WHEN people think of psychopaths, they often imagine criminals and horror movie villains.
But psychopathy is more common than many people realise and can be difficult to recognise in others.
A new study has identified a key sign that someone could be a psychopath – and it’s all in a person’s focus.
Researchers performed eye-gazing experiments with more than 200 volunteers in the UK.
Those who scored highly for having psychopathic tendencies showed difficulty in regulating their focus of attention.
While they struggled to notice finer details, they were good at seeing the bigger picture.
An example of this is in a pub gathering – a psychopath would quickly lose interest in subtle details and find it hard to not get distracted at other things going on in the pub.
The study was conducted by Stephanie C Goodhew and Mark Edwards, two psychologists at the Australian National University in Canberra.
They asked 236 volunteers aged between 18 and 40 to participate via computer and to undergo a test which involved looking at large letters made up of lots of little letters, known as the Navon test.
For example, a big ‘T’ would be made up of little ‘Es’.
They were then asked whether they noticed the bigger letter or smaller letter first.
The researchers looked out for three psychopath traits – antisocial behaviour, egocentricity and callousness.
Speed and accuracy were also accounted for to assess how good someone was at repeatedly narrowing and expanding their field of vision.
Volunteers who scored highly for antisocial behaviour were found to have trouble focusing their attention.
They noticed the large letter first, which means they were better at seeing the bigger picture.
Their psychopathic traits were also measured using the Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy Scale (E-LSRP) – a questionnaire consisting of 26 statements participants have to agree or disagree with.
One example of the questions asked, testing for anti-sociality, is “I have been in a lot of shouting matches with other people”.
The team found no noticeable links between two psychopathic traits – egocentricity and callousness – and attentional expansion or narrowing.
This led them to the conclusion that the tendency to see the bigger picture might only apply to psychopaths who have a strong tendency for anti-social behaviour.
Study authors Stephanie Goodhew and Mark Edwards, both associate professors at The Australian National University who co-direct the Visual Cognition Lab, told PsyPost: “There are multiple dimensions of psychopathic personality traits, including egocentricity, callousness, impulsivity, and antisocial behaviour.
“There is substantial diversity in the degree to which people exhibit these traits.
“We are interested in understanding the psychological mechanisms and processes that underpin these individual differences.”
The researchers are now looking at whether teaching psychopaths how to focus could stop them being antisocial.
The study was published in Personality and Individual Differences.
Psychopathy is not an official medical diagnosis and the term often refers to symptoms of antisocial personality disorder (ASPD).
ASPD is described as a mental health disorder by the NHS that affects how someone thinks, perceives, feels or relates to others.
Someone with ASPD will typically be manipulative, deceitful and reckless, and will not care for other people’s feelings.
But like other types of personality disorder, ASPD is on a spectrum, which means it can range in severity from occasional bad behaviour to repeatedly breaking the law and committing serious crimes.
While it’s said to effect more men than women, it’s not known why some people develop it.
To be diagnosed with ASPD, a person will usually have a history of conduct personality disorder before the age of 15.
To get help for ASPD, reach out to a mental health professional such as a psychiatrist or psychologist.
Your GP won’t be able to diagnose you, but you can speak to them about your mental health and they can refer you for an assessment.
A person with antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) may:
A person with ASPD will have a history of conduct disorder during childhood, such as truancy (not going to school), delinquency (committing crimes or substance misuse), and other disruptive and aggressive behaviours.
Source: NHS
