Psychopaths Share Similar Speech Patterns When Detailing Their Crimes, Study Shows

All psychopaths might not be the same, but they share similar speech patterns when they recount their crimes, new research shows.

Researchers at Cornell University found that psychopaths lack emotion and speak in terms of cause-and-effect when describing their crimes, LiveScience explains.

Psychopaths also tend to focus "their attention on basic needs, such as food, drink and money" rather than social needs, LiveScience reported, such as family or religion. In fact, many psychopaths recounted what they ate the day of their crime during the interview.

Researchers determined the results by using software to analyze the speech patterns of 52 convicted murders -- 14 who qualified as psychopaths -- as they detailed their crimes. All 14 psychopaths shared the same speech qualities, according to the study.

Compared to the 38 convicted murderers in the sample, the psychopaths tended to use words such as "because" or "so that," to imply that their crime was a goal that needed to be achieved, the Deccan Herald points out.

Psychopaths also used more "ums" and "uhs", which researchers say indicate attempts to imply that retelling their crimes is difficult.

The results suggest that psychopaths "operate on a primitive but rational level," researchers wrote in the study.

One researcher recalls how psychopaths make for interesting interview subjects because of their "cunning and manipulative
nature."

"It is unbelievable. ... You can spend two or three hours and come out feeling like you are hypnotized," Michael Woodworth, study co-author and psychology professor specializing in psychopathy, told LiveScience.

Results of the study, "Hungry Like The Wolf: A Word-Pattern Analysis Of The Language Of Psychopaths," were published in the September issue of Legal and Criminological Psychology.

Psychopathy is often confused for other personality disorders. Scientific American reports how psychopathy is determined, and the characteristics of the disorder:

The best-established measure of psychopathy, the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R), developed by University of British Columbia psychologist Robert D. Hare, requires a standardized interview with subjects and an examination of their file records, such as their criminal and educational histories. Analyses of the PCL-R reveal that it comprises at least three overlapping, but separable, constellations of traits: interpersonal deficits (such as grandiosity, arrogance and deceitfulness), affective deficits (lack of guilt and empathy, for instance), and impulsive and criminal behaviors (including sexual promiscuity and stealing).

Recently, a small study showed that bosses are four times more likely to be psychopaths than the general population. The finding was reported in the book Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go to Work. However, the number of psychopaths among business bosses is still low -- comprising 4 percent of them, in the study -- while 1 percent of the general population have psychopathic tendencies.

Comments

[Erik Corr]

07:47 PM on 10/30/2011

Sounds like the people I work with and the Organization I work for

[BBrianCC]

04:05 AM on 10/28/2011

This report will have the web MD effect (creating a whole new generation of hypochondriacs) if you know what I mean...

[BannedInBoston]

12:08 AM on 10/28/2011

Considering most _psychopaths own _guns and some own a lot of them, it's probably wise to learn to identify them this way....

[daized79]

08:03 PM on 10/27/2011

Isn't this kind of a tautology? The reason we're classifying these particular people as murderers is based on the characteristics described in the study... Though I guess maybe the key is if you share a few of these, experts can guess the rest. Still seems awful tautological to me...

[Conuly]

09:19 PM on 10/28/2011

No. Psychopath != murderer. Some people with personality disorders are murderers, but so are plenty of people without 'em. And most people with antisocial personality disorder are just unpleasant to be around.

[SurfinSteve]

03:41 PM on 10/27/2011

Can we use this info to determine how many corporate execs and hedge fund managers are psychopaths? I'm guessing it will be somewhere in the 90% range.

[suzc]

06:52 PM on 10/27/2011

One of the few experts on the subject (Robt Hare? Something like that) says general population has 0.03% while corporations and politicians are up in the 4% range. Doesn't sound like much but compared to general population it's pretty big! I'd like to know how many are Republicans.

