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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does the author advise readers not to do with his book?
(a) Rely upon it too heavily.
(b) Share it with friends.
(c) Diagnose themselves or others.
(d) Use it to seek professional help.

2. Upon what two abilities does conscience depend?
(a) The ability to overrule foolish desires.
(b) The ability to obey and reason.
(c) The ability to imagine consequences and talk to oneself.
(d) The ability to comprehend society's priorities and live by them.

3. What did Ted Bundy claim was responsible for his murders?
(a) His mother's early childhood abuse.
(b) A malignant entity.
(c) An alternate personality.
(d) His wife.

4. How do psychopaths tend to view their own aggression?
(a) As a natural response to provocation.
(b) As uncontrollable.
(c) As supernatural.
(d) As non-existent.

5. What question did Joe McGinniss wrestle with during his relationship with Jeffrey MacDonald?
(a) How could I have misunderstood him?
(b) How could I have missed all the signs?
(c) How could I have liked him?
(d) How could I have understood him?

Short Answer Questions

1. How did Ted Bundy trick his victims into accompanying him when he was a stranger to them?

2. How did a psychopathic thief believe that his victims were better off?

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

4. How did Ray trap the author by showing him a knife?

5. What physician who murdered his family was portrayed in the movie Fatal Vision?

Short Essay Questions

1. How do psychopaths typically speak of the harm they have caused to others?

2. Why are psychopathic killers often judged legally sane?

3. Why has the author mistrusted the results of psychological testing to identify psychopaths?

4. How has the term "psychopath" contributed to confusion about its meaning?

5. What are some important differences between the violent acts of psychopaths and the violent acts of other criminals?

6. Why has the author determined not to devote much of his book to psychodynamic, unconscious processes of psychopathy?

7. Why is it important to determine whether a psychopath is mentally ill or simply a wrongdoer?

8. What distinguishes psychopaths who become criminals?

9. In what ways are psychopaths compared to science fiction androids by the author?

10. What does William March list as some reasons good people do not readily recognize psychopathy?

(see the answer keys)

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