What is psychopathy?

Psychopathy is a multifaceted personality disorder characterized by highly concerning behaviors and attitudes, including having a massive ego and excessive self-importance, antisocial behavior, having little to no empathy for others, and having little to no remorse after doing something that might have hurt other people or even animals.

People who have psychopathy are referred to as psychopaths. These people often have the following characteristics:

  • They can be impulsive and do things without considering the consequences
  • If the consequences of their actions affect others horribly, they won’t feel bad
  • They might have a limited range of emotions, which makes it difficult for them to relate and understand others on an emotional level
  • They can be pathological liars and often find ways to manipulate others to get what they want
  • Speaking of manipulating others, they can put up a front that most people might find charming
  • They can be aggressive and violent

According to researchers, several factors can put a person at risk of developing this complex and potentially dangerous disorder. These include the following:

  • Genetics
  • Problems with brain chemistry that affect one’s ability to feel guilt, empathy, fear, and anxiety
  • Being exposed to dysfunctional environments (family and friends)
  • Having a lack of parental and sibling attachments
  • If they’ve had behavioral disorders since childhood that were never addressed (conduct disorder, ODD, etc.)

Printable Psychopath Spectrum Test

Download this Psychopath Spectrum Test to help patients self-aware of psychopathic traits they might have.

How to use the Psychopath Spectrum Test

If you’ve ever wondered, “Am I a psychopath,” then you’ve likely searched for online quizzes out of curiosity. There’s a lot online, some made for fun and others made by experts and researchers. The type of online quiz we will discuss for this guide is the Psychopath Spectrum Test created by IDRlabs. It’s based on the work of Michael R. Levenson and is meant to measure the psychotic traits of a non-institutionalized person.

You must visit the IDRlabs official website to access the test and answer 27 questions. Here are samples of such questions you will encounter:

  • I have never been in trouble with the law.
  • Most of my problems are due to the fact that other people don't understand me.
  • I let others worry about so-called “higher values”; my main concern is to get what I want.
  • Love is overrated.
  • I end up in the same kinds of trouble, time after time.
  • People who get ripped off usually deserve it.
  • I feel justified doing whatever I can to succeed.
  • I tell other people what they want to hear so that they will do what I want them to do.
  • What’s right is whatever I can get away with.
  • Success is about the survival of the fittest; I am not concerned about losers.
  • I enjoy manipulating other people's feelings.

Those answering the test will notice a slider at the bottom of each statement. By default, it’s set in the slider's middle, indicating a neutral self-rating. One must drag the slider to a specific point based on how much the statement applies to them. At the left end is “Disagree.” At the right end is “Agree.”

How is the Psychopath Spectrum Test scored and interpreted?

Since the Psychopath Spectrum Test created by IDRlabs is an online quiz, we’re not privy to how the answers are scored or calculated.

After providing self-ratings for all 27 items, you will be directed to another page that shows how your answers are interpreted. Your evaluation will take the form of a graph with four quadrants representing the following:

  • Normal (light blue, on the lower left)
  • Impulsive (yellow, on the lower right)
  • Sociopath (grey, on the upper left)
  • Psychopath (red, on the upper right)

There will be two circles: the purple one represents you, and the green one represents the general populace. Your circle will be placed on a particular part of the graph based on your answers.

This will be accompanied by a statement indicating the percentage of what overall rating represents you. An example would be: “You are 50% sociopathic, 50% impulsive, which makes you 25.13% more psychopathic than the population average.”

After your overall rating, there will be an explanation of terms for Normal, Impulsive, Sociopath, and Psychopath.

Psychopath Spectrum Test example (sample)

If you wish to answer the Psychopath Spectrum Test, we recommend visiting the IDRlabs official website. But if you want to know what to expect before visiting their website, we created a mock sample showing you all 27 statements you’ll have to rate. The sample shows a fully answered questionnaire and results.

Please note that this is merely a sample for educational and demonstration purposes. To answer this test, please visit the IDRlabs official website. While we have a template ready for download, please note that it only has the questionnaire and not the results calculator.

Since this is technically an online quiz, you can only use our template when you’re about to see a psychopathy specialist. They can use the results to kickstart a comprehensive examination for diagnosing psychopathy.

Download this Psychopath Spectrum Test example: 

Psychopath Spectrum Test example (sample)

When is it best to take the Psychopath Spectrum Test?

You can answer it for fun

Again, the Psychopath Spectrum Test we discussed is an online quiz. There are many other versions of it online. You can do that because most online quizzes are answered for fun and leisure. Even if you rate a statement in a way that would point out that you might have psychopathy, that doesn’t mean you have it, nor are you a psychopath.

You can answer it out of genuine concern

Suppose your ratings genuinely reflect how you feel about yourself and others, and you’re bothered by the fact that they genuinely reflect how you feel. In that case, we recommend getting checked by a specialist, getting a diagnosis, and working with them to manage your psychopathy if you get diagnosed with it.

When seeing a mental healthcare specialist

Replacing the actual scoring part on our template is the question, “What is your overall Psychopath Spectrum Test score? Please copy and paste the rating given to you below.”

If you’ve scheduled an appointment with a psychopathy specialist, you can indicate your answers from the IDRlabs version on our mock template and then indicate your overall rating. Your specialist can run your answers on the official IDRlabs website to see the quadrants you fall on and then discuss the next steps.

How can Carepatron help with mental health-related work?

Thanks for reading this guide about psychopathy and the Psychopath Spectrum Test by IDRlabs. We hope this informed you enough about what to expect if you ever take that online test.

While we still have you, we’d like to request your time to check more of the Carepatron platform. We have a lot of nifty features, and we’re confident they will convince you to subscribe to us and consider us your number-one mental health EHR and psychology practice management software. We won’t get into those features here, but we’d like to highlight one related to this guide: our resource library.

Our resource library houses a massive collection of clinical resources that cover numerous healthcare fields, topics, and practices, especially mental health. We have a guide and template for the Hare Psychopathy Checklist, an official assessment for gauging psychopathy symptoms and signs in patients.

We also have an abundance of worksheets for therapy patients, plus assessments that gauge other personality disorders, depression, anxiety, and more! You’ll be spoiled for choice. What’s great about all these resources is that they’re free, so you can read as many guides as you want and download as many templates as you need.

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Can I use this test to diagnose myself with psychopathy?
Can I use this test to diagnose myself with psychopathy?

Commonly asked questions

Can I use this test to diagnose myself with psychopathy?

No. You should not use this test to diagnose yourself with psychopathy under any circumstance because it is an online quiz, not a diagnostic tool.

Is this Psychopath Spectrum Test reliable?

It would be best to take whatever result you get with a grain of salt, considering it’s an online quiz. The IDRlabs website claims that the test is made by certified professionals who have worked with psychometrics and personality testing. Still, we recommend sharing your test results with an actual specialist so you can get properly tested and diagnosed.

Can psychopathy be cured?

No. There is no known cure for psychopathy. The best that can be done is to take psychotherapy (primarily cognitive behavioral therapy), attend and finish behavioral skills training, and take antipsychotics and mood stabilizers.

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