The problem with psychopathy research is that the psychopaths who are relatively well-behaved are not included in the studies since they're so good at blending in with society. The medical world seems to only have a small piece of the picture when it comes to psychopathy.

ive noticed that narcissism seems to be prevalent in society, even promoted in different ways.

I'm ADHD I use disfluencies all the time when I'm trying to explain something. Usually because I'm trying to get a lot of information out but my brain can't get it out in the right way.

I love how it cuts after he says, "If you kind of run out of ideas in the middle of a sentence...." lol

You left out a significant reason people might use disfluencies: being nervous/anxious/fearful.

People who over use the word “Like” in every sentence drive me to psychopathic thoughts .

In my experience, psychopaths rarely worry about being a psychopath. They're not anxious enough to be concerned about the possibility of fitting a particular diagnosis.

OMG......where were you when I was majoring in Psychology in 1993, LOL!. Your videos are amazing!. You take complex research and break it down in such fluent language.

When you're over 60 years old you say "um" a lot because we can't remember crap.

12:33 Absolutely. I have a stutter and I've always had a problem with people interrupting me. Not only does a simple "uh..." signal that I'm not done talking, it also helps me not stutter on my next word. For some reason, it's hard for me to start a word after a pause; the "uh..." keeps the flow going.

I think it's the reverse, because to speak well means the person is in control of their emotions while talking they don't care what the person at the receiving end thinks of them. When I meet someone who is articulate and appears to be confident, a warning signal gos off in my head because people like that are usually trying to sell me something or trying to miss lead me

I feel like I use a lot of disfluencies, and for a few different reasons. First, I lose my train of thought very often, even mid sentence. Second, it's not uncommon for me to forget a word, even if I still have the train of thought - this is especially common with nouns. And third, I have a strong urge to use exactly the right word - not to make me look better, but to accurately convey my meaning. In all of these cases, both intentional and unintentional disfluencies buy me the time to figure out what I was trying to say. All that being said, from the descriptions you have given of psychopathy in this and other videos confirm without a doubt that I am not a psychopath. In my case, I think the disfluencies are more of an ADHD thing than anything.

Great video, but what seems to be attributed to psychopaths could apply to Aspergers individuals or others on that spectrum. I know I get brain freeze quite often.

Yes, Dr. Grande. You're right. People who only think they're right aren't. Thank-you.

ADD, and perhaps autism, causes thought delays, at least with me. I don’t think I am a narcissist either, but I can recall even as a child, I would hear “just spit it out”. I think it just gave me permanent brain freeze knowing I would usually lose the listeners interest.

I had a psychopath in my life and he was the worst at answering a question when he had to lie. He would use alot of deflection or gaslighting tactics to distract until he could come up with a story. He had zero empathy, he did what he thought was the right thing for society, but could not put himself in others shoes. He once told me he never felt panic, or his heart race unless he was exercising. I watched him stand by as I helped a person in a serious accident, he literally stood on the side of the road like he was waiting for a bus the whole time, couldn't be bothered to help and the most disturbing part is he didn't know why I helped, he was genuinely annoyed. Glad he's out of my life now.

Thank you for pointing out the need for careful interpretation of studies. I find it concerning that someone would think he is a psychopath because of one behavior.

On my daily walks I try to avoid the psycho. paths.😃✌️

In a College class in France, we had a presentation once and the teacher wanted to teach us to avoid disfluencies... and they would interrupt us every-single-time we used one... it was extremely difficult to even remember what we were talking about O_o

Just because you can show that psychopaths are more likely to use disfluencies does not mean that disfluencies are an indicator at all. I know that I use slightly more disfluencies than my peers, and studying linguistics and psychology of bilingualism I've found out that it is very likely a product of me speaking so many languages. I'm fluent in 4 languages and conversational in a couple more. At any given time, my brain is suppressing my other languages, that takes a bit of energy, resulting in more disfluencies. There is literature to support this. It would be terrifying if someone would start assuming that I was a psychopath just because of this.

I agree about the use of disfluemcies. I tend to think they are an artful way of using language, and maybe psychopaths use them, but they are not an indicator of psychopathy. It was a little funny when I watched a PhD researcher describing how the psychopathy/disfluency theory applied to his analysis, because he was using disfluencies liberally while giving the description. Amused audience comments ensued. I'm pretty sure he didn't realize how much he was using them, but he was clearly not a psychopath.

