---
title: "History of psychopathy"
chunk: 5/6
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_psychopathy"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:00:22.648437+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

== Late 20th century ==
In 1968 the second edition of the DSM, in place of the antisocial subtype of sociopathic personality disturbance, listed "antisocial personality" as one of ten personality disorders. This was still described in similar terms as the DSM-I's category, for individuals who are "basically unsocialized", in repeated conflicts with society, incapable of significant loyalty, selfish, irresponsible, unable to feel guilt or learn from prior experiences, and tend to blame others and rationalise. It warned that a history of legal or social offenses was not by itself enough to justify the diagnosis and that a 'group delinquent reaction' of childhood or adolescence or 'social maladjustment without manifest psychiatric disorder' should be ruled out first. The dyssocial type from the DSM-I was relegated, though would resurface as the main diagnosis in the ICD manual of the World Health Organization.
In 1974 (and republished in 1984) clinical psychologist Bobby E. Wright wrote about 'The Psychopathic Racial Personality', in which he suggested that negative aspects of the overall behavior of white peoples towards non-white peoples could be understood by seeing the former as displaying psychopathic traits – involving predatory behavior and senseless destruction combined with ability to persuade.
There remained no international clinical agreement on the diagnosis of psychopathy. A 1977 study found little relationship with the characteristics commonly attributed to psychopaths and concluded that the concept was being used too widely and loosely. Robert D. Hare had published a book in 1970 summarizing research on psychopathy, and was subsequently at the forefront of psychopathy research. Frustrated by a lack of agreed definitions or rating systems for psychopathy, including at a ten-day international North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) conference in 1975, Hare began developing a Psychopathy Checklist. Produced for initial circulation in 1980, it was based largely on the list of traits advanced by Cleckley and partly on the theories of other authors and on his own experiences with clients in prisons. Meanwhile, a DSM-III task force instead developed the diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder, based on 1972 Feighner Criteria for research and published in the DSM in 1980. This was based on some of the criteria put forward by Cleckley but operationalized in behavioral rather than personality terms, more specifically related to conduct. APA was most concerned to demonstrate inter-rater reliability rather than necessarily validity.
Nevertheless, one author referred to the concept of psychopathy in 1987 as an "infinitely elastic, catch-all category". In 1988, psychologist Blackburn wrote in the British Journal of Psychiatry that as commonly used in psychiatry it is little more than a moral judgment masquerading as a clinical diagnosis, and should be scrapped. Ellard argued similarly in the same year in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, describing the concept as 'a reflection of the customs and prejudices of a particular social group. Most psychiatrists are from that group and therefore fail to see the incongruity.' By the 1970s and 80s the sexual psychopath laws were falling out of favor in many states; the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry called them a failure based on a confusing label mixing law and psychiatry.
Hare redrafted his checklist in 1985 (Cleckley had died in 1984), renaming it the Hare Psychopathy Checklist Revised and finalising it as a first edition in 1991, updated with extra data in a 2nd edition in 2003. Hare's list differed from Cleckley's not just in rewordings and introducing quantitative scores for each point. Cleckley had required an absence of delusions and an absence of nervousness, which was central to how he defined psychopathy, whereas neither were mentioned in Hare's list. Hare also left out mention of suicidality being rarely completed and behavior with alcohol. Moreover, while Cleckley only listed "inadequately motivated antisocial behavior", Hare turned this into an array of specific antisocial behaviors covering a person's whole life, including juvenile delinquency, parasitic lifestyle, poor behavioural controls, and criminal versatility. Blackburn has noted that overall Hare's checklist is closer to the criminological concept of the McCords than that of Cleckley. Hare himself, while noting his promotion of Cleckley's work for four decades, would subsequently distance himself from it to some extent.
Meanwhile, following some criticism over the lack of psychological criteria in the DSM, further studies were conducted leading up the DSM-IV in 1994 and some personality criteria were included as "associated features" which were outlined in the text. The World Health Organization's ICD incorporated a similar diagnosis of Dissocial Personality Disorder. Both state that psychopathy (or sociopathy) may be considered synonyms of their diagnosis.
Hare wrote two bestsellers on psychopathy, "Without Conscience" in 1993 and "Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go to Work" (co-written with organisational psychologist Paul Babiak, who was listed as first author) in 2006. Cleckley had described psychopathic patients as "carr[ying] disaster lightly in each hand" and "not deeply vicious", but Hare presented a more malevolent picture; the "mask of sanity" had acquired a more sinister meaning.

== 21st century ==
In 2002 an academic dispute arose around claims and counterclaims of racism in the use of the concept of psychopathy. British psychologist Richard Lynn claimed that some races were inherently more psychopathic than others, while other psychologists criticized his data and interpretations.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation's monthly outreach and communication bulletin focused on psychopathy in June 2012, featuring articles introduced and co-authored by the main contemporary proponent of the construct, Robert D. Hare.
The DSM-5 published in 2013 had criteria for an overall diagnosis of Antisocial (Dissocial) Personality Disorder similar to DSM-IV, still noting that it has also been known as psychopathy or sociopathy. In an 'alternative model' suggested at the end of the manual, there is an optional specifier for "psychopathic features" - where there is a lack of anxiety/fear accompanied by a bold and efficacious interpersonal style.