What You Say is What You Are?

Could what you say really define who you are? This is a question that Wynne Parry attempts to answer, in regards to a specific group of people in the world's population, in her article "How to Spot a Psychopath: Look For Speech Patterns, Scientists Say". This article claims that by merely observing one's speech, you can tell whether or not someone has psychopathic tendencies.

A small group of researchers interviewed 52 inmates that were recently convicted of a crime. Of those 52 criminals, 14 were classified as Psychopaths, according to the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised. This assessment had them describe their crime, in detail, and based on their description, assessed whether or not they are psychopathic. This test relies on the assumption that within the criminal descriptions, one can identify certain characteristics of how someone talks and use that to determine if they are, indeed, a psychopath. The team of researchers claimed that Psychopaths talk with little emotion, constantly use cause-effect statements and focused the majority of their attention on their basic needs. For example, they say that psychopaths use the words "because" and "so that" more frequently than normal human because they try and rationalize their crime with an attempt to attain the basic needs of life. These 14 in mates are now recognized as psychopaths.

Is this really a fair way to categorize human beings though? It seems a little farfetched that you can become a "psycho" simply by what you say. If that was the case, every depressed teenager should be tested for being a psychopath because they talk with little emotion; every 4 year old should be tested because of repeated excuses that 'made them' steal a cookie. It would be extremely unfair if we used these researchers' claim that one's speech patterns can determine whether you are a psychopath.

Article: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/10/24/spotting-psychopath-speech-patterns-give-them-away-scientists-say/