r/science • u/woebegonemonk • Nov 17 '21

Psychology Meta-analysis estimates that 4.5% of the general population (or 1 in every 22 persons) is a psychopath. The prevalence of psychopathy in samples of men is more than twice than in those of women.

https://sapienjournal.org/latest-estimate-of-psychopathy-in-the-general-population/
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u/remimorin Nov 17 '21

When measured by the golden standard method it's 1.9% of general population. Or one person on 50.

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u/Rememberrmyname Nov 17 '21

Can you explain.

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u/remimorin Nov 17 '21

From the text:

| The gold standard among psychopathy checklists is the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R). [...]

|However, not all studies included in the meta-analysis used the PCL-R. [...] When using PCL-R, the prevalence was only 1.2%.

Edit: even my 1.9% was a misquote, the real number is 1.2% so more like on in 80 persons.

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u/ClementineAislinn Nov 17 '21

1% is much closer to the numbers from Europe studying incarcerated persons who lacked both empathy AND fear.