Yeah, "Ummmm" definitely means "Please don't start talking, I haven't finished my idea yet." A lot of people interpret silence as an invitation to start talking.

The thing about disfluencies is really interesting to me as a classics student. In ancient greek texts, many and multitudinous 'particles' are used. A very recent theory, however, suggests that all these words aren't particles but rather disfluencies. So the possible connection of the use of these to different personality types is pretty interesting if it could say something about the ancient greeks. But maybe it also says something about what they were taught in school (which was then mostly focussed on training public speaking skills), maybe the disfluencies were seen as desirable, as opposed to now when we see them as undesirable... Thanks for the great vid!

Yeah like watts kills his fam, then during a text to a friend he says “I’m just trying to remember to eat.” Now that’s an example of psychopath language. No empathy, no remorse and only thinking of primary need .-food.

That's what I like about you -- you are logical and not afraid to point out the flaws in psychology, which, in turn, makes most of your analyses realistic and reliable. You are a deep thinker, thank you for your insights.

Thank you for taking time to teach us Dr. Grande. You are such a brilliant man. I love your videos and appreciate all your hard work. 🤍

As some one that uses umm etc, it is totally unconscious. I’m 110% empath! I notice I do it when being recorded & trying to verbalize. It’s no worry of being interrupted because it’s on things where I’m the center is attention. I also have high anxiety so I think I can’t process or process when anxious.

My psychopathic narcissist ex was a magician of language, he was an accomplished juggler with words, quite articulate, a good rhetorician yet he lacked emotion, and his talk was almost in a rhymed fashion, and sometimes he was theatrical, seemed to admire his own dramatic ways. They cover their calculative stories with fake “fillers,” it is only to “appear“ emotional or thoughtful, all are act or a game.

My father definitely was one. He scared me so bad. He was highly abusive to my mother and myself. My mother and I had to run from him. He passed several years ago from complications of diabetes. When you meet one you know. I am learning a lot since my phyc class in HS and college. Thank you Dr Grande for all your videos and info.

I share those concerns over perfectionism in others' speech. When I was a teenager, I'd be talking with my Mom, but that was made exceedingly difficult because she'd either interrupt me each time I uttered a filler word, or she'd give me a huge scolding lecture after the conversation. Kinda didn't want to talk to her after that.

Great video. Nice to see u a bit worried where people might think they are psychopathic because they do it and totally agree that the last thing we want is too much perfectionism in our speech. The emotions behind it are everything! More joy and much less cold heated narcissism is where we need to go.

This is really fascinating stuff, excellently curated topics and extremely well-discussed!!!!

Brilliantly illustrated lecture, Dr. Todd. Very interesting stuff.

Greetings, Dr. Grande. I have been enjoying your videos and am learning a great deal from them. I appreciate your scientific approach to these various topics. You are precise and concise. It is obvious to me that you are well-informed and very willing to research anything in order to produce insightful videos. Thank you for your dedication to the scientific approach. You have a pleasant voice and speech pattern. I will continue to view your interesting videos. I appreciate you!

Recently I’ve been trying to get into the habit of thinking before I speak because I noticed that when I stumbled over a word many people are quick to interject criticism even if I correct myself mid sentence… Sometimes it feels like people are actively looking for passive aggressive ways to insult one another but I’m not sure if this is a recent phenomenon. Interestingly enough I also realized that it’s usually the idiots who are quick to call you stupid if they fail to understand you. Generally I try not to call out faux pas but it pisses me off to no end when these people don’t treat me with the same respect.

Dr Grande, thank you for helping me understand.

Your channel is seriously addicting haha thank you for creating your content! I find it all very fascinating

I’ve watched hundreds of your videos, and this is one of the best.

A special thanks to you, Dr. T. YOU ROCK! Your videos are always insight and knowledgeable.

Had me remembering someone saying that ppl who say, “You know what I mean?” during conversation was a sign of narcissism.

I really like how you say that there’s too much focus on being perfect. And basically just focus on telling the story the way you want to tell it. I have memory loss and it does make story telling difficult. It can be embarrassing...but what you said is empowering. I love it :)

The Dr. has an obvious ability to articulate relatively complex facts, theories etc. in a manner that a layman can understand. I would appreciate examples of language commonly used by psychopaths. An actual interview with a psychopath with the Dr.s' commentary would be very helpful. Great presentation!

