She could be a real head case.
Want to know the difference between a woman with a not-so-great personality and a complete psychopath? New research reveals that ladies have one obvious tell to separate the sometimes-sour sweeties from the seriously psycho — whether or not they move their heads when they talk.
“Nonverbal behaviors (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,” said study authors from University of New Mexico.
Using an automated detection algorithm, the research team determined that women who hold their heads perfectly still or with “minimal movement” while in conversation, possess high levels of psychopathic propensities.
“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,” said scientists.
For their findings, analysts assessed the nonverbal tendencies of 213 female inmates.
The participants ranged in age from 21 and 57, and were detained at a medium- and maximum-security correctional facility in the U.S.
Researchers defined “psychopathic traits” as a combination of interpersonal dysfunctions such as manipulation, pathological lying, callousness, lack of remorse, impulsivity, irresponsibility and criminal versatility.
The investigators observed video-recorded interviews of each gal in the study.
“The head position was extracted frame-by-frame from [the] interviews,” explained the authors. “Average head position (AHP) was calculated using the spatial information from all extracted frames.”
Head positions in each shot were then categorized into one of three identified movement partitions: minimal, moderate, and extreme movement. The less movement, the more psychopathic.
The probe also included a “Hare Psychopathy Checklist — Revised” exam — a common assessment developed in the 1970s by Canadian psychologist Robert D. Hare.
The 20-item checklist measured participants’ antisocial tendencies from one to 40 — the lower the score, the better. Folk earning a score of 30 or higher are considered psychopathic.
Dudes aren’t in the clear — the eerie findings line up with previous studies on imprisoned men, which found that males who steady their noggins are often psychos, too.
But surprisingly, lady loons are more common than most would think.
Clive Boddy, an Anglia Ruskin University professor who specializes in corporate psychopathy, recently suggested that female psychopaths likely go unnoticed due to societal gender bias.
Julie Aitken Schermer, a professor of psychology at Western University in London, Ontario, posits that men are often simply more overtly nutty.
In a recent report, she suggested that guys with inexplicable affinities for their obnoxiously noisy, clunky cars are far more likely to be certifiable.
“A desire for a loud car with a modified muffler,” wrote Schermer, “is predicted by being a man and higher scores on psychopathy and sadism.”