[daized79]

08:10 PM on 10/27/2011

Well seeing as all the large corporations give more to Democrats and Leftist causes than to Republican or conservative causes and only Leftists find politics to be their meaning in life (notice how you read an article about psychopathic murderers and decided to inject politics into it), I would guess they are mostly Democrats.

[FreeTexanDude]

01:25 PM on 10/27/2011

Interesting. Next time you hear Obama speak, try to count how many times he says "um" or "uh". Coincidence? I don't think so.

[tomdavis]

03:30 PM on 10/27/2011

I'm not an Obama hater, but it does drive me crazy when he does that "huh, huh, huh" thing in the middle of a sentence.

[Les Moor]

03:59 PM on 10/27/2011

You're db Perry says his share as well. Do the math.

[daized79]

08:05 PM on 10/27/2011

db? What math? You want me to count how many times each does it to see who's more of a psychopath? Huh?

[Marc Lewis]

12:16 PM on 10/27/2011

The traits mentioned here bear a striking resemblance to the traits common to Right Wing politicians (if not some politicians generally). Lack of guilt and empathy being major traits among the Right along with grandiosity, arrogance and deceitfulness. Sexual promiscuity though seem to cross all party lines.

[daized79]

08:07 PM on 10/27/2011

Very sad to see folks like you unable to see past your cultural biases. Almost all politicians share all those traits. It is such people who have the unending ambition to govern us. normal people just want to live with their families, earn enough for comfort, and spend their time on whatever they enjoy (religion, science, hobbies). Only politicians and Leftists get their satisfaction from politics itself and the pursuit of power.

[hangdogit]

11:30 PM on 10/27/2011

"Lack of...empathy being major traits among the Right..."

The fact that the GOP has never proposed a way to cover those without health insurance (except I think Nixon had a plan back when the GOP was more moderate)
is obvious. The fact that the GOP ignores the struggling middle class while defending the rich is another indicator.

"Only politician­s and Leftists get their satisfacti­on from politics itself and the pursuit of power."

Politicians are such because they like politics as one reason -- and seek power. That applies to both parties.

But I have never seen Democrats seek power by destroying the other party as the GOP has been doing for a couple of years by means of an unprecedented legislative strike.

So it is not exactly correct that politicians show psychopathic traits equally in both parties -- nor is it a cultural bias to identify the disparity between parties.

along with grandiosit­y, arrogance and deceitfuln­ess. Sexual promiscuit­y though seem to cross all party lines.

[hangdogit]

11:32 PM on 10/27/2011

Correction: The last paragraph above is extraneous.

[suzc]

11:50 AM on 10/28/2011

Both parties share similar needs to get reelected and stay in power and no doubt Nancy Pelosi craves and loves her own power as much as John Boehner does his. But Dems tend to go about it in a slightly different way (often ineffective it seems). Repubs just throw everyone under the bus. Not unlike psychopaths. Of course it's only 4 percent. 96% may be truly just deluded and/or power mad.

[CarlosB1]

11:50 AM on 10/27/2011

The speech characteristics of psychopathic criminals may simply indicate that they are more intelligent than non-psychopaths guilty of the same crimes. Use of subordinating conjunctions, causal explanations, less religious talk, more deliberate speech with more vocalized pauses--these are all things you would expect of a more intelligent person. This doesn't mean that they're particularly bright, just somewhat brighter than the average convict.

[Coyote50]

10:30 AM on 10/27/2011

"...normal people feel shame when they act in cruel or selflish ways, whether they are upbraided by others or are stricken by pangs of conscience themselves. But the psychopath CANNOT feel a bad conscience, ever." http://johndenugent.com/psychopaths-in-power

There's been a lot of study on psychopaths in power over the last years. I feel that a frightening number of politicians have these characteristics -- especially, but not limited to, the T-publican'ts. Look at this Joe Walsh, who doesn't even want to support his own kids, for instance. Or Eric Cantor who has no concern over the suffering of people following the hurricane. On and on....

