Study: Conn. among most psychopathic states

Connecticut ranks among the top five psychopathic states, according to a recent study.

The Nutmeg State ranks number three in terms of psychopathy, according to study author Ryan H. Murphy, of Southern Methodist University, behind the District of Columbia and Maine.

Though Murphy states a difference between psychopathy and true psychopaths — with diagnosed psychopaths making up a small percentage of the total population — he writes that, for the purposes of his paper, “psychopathy as thought of as a spectrum.”

Murphy’s study — produced in 2018 but published in March — used data from previous work that probed personality traits of residents from the 48 contiguous U.S. states.

Murphy is just looking at psychopathy. A previous study found that regions within the United States have overall psychological traits. The Midwest and the South were found to be “friendly and conventional;” the Southwest and Pacific Northwest were found to be “relaxed and creative;” the Northeast and Texas were described as “temperamental and uninhibited.”

Murphy took the data from that previous work to rank states’ psychopathy. He defines psychopathy in terms of three character traits: Boldness (low neuroticism and high extraversion), meanness (low agreeableness) and disinhibition (low conscientiousness).

The results showd some regional trends, though there are exceptions.

Northeast states tended to be more psychopathic — Washington D.C., Maine, Connecticut, New York, Maryland, Massachusetts, Delaware and New Jersey were all in the top 10. But both Vermont and New Hampshire were rated very low in terms of psychopathy.

“The inclusion of Maine along with the high population areas of the United State support the interpretation that psychopathy is clustered around the Northeast and not just population centers, although Vermont and New Hampshire contradict this interpretation,” Murphy wrote.

Likewise, shoehorned in among the Northeast states was Wyoming, which Murphy notes as significant: “Wyoming is an odd data point, ranking high in psychopathy given its place in the country and its lack of population.”

The high level of psychopathy in Washington D.C. is also statistically significant. Murphy suggests that it’s not only because of the high population but because of the type of professions clustered there.

“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,” he wrote.

In an attempt to put his findings into context, Murphy used a previous study to examine professions with high rates of psychopathy.

He lists the most psychopathic jobs as CEO, lawyer, media, salesperson, surgeon, journalist, police officer, clergyperson, chef and civil servant.

The least psychopathic professions were care aide, nurse, therapist, craftsperson, beautician/ stylist, charity worker, teacher, creative artist, doctor and accountant.

In addressing the question of why conduct a study of the most psychopathic states, Murphy said it can help further understanding of regional psychology, but he does urge readers to not make too much of the findings.

“The novelty of the findings is the greatest motivation for this exercise, and there is reason for considering the findings with caution,” he wrote.