10 Subtle Signs of a Psychopath

hey everyone and welcome to top tank today we’re going to learn about 10 subtle signs of a psychopath now let’s begin number one social domination how do psychopaths interact with the world do they communicate the same way you do a 2019 review from the journal of psycholinguistic research asked the same questions to find an answer they compiled 34 different studies on psychopathic communication but what did they find just think about an average conversation most conversations are friendly and casual two friends chatting over coffee co-workers poking fun at their boss strangers exchanging bits of small talk but some conversations are more competitive in business settings for example you may wrestle for power and status if you say too much your opponent gets the better of you so you choose your words very carefully a psychopath views every conversation as a competition they crave social dominance they need the power in every relationship they make so like a business transaction they lay traps withhold information and manipulate other people social interactions are in the mind of a psychopath a hierarchy of power and status and the psychopath wants to be on top so how can you recognize this hunger for power in another person when talking to a psychopath you may feel like you’re on the back foot they may one-up you at every turn they may catch every mistake you make or point out every tiny contradiction if you mess up they’ll let you know because your mistakes give them power number two mass generalizations to a psychopath everyone is their enemy so they’re always searching for reasons to criticize their community their country or the entire world all right let’s say you see someone throw an empty can on the ground how would you react you may think to yourself this person littered so they must be careless and disrespectful you like most people judge individuals for their actions but a psychopath can generalize anything this comes from the same 2019 review psychopaths are prone to over-generalization especially if it’s something negative instead of judging a singular person they criticize larger groups and communities if one person litters for example they don’t blame the individual they assume the whole city is careless and disrespectful listen for these huge generalizations pay attention to radical assumptions and narrow-minded opinions because psychopaths assume the world is full of terrible people number three persuasive disfluencies do psychopaths talk differently than most people this comes from a 2016 study in the journal of criminal justice and behavior in this study researchers interviewed a handful of psychopaths looking at these interviews researchers look for patterns in phrasing and word choice so what did they find are there differences in the way a psychopath speaks researchers noticed a spike in language disfluencies disfluencies are breaks or disruptions in your speech some people stutter other people use filler words like um or like disfluencies usually signify stress or anxiety the average person for example uses more filler words when they’re nervous their mind races their heart rate skyrockets so they struggle to express themselves clearly oh but a psychopath does things differently during interviews psychopaths used a specific kind of disfluency they didn’t stutter they didn’t fill their speech with likes and dumbs in fact researchers found very few stress-related words in their speech instead a psychopath will use phrases like you know or to be honest these are still disfluencies but these disfluencies serve a different purpose they don’t fill space or buy time they’re a subtle form of persuasion psychopaths may use these phrases to manipulate their listeners and gain power in the conversation number four personal pronouns our 2016 study uncovered another important sign of psychopathy during their interviews most participants talked about multiple people they discussed their family and their friends they talked about people from work they told stories about others and referenced them by name psychopaths on the other hand mentioned only themselves they made very few references to other people they rarely brought up family or friends and they showed barely any emotional attachment to others the most compelling piece of evidence is their use of pronouns researchers counted exactly how many pronouns each interviewee used and which ones were used the most often it turns out psychopaths talked about themselves way more than most people they used so many personal pronouns that researchers call this subtle sign a reliable predictor of psychopathy so the next time you’re having a conversation pay attention to the pronouns how often do people say i and me there’s nothing wrong with talking about yourself but a psychopath won’t talk about anything else number five temporary tools how do psychopaths treat their loved ones in our 2019 review researchers explored how psychopaths view the people in their life just think about this why do you make friends with other people maybe you enjoy their company you may gather energy from the enthusiasm of others you may want to share your passions with people who understand you there are many reasons to make friends but psychopaths only have one they bond with others because they need something from them it may be a small favor it could be a connection or a social boon there’s always something to gain if you have nothing to offer a psychopath they’ll abandon the relationship because they view friends and family as tools as soon as you’re not useful a psychopath will throw you away number six inappropriate emotions do you know someone who laughs at sad stories someone who cries when they’re supposed to be smiling psychopaths rarely express their emotions they prefer to be emotionally detached many psychopaths discuss difficult topics without showing an ounce of emotion their emotional detachment is also a sign of psychopathy but what happens when they do show their emotions all right let’s say your friend tells you a sad story from their childhood you’re on the verge of tears but they’re not crying at all in fact they’re laughing we call this an inappropriate emotion when a psychopath has a reaction their outward emotions may contradict their inward experiences in other words they may laugh when they want to cry number 7 biological needs everyone has social and emotional needs you long for companionship you crave physical affection you feel frustrated when someone ignores you because you want to be heard these are all valid needs that people feel on a regular basis but a psychopath avoids their social or emotional needs many psychopaths pretend those needs don’t exist they talk only about their basic evolutionary needs they need food they need water they need money they view the world through concrete desires not social or emotional problems so why do they think like this because psychopaths want to appear strong at all times they want people to see them as fearless and sturdy to a psychopath expressing your emotions is dangerous it’s a sign of weakness that’s why psychopaths avoid their emotions as often as they can number eight strategic avoidance do you know someone who leaves out important parts of their stories psychopaths use this trick to bait people in it gives them power in the conversation by leaving out details they’re holding all the cards they have something you want to hear and they decide when you hear it in the mind of a psychopath this is one way to achieve social dominance let’s say something important happened on the news you didn’t hear about it so you ask your friend but they dance around the issue leaving out the most important details you keep asking for more but they keep stringing you along this person is playing with you they know what you want but they don’t want to give it to you it’s a subtle form of manipulation and it’s common among psychopaths number nine self-contradictions have you ever heard someone contradict themselves psychopaths will contradict their own opinions they disprove and go back on their own arguments seconds after making them for example a psychopath might say money can never buy you happiness then a couple of minutes later they’re obsessing about how much money they make many psychopaths don’t realize they’re contradicting themselves because their opinions are impulsive and temporary psychopaths have no problem with lying so they say whatever strikes them in the moment not what they really believe unfortunately it’s difficult to call them out if you say something a psychopath may get defensive immediately they’ll turn the argument on its head and they’ll aim all their frustration at you so keep an eye out for major contradictions see how many times their opinions flop back and forth it may happen more than you realize number 10 emotional landslides psychopaths bottle up their emotions they stuff their feelings down for months or years at a time they ignore their problems they run away from conflicts and they tune out anyone who tells them to change eventually those bottled up emotions have to escape and when they do the outcome can be catastrophic let’s call this an emotional landslide an emotional landslide may be triggered by something small and insignificant but that little moment releases a cascade of powerful feelings a psychopath may get unreasonably angry they’ll insult you yell at you or get physical with you they may spiral into a slump of despair crying for hours on end these landslides can be frightening uncomfortable and dangerous if someone you know experiences emotional landslides they might be a psychopath hey thank you for watching top think and be sure to subscribe because more incredible content is on the way