From Patrick Bateman to Tom Ripley, on-screen psychopaths are usually male, not to mention violent criminals.
This may fuel the assumption that the vast majority of psychopaths are men – but an academic now claims this may be misguided.
Dr Clive Boddy, an expert at Anglia Ruskin University, says female psychopaths are ‘more common than we think’ because studies have long failed to identify them.
Signs of psychopathy in women are different to men – and often come in the form of sexually seductive and manipulative behaviour, Dr Boddy told MailOnline.
Other key signs include spreading lies or rumours and ‘expressing violence verbally’, in the form of shouting or screaming.
From American Psycho’s Patrick Bateman (played by Christian Bale, pictured) to Tom Ripley in The Talented Mr Ripley, on-screen psychopaths are usually male. This may fuel the assumption that the vast majority of psychopaths are men but an academic claims this may be misguided
On-screen female psychopaths do exist, however, and include Villanelle (Jodie Comer) from BBC series Killing Eve
On-screen female psychopaths do exist, and include Alex Forrest (played by Glenn Close) in Fatal Attraction and Villanelle (Jodie Comer) from BBC series Killing Eve.
According to Dr Boddy, female psychopaths use deceit and sexually seductive behaviour to gain social and financial advantage more than male psychopaths do.
‘Psychopaths are driven by a need to have power over and control other people via whatever resources they have available to them,’ he told MailOnline.
‘For male psychopaths this may veer towards physical domination through violence, bullying and threats.
‘For female psychopaths this may veer towards manipulation through seduction, relational aggression, and spreading rumours and lies about people aimed at gaining personal advantage and preferment over those people.’
What’s more, people generally attribute general psychopathic characteristics to males rather than to females – such as being insincere, deceitful, antagonistic, unempathetic and lacking in emotional depth.
‘Even when females display some of the key traits associated with psychopathy because these are seen as male characteristics they may not be labelled as such, even when they should be,’ he said.
Current scientific evidence suggests that male psychopaths outnumber females by around six to one.
But Dr Boddy thinks the real ratio of male to female psychopathy is about 1.2 to one – up to five times higher than previously suggested.
‘Because of a lack of studies of female psychopaths not enough is known about them,’ he said.
A famous female psychopath on the big screen is Alex Forrest (played by Glenn Close) in Fatal Attraction (1987)
According to the academic, signs of psychopathy typically exhibited by females are sexual in nature – and include flirtation, seduction and manipulation.
Psychopathic women also express violence, but it is usually of a verbal rather than physical nature – like shouting, swearing or screaming.
It’s therefore more subtle than violence expressed by male psychopaths, which tends to be more physical.
‘Also, female psychopaths tend to use words, rather than violence, to achieve their aims, differing from how male psychopaths tend to operate,’ he said.
The academic is concerned that studies may be failing to identify female psychopaths because they are largely based around profiles of criminal and male psychopaths.
Part of the problem is a widely-used method to diagnose psychopathy, known as the Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy Scale, which is biased towards identifying male psychopathy signs.
‘If female psychopathy expresses differently, then measures designed to capture and identify male, criminal, psychopaths may be inadequate at identifying female non-criminal, psychopaths,’ he said.
The academic is concerned that studies may be failing to identify female psychopaths because they are largely based around profiles of criminal and male psychopaths. Pictured: Gone Girl, starring Rosamund Pike as Amy Elliott Dunne
‘This has implications for the criminal justice system because current risk management decisions involving partners and children may be faulty.
‘It also has implications for organisational leadership selection decisions because female leaders cannot automatically be assumed to be more honest, caring and concerned with issues such as corporate social responsibility.’
Dr Boddy is set to give a talk on female psychopaths at the Cambridge Festival on March 16, where he will present evidence from his own and other studies to argue that there are more female psychopaths than anyone has previously imagined.
The expert, who has been researching effects of psychopaths in the workplace since 2005, recently revealed the key signs your boss is a psychopath.
These include a ‘superficial charm’, a lack of remorse or sincerity, the tendency to cheat, and being emotionally shallow.
