© ANDREW QUILTY/THE AGEPsychopaths can switch on the charm at will – but they also have filthy tempers.
Famous movie villains are often incorrectly labelled as psychopaths. You might even call your rude neighbour a psycho. And who hasn't complained about the psychopaths on the road after getting cut off in traffic?
But how can you tell if you're working with a legitimate psychopath?
© FAIRFAX NZPsychopaths in the workplace were most likely bullies in the playground.
Psychopaths aren't simply jerks or bullies - they must meet a certain set of criteria, as outlined by the Hare Psychopathy Checklist.
While only a professional should diagnose psychopathy, a psychopathic co-worker or boss may demonstrate some of these characteristics.
THEY HAVE SADISTIC MOTIVES AND INTENTS
"I think the most telling sign is their sadistic nature," says Andrew Faas, a former senior executive with Canada's two largest retail organisations and author of The Bully's Trap.
A psychopath motivates others through fear rather than respect, he says, and they intend to destroy rather than correct.
This one characteristic is what separates psychopaths from a boss or co-worker who is simply "firm".
"I've led and managed workforces that are in the thousands, and I've always been and still am a very demanding leader, but I motivate through respect because I want people to improve," Faas says.
THEY'RE GLIB AND TURN ON THE SUPERFICIAL CHARM
Psychopaths are masters at presenting themselves well.
They are great conversationalists who can easily sprinkle chit-chat with witty comebacks and "unlikely but convincing" stories that make them look good, writes psychologist Robert Hare, creator of the Hare Psychopathy Checklist, in a post on Psychology Today.
Confronted with such charm, you may believe that the psychopath is a decent - delightful, even - person by the end of the conversation.
Hare writes that one of his raters once interviewed a male prisoner who threw in some compliments about her appearance, and by the end of the interview she felt unusually pretty.
"When I got back outside, I couldn't believe I'd fallen for a line like that," she said.
THEY HAVE A GRANDIOSE ESTIMATION OF SELF
Psychopaths see themselves as the centre of the universe, writes Hare in Psychology Today.
They are so important in their minds that they believe other people are just tools to be used.
THEY'RE CONFIDENT - NO MATTER WHAT
Many people struggle with their self-esteem.
Psychopaths, on the other hand, can be identified by their overabundance of confidence, says Dr William Hirstein on Psychology Today.
Whether their boasting is subtle or obvious, beware the co-worker who's always going on about how great they are.
THEY'RE A PATHOLOGICAL LIAR
Maybe there was some truth to Pinocchio.
Once psychopaths start lying, they can't - and don't want to - stop.
Faas says that bullies have an "intellectual dishonesty that they knowingly revert to".
Unlike normal people, psychopaths don't care if their lie is found out because they can just lie again to cover it up, he says.
THEY LIVE A PARASITIC LIFESTYLE
Psychopaths are single-minded: they think only of themselves and what they want to accomplish - like a parasite.
"They're going to live their life and do and say and behave the way they want to behave without any consideration for others," Faas says.
He says psychopaths do whatever they want because they have such an inflated sense of self that they don't think the normal rules of life apply to them: "They feel they're immune to any criticism in terms of how they live their lifestyle, including harassing those they have command and control over."
THEY ARE CUNNING AND MANIPULATIVE
Faas likes to say that psychopaths are masters of three things: manipulation, deflection and deception, all of which help them keep "number one" - themselves - above water.
"They're very apt to accept credit for something when it goes right, but when something goes wrong, they look for a scapegoat to deflect it to and take the blame," he says.
THEY HAD EARLY BEHAVIOURAL PROBLEMS
Faas says that psychopaths in the workplace were most likely bullies in the playground.
"They take what they were allowed to do in the school environment and take it with them to the workplace," he says.
Some of the early behavioural signs include persistent lying, cheating, theft, arson, truancy, substance abuse, vandalism, and/or precocious sexuality, writes Hare.
While many children may display such behaviours, he says that psychopaths will display them more often and to a more serious degree.
THEY DON'T FEEL EMOTIONS LIKE NORMAL PEOPLE
Psychopaths can effectively mimic emotional responses, writes Psychology Today's Dr Scott Bonn.
However, they cannot sincerely feel them. Most psychopaths are master manipulators - those around them don't realise their true nature until the damage is already done.
THEIR LONG-TERM GOALS ARE NOT REALISTIC
Even though psychopaths struggle to accomplish their own grandiose goals for themselves because they are bad planners, Hare writes, they expect others to rise to the occasion.
"Though the task may be impossible to do, psychopaths justify it because, in their limited view, it's a reasonable goal," Faas says.
THEY SHOW NO REMORSE OR GUILT
The psychopathic tendency to not care about the consequences of their actions, no matter how badly they affect others, can be linked to their "remarkable ability to rationalise their behaviour", Hare writes.
While their friends and family may be physically or emotionally hurt by the psychopath's actions, he or she will typically just deflect the blame with excuses or flat-out deny it.
Hare recalls one subject who stabbed someone, yet seemed to feel sorrier for himself.
"He spends a few months in hospital, and I rot here," Hare's subject told him.
THEY HAVE A SCARY TEMPER
Don't get fooled by the charming veneer.
Hare writes that psychopaths are incredibly short-tempered. The smallest thing can set them off into a rage. Watch out for the person who freaks out about everything in the office - no matter how minor.
THEY PREFER NON-COMMITTAL RELATIONSHIPS
Hare's checklist includes both promiscuous sexual behaviour and multiple short-term marital relationships as signs of psychopathy.
However, if that sounds like one of your co-workers, don't be too quick to judge. They might just be bad at relationships or uninterested in commitment. This red flag is likely a more effective indicator when combined with other warning signs.
THEY'RE OFTEN BORED
If one of your colleagues is constantly complaining about how bored they are at work, you might just have a boring job or a whiny co-worker.
© ISTOCKConstant boredom can indicate psychopathy.
- BusinessInsider.com.au
Most of these so-called traits are bogus. I wouldn't be judging people off these traits.
A psychopath has one trait, one characteristic above all others, that trumps all others and it's the one thing they lack above all other so-called character defects...something I object to BTW.
To qualify for a psychopath you need to have no empathy. That's what describes a psychopath. For example, lots of people have short tempers, they don't suffer idiots easily, but these same people don't then become angry and decide you need to die because you offended them, or angered them, or whatever else a psychopath decides is in vogue at the spur of the moment.