Psychopaths are people who are expertly skilled at assessing their own actions. At times they manipulate those around them in such a way that no one suspects even for a moment what lies hidden behind their seemingly good intentions.
There is a way to determine if a given person is a psychopath, whether you suspect them to be or not.
You can find out whether a person is mentally ill by analyzing their speech. Scientists guarantee this to be true, having analyzed the speech patterns of convicted killers, who told of the crimes they committed, reports LiveScience.
52 individuals were studied, 14 of which had already been categorized as psychopaths from past psychological tests. The experts asked each of the criminals to give a detailed account of the wrongdoing they committed.
The researchers also used a computer program which analyzed the speech of the men and it became clear that it was characterized by peculiarities not present in normal people.
The scientists determined that the hardened, mentally ill individuals were beset by emotions and had no idea what a conscience was. Further it became evident that even a conversation with a psychopath, which seems harmless, also has its consequences.
"You can talk with the individual for 2 or 3 hours, but when you leave, you feel as if hypnotized, " explains one of the psychologists in the study.
After speaking with the criminals, the experts noticed several crucial distinctions. For example, in their accounts, psychopaths prefer to use the past tense a lot more in comparison with other people.
Analyses further show that psychopaths speak more often of self-preservation, thirst, hunger and other physiological needs, as well as financial instability.
They also often use parts of speech such as well and interjections such as aaaah. Additionally, psychopaths' sentences included plenty of subordinate clauses of the because and so types.
"All this means that mentally ill people that committed a crime tend to look at their actions as the logical result of a well thought-out plan. There was a reason for it to happen the way it did, because something specific was sought, " add the experts.
