Oxford 'study' claims Trump more psychopathic than Hitler

Editor's Note: Psychology is far from an exact science. While this surely doesn't mean that it's a useless discipline, one need only look back to Freud's hilariously absurd theories – theories that have been almost entirely discarded by modern psychology – to see how unobjective psychology can be. It's almost as if social sciences can be exploited to push agendas...

US presidential hopeful Donald Trump has more psychopathic traits than Adolf Hitler, a researcher at Oxford University has found.

Psychologist Dr. Kevin Dutton has ranked the psychopathic traits of the Republican candidate and various historical figures using a standard psychometric tool – the Psychopathic Personality Inventory – Revised (PPI-R).

Experts suggested likely scores against a series of questions. Trump scored 171, two points more than Hitler.

Saddam Hussein topped the list, scoring 189, while Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton received a score of 152, putting her in the top 20 percent.

Margaret Thatcher scored 136 points, and Elizabeth I was put at 130.

Dutton says the test scores people on eight traits that contribute to a psychopathic character. They are fearlessness, cold-heartedness, egocentricity, ruthlessness, self-confidence, charisma, dishonesty and deficits in empathy and conscience.

“Some of those traits, such as fearlessness or stress immunity, can be positive. Others, such as blame externalization or being unconcerned about the future, are more likely to be negative. One, cold-heartedness, can contribute to good and bad leadership,” Dutton told the Telegraph.

“Both great and terrible leaders score higher than the general population for psychopathic traits, but it is the mix of those traits that determines success.

“For example, someone who scores highly for being influential, fearless and cold hearted could be a decisive leader who can make dispassionate decisions. If those traits are accompanied by a high score on blaming others, they might be a genocidal demagogue,” he said.

Trump outstripped Hitler on factors such as social influence and fearlessness dominance, while the Nazi dictator scored higher on the Machiavellian egocentricity and cold-heartedness.

While ranking lower than her rival overall, Clinton far exceeded Roman emperor Nero on traits such as “Machiavellian egocentricity.”

“It is interesting that these scores reflect both the praise and the criticism that Trump and Clinton receive.

“In the end, while both score relatively highly, it will be up to voters to decide on whether their mix of positive and negative traits should send them to the Oval Office.”