The Psychopath Test
Stop me if you've heard this one before. Oh, yeah, you can't.
Okan sent this to me yesterday, and I'm still not sure whether I'm dismayed that I got it right immediately or kind of proud because I love doing well on tests, even when the test measures total derangement. (I was once looking up the signs of clinical depression on the Internet to see if I was depressed and in need of treatment, rather than just blue. I cheered up so much when I got a perfect score on the Hamilton Depression Index that no further intervention was necessary.)
I maintain that calling it "the psychopath test" is such a huge giveaway that the question couldn't possibly have any diagnostic value. But because there's that little niggling concern in my mind, I figured I'd run it up the Ricochet flagpole and see who else shoots it dead without so much as a measurable change in his galvanic skin response and then goes out for a box of donuts and never thinks about it again.
So, the e-mail goes like this:
Read this question, then come up with an answer. This is not a trick question. It is as it reads. No one I know has gotten it right. Few people do.
A woman, while at the funeral of her own mother, met a man she did not know.
She thought the man was amazing. She believed him to be the man of her dreams--so much that she fell in love with him right there, but she never asked for his number and afterwards couldn't find him.
A few days later she killed her sister.
Question: What was her motive for killing her sister?
Suggest your answers; I'll tell you the right answer at the end of the day. Apparently, if you come up with that answer, it's a bad, bad sign.
The e-mail says it was a test used by an American psychologist to determine whether the subject had a killer's mind. (This could of course be nonsense, and I'd guess probably is.) But the legend says that many arrested serial killers answered the question correctly. And so did I--without having to think about it much, frankly. I mean, it's obvious, isn't it?
Isn't it?
UPDATE: The Psychopath Answer
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Comments :
Jul '10
Re: The Psychopath Test
Jealousy.
Nov '10
Re: The Psychopath Test
I didn't get it.
My anemic guess was that the man of her dreams was involved with her sister, and that she simply wanted her sister out of the picture. The real answer is much more disturbing, if seemingly obvious in retrospect. Indeed, I kind of feel annoyed at myself, like I failed one of those lateral thinking puzzles. (Extra credit: Scenario pre-history. One week earlier, the same girl got stuck in a lift between the 5th and 6th floors of a building. At that moment, she knew her mother was dead. Why?)
As for your psychological make-up Claire, I am sure there is no correlation whatever between an firm admirer of Thatcher and getting the correct answer instantly.
Indeed...THERE IS NO ALTERNATIVE!
Edited on Jan 26, 2011 at 12:48amNov '10
Re: The Psychopath Test
The actual, standard test for psychopathy is called the PCL-R, and it's only slightly more rigorous than that question.
Jan '11
Re: The Psychopath Test
The question can be posed in a better way. Instead of stating that the woman killed her sister, and then asking why, it should be asked what the woman did to fulfill her not-yet-released motive. It's much easier to give the "I'm not a sociopath" answer that way.
Oct '10
Re: The Psychopath Test
I think I know the answer to this one. Was he a friend of the family?
All other possibilities require me to make up larger scenarios.
Re: The Psychopath Test
Inanç Arslaner: I think I know the answer to this one. Was he a friend of the family?
All other possibilities require me to make up larger scenarios. · Jan 26 at 4:18am
I assumed he was. But you know--I didn't agonize about it. There's an obvious answer, presuming psychopathy's involved.
Sep '10
Re: The Psychopath Test
Cheery morning, Egypt in flames, riots on the street, your morning Psychopathy exam. Enjoy the veal!
May '10
Re: The Psychopath Test
My answer: She killed her sister because the was the one who had killed her mother too.
But I only came to that conclusion after your comment #6. My first reaction was she killed her sister out of jealousy when she found out her sister had hooked up with the amazing guy.
Yes, that last comment was just to make you think I'm not a serial killer. ;-)
Now I realize the amazing dude is just there to give a more obvious and plausible motive for the "normal" people; he doesn't really have anything to do with the sister's death.
Edited on Jan 26, 2011 at 6:38amDec '10
Re: The Psychopath Test
For not attending the funeral.
Dec '10
Re: The Psychopath Test
If that was wrong then I would be more than a little upset, and I am very, very proud of you for answering correctly!
Sep '10
Re: The Psychopath Test
I was stumped, so I guess I'm annoying, but not psychotic.
Dec '10
Re: The Psychopath Test
I figured the sister killed her mother......oh $%#. I get it now. She killed her sister so she could meet the man at her sister's funeral....uh wow. Does that fact that it took me so long to get the answer mean there is hope for me?
Jul '10
Re: The Psychopath Test
Yeah, I got it before I read the final answer. I am, however, reassured by this quote from the beginning of the "Castle" TV series:
There are two kinds of folks who sit around thinking about how to kill people: psychopaths and mystery writers. I'm the kind that pays better.
So if you figured out the question, and you're sure you're not a psychopath, get that manuscript out of the desk drawer and to an agent!
Jan '11
Re: The Psychopath Test
She killed her sister so hopefully she'll get to see the hunk again at her sister's funeral.
Dec '10
Re: The Psychopath Test
This is from a Tim Dorsey novel. The hero(?) of his novels is a serial killer named Serge Storms. He got the answer right.
Oct '10
Re: The Psychopath Test
Claire Berlinski, Ed.
Inanç Arslaner: I think I know the answer to this one. Was he a friend of the family?
All other possibilities require me to make up larger scenarios. · Jan 26 at 4:18am
I assumed he was. But you know--I didn't agonize about it. There's an obvious answer, presuming psychopathy's involved. · Jan 26 at 5:08am
Well, if he isn't a friend of the family, it would be wishful thinking to assume that he would show up to the sister's funeral. Most psychopaths aren't stupid.
Nov '10
Re: The Psychopath Test
I know why she killed her sister. See, the sister was involved with her husband. The husband left her for the sister. Then the sister got pregnant and had the baby girl she always wanted. She was jealous of the sister and told her mom about while on the elevator at Macy's. She said she was angry and was going to get back at her sister. Mom had a weak ticker and this conversation really got her upset and she had a heart attack right there on the phone. So now the woman has lost her husband and her mom, and she blamed the sister. So she went home to brew up a secret potion. The potion would turn the sister into a bug. Her plan would be to put the bug in a box. And put that box into a bigger box and mail it to herself. When it arrived she would SMASH IT WITH A HAMMER! "Or to save on postage", she thought, "I'll just poison her with this!" But the poison only turned the sister into a llama, and the llama crossed the street without looking and got hit by a city bus. The End.
May '10
Re: The Psychopath Test
She had a twin sister that ran off with the guy before she could get him.
Jul '10
Re: The Psychopath Test
Oh God. It's because she figured he'd show up at her sister's funeral, too...
Aug '10
Re: The Psychopath Test
I was going to guess that she had already killed her mother, and that she was merely working her way through the family, but I think Jonathan Gilbert got it right instead.