Ever wondered if the woman sitting across from you is psychopathic?
Well, now you’ll be able to know for sure.
If there’s even a shadow of a doubt that it’s not just a naff personality, this little trick which was proven by experts is key.
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According to the study conducted by the University of New Mexico, it’s all in your head.
The study authors began: “Nonverbal behaviours (i.e., head dynamics) represent an important, yet understudied, form of communication that may enhance our ability to detect certain forms of psychopathology, including psychopathy.”
By using an automated detection algorithm, they were able to interview woman who were incarcerated and realised that women who hold their heads with ‘minimal movement’ scored high on the psychopathic checklist.
The scientists said: “Here, we utilized an automated technique to detect, extract and analyze head position and dynamics in relation to psychopathic traits in a sample of incarcerated women.”
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They assessed the non-verbal tendencies of 213 female inmates ranging in age from between 21 and 57 in the US prison system to test out their theory.
Researchers found that women with ‘psychopathic traits’ barely moved their heads during the video interviews.
The authors said: “The head position was extracted frame-by-frame from [the] interviews,
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“Average head position (AHP) was calculated using the spatial information from all extracted frames.”
They also provided a ‘Hare Psychopathy Checklist — Revised’ exam alongside the findings, which is a 20-pointed checklist detailing anti-social tendencies from 1 to 40.
Anyone who scored 30 or higher…well, I’ve got news for you.
But if you think because you’re a bloke this doesn’t apply to you - it does.
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Because this study came right off the back of a study conducted with male criminals which found the exact same thing.
No head movement? Psychopath.
Julie Aitken Schermer, a professor of psychology at Western University in Ontario, reported that men are more psychopathic than women if they like their boy toys.
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She wrote: “A desire for a loud car with a modified muffler is predicted by being a man and higher scores on psychopathy and sadism.”
How strange…
Anyway, the female study concluded that: “The current study identified unique patterns of head dynamics associated with psychopathic traits in a sample of incarcerated women. Specifically, women scoring high on PCL-R Factor 1 (interpersonal/affective psychopathic traits), and Factor 2 (lifestyle/behavioral and antisocial/developmental psychopathic traits) were characterized by increased time spent in τ1, or the proportion of interview time with a head position within the range of minimal movement away from AHP.”
So, if you know anyone who doesn’t move their head when they talk - walk away quickly.
Britt Jones