’re more prone to emotional problems, anxiety, and immorality than male psychopaths.

Psychologists state that female psychopathy is occasionally diagnosed with a marginal personality disorder, instead it’s identified by badly regulated emotions, impulsive reactions, and the burst of anger. This might describe that most studies reveal that rates of psychopathy is lower in females.

About the Author: Thomas Robinson

Thomas is a psychology student who enjoys understanding how the mind works. Across his years of study, he’s learnt about psychopaths and how their minds are different to others. His spare time consists of spending quality time with his friends. 

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