Are you a psychopath? Here are 9 ways to know

Not all psychopaths are criminals and not all criminals are psychopaths.

Psychopaths can be anyone from anywhere. You could even be one without even knowing.

Psychopathy is a cluster of various characteristics and a mental illness. It is not easily identified by just looking at a person.

Here are nine ways to know if you or someone around you is a psychopath.

High level of intelligence

For a person who is an expert at manipulating and controlling others, it is a given that they cannot be dumb.

Psychopaths are super meticulous and very intelligent beings. They can change their nature like a chameleon, as and when the situation demands.

Narcissism

Psychopaths take self-love very seriously.

Infuriated egos, overflowing sense of self-importance and a tendency to manipulate situations and people to work in their favor, come what may. They also come across as cocky and arrogant.

Insomniac

Those that tend to stay up at night regularly are more likely to be psychopaths.

A human’s natural sleeping and waking patterns known as chronotypes are largely determined by genetics, which is why some of us feel more intelligent, alert and awake at certain times of the day.

Temperaments are also largely influenced by genetic makeup.

Psychologists have long associated sleeping patterns with personality traits.

Introverts are more likely to be early risers and people who prefer to work and play late into the night are more likely to possess the ‘Dark Triad’ of psychological traits – psychopathy, narcissism, and manipulativeness.

Lack of shame

Psychopaths adopt one of four responses when placed in a situation that ought to have evoked feelings of shame: attack others, avoidance, attack self, or withdrawal.

Impulsivity

Being a psychopath comes down to how your brain functions and which part of your brain has greater control over your actions.

This is most evident when you look at psychopaths’ tendency to exhibit impulsive behavior.

No empathetic feeling

Psychopaths are insensitive when it comes to dealing with other people’s emotions and feelings. They have no empathy or sympathy towards others.

However, they can easily dupe others with a fake play of emotions. They lack love and are shallow and dark, but they can easily conceal that about themselves.

Inclination to get violent

Psychopaths act based on impulse and as such, can exhibit violent behavior when they turn aggressive.

Extreme recklessness

Psychopaths are usually very calm and composed people, but they can also be erratic.

They can do things as small as shoplifting or as grievous as committing a gruesome murder, just because it gives them a kick at that particular point in time.

Uncanny nerve to make you feel uncomfortable

Psychopaths are great manipulators and control freaks who can cause extreme discomfort and make the other person feel unsafe, without even harming them.