You might joke, "Of course my cat's a psychopath- he's a cat!" And you'd have a point. Cats as a whole strike us as aloof, uncaring, and unrepentant, which would be signs of psychopathy in humans, but are often adaptive traits in wild cats. Still, wild cats care about their close kin or their pride, and we expect pets to transfer that caring to us. And many do.
Scientists adapted a questionnaire designed to uncover psychopathy in humans to use in cats. The human version measures boldness, meanness, and disinhibition. The cat version also added pet-unfriendliness and human-unfriendliness. The results of the test may give insight into the relationship between cat owners and their pets.
āYou'll find the 46 item questionnaire here. You'll need a piece of paper to jot your answers down on, as it is not interactive. I have four cats with very diverse personalities, and found that none of them are psychopaths.
Read more about the test at ScienceAlert. -via Mental Floss