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Observers of human behavior have long argued that people can be classified into" types" on the basis of their personality and, furthermore, that certain personality types are more likely than others to engage in antisocial and aggressive behavior (see Pichot 1978; Tyrer and Ferguson 1988). In modern clinical psychology and psychiatry, we refer to these personality types as personality disorders: characteristic ways of perceiving and relating to the world, first evident at an early age and persisting across the lifespan, that result in social dysfunction or disability (eg, American Psychiatric Association 1987; Millon 1981).

Psychopathy can be differentiated from other personality disorders on the basis of its characteristic pattern of interpersonal, affective, and behavioral symptoms (eg, Cleckley 1976; Hare 1991; McCord and McCord 1964). Interpersonally, psychopaths are grandiose, egocentric, manipulative, dominant, forceful, and coldhearted. Affectively, they display shallow and labile emotions, are unable to form long-lasting bonds to people, principles, or goals, and are lacking in empathy, anxiety, and genuine guilt or remorse. Behaviorally, psychopaths are impulsive and sensation-seeking, and tend to violate social norms; the most obvious expressions of these predispositions involve criminality, substance abuse, and a failure to fulfill social obligations and responsibilities.