The piercing, unreadable gaze often associated with subtle psychopathic traits in women, where emotional detachment and calculated observation hide beneath a calm exterior. Image Credit: Pixabay
Up until recently, I thought the word psychopath was only applicable to men. I equated the word with obvious aggression or violence & many other people also thought the same way. But there has been a lot more research done since then & it seems my previous notions about the definition of the word psychopath were incorrect (too limited).
When people hear the term 'psychopath,' they tend to visualise a male, aggressive or violent individual. This stereotype was partly due to the previous research on psychopaths focused on males. The diagnostics checklists were created using only males as participants, which may lead to a decrease in the number of women with psychopathic traits being identified (Pinheiro et al., 2025).
Oftentimes, women who exhibit psychopathic characteristics will exhibit these traits differently than males, meaning those who exhibit their aggressiveness physically will not be as obvious as women who exhibit emotional forms of control by emotionally manipulating their victims or using other tactics such as providing social exclusion from the individuals that they target (Spormann, Mokros, & Schneider, 2023).
Research demonstrates that females who experience disruptions in early attachment (i.e. inconsistent caregiving) have a higher risk of developing callous and/or emotionally detached characteristics compared to those who do not experience such disruptions. (Pinheiro et al., 2025).
The developmental pathways towards being a female psychopath are not always going to coincide with those of males who develop psychopathic tendencies. Tools that are frequently used to measure psychopathic tendencies, such as the Hare Psychopathy Checklist, have been validated primarily on male samples which has contributed to a lower detection of female psychopathy.
Experts in this arena are now working to develop more gender-sensitive assessments that include a wider variety of both relational and covert behaviours in addition to more traditional psychopathic traits (Maurer et al., 2022)
To better identify and understand the female psychopath, it is not only necessary to expand our definition of psychopathy; it is also necessary to re-evaluate our assumptions about how psychopathy manifests itself in females, as supported by contemporary and evolving research, so that we may conduct accurate research, accurately assess each person, and maintain a heightened awareness for this very unique and sometimes misunderstood population, and promote accurate research and reports of findings and importance.
References: Pinheiro et al. (2025). Exploring attachment-related factors and psychopathic traits: A systematic review focused on women. Behavioral Sciences. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs15091293
Maurer et al. (2022). Do psychopathic traits vary with age among women? Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1080/14789949.2022.2036220
Spormann et al. (2023). Structural differences in psychopathy between women and men: A latent modelling perspective. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11757-023-00765-9