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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How do psychopaths tend to feel about the future?
(a) They give it little thought.
(b) They look forward to better days.
(c) They plan constantly.
(d) They live in an imagined future.

2. What is the author's objective in writing this book?
(a) To help mislabelled psychopaths get out of prison.
(b) To help people better understand psychopathy.
(c) To help people diagnose the psychopaths they may know.
(d) To help people escape from psychopathic interaction.

3. What is the typical motivation for a psychopath's act of violence?
(a) Hatred.
(b) Revenge.
(c) Jealousy.
(d) Fear.

4. What do psychopaths commit twice as often as other criminal offenders?
(a) Acts of violence.
(b) Acts of embezzlement.
(c) Acts of robbery.
(d) Acts of deception.

5. Of what do today's young criminals have less?
(a) Strategic planning.
(b) Intelligence.
(c) Empathy.
(d) Education.

6. What attitude toward children is a common theme among psychopaths?
(a) An emotional attachment.
(b) A sincere interest.
(c) An indifference to their welfare.
(d) Violence.

7. How did a psychopathic thief believe that his victims were better off?
(a) They got to be in the newspaper headlines.
(b) He hadn't done them any physical harm.
(c) They got to replace their possessions.
(d) They would collect more from insurance than their possessions were worth.

8. What percentage of serious crimes are committed by psychopaths?
(a) Twenty.
(b) Sixty.
(c) Fifty.
(d) Eighty.

9. Why are psychopaths seldom embarrassed about legal, financial or personal problems?
(a) Humble acceptance of responsibility is their hallmark.
(b) Problems are stepping stones to greater success.
(c) They don't admit they have problems.
(d) Problems are temporary, the fault of someone else.

10. For what does Robert Lindner claim psychopaths strive?
(a) Long-range happiness.
(b) Societal change.
(c) Peace and security.
(d) Immediate satisfaction.

11. What question first raised by Ray has stayed with the doctor throughout his career?
(a) What in the psychopath's mentality gives him the power to override reality?
(b) How can Ray claim he was my assistant?
(c) What did I do to turn Ray against me?
(d) Am I crazy or is Ray?

12. What do clinicians who prefer the term "sociopath" believe?
(a) Society is responsible for creating psychopaths.
(b) Psychopathy is inborn.
(c) Psychopathy is caused by life experiences.
(d) Psychopathy is a mental illness.

13. What phrase did Alice's parents use to describe her behavior as a child?
(a) "She was unpredictable."
(b) "Something was off."
(c) "She was mean."
(d) "She was impulsive."

14. How did Ted Bundy trick his victims into accompanying him when he was a stranger to them?
(a) He pretended to know a mutual acquaintance.
(b) He used crutches and asked for help.
(c) He offered them chocolate.
(d) He had a cute dog.

15. How did Clifford Olson become rich?
(a) He embezzled from the firm where he worked.
(b) He created a Ponzi scheme and bilked investors.
(c) Authorities paid him to show the burial places of his victims.
(d) He married a rich woman and murdered her.

Short Answer Questions

1. What emotions are the mainsprings of conscience for most people?

2. What need is sometimes satisfied for the psychopath by taking drugs?

3. How does the author feel about films that allow identification with psychopaths?

4. What impression do astute observers sometimes get about psychopaths?

5. Why does William March say that good people are rarely suspicious?

(see the answer keys)

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