Psychopathy Test: See Your Primary and Secondary Psychopathic Trait Scores
This Psychopathy Test explores self-reported interpersonal and impulsive traits using an adaptation of the Levenson scale. Get an instant educational profile that cannot diagnose or label you.
Reviewed by Michael Callans, MSW 
Psychopathy Test is a free, confidential 26-question self-assessment, informed by the validated LSRP. It takes about 8 minutes, runs entirely in your browser, and gives you a plain-language score across 3 interpretation bands plus an optional in-depth report. It is an educational screening, not a diagnosis.
Two dimensions of psychopathic personality traits
The Psychopathy Test explores reported tendencies toward callousness, manipulation, impulsivity, and difficulty with self-control. These traits are studied as dimensions, and a questionnaire score cannot establish a diagnosis or determine whether someone is dangerous. Consider the result alongside concrete examples of your behavior and its effects on other people.
Primary traits
The interpersonal and emotional features: a callous, manipulative, low-empathy style, and a tendency to prioritize self-interest. Statements ask about fairness, deception, and concern for other people's feelings. Greater endorsement suggests more of these reported tendencies within this questionnaire; it cannot establish your motives or how others experience your behavior.
Secondary traits
The lifestyle features: impulsivity, poor self-control, quick frustration, and a self-defeating, antisocial streak. This dimension overlaps with anxiety and difficulty coping.
A spectrum, with hard limits
These traits vary across everyone, and a higher score is not a diagnosis. This is not the PCL-R, the clinician-administered instrument, and no self-report quiz can label someone a psychopath.
| Feature | Typical free quiz | Psychology.com |
|---|---|---|
| Based on a validated scale (LSRP) | Sometimes | Yes, faithful to the items |
| Separates primary & secondary traits | No | Yes, two dimensions |
| Explains it is not the PCL-R | No | Yes, clearly |
| Frames traits as a spectrum | Rarely | Yes, no labeling |
| Clinician-reviewed interpretation | Rarely | Yes, clinician reviewed |
| Optional in-depth personalized report | No | Yes, written to your exact scores |
| Confidential (no data sent) | Often tracked | Runs in your browser |
How scoring works
Answers are scored 0–104 in total. Your result falls into one of 3 bands:
| Score | Band | What it suggests |
|---|---|---|
| 0–40 | Low self-reported traits | You agreed with relatively few of the statements. Your self-reported psychopathic traits sit toward the lower end of the spectrum. |
| 41–66 | Moderate self-reported traits | You agreed with a moderate number of the statements, placing your self-reported traits in the middle of the spectrum. |
| 67–104 | High self-reported traits | You agreed with many of the statements, placing your self-reported traits toward the higher end of this spectrum. |
How this psychopathy screener is scored
This Psychopathy Test summarizes self-reported traits for reflection and cannot identify someone as a psychopath. The 26 statements are answered on a five-point agreement scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree, and several are reverse-scored so that agreeing with every item does not automatically raise your result. The 16 primary items are summed for a score up to 64, and the 10 secondary items are summed separately for a score up to 40, and the two subtotals combine into a total trait score up to 104.
The bands on this page, low, moderate, and high, are descriptive labels applied to this adaptation's total score. They are not clinical cutoffs, percentiles, or comparisons with other people who take the test. This page does not provide a representative reference sample that would establish how common your result is. The original LSRP research supports studying individual differences, but that does not validate the bands used here.
Psychopath vs sociopath: is there a real difference
Psychopath and sociopath are popular terms, not formal clinical diagnoses. The DSM-5 recognizes antisocial personality disorder, which covers a pattern of disregard for others' rights, but it does not split people into those two separate categories. When the terms are used informally, psychopath tends to describe traits seen as more inborn and callous, with low fear and calculated manipulation, while sociopath tends to describe traits seen as shaped more by environment, impulsive and erratic rather than coldly planned. The distinction is a useful shorthand, not a scientific boundary.
This screener measures psychopathic traits specifically, following the LSRP's primary and secondary structure, rather than sorting you into either popular category. If you want to see how these traits sit alongside narcissism and manipulativeness, the Dark Triad Test measures all three together, and the Sociopath Test approaches similar territory from the antisocial personality disorder angle instead.
What shapes psychopathic traits: genes, environment, and the brain
No single cause explains why psychopathic traits appear stronger in some people than others. Twin and adoption studies point to a real genetic contribution to these traits, alongside environmental factors such as early trauma, inconsistent caregiving, and chronic stress. Genes appear to set a tendency rather than a fixed outcome, and environment shapes how strongly that tendency gets expressed over a lifetime.
Neuroscience research adds another piece. Brain imaging studies have linked higher psychopathic traits, especially the callous, low-empathy primary dimension, to reduced activity in paralimbic brain regions involved in processing fear, distress, and other people's emotional cues. This describes population-level tendencies in research samples, not a way to read anyone's brain from a questionnaire score, and it does not change the point above: traits are not identity, and this test is a self-report screener, not a brain scan or a diagnosis. If you want to see how these traits compare with other personality patterns, the Psychology.com tests hub has related screeners.
What to do after a psychopathy test result
Start with behavior you can describe clearly: misleading someone to get your way, reacting angrily to frustration, or repeatedly abandoning commitments. Write down what happened, who was affected, and what you would like to handle differently. The result can help organize a conversation, but it cannot explain why a pattern developed or replace an assessment of your circumstances.
The Anger Warning Signs tool may help you notice cues before an argument escalates. If your behavior is harming relationships or causing concern, the Psychology.com therapist directory can help you find professional support. Bring specific examples and the questions you want answered; you do not need to agree with a personality label to ask for help.
