The prototypical psychopath is pictured as callous, unemotional, impulsive, and fearless. While psychopaths may seem fearless, it does not mean they are not fearful. Fearlessness is not always the opposite of fearfulness. From my own observation, the psychopathic female is especially fearful and anxious.

Psychopathy researchers Sylco Hoppenbrouwers, Berend Bulten, and Inti Brazil analyzed 16 research reports relating to psychopathy that included measures of fear.1 Their review suggested that those with high levels of psychopathic characteristics had a significant deficiency in threat detection and responsivity, not an absence of fear. They concluded that psychopaths "seem to be able to consciously experience fear as an emotion, which contradicts the general notion that lack of fear is a core component of psychopathy.”2 They also pointed to various neurobiological correlates that might underpin their conclusion and noted the importance of additional research.3 Their findings about fear echo assertions made in 1976 by Yochelson and Samenow in their seminal work The Criminal

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