From Patrick Bateman in American Psycho to The Joker in The Dark Knight, psychopaths have been a staple feature of blockbuster hits through the years.
While most of these on-screen psychopaths are male, studies have shown that female psychopaths are more common than we think.
Now, a study has revealed one key sign that a woman you know might be a psychopath.
Researchers from the University of Sao Paulo say that women who use minimal makeup are more likely to have this dark personality trait.
‘These findings underscore the nuanced relationship between makeup usage and personality,’ the researchers wrote in their study.
While most of these on-screen psychopaths are male, studies have shown that female psychopaths are more common than we think. Pictured: Jodie Comer as Villanelle in Killing Eve
Earlier this year, a study revealed that female psychopaths are more common than we think, because studies have ‘long failed to identify them.’
Speaking to MailOnline, Dr Clive Boddy, an experts at Anglia Ruskin University, explained that the signs of psychopathy in women are different to men.
‘Psychopaths are driven by a need to have power over and control other people via whatever resources they have available to them,’ he told MailOnline.
‘For male psychopaths this may veer towards physical domination through violence, bullying and threats.
‘For female psychopaths this may veer towards manipulation through seduction, relational aggression, and spreading rumours and lies about people aimed at gaining personal advantage and preferment over those people.’
Researchers from the University of Sao Paulo say that women who use minimal makeup are more likely to have this dark personality trait (stock image)
In their new study, the researchers set out to understand whether the use of makeup is linked to psychopathy.
The team enlisted 1,410 women who completed surveys to measure their levels of the ‘Big Five’ personality traits – Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism – as well as the ‘Dark Triad’ traits – Machiavellianism, Narcissism, and Psychopathy.
The women also reported their makeup habits, and their makeup usage across different social scenarios, including at home, during exercise, on a first date, and in a meeting.
Somewhat unsurprisingly, women who regularly wore lots of makeup scored more highly for narcissism.
These women also changed their makeup use significantly across different social settings – wearing more in situations where were trying to make a good impression, such as first dates or meetings.
Women who wore lots of makeup also scored more highly for extraversion, although extraverts did not change their makeup use across different settings as much as narcissists.
Meanwhile, women who scored highly for psychopathy were less likely to wear makeup across different settings.
‘These findings contribute to the interplay between personality traits and makeup usage, considering interindividual differences and intraindividual variation in understanding cosmetic behaviors among women,’ the researchers added in their study, published in Archives of Sexual Behaviour.
Current scientific evidence suggests that male psychopaths outnumber females by around six to one.
But Dr Boddy thinks the real ratio of male to female psychopathy is about 1.2 to one – up to five times higher than previously suggested.
‘Because of a lack of studies of female psychopaths not enough is known about them,’ he said.