Can I use this test to assess my partner?
This is a self-report questionnaire, so answering on someone else's behalf changes what is being assessed. A score based on your guesses cannot establish their traits, intentions, or safety. If you are concerned about a partner, describe the behavior directly, such as threats, deception, or repeated boundary violations, rather than using a quiz result as evidence of a diagnosis.
Your need for support does not depend on proving a label. Consider what boundaries and practical help you need, and speak with a trusted person or professional if the situation feels unsafe. The questionnaire also should not be used to make hiring, custody, or legal decisions about another person.
Methodology & sources
The twenty-six questions are adapted from the Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy Scale (LSRP) developed by Levenson, Kiehl, and Fitzpatrick to measure psychopathic traits in non-institutionalized adults. The scale has two subscales: a 16-item primary dimension (a callous, manipulative interpersonal style) and a 10-item secondary dimension (impulsivity and antisocial lifestyle traits). This page uses a five-point agreement scale, including a neutral option, and its total scores range from 0 to 104. The original study used a four-point agreement format without that neutral option. Some original items are positively worded and are reverse-scored. The LSRP was designed for research on individual differences, not for clinical assessment.
This test is provided for education and self-reflection. It carries several important caveats. Self-report psychopathy scales are not diagnostic, and they are not the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R), the structured, clinician-administered interview used in research and forensic settings. Psychopathy is not a formal DSM diagnosis at all. These traits exist on a continuum in the general population, a higher score does not mean you are dangerous or a psychopath. We frame everything in terms of traits, never identity.
Levenson, Kiehl, and Fitzpatrick developed the original scale in a university student sample, as described in the validation paper listed below. Adding a neutral response option changes how people can answer and limits direct comparison with results from the original format. Published reliability or validity findings for the research instrument should not be assumed to apply unchanged to this version. Neither the displayed bands nor a difference between subtotals establishes a personality disorder.
References
- Levenson MR, Kiehl KA, Fitzpatrick CM. Assessing psychopathic attributes in a noninstitutionalized population. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1995;68(1):151-158.
- Brinkley CA, Schmitt WA, Smith SS, Newman JP. Construct validation of a self-report psychopathy scale: does Levenson's self-report psychopathy scale measure the same constructs as Hare's psychopathy checklist-revised? Pers Individ Dif. 2001;31(7):1021-1038.
- Hare RD, Neumann CS. Psychopathy as a clinical and empirical construct. Annu Rev Clin Psychol. 2008;4:217-246.
- Sellbom M. Elaborating on the construct validity of the Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy Scale in incarcerated and non-incarcerated samples. Law Hum Behav. 2011;35(6):440-451.
- Blonigen DM, Hicks BM, Krueger RF, Patrick CJ, Iacono WG. Psychopathic personality traits: heritability and genetic overlap with internalizing and externalizing psychopathology. Psychol Med. 2005;35(5):637-648. doi.org/10.1017/S0033291704004180
- Kiehl KA. A cognitive neuroscience perspective on psychopathy: evidence for paralimbic system dysfunction. Psychiatry Res. 2006;142(2-3):107-128. doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2005.09.013
Cite this source
Psychology.com. (2026, September 16). Psychopathy Test. Psychology.com. https://psychology.com/tests/psychopathy
Psychopathy Test FAQ
What is a psychopathy test?
This is a short, research-based questionnaire informed by the LSRP, a scale that measures psychopathic personality traits in everyday adults across two dimensions. It gives you a sense of where your self-reported traits sit on a spectrum. It is for reflection only and is not a diagnosis. The narcissism test explores a different set of interpersonal traits and is also a self-check, not a diagnosis.
Does a high score mean I'm a psychopath?
No. Psychopathy is not even a formal diagnosis, and these traits exist on a continuum in everyone. A higher score means you agreed with more of the trait statements, nothing more. No self-report quiz can determine that someone is a psychopath, and labeling yourself or anyone else that way is inaccurate and harmful.
Is this the same as the PCL-R?
No, and this matters. The Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) is a structured interview administered and scored by trained clinicians, often with collateral records, used in research and forensic settings. A self-report scale like the LSRP measures related traits but is a different, non-clinical tool. They are not interchangeable.
What is the difference between primary and secondary traits?
Primary traits describe a callous, manipulative, low-empathy interpersonal style. Secondary traits describe impulsivity, poor self-control, and an unstable, antisocial lifestyle, and they tend to overlap with anxiety and difficulty coping. Many people score differently on the two, which is part of why a single label is misleading.
Is this test really confidential?
Yes. It runs entirely in your browser. Your individual answers are scored in your browser and are never sent to us or linked to you. They stay in this tab so you can return to your result, and closing or clearing the tab clears them. If you ask us to email the PDF, we receive your summary scores with your email address, never your individual answers. No account is needed.
What is the difference between a psychopath and a sociopath?
Neither term is a formal diagnosis. The DSM-5 recognizes antisocial personality disorder instead. Informally, psychopath is often used for traits seen as more inborn, calculated, and low in fear or empathy, while sociopath is often used for traits seen as shaped more by environment and expressed impulsively. This test measures psychopathic traits specifically, using the LSRP's primary and secondary structure, not either popular label.
Related tests
Narcissism Test
Informed by the validated NPI-16. Measures everyday narcissistic traits, not a disorder.
Sociopath Test (Antisocial Personality Disorder Screening)
A free educational screen for antisocial personality traits, based on the DSM ASPD criteria.
Dark Triad Test
Informed by the Short Dark Triad (SD3). Narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy as traits.