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Most murderers are not psychopaths; media often conflates the two wrongly.

Psychopathy diagnosis requires comprehensive evaluation, not just observation of certain traits.

The PCL-R uses collateral sources and structured interviews to assess psychopathy.

We have all heard of people who commit horrific crimes. Such people make us shudder. Whenever we think of notorious criminals, especially murderers, we tend to label them psychopaths. Famed psychopathy expert, Dr. Robert Hare, in his book, Without Conscience, has written, "The majority of psychopaths manage to ply their trade without murdering people.”1 In other words, most murderers are not psychopaths. All too often media conflates criminals and psychopaths.

Beware of quick labeling

We must be careful not to confuse the presence of a few psychopathic traits with the personality disorder itself. Someone’s boss could be abusive at work, but quite the opposite with family. This is not a psychopath. Or she may be charming and manipulative with business associates, but forthright with friends. This is not a psychopath. Or she may feel no guilt or remorse while cheating on taxes but feel terribly guilty about hurting another person. This is not a psychopath.

The Psychopathy Checklist-Revised

To identify if someone is a psychopath, Dr. Hare and his students developed a clinical rating........

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