The main reason we do not hear much about female psychopaths is that there is not nearly as much research in them as in male psychopaths.
– It is quite certain that women are understudied. Researchers only began to take an interest in women in the 1990s, while men have been in the spotlight of science since the 19th century and even earlier, says Jason M. Smith to Videnskab.dk.
He is one of the few who researches psychopathy in women. In March, his book “Understanding female offenders” was published, which dives into the rare phenomenon.
For psychopathy in women seems to be a rarity. At least according to the research.
A systematic review of previous studies this year has estimated that between 1.2 and 4.5 percent of the world’s population are psychopaths. But the percentage would be more than halved if one looked only at the women.
The fact that the number of women with a psychopathy diagnosis is less than the number of men makes it difficult for women to trace to studies. The task is not made easier by the fact that the majority of psychopathy research is conducted under the auspices of forensic psychiatry and in prisons, says Tine Wøbbe.
She has been involved in the investigation and diagnosis of psychopaths in forensic psychiatry for more than 20 years.
– Psychologists typically only screen for psychopathy when someone has committed a serious crime. That’s why we know most about the criminal psychopaths.
– But there are fewer women who commit the kind of serious and violent crimes that trigger an investigation. So inmates and forensic psychiatric patients are a skewed population, says Tine Wøbbe, who is chief psychologist at Psychiatric Center Sct. His.
In 2017, women and girls were estimated to make up just 6.9 percent of all inmates worldwide. It automatically results in fewer women to survey.
Because researchers have only studied female psychopaths for about 30 years, much of the knowledge they have in the field is only preliminary indications.
– Like men, female psychopaths are untrustworthy, manipulative, lying, dominant, self-centered and superior. But they will use some other strategies than men to achieve their goals, says Tine Wøbbe and continues:
Well-known researcher Caroline Logan calls them femmes fatales because they use their gender and sexuality and simulate being vulnerable to help. The male psychopath does not. He appears strong, confident and charming, she says.
Tine Wøbbe and Jason M. Smith agree that the common image that a psychopath is a man must be changed. Because if more people open their eyes to the fact that women can also be psychopaths, it can provide more knowledge in the field.
And it can ultimately prevent people from having their lives ruined by a female psychopath.