How to Spot a Psychopath

I've recently had the pleasure (although the subject matter was less than pleasurable!) of working with the lovely Éanna Hardwicke on a series for the BBC. We had to create the voice of a young man convicted of murder, who displays psychopathic tendencies. We were intrigued to discover that these tendencies have a profound impact on the voice. So here's part of a list, originally published in Psychology Today in 2019, just in case you ever meet one! :-

• Creating complex and often convincing lies

• Charming the listener

• Talkativeness

• Attempt to dominate the conversation

• Occasional stuttering when the topic touches on their vulnerabilities

• Sudden shifts in the subject of conversation when they do not feel in control

• Leaning in and frequent use of hand gestures

• Non-genuine emotional expressions

• Few emotion (especially fear) related words

• Expression of emotions unrelated to the context/topic

• Drawing conclusions based on limited information

• Hinting at factors the listener knows nothing about

• Black-and-white worldview

• Tendency to generalize

• Self-contradictions

• Omitting essential details

• Greater use of past tense

• Greater usage of nouns and personal pronouns