Hare's Psychopath Checklist

There is a lot of uncertainty for the average person in regards to understanding and identifying psychological disorders. For example, people may confuse disorders such as sociopathy and psychopathy with one another simply due to lack of basic understanding (Bonn). According to Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, psychopathy is defined as a “mental disorder especially when marked by egocentric and antisocial activity.” Based on the egocentric portion of this definition, a psychopath, or person with psychopathy, is essentially someone who is only focused on themselves with little regard for other’s emotions. Based on the antisocial portion, a psychopath is someone that goes against regular societal rules (Merriam-Webster). Overall,

According to the American Psychological Association, those affected by psychopathy will “…tend to be irritable and aggressive and to get repeatedly into physical fights and assaults…” (Blair). Robert Hare’s Psychopathy Checklist-Revised is a tool that numerous medical professionals use to diagnose psychopathy. This tool is used by identifying the number of traits from the checklist the individual demonstrates. Using tools like Hare’s checklist can be very important in diagnosing suspected

The creator of the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised, Dr. Robert Hare, wrote a book entitled Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths among Us. In his book, he states that “…compared with other major clinical disorders, little systematic research has been devoted to psychopathy…” This just goes to show that there could possibly be even more to understand about psychopathy than what is already known by medical professionals today (Hare). However, from what is already understood today in regards to the cause of psychopathy, we have found that the cause is genetic and linked to abnormalities that appear in the brain. Understanding the fact that psychopathy is a genetic disorder has helped with being able to properly diagnose the disorder