I've looked at these studies and your summary of them is spot on.

Hey there Dr. Grande! Thanks again! You are appreciated!

I love it, you are so balanced and even, seemingly, which I believe is so!

Such a wonderful video explanation, Dr Grande, thank you!

Thank you, I found your videos helpful and informative as always. This one resonates closer to home, the narc near me uses uh & uhmm & well all the time on a daily basis not only to buy time but also to make up lies as they go. 100% true! A very good indicator in addition to their sociopathic/psychopathic behaviors. Well done doctor.

I feel there is so much information here that I will need to re watch these lectures. Thank you for interesting information.

Good stuff, Doc. I'm getting a lot to think about from your vids. Thanks

Excellent discussion, the idea of controlled conversation, using delays often unconsciously, but for the psychopathic personality, a clever weapon and tool... thanks for the presentation

I love that you said I’d rather hear an authentic message than one where you attempt to be perfect! I was upset over my use of disfluencies in my videos bc I was nervous about camera rolling and silence. I think they are both a result of thinking and to signal a delay, although I hadn’t considered that before.

Giving specific examples of the various ideas and theories would be highly helpful.

Association between linguism and psychiatry is very interesting, your academic videos are truly enriching my knowledge and everybody’s knowledge, Thanks doctor to share and spread it is very generous of you ! Happy Christmas god bless 💐

Fantastic informational videos! Extremely well presented! Thank you. 👍🏽❤️

Insightful as always, Dr. Grande. Thank you for your videos.

The very few people I was skeptical about having higher psychopathic traits really didn’t use many “filler” words. They were very deliberate about the words they chose and when they chose to speak. That’s just my personal experience.

Are there more of the Dark Triad, now, than say 50 or 70 years ago. And is it the the culture that turns us into these things, and to what degree 🤔

That was a sound rational presentation on this topic.Glad you identified the limitations of potential inferences based on studies of personality disorders like psychopathy made on prisoners .Especially if based on a subset of murders, particularly if having been incarcerated over a decade. Being incarcerated for a decade in that setting would alter anyone.

what a brilliant video, good idea! practical too. thanks for making this for us!

Dr.Todd Grande ..u Rock !! I really Love hearing u Talk ..U r so Incredibly Intelligent ..educating me .. Thanks !!!!

I took the time to browse through the second study. While discovering psychopathy from language does hold plausibility, it is horribly flawed in various ways. And, more importantly, It is likely that some individuals may be able to diagnose psychopathy by language to some extent. However, to obtain a diagnosis of psychopathy purely from language is a skill that must be accomplished with careful training. Also, to discover psychopathy purely on language is entirely unheard of as it takes multiple diagnoses from multiple professionals with various skillsets. This is ensuring that diagnosis cannot be accomplished by purely language. The logic follows that it is possible to discover psychopathy by these means, but interpretation of literature is important. Not only must we interpret well but distinguish findings as a small part of the puzzle. From what I read, the second study does well in explaining such findings as a small piece of this puzzle. Kudos to Dr. Grande for helping to facilitate this understanding well. I love the work that you do! It is appreciated!

Over all the years I'm so glad that you're on KZfaq with me being 64' I've studied so many people around me during and I'm not perfect but listening to you has helped me in more ways and one. Fake from real it's scary somewhat but again you've have hit on the nail I believe I was right.

Dr. Todd Grande, congrats on hitting one million subscribers and best of wishes in the future.

Excellent insight as always! I appreciate how much you've been adding to the body of knowledge of psychopathy. I find the matter of disfluencies or in communications parlance as "filler words" to be very interesting. Any trained or self-aware speaker can easily purge them from their lexicon - they can be replaced simply with a pause. Removing them doesn't take away from expressing oneself, and they are often seen as distracting and can reduce a speaker's credibility. (I've worked in public speaking and media training, so I'm VERY aware of them). A smart and motivated psychopath I would likely think would want to have that "polish" and not perpetuate using language filled with disfluencies. I can see how they as expressions can provide insight into the speaker's thinking/reasoning, but like many behaviors, they can easily be masked. So focusing on disfluencies could be a red herring. Question: I know there is a lot of attention on the "psychopathic stare" and various changes in the eyes (e.g. "psychopathic rage" and eyes turning "black"). I've also heard indications of eye movements might be associated with psychopathy, that may indicate lying, congnative dissonance, etc. I have my own personal ideas and observations, but don't know what has been studied. There's a lot of unscientific content on psychopaths and eyes. If you have any insight on eye movement and attributes indicative of psychopathy I think it would be very valuable.

