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✍🏻 Isabel Baxter | Neuroscience Graduate from the University of Leeds
What is psychopathy? 🧐
Psychopathy is a psychiatric disorder affecting approximately 4.5% of the global population, typified by superficial charm, manipulative tendencies, a lack of empathy, as well as aggressive and impulsive behaviour.
As defined by the four-facet model of psychopathy, psychopathic traits can be categorised as either an interpersonal, affective (emotional), lifestyle, or antisocial deficit. For instance, superficial charm and manipulative behaviour are both considered interpersonal deficits, whilst a diminished capacity for empathy is deemed an emotional impairment. Aggression and impulsive behaviour are viewed as deficits within the lifestyle and antisocial facets of psychopathy, respectively. However, whilst the four-facet model of psychopathy applies to both male and female psychopaths, gender affects the prevalence, development, and presentation of these traits.
How Does the Prevalence of Psychopathy Differ Between Men and Women? 👫
Psychopathy is more common in men than women.
Indeed, in their meta-analysis, Ana-Sanz-Garcia and colleagues observed that 7.9% of men globally have psychopathy, compared to 2.9% of women. The high male-to-female ratio in the prevalence of psychopathy may have a genetic underpinning. Variations (or polymorphisms) within the monoamine oxidase (MAO) gene (involved in the breakdown of certain neurotransmitters) are associated with an increased risk of psychopathic personality traits. Contingent with the observation that psychopathy is more common in males, a specific MAO polymorphism associated with antisocial behaviour is 3 times more common in men than in women. However, this may reflect an inadequacy of the screening tools used to assess psychopathy, rather than a true gender bias in psychopathy prevalence . Indeed, the psychopathy checklist list revised (PCL-R) (used to screen for psychopathic traits) may not faithfully represent female psychopathy, with PCL-R items such as 'criminal versatility', 'failure to accept responsibility', and ' juvenile delinquency' being less relevant in women.
How Does Psychopathy Manifest in Females? 👩🏻
Men and women express different psychopathic traits.
Manipulative behaviour is more common in psychopathic women than men. Moreover, whilst affective empathy (the ability to feel what someone else is feeling) is impaired in male psychopaths, no such deficit is observed in females with psychopathy (however, this finding was observed in children, and so may not be applicable to adult women). However, callous behaviour - another item within the affective facet of psychopathy, is displayed by both male and female psychopaths.
Items within the lifestyle facet of the psychopathy model are also expressed differently in men and women. Indeed, a tendency towards impulsivity appears to be more relevant for male,rather than female, psychopaths, likely because the cognitive processes allowing for the avoidance of certain behaviours are preserved in women with psychopathy. Psychopathic women do not have deficits in passive avoidance , which describes the process of abstaining from a certain behaviour to avoid an unpleasant outcome. Similarly, whilst psychopathic males exhibit a tendency to keep engaging with a particular behaviour despite its unpleasant outcomes, this trait is not present in psychopathic females.
Edited by: Grace Pountney (Founder and Copywriter)
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