The general idea of a Dark Score is not a bad concept; you can think of psychopathy as a spectrum from "a bit of an asshole" to "serial killer". But as someone

The general idea of a Dark Score is not a bad concept; you can think of psychopathy as a spectrum from "a bit of an asshole" to "serial killer". But as someone who takes psychology seriously, and who grew up in a family environment rife with psychopathic behavior, I have some problems with this article. First, echoing dboreham's comment below, the problem with a self-reported Dark Score is that no real psychopath is going to rate themselves accurately. You just don't get very far on the spectrum if you have the ability to truly introspect and self-reflect. In my experience dealing with psychopathic individuals (I'm talking behavior leading to lawsuits, major crimes, and death), I can trace this lack of self-awareness to severe childhood trauma/abuse causing a sort of split or divided self. The true psychopath is a stranger to themselves. Second, I think that creating a simple online self-report quiz trivializes some very real and very dangerous aspects of personality. I think it does a disservice to the field of serious forensic psychology. It is possible to study the type of minds of that cause tremendous suffering for others in a rigorous scientific way. But fun online quizzes aren't the way.