I've studied communication sciences and disorders for 16 years. I appreciate your video. Reminds me of some Chomsky. Saving for more views and processes. Much respect.

*** My Father tends to use alot more 'ums' and 'ah's - to the point, that Sentance / Phrase Interpretation is difficult. Sometimes to the point, where One CANCELS OUT the other. = Other than that --- I'm happy to of ran across this video.

Very interesting information. This is definitely a video worth saving . . . like many of Dr. Grande’s videos.

Sometimes the pause to think of a word is simply age related hesitation, trying to remember the word or o phrase.

an interesting fact is that psyhopaths are actually really damn good at knowing other people's emotions but do not have affective empathy. some pro-social psychopaths know what someone else is feeling better then the actual person feeling the emotions but the psychopath doesn't care about it and do not relate to it but have learned how to mimic it.

I agree Dr. Grande. I wish to have been able to watch this video a lot sooner. It may have saved me a lot of trouble instead when taking the advice of a volunteer client who happened to be related to me who said that I should avoid disfluencies when being taped for any school assignment. What I have learned from it all the hard way is that I need to work on when I am chosing to be influnced by advice after being given clear directions on how to do things who knows what they are doing better than me.

I used to use 'disfluencies' all the time when giving presentations, particularly in Q&A. It took me a long time to understand this and I really wanted to improve because I believe that these interruptions significantly decrease the quality of my presentations. I finally figured out that it was because in my mind I was trying to process several things at once: what I had just said, what I was about to say and trying to absorb visual feedback from the audience or trying to rephrase in accordance with the listeners' expectations. I finally figured it out when I was trying to function in a second language in a work environment and then it became very clear and helped me a lot.

12:40 OMG YES That's definitely why I started using them in the first place. I use them much more prominently when I feel like I'm about to get interrupted, they practically disappear in therapy for instance because I don't expect the therapist to interrupt me. I don't know if it's the case for everyone but I hate getting interrupted and that definitely influences this Edit: I happen to have ADHD. Not sure if it plays a part, but I tend to need long pauses when I get distracted, and silence is something people often interpret as you running out of ideas, which I tend to signal by staring at the other person instead of looking away while I think

Thank you for uploading this video, I found it very interesting to hear about your views on the topic as mentioned above.To a certain extent I like this representation put forward. Having grown up with a psychopath perhaps malignant in terms of the traits being displayed, but I am not by any means an expert but I gained a HUGE range of insight into this type of personality literally over a very long period of time, so it may be useful to share. I noticed many things and I'm still learning much more. For example, I think it's fair to mention firstly the statement about no individual with psychopathic tendencies can be the same but something that does stand out a lot from my hands on experience dealing with this is the grander characteristics like how they are tending to be seen as the only ultimate superior of authority and they always enjoy being seen as ever so intelligent but when compared to other intellectuals the truth is different in the way it has never any real shape or form of positivity, drive or real facts- their intellectualism is their art of fogging or gas lighting. Through really experiencing the behaviour of a malignant psychopath I can safely describe it as horrific violent rages, episodes of mania with pschyosis state of mind- a truely dangerous encounter like as in a switch has been flipped. Its true when given high risk assessments of the environment I was in, psychopaths enjoy knifes showing the display, torturing pets or threatening more. It's honestly very scary moments that I think back to but it's as if they are still the child acting in an adult body playing maybe something they have never been able to grow out of or shift away . However, the weird thing is they won't accept professional help because to them it is who they are and you can choose to accept it. I agree with the findings on emotional empathy. As an empathist myself, the behaviour to which they manifest is odd as to how they always have no emotional integrity. Words such as sorry isn't in their vocabulary or remorse or guilt but they live for warm bodies to feed upon. Have you seen how something good happens they say negative feedback when really they want to mean positivity (reversal of language)... I could go on. Hope this helps.

You're absolutely right about there being an increase in narcissism.

