People with psychopathic traits feel less pain—and assume others do too

A recent study conducted in the Netherlands found that individuals with heightened psychopathic traits exhibited reduced sensitivity to pain caused by electrical stimulation. In turn, those who were less sensitive to their own pain of this kind tended to underestimate the amount of pain others experience. The research was published in Scientific Reports.

Psychopathy is a personality disorder characterized by a lack of empathy, manipulative behavior, impulsivity, and shallow emotions. Individuals with psychopathy often display superficial charm and deceptive social skills, allowing them to manipulate others for personal gain. They typically show little to no remorse for their actions and tend to have a high tolerance for risk-taking and thrill-seeking behaviors.

While psychopathy is a recognized disorder, the personality traits central to it can also be found to varying degrees in individuals who do not meet the clinical criteria. These are referred to as psychopathic traits. Individuals with elevated levels of such traits often display increased aggression and a tendency toward interpersonal and sexual violence. Estimates suggest that 15–25% of offenders exhibit heightened psychopathic traits, compared to just 1–4% in the general population.

Study author Dimana V. Atanassova and her colleagues note that a lack of empathy—particularly a diminished sensitivity to others’ pain—is one of the most prominent characteristics of individuals with psychopathic traits. They hypothesized that this may be because individuals high in psychopathic traits are also less sensitive to their own pain. As such, their reduced reaction to personal pain might lead them to assume others experience pain similarly.

The study involved 74 healthy participants, recruited through various channels including social media, in-person outreach, and a dedicated recruitment system. The average participant age was 32 years, and 60% were women.

Participants completed assessments of psychopathic traits (using the Self-Report Psychopathy–Short Form), fear of pain, and empathy (using the Questionnaire of Cognitive and Affective Empathy). They also underwent evaluations of pain threshold and sensitivity to electrical (via electric shocks), pressure, and cold pain. Pressure and electrical pain were assessed using specialized devices, while cold pain was measured by having participants immerse one hand in water at approximately 2 °C. They were asked to indicate when they first felt pain (threshold) and to remove their hand when the pain became unbearable (sensitivity).

Afterward, participants viewed a series of digital images showing right hands and feet in various painful and non-painful everyday scenarios. Their task was to rate how painful each depicted situation appeared to be.

The results showed weak but present associations between sensitivity to different types of pain (cold, electric, and pressure). Participants with higher psychopathic traits tended to report lower fear of pain and lower sensitivity to electrical pain. Specifically, these individuals were less afraid of pain and could tolerate moderate electrical pain more easily. However, there were no significant associations between psychopathic traits and sensitivity or tolerance to cold or pressure pain.

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The authors tested statistical models suggesting that heightened psychopathic traits lead to reduced sensitivity to electrical pain and diminished fear of one’s own pain. In turn, this reduced sensitivity and fear were linked to lower empathy for others’ pain. The results supported this proposed chain of relationships.

“We found support for the notion that pain empathy is dependent on own pain experience. Lifestyle traits uniquely predicted lower empathy for pain when using ratings of painful scenarios under an adopted “self” perspective, while the Interpersonal traits demonstrated the opposite pattern. The superordinate psychopathy factor, on the other hand, was associated with reduced empathy for pain through the mediating role of electrical, but not cold or pressure pain insensitivity,” the study authors concluded.

The study sheds light on the psychological mechanisms linking psychopathic traits and reduced empathy. However, it should be noted that the study was conducted on a relatively small group of participants. Results on other or larger groups might differ.

The paper, “Pain sensitivity mediates the relationship between empathy for pain and psychopathic traits,” was authored by Dimana V. Atanassova, Inti A. Brazil, Christiaan E. A. Tomassen, and Joukje M. Oosterman.