Science Says South Dakota Is Kind of Full of Psychopaths

Are you a psychopath? Do you know one? Well if you live in South Dakota chances are you are, or you do. Yep, according to research by professor Ryan Murphy at Southern Methodist University the Mount Rushmore state is in the top 15 of states with the most psychopaths.

In the broad sense, a psychopath is a person who lacks empathy (or can turn it off and on), is overly impulsive, lacks long term thinking, lies a lot, thinks they're superior to everyone, is very charming, and gets board easily. But remember that a psychopath is a clinical diagnoses, it's not just somone being a jerk.

Whew, good thing I'm not very charming.

For the state by state study, researchers used five major personality traits most common in psychopaths, that had been identified in previous surveys, and calculated a score for each state.

They found that out of the 48 contiguous United States, South Dakota ranks number 12. California, Wisconsin, and Wyoming scored higher on the list. But little, tiny Connecticut landed at the top. Iowa was just behind us at 17, Minnesota is hanging out in the middle-ish at 32 with Nebraska at 36.

The states with the least were Vermont and West Virginia. Because coal mining and maple syrup keep folks real chill I guess.

Sources: This Is the U.S. State with the Most Psychopaths, 13 Signs You’re Dealing with a Psychopath

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