The study is based on data from a personality survey conducted across the US.
Washington D.C. has by far the largest number of psychopaths compared with any US state.
The US capital — home to the federal government and many large global institutions — has the greatest percentage of people high on psychopathic traits like boldness, meanness and disinhibition.
Dr Ryan Murphy, the study’s author, write:
“The District of Columbia is measured to be far more psychopathic than any individual state in the country, a fact that can be readily explained either by its very high population density or by the type of person who may be drawn to a literal seat of power.
The presence of psychopaths in the District of Columbia is consistent with the conjecture that psychopaths are likely to be effective in the political sphere.”
Hot on D.C.’s psychopathic heels came Connecticut, as the most psychopathic state in the US (D.C. is not a state, but a district).
After this, the most psychopathic states are California, New Jersey, and in joint fourth, Wyoming and New York.
The least psychopathic states were West Virginia, Vermont, Tennessee, North Carolina and New Mexico.
The study is based on data from a personality survey conducted across the US.
Personality factors were converted into psychopathic scores, as Dr Murphy explains:
“Boldness corresponds to low neuroticism and high extraversion, meanness corresponds to low agreeableness, and disinhibition corresponds to low conscientiousness.”
Psychopaths are more likely to inhabit populous regions, writes Dr Murphy:
“Areas of the United States that are measured to be most psychopathic are those in the Northeast and other similarly populated regions.
The least psychopathic are predominantly rural areas.”
Here is the full list, in reverse order (least to most psychopathic):
48. West Virginia
47. Vermont
46. Tennessee
45. North Carolina
44. New Mexico
43. Oklahoma
42. Montana
41. Mississippi
40. Indiana
39. Oregon
38. New Hampshire
37. South Carolina
36. Nebraska
35. Kentucky
34. Washington
33. Missouri
32. Minnesota
31. Georgia
30. Kansas
29. Lousiana
28. Rhode Island
27. Pennsylvania
26. Alabama
25. Michigan
24. North Dakota
23. Idaho
22. Arkansas
21. Utah
20. Ohio
19. Texas
18. Colorado
17. Iowa
16. Florida
15. Arizona
14. Massachusetts
13. Delaware
12. South Dakota
11. Maryland
10. Virginia
9. Illinois
8. Nevada
7. Wisconsin
6. Maine
5. Wyoming
4. New York
3. New Jersey
2. California
1. Connecticut
The study was published in the journal Social Science Research Network (Murphy, 2018).