[tomdavis]

03:44 PM on 10/27/2011

Are you saying that John Edwards, William Jefferson, Webster Hubble, Mel Reynolds, Walter Tucker, etc. etc. are Republicans? Why did they always have that capital "D" next to their names?

Trying to defend either Democrats or Republicans is a waste of time. They're all a bunch of crooks.

[Conuly]

09:23 PM on 10/28/2011

That last sentence is probably the most sensible thing anybody will say in this entire discussion.

[RepublicanDepression]

09:26 AM on 10/27/2011

"interpersonal deficits (such as grandiosity, arrogance and deceitfulness), affective deficits (lack of guilt and empathy, for instance), and impulsive and criminal behaviors (including sexual promiscuity and stealing)."

George W Bush

[Missy Ruth]

05:34 AM on 10/27/2011

". . . affective deficits (lack of guilt and empathy, for instance)" If a psychopath has a lack of guilt, why would they care about framing their acts in a way that makes them seem less like monsters for the interviewer?

[jennifergreen2]

08:38 AM on 10/27/2011

Because they are trying to manipulate you into thinking that they are "normal"

[Robin Thompson Duehring]

08:49 AM on 10/27/2011

Sociopaths are master manipulators. They pay careful attention to what others do and say, they are much like extraordinary mimics. Even though they don't actually feel the same way normal people do. But they care very much in keeping their true selves hidden, which is not the same as caring as we think about it.The longer they remained masked, the longer they can perpetrate their schemes. Which can range from the petty workplace manipulation, bilking family out of money or in the extreme cases inflict harm and torture. It's estimated that nearly 1 in 25 people is a sociopath. They hide in plain sight and it's not something that's wrong with them like a mental disorder, it's something that is missing all together - namely empathy. If you think about it, you've probably met or been associated with a sociopath at some point in time and just didn't realize it. Normal, caring , compassionate people have a really hard time wrapping their head around the idea that someone they know or even love lacks some basic human emotions, so we make excuses, give them a pass or chalk it up to some other circumstance- and believe me, they are counting on just that response, it's the sociopath's stock in trade - pity.

[ds12]

09:29 AM on 10/27/2011

Psychopath != Sociopath

[White Raven]

03:40 AM on 10/27/2011

As I read this I think of all the politicians I know who pepper their speech with uhms and uhs, rationalize everything away with 'because' statements, and refer to things in the past tense a lot.

[daized79]

08:11 PM on 10/27/2011

Don't we all use umms and uhs when public speaking? I think the difference is between public and private speech.

[Joseph Bandana]

12:35 AM on 10/27/2011

My message below was not intended to...um...insult the uh..VirginMarythang or that HolySpritthang either as uh...I...ummm....dew not intend on spending my eternity uh...burning in hella!! I choose the uh...MontecitoPlanV! YES! Uh...the one with the OlympicPool and RomanGardens! Thanks, Jesus!

[Joseph Bandana]

12:28 AM on 10/27/2011

The Famous ReligiousPsychopaths: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John also have similar speech patterns!! Or......is that jest the Psychopathic Nature of ReligiousSuperstitiousBabble??!! hehe!!

[Diana Goodavage]

06:39 PM on 10/26/2011

Excuse me, but the Jezebel article --- or whatever it is (I don't have audio) makes some sort of equation between a psychopath and a "crazy" person.

That's hate speech.

People with psychopathy are not "crazy". There is no treatment for psychopathy. Society needs to be protected from psychopaths.

People with a diagnosis of mental "illness" --- (which is a disparaging term in itself, hence the quotes) are not psychopaths.

They do not lack empathy.

They do know the difference between right and wrong, and they do not have poor impulse control.

Further, let us please remember that the people studied for this article were CONVICTED of crimes --- before the study started.

People with a diagnosis of mental "illness" are more likely to be the VICTIM of a crime of violence than to ever perpetrate a crime of violence.

Perhaps part of the reason for that is that they are used as scapegoats.

As in this article.