Assessing Psychopathy in the Workplace

Effectively screening potential employees for psychopathy is essential to building and maintaining a healthy, ethical, and productive workplace. Psychopathy is a problematic psychological syndrome characterized by superficial charm, manipulation, lack of empathy, an exaggerated sense of importance, deceit, theft, and even violence. While it is apparent that these traits are counterproductive in the workplace, accurately identifying people with these characteristics can be challenging. In this chapter, we discuss the subtle signs of corporate psychopathy and a practical protocol to help detect potential psychopathic employees.