What Makes a Psychopath?

Jim Fallon is a US-based neuroscientist. In a weird coincidence at work several years ago, Jim says he accidentally discovered that his own brain scans showed identical activity to that of a psychopath.

Who is Jim Fallon?

Jim Fallon is a U.S. based neuroscientist who lectures at the University of California Irvine. And he says he's a psychopath.

Over many years he studied the brain scans of serial killers and murderers and discovered they all had a common pattern of activity.

Later, by sheer accident, he says he discovered that his own brain scan mirrored those of the psychopathic killers.

Jim says his orbitofrontal cortex (see image below), which is associated with emotion and inhibition, is abnormal.

Photo: Courtesy of Jim Fallon

 

Jim subsequently found he had a line of murderers on his paternal side, and that he has some of the genes associated with aggressive behaviour.

"I bully them [people] intellectually or I manipulate them. I don't physically do it, for me that's for losers. I manipulate them with the truth. I'm kind of always on the make like that."

"I had my genes tested and I had all these genetic markers associated with low emotional empathy and low anxiety, and also with high aggression and violence. I really had a tremendous number of them," he told Insight.

Jim says his good childhood cushioned him from becoming a violent psychopath. But he admits that he's a bully and manipulates people.

His claims to be a psychopath are the focus of his TED Talk ...

... and of his speech to the World Science Festival …

... and of his own book The Psychopath Inside.

But is he or isn't he? Jim faced questions from experts during the Insight forum.

Can empathy be measured?

When assessing for psychopathy, experts say they try to look for a lack of empathy.

There are several online personality tests which purport to assess your level of empathy. Here are two you can try:

Empathy test

This is a combined version of Simon Baron-Cohen's Empathising Quotient (EQ) and Systemising Quotient (SQ) tests. There are 120 statements which you have to rate and will take approximately 10 to 20 minutes to complete. Click here to have a go.

Harvard Empathy Eye Test

This quiz looks at how well you can read the emotions of others by looking at their eyes. You will be shown 37 pictures with just the eyes of people's faces and will be asked to guess what emotions they are showing. 

This will take around 10 minutes to complete. This will take around 10 minutes to complete. Keen? You can try it here.