Blood thats me right there i really appreciate for you to take your time and help people known about their my issue's keep up the great work

Man, these are the kinds of videos you should be doing.

12:48 "when they know there is a delay coming..." *advertisement starts playing* Nice one! 😆 But judging people on their way of speaking is quite 'dangerous', I think there's a big risk of inducing prejudgements... My mother constantly tries to attack my choice of words and that of my father, he's got a short temper since she started to act like that. Living with them is like walking across a minefield while being questioned in court 24/7... glad I got out of there. It costs a lot of energy to constantly overthink how to say things so that there's no way for her to negatively interpret it.

I like how you said it couldn't be used to detect 🙏 . Many posters shared examples. It may be a small part of a larger body of evidence thats helps point to a diagnosis in the furture, not a stand alone demarcater. Thank you for sharing the study with us. Please keep us abreast of any fine tuning in future. Another great video. 👍👍👍👍😎👍🐶

I appreciate your in depth critique. The relationship between personality and Language is far too complex to be detected by human brain in real time.

This is a very interesting video. Maslow's theories and the hierarchy are extremely important in my line of work, education in general, as are Mager's objectives. Using frequency of words as a descriptor is, as Dr. Grande implied, questionable. The frequency would depend on the size and sophistication of the person's vocabulary as well as on age, social class, language(s) spoken, and other factors. For example, I am old and have to check more frequently for errors when typing, I have also been a professor and have to try to not write far too much, to not use jargon and to be clear and concise rather than pompous, technical, philosophical or flowery. The disfluency explanation is problematic, as both uses exist. It can also be related to the other factors I mentioned above. For example, I have, on occasion, had someone I was speaking to look at me intently and then proclaim, "You're a professor." The workers in the sandwich shop I patronized took to calling me "The Professor," and telling undecided customers, "The Professor recommends...." I never told them I was a professor, and tried to tell them that I wasn't. The language one uses is often an identifiable label, so one might as well be carrying a sign. I've been told that I seldom use disfluency. As far as expression in sociopaths, psychopaths and others, perhaps Dr. Grande could analyze Donald Trump's odd sentence construction and the extremely odd sign language that accompanies his speech. The hand gestures appear to be a series of Q's and K's.

Good quality work!!. There are little psicologists talking seriously about these damaging beings!!. For spanish speaking people there are even less good information!. Best regards from Spain!!.

Hey Dr. I like your cautiousness with this topic. It’s an interesting topic maybe a correlation study is better than one with pvalues. I would like to add some thoughts: 1.literacy levels of offenders so they can’t use more detail or sophisticated words to express themselves? 2. Narcissist and control the space behaviour you mention, so fillers keep them in control of the discussion; 3. General nervousness and so we reach for simple words to utter in heightened cognitive load moment-letting someone break your thought process while you’re talking is a defence simple mechanism we use to stop interruptions?; 3. Guilt factor of those who did something wanting to slow investigation by trying to distance themselves with past/3rd person words; confuse thought process of those asking questions (delay so can get off topic?) so they want to move on out of frustration? I enjoy your work. All the best.

I believe that it is universally a combination of all three theories, but I definitely agree that disfluencies are more intentional than subconscious. I also believe that when they are subconscious, they are used more out of nervousness. I don't believe that they are more frequently used for showcasing a conversation. I've also been told by many that I tend to believe that most people have good intentions even when they don't. Very interesting argument and I appreciate learning from Dr. Grande's videos. Thank you for what you do for everyone here!! ☺️

When he's using the various phrases too often for example: "Like I said."

of course language can be used to figure out a persons thinking. it is a direct reflection of it.

growing up in my house, I was taught to speak somewhat formally and it didn't really mesh at all when it came to speaking to other people in a casual setting. So i had spent some time retraining myself to speak more casually. I also picked up some likes, uhs and ums in the process.

I've always liked disfluencies because it shows a person is giving some thought to their words.

Chis watts comes to mind. His interviews on the day of his crimes. He used “like”...countless times!

Thanks my friend Todd the big

A pattern I have noticed among several 'empathically-challenged' people, including at least one actual sociopath, is the recurring failure to verbally provide context, e.g. switching topics, thoughts or the subject of consecutive sentences without notice, or starting out of the blue with like sentence #4 of what should have been a 5-sentece 'story' or explanation; and then, when being asked for clarification, being baffled about me not naturally sharing their (strange) thought/association process and having a hard time to see what information they would have needed to provide to give another person a chance to follow. Also, the failure to sometimes answer even very simple questions, basically ignoring what information I just told them I need and instead answering a question they just associate with my words, like 'At what time will we meet?' - 'Before we meet, I will be doing X, that's why.'

