How you can spot a psychopath in 5 seconds, according to a gaslighting expert
We all love to get stuck into a good Netflix crime series - but one expert has revealed how to spot a psychopath away from the screen.
Dr. Leanne ten Brinke, Ph.D., an Associate Professor of Psychology and director of the Truth and Trust Lab at the University of British Columbia sat down with Steven Bartlett on his Diary of a CEO podcast to explain to listeners how to identify the hidden red flags of liars, psychopaths and narcissists - and it's easier than you may think.
At the start of the episode, Dr.Leanne told the Dragon's Den investor that it takes most people '5 seconds to spot a psychopath,' - and it's all in their facial expression.
"Most people think a psychopath looks dangerous, they picture the villain in a movie, but that's not how it works in real life," she said.
How do you spot a psychopath?
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For those who regularly online date - this snippet of information could be extremely handy.
As per Dr. Leanne said she found that people with psychopathic traits engaged in 'duchenne' smiles. But what does this mean?
Well, they're smiles that look genuine, but aren't. As per the expert, you can distinguish the two types of smiles by the 'activation around the eyes'.
They say someone genuine will have activation around the eyes - in the form of crows feet, for example. However, those who are deemed psychopath will have the upturned lips etc - but nothing around the eyes - such as no crows feet.
We've all heard of the saying 'dead around the eyes' - and it looks like it may have been confirmed.
"People who were high in these psychopathic personality traits, they were showing very happy looking smiles, as they were saying really hostile things, the doc explained. They also used 'a lot of hand gestures'.
The research behind the findings
These claims weren't pulled from thin ice - there's research to back it up.
According to Dr. Leanne, professor and psychologist Scott Lillenfeld and his colleagues conducted a study in which they showed participants 5, 10 and 20 second clips of interviews in which criminal offenders were being interviewed by a psychologist. Here, they were rated on their psychopathic personality traits.
"And then you had a random psychology student volunteer watching five seconds of that interaction, and making a rating of, 'how callous do they seem, how manipulative do they seem,'" she further explained.
They then found that there was a 'pretty reasonable correlation' between the rating of naive folks' who watched 5 seconds, and the trained clinical psychologist who 'did hours long interviews and collected collateral information'.
After this, Dr. Leanne and her team partnered with Scott's team, in which they looked at the verbal and non-verbal behavior, and examined what people were paying attention to.
Aside from the smiles, the doctor has also studied people pleading to the media to find their missing loved one. As we know from Netflix - some of these people have committed the crime, while others are completely inncocent.
"In genuine sadness, you get the downturn lip corners," she said. "What tends to be more difficult, is the combination in the eyebrows."
Although, in those that were lying the Dr. said they saw 'more surprise'.
"Instead of the inner eyebrows going upward and together, the whole inner and outer eyebrows would go up, but not together."
However, she does acknowledge the fact that this is a small amount of information to go on. However, she added that it does suggest you can 'get a sense of someone relatively quickly'.
Of course, when you get to know someone's personality is when things really start to come into play.
Good to know!
Topics: Psychology, True crime
Kiesha Dosanjh