'The Hare Psychopathy Checklist': The test that will tell you if someone is a sociopath

Warner bros.

In August, Dr. Kevin Dutton of Oxford University ranked US president-elect Donald Trump as "above Adolf Hitler" on a standard scale used to measure potential psychopathy in adults, according to the science news site Phys.org (Hillary Clinton scored pretty highly, too).

That sounds like a cheap shot.

But Trump does display some of the symptoms clinicians look for when trying to diagnose psychopaths and sociopaths (many psychiatrists and criminologists use the terms interchangeably, but experts disagree on whether the two are meaningfully different). In fact, most people display some symptoms of psychopathy — superficiality, glibness, promiscuous sexual Behaviour, etc. — and that does not make you a psychopath.

In a political leader, a few psychopathic traits may not be a bad thing: Many of the traits we seek in leaders, such as fearlessness, dominant Behaviour, and immunity to stress, are found in psychopaths. Indeed, psychopaths are found in greater proportions among CEOs. Between 3% and 21% of CEOs are probably psychopaths, according to a study by Bond University psychologist Nathan Brooks. The background rate of psychopathy in the normal population is about 1%.

The standard screening test for potential psychopaths is the Hare Psychopathy Checklist. In the test, a clinician interviews a potential sociopath and scores them on 20 criteria, such as "promiscuous sexual Behavior" or "impulsivity." On each criterion, the subject is ranked on a 3-point scale: (0 = item does not apply, 1 = item applies somewhat, 2 = item definitely applies). The scores are summed to create a rank of zero to 40. Anyone who scores 30 and above is probably a psycho.

The test is supposed to be done by a professional psychologist but if you really want to take it yourself — or make a layperson's guess at Trump's psychological makeup — keep scrolling:

1. Do you have "excess glibness" or superficial charm?

(Answer: For sociopaths, the answer to this question is yes.)

2. Do you have a grandiose sense of self-worth?

(Psychopaths do.)

3. Do you have an excess need for stimulation or proneness to boredom?

(Psychopaths can't endure periods of the doldrums.)