Traits of a female psychopath – article

[emilie18]

Excellent article in June’s Psychology Today differentiating the traits of male vs female psychopaths:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/articles/201906/what-makes-female-psychopaths-different

Some points the author made:
• Since more data is available for killers and con artists than for “mean girls” who merely defy social conventions, they are disproportionately represented in case studies of female psychopathy.
• Females who develop the disorder may show it through verbal and relational aggression— perhaps harming someone socially through gossip or ostracism. Female psychopaths appear to have a stronger need for others’ approval, worse self-image, and more anxiety relative to males. They might use flirtation and sexual behavior, feign suicide attempts, or pretend to be the victim of an assault to get what they want.
• Motivations are often different for females: “Males tend to be motivated by sex or strivings for domination and power over victims; females tend to be driven more by profit, notoriety, or some other practical end.” Violent male psychopaths often harm strangers. But … when psychopathic females are serial killers, they typically target family members.
• The game of manipulation becomes more important than the outcome. Males typically just want to win.
• Females with psychopathic traits respond normally to emotional words. … they score better on emotional intelligence than males.

The author also points out that when rating psychopathic traits on the Hare Psychopathy Checklist, woman often don’t score as high as men – they had higher scores on the interpersonal and lifestyle facets of psychopathy (manipulativeness, grandiosity, impulsivity) than they did on emotional and antisocial facets (lack of remorse and delinquency), and are less physically violent than male offenders.

Well worth the read especially if you are not sure the woman who is making your life miserable is a psychopath, on another spectrum of abnormal behavior, or just a miserable human being.

• This topic was modified 3 years, 1 month ago by emilie18.

[Donna Andersen]

emilie18 – thank you so much for posting about that article!

[sunnygal1]

Emilie. Excellent article. They do exist.

[sunnygal1]

Good point is that we sometimes don’t know if this is a psychopath or just a miserable human being. I have sometimes wondered about this.

[sunnygal1]

Still wondering

[emilie18]

Sunnygal: You ask: “sometimes don’t know if this is a psychopath or just a miserable human being.” Good observation. I think the fundamental difference is in underlying motive. I have been around female and male sociopaths and around jerks. Sometimes it IS hard to determine which they are. For instance – my roommate-from-hell. She was a coworker and casual friend. After her father passed away she convinced me her brother had kicked her out of his home as he was getting married and her step mother refused to move from the father’s house, which she said she had inherited, and she needed a temporary place to stay – just a month or so – until she got it figured out. She said her stepmother was being investigated for her fathers suspicious death and that she herself was battling cancer. Three years later she was still at my house, having paid NO rent for two of those years. By that time I had discovered that her brother never was engaged and had kicked her out of his house because she was, in his words, “a looneytunes”; her stepmother had a “survivors right” to live in her husbands house for three years after his death; the house was inherited by her and her brother – not just her; her father had a heart attack – nothing suspicious; and she never did have cancer. During those three years she tried to alienate me from my family by not passing along phone messages about family get togethers or showing up to them uninvited then causing a scene; constantly calling me at work even after being asked not to; lying to friends and family about me; alienating every housekeeper I hired by leaving horrendous messes all over the house after I had straightened things up and left for work; never holding down a job for more than a month or two then lying about it; and letting my indoor cat outside where it was killed by a dog. Was she just a jerk? I don’t think so. Every time I confronted her she would act the victim, lie outright or blame others or me, often leaving me in tears or feeling guilty. Her motive is still unclear, but it certainly had every earmark of a sociopath. She delighted in hurting me and making me feel bad. On the other hand, I dated a guy who treated me wonderfully when things went his way, then acted the jerk when I disagreed with him. I eventually caught him crawling out the bedroom window of a neighbor girl at 6 am when I dropped by to pick up something I had left at his house. She was 15. Yeah – he was just a miserable human being. His motivations were pretty clear – macho male chauvinism thinking with the wrong head. So how do you tell? Well, after finding this site and reading as much as I can, I am a bit better at identifying sociopathic narcissists vs miserable human beings — although they DO overlap. Either way – I certainly do not want either in my life any more!

[sunnygal1]

Emilie. They do sound very undesirable! I have a friend who can be nice but recently had covid, was in a lot of pain, was miserable and now seems to want everyone else to be miserable. I think she is just a miserable human being at this time.

[sunnygal1]

Emilie. I know another female who rebels against authority. I think she is just a jerk but maybe there is something more

[sunnygal1]

I know another female who think is a sociopath, can be very sadistic.

[sunnygal1]

I encountered another disordered female.

There are many.

• This reply was modified 6 days, 2 hours ago by sunnygal1.

[sunnygal1]

There are many .

[Author]

Posts