8 Ways To Tell If You're A Psychopath

5. Hooked On Dopamine?

Dopamine is one of those neurotransmitters in your brain that fall into the "feel good" category. It activates the reward centres and makes us feel great when we do things like eat, take drugs and have sex.

In a study at the Vanderbilt University in Nashville, it was found that psychopaths' brains produce much higher levels of dopamine than non-psychopaths. They also found that the psychopathic brain "values" it much more than the "normal brain".

It's unlikely that this is the cause of psychopathy, but when you combine this with the inability to empathise and the tendency to prioritise the self over others, it could offer an explanation as to why psychopaths are more likely to commit crimes, take risks and abuse substances. The dopamine high from engaging in antisocial behaviours could be as addictive to a psychopath as drugs or alcohol to an addict.