“The Psychopath Test”

In this chapter, Jon Ronson discusses Bob Hare and his studies on psychopathy, mainly “The Psychopath Test”.  Ronson attends Hare’s three-day seminar for criminal profilers, psychiatrists and other professionals of that ilk. While there, Ronson was introduced to the specifics of the twenty-point Hare PCL-R Checklist, which uses cues and traits to diagnose psychopathy. The conventionists watch several videos of convicted psychopathic felons and Hare’s Checklist held up to the psychopaths’’ behavior.  While he and several other are skeptical at first, they have all converted into believes by the end of the seminar. Afterwards, Ronson thinks himself an expert and feels so confident that he begins to diagnose those who have bothered or insulted him in the past. In the end, Hare admits to Ronson that there may be more psychopaths in the top tier of society than in prisons and that unnerves Ronson to no end.

Knowing Hare’s twenty-point PCL-R Checklist is the most invigorating idea to me. I often claim people are psychotic with no basis but if I had the clinical knowledge to do so, I would be so much more exciting to go out in to the world every day. I unapologetically make this declaration for my own selfish gain and in no way to help society. However, I should be careful to admit this after receiving my own score.