From American Psycho’s Patrick Bateman to Killing Eve’s Villanelle, the psychopaths portrayed in film and television have quite a lot in common. Their charming exteriors mask an emotional void, a sharp intelligence, and a penchant for violence.
These depictions may be entertaining, but pop culture’s fascination with psychopaths – and its simplification of them – has also given rise to a number of persistent myths.
“Psychology is most useful when it helps us appreciate complexity,” says Claire Hart, associate professor of psychology at the University of Southampton.
“Unfortunately, popular discussions of narcissism and psychopathy often do the opposite, reducing a nuanced personality construct to a simple explanation for people we happen not to like.”
Here’s what the research actually tells us about psychopaths...
