You know that one friend whose texts are always a little…off? You tell him your dog died and he answers with a thumbs-up and an update about his promotion. He’s a nice guy, so it’s hard to explain to anyone else why it bugs you so much, but you know something isn’t right.
Psychologists at the University of Mississippi have been studying how psychopathic traits influence the way people talk about their lives. In a new study, about 450 participants wrote about their best and worst experiences and an event that changed their lives. Researchers then analyzed their word choices alongside questionnaires measuring psychopathic traits. And some of the findings were strange, to say the least.
For starters, psychopathy isn’t an official diagnosis in the DSM. Researchers generally divide it into three traits: boldness, meanness, and disinhibition, which refers to impulsivity and poor self-control. Everybody has some combination of these characteristics. “Everyone exists on this spectrum,” researcher Ky Bray told Ole Miss News.
The Way People Describe Their Lives Has a Surprising Link to Psychopathic Traits
Here’s where it gets interesting. People who scored higher in meanness, a trait associated with callousness and a lack of empathy, had surprisingly upbeat accounts of their lives. They spent a lot of time talking about their accomplishments and the good things that happened to them, with very little mention of negative emotions.
Think about that for a second. Someone could be completely indifferent to other people’s feelings and still write about their life like they’ve had a wonderful time.
People who scored higher in boldness used fewer anxiety-related words, including fear and worry, and mentioned mental illness less. Those with higher disinhibition scores had a more negative outlook, at least on paper. Their accounts used more negative language and referenced fewer friends or accomplishments. ScienceAlert also noted that words such as “beer” and “drunk” appeared more in their descriptions of low points.
Before you start feeding your ex’s texts into ChatGPT, Bray emphasized that the study’s goal was “not to diagnose psychopathy based on language.” Researchers wanted to see how personality influences the way people talk about their lives. Some people can spend half an hour recounting every promotion they’ve ever received, then gloss over a divorce in two sentences.
Researchers have also studied how psychopathic traits affect language in a much more disturbing setting: convicted murderers talking about their crimes.
In a study of convicted murderers, researchers compared how 14 men classified as psychopathic and 38 other murderers described their crimes. The psychopathic group made more references to basic physical needs, including food and money, and talked less about family and religion. They also used more past-tense language, something researchers interpreted as possible emotional detachment from what they’d done.
“The beautiful thing about them is they are unconsciously produced,” researcher Jeff Hancock told LiveScience, referring to the linguistic differences. Beautiful is an interesting adjective to use when discussing murderers, but okay.
Of course, the occasional insensitive text isn’t grounds for diagnosing someone with psychopathy. Your friend could just be an a**hole. But there’s something fascinating about how people remember their own lives, especially what they choose to talk about when given the chance.
And if someone can recount every personal victory in excruciating detail but can’t remember a single meaningful interaction with another human being, take note.
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