Are You A Psychopath?

Hey, are you a psychopath? If you really want to know the answer to that, you're in luck, because Salon has unearthed an Internet quiz that will tell you. And no, it's not a Buzzfeed quiz (though I give it about a week before Buzzfeed creates their own). No, this quiz comes courtesy of British television station Channel 4, so it actually has some sort of legitimacy. Kind of.

The quiz tells you how psychopathic you are, as a percentage. I for one scored a 48 percent, so I can proudly say I am less than half psychopath. My younger sister, who has accused me of being "psychotic" on several occasions might disagree, but oh well. I suppose I am more psychopathic than the average woman — women who take the quiz on average score about 30 percent. For guys who take the test it's 50 percent. No way of knowing how representative that truly is, though I do believe that people who read the Financial Times are more psychopathic than readers of other newspapers. Makes total sense.

Channel 4 also includes a quiz testing your ability to guess which historical figures are the most psychopathic. Quick tip: Hitler is not at the top of the rankings.

Of course, if you do score high on the test, don't worry too much about it. For one thing, psychopaths are not necessarily violent. In clinical terms, psychopaths are people who lack empathy, and also tend to be highly charming and able to manipulate the people around them. Diagnosing someone as a psychopath doesn't automatically predict how that person will behave, and not all psychopaths engage in criminal behavior.

For another thing, the Channel 4 test might be fun, but it also isn't anything like the tests used by psychologists to determine psychopathy. The test most commonly used by professionals is the Hare Psychopathy Checklist, and because psychopaths can be so charming and manipulative, it's way more in-depth than a series of questions asking a subject to rate themselves on a four-point scale.

Still, the Channel 4 test does touch on all the important markers of psychopathy, from pragmatism to self-interest to charm. So if you're honest with yourself about your answers, it can tell you just how close to being a psychopath you really are.

Want to find out?