Research Says You Can Tell If A Woman Is A Psychopath Just By Looking At Her Face
Female psychopaths may be more common than previously believed.
Romanchini | Shutterstock While not an official diagnosis, "psychopath" describes someone callous, unemotional, and morally depraved. They're hard to spot, especially considering approximately 29% of the general population exhibits one or more psychopathic traits, such as antisocial behavior, impulsivity, superficial charm, and a lack of empathy.
Yet according to a recent study published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior, simply looking at a woman's face may reveal if she is a psychopath.
Research says you can tell if a woman is a psychopath just by looking at her face.
The study found that the amount of makeup a woman wears — or rather, doesn't wear — may reveal if she is a psychopath. The researchers surveyed 1,410 Brazilian women about their makeup usage habits and instructed them to complete online surveys that measured their "dark triad" traits — narcissism, machiavellianism, and psychopathy.
"Results revealed makeup usage was positively associated with narcissism and extraversion, and negatively with psychopathy," they reported. In other words, women who regularly wore lots of makeup scored highly on the narcissism scale, while the opposite was true for those who scored high in psychopathy.
Vladimir Gjorgiev | Shutterstock
In all social situations discussed — at home, on a first date, in a business meeting, and at the gym — women who scored highly on the psychopathy scale were less likely to put on lipstick, eyeliner, and blush.
Of course, a lack of makeup does not mean a woman is a psychopath.
According to data from YouGov, 26% of women in the United States never wear makeup. But, of course, that does not mean that a quarter of U.S. women, around 42 million people, are psychopaths. The true number is far lower.
It's hard to quantify exactly how many psychopaths are out there, male or female. However, it is likely less than 1% of the population. That being said, recent research suggests that we have underestimated the number of female psychopaths out there.
Psychopathy has long been a male-dominated disorder, yet that may not be the reality, at least according to Dr. Clive Boddy, a leading expert on psychopaths. "The behaviour of female psychopaths seems to be subtle enough and less obvious than male psychopaths and therefore they’re not recognised as much," he explained.
There are other signs, unrelated to makeup usage, that indicate a woman may be a psychopath.
One sign has less to do with what's on a woman's face and more to do with how she moves her head. A 2023 study published in the Journal of Personality and Individual Differences found that female psychopaths are more likely to hold their heads rigidly when they talk.
The study involved 213 incarcerated women between the ages of 21 and 57 from medium- and maximum-security correctional facilities in the U.S. The women were assessed for psychopathic traits, and, during an interview, an automated detection algorithm was used to monitor their head movements.
"Patterns of head movement and dynamics have been associated with various forms of psychopathology," the researchers explained.
Reporting on the study for PsyPost, Vladimir Hedrih noted, "The results indicated that individuals with pronounced psychopathic traits tended to move their heads less during the interview than those with lower levels of these traits."
So, if you're wondering if a woman in your life is a psychopath, keep a close eye on her makeup usage and head movements. And of course, her personality. A complete lack of guilt, empathy, and emotional responses is far more concerning than a distaste for makeup.
Audrey Jaber is a writer and associate editor with a bachelor's degree in journalism.
