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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What question did Helen and Steve ask themselves about their daughter Alice?

2. What is the author's objective in writing this book?

3. What was the first thing the author noticed about Ray when he met him?

4. What prerequisite for love does a psychopath lack?

5. How do psychopaths tend to view family members?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why doesn't the psychopath's need for change and excitement make him a good candidate for dangerous jobs?

2. Why is it important to determine whether a psychopath is mentally ill or simply a wrongdoer?

3. How do psychopaths typically speak of the harm they have caused to others?

4. Why does the author claim it is not surprising that psychopaths commit more violent acts than other criminals?

5. What experience has convinced the author that the public needs to understand psychopathy?

6. Why are psychopathic killers often judged legally sane?

7. What early behavior problems are sometimes symptomatic of psychopathy?

8. Why did Ray's showing a knife to the author put the author in an impossible position?

9. How has the term "psychopath" contributed to confusion about its meaning?

10. How did psychopaths fare as fighter pilots during World War II?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Imagine that you have a friend whose new romantic interest appears to you to be a psychopath. You know that if you directly make this suggestion to your friend, your friendship will be at an end. Write an essay on the nature of psychopathy that you could show your friend in hopes that s/he would see the similarities between the cases to which you refer and her own situation. Feel free to invent the facts of your friend's situation, remembering that those facts have to demonstrate psychopathy.

Essay Topic 2

Write a descriptive essay detailing the characteristics of an ideal victim for a psychopath to use and manipulate. Would such a person be rich or poor? Single or married? Include as many details as you can, and support them with information from the text.

Essay Topic 3

One of the characteristics of psychopathy is an inability to learn from past experience. Write an essay explaining how this inability could cripple a person's ability to make progress in life.

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This section contains 1,000 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample