Wondering where all the psychopaths are? Look no further than Washington, D.C.
According to a new study that ranked each state plus D.C. by its psychopathic tendencies, the nation’s capital came out No. 1.
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An economist at Southern Methodist University, Ryan Murphy has published a working paper looking at psychopaths in each state. Washington, D.C. won hands down.
“I had previously written on politicians and psychopathy, but I had no expectation D.C. would stand out as much as it does,” Murphy told Politico.
“The District of Columbia is measured to be far more psychopathic than any individual state in the country,” Murphy wrote in the paper.
D.C., which had a rating of 3.48, was followed by Connecticut, which registered only 1.89 on Murphy’s scale.
For his study, Murphy analyzed each state’s ranking by expanding on a previous study that ranked each state on the “Big Five” personality traits: agreeableness, extraversion, openness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism.
“That previous study, which was published in 2013, aimed at separating the United States into broad regions of personality. The states in the mid-Atlantic and northeast were classified as ‘temperamental and uninhibited.’ Those in middle America were ‘friendly and conventional,’ while those in the west coast, Rocky Mountains, and Sunbelt region were relaxed and creative,’” the Miami Herald reported.
Why does D.C. attract psychopathic personalities? Murphy said he thinks it’s because psychopaths are attracted to the kinds of jobs Washington offers — “jobs that reward raw ambition, a relentless single-mindedness and, let’s admit it, the willingness to step over a few bodies along the way,’ Politico reported.
“Psychopaths have an awfully grandiose way of thinking about themselves, and D.C. has numerous means of seeking and attaining power,” he said.
Psychologists define a “psychopath” as a person with a particular collection of antisocial tendencies, including a powerful sense of spite and an inability to think about the welfare of others.
“The top five habitats for such people, by Murphy’s measure, are D.C., Connecticut, California, New Jersey and—tied for fifth—New York and Wyoming. The five least psychopathic states are West Virginia, Vermont, Tennessee, North Carolina, and New Mexico,” Politico reported.