Dr. Todd. I would like to enlighten you on this subject if I may. The first thing I would like to bring to the forefront is that your research was based on incarcerated subjects. The reason, in my mind, is most psychopaths refuse therapy. They believe nothing is wrong with them. Another is that the one’s in prison, according to Maslow hierarchy, are not “self actualized” They don’t know what they really are, which makes them “inferior” to the ones who know exactly what they are. Also their environment effects the outcome of the theory. The imprisoned psychopaths are more focused on their basic physical needs due to that fact that:1) they can be taken away or not supplied at all. Ex. Predatory inmates and unethical guards 2) The fear of uncontrolled events that would inhibit the supply to the prison. Ex. Natural or man made disasters etc. I know disfluencies are a biological process called “cognitive recall” Especially with the subject matter inquired about, Murder. Not only are they trying to relate the experience, they are reliving it in their heads. Their senses are again feeling and seeing the event play out. The dominance, the feeling of being superior, having all the control. Feeling like GOD in determining life and death. So their speech is fragmented with disfluencies as they remember such a extraordinary time in their lives. In my opinion, if you want to detect a psychopath based on linguistic capabilities, look for the use of “big” or “uncommon” words. The tone of the voice, threatening or condescending. The subject matter and description of such. Also test them on what they remember about you personally if this is not your first encounter with the individual. Watch their facial expressions and body language. Most importantly, your own “gut” feeling, your instincts, will inform you that your in the vicinity of a predator. Then again, what do I know? I’m labeled as having a personality and mental disorder..........Muhahahaha!

I knew a psychopath who was well spoken. However, he would screw up a few words. Example is he wouldnt say " the engine in my car blew up. " instead, he would say " the engine in my car blowed up. " He also was Mr. Ummmm. Great video. Thank you!

Very informative talk about disfluencies, especially(for me anyways) the, not wanting to be vs. the wanting, to be interrupted and meta looking at how you come across. Its funny how the Japanese language does the opposite by voicing sounds/word like ee and so ka to indicate that even though your sentence is long, they are still with you. For as much as I can understand what you are saying; between murderers, you can pick out the psychopaths by their use of disfluencies. But using them does not make you a psychopath.. makes total sense. Thank you. You are very good at thinking these things through(no pun intended). You should consider doing something with this skill (pun =)). Highest regards, Mac

I absolutely agree that the focal point of this research doesn't really account for a multitude of other reasons for dysfluencies, or fillers. For example a person who experiences anxiety may have more dysfluency in their speech, they may be less confident, they may be distracted (dual processes, e.g. stereotype threat), they may have a smaller vocabulary or their cognition could be impaired. There are so many reasons this could happen, but correlation is not causation. Linguistic style is also really important. Boris Johnson uses many fillers in his speech for example.

I find people seem to say "um" as a habit. I used to say it all the time, but I forced myself to stop. I hadn't thought about disfluencies being used as a way to stop other people from cutting in to what they're saying. That does make sense, though.

Great video as always, I agree that dysfluencies themselves are an unrealiable marker for psychopathy. I also agree that its a dangerous trend linked to perfectionism.

Imagine running an experiment with subjects not using their native language. Interesting the effects, if any, of a learned second language. Difficult to set up but may yield in testing results.

Omg yes when you said buy time to appear appropriate ! Yes the psychopathic narcissistic person I was involved with would talk slow- long withdrawn sentences. Use um and uh , so etc and sort of have a stutter but not really a stutter . And yes I could never pinpoint what it was , but now you said it . He was buying time to think of what he needed to say to appear a certain way - or scheme. Amazing !! Yet he had this social glib- tongue and cheek especially in texts. Written words would seem so carefully crafted to appear charming . This person was not a murderous psych / narc . He always stalled every time he spoke - like very aware of what he was saying .

Thank you for bringing home the Ummm Uhhhh 's as a delay/stall tactic to get story straight. I've wondered about this for some time.

Chris watts and Nicole kessinger use the word like and they love themselves