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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What proportion of psychopaths are serial killers?

2. What does Hervey Cleckley say the psychopath is incapable of understanding?

3. What term is often inappropriately applied to psychopaths?

4. How do the criminal activities of psychopaths compare with those of other criminals?

5. What was Elsa's first clue to Dan's criminal activity?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why has the author decided that it's important to write about the technical topic of psychopathy at a level that the public can understand?

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

3. What factor in Ray's behavior puzzled the author and led him to further study?

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

5. Why does the author claim it is not surprising that psychopaths commit more violent acts than other criminals?

6. How do normal criminals become involved in a criminal lifestyle?

7. How do psychopaths tend to view themselves in relation to others?

8. How did psychopaths fare as fighter pilots during World War II?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay explaining why clinicians and other mental health professionals are frequently unable to agree on a workable definition of psychopathy. With what other terms is it often confused? What dysfunction in the mental health system is created by these disagreements?

Essay Topic 2

What is your explanation for the public's glamorization of criminals? Do you accept the theory that the public can play out illicit behavior without personal cost by identifying with criminals onscreen? Do you think that people always root for an underdog, and that an individual out of sync with the larger system is always an underdog? Explain your theory for the attraction of evil and support your theory with examples and information from the text.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay explaining the difficulty with each of the diagnostic methods for identifying psychopathy.

(see the answer keys)

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