Women are attracted to psychopathic men because of their confident and smooth-talking ways, according to scientists.

When women were told to rate men on short videos they made, researchers found the best-ranked men were also those who scored highest on psychopath tests.

The disturbing tendencies made men more likely to be confident, to be at ease with themselves, or to 'know the right things to say,' the scientists said.

Psychopathic men were found to be charming – or at least capable of pretending to be – so they could get what they wanted, which made them attractive.

Patrick Bateman in American Psycho (pictured, Cristian Bale as him in the movie) is a psychopath who is a seductive murderer

'Psychopathic men have a personality style that makes them appear attractive to women in dating encounters,' said PhD student Kristopher Brazil, from Brock University in Canada.

He told the psychology news website Psypost: 'This may be because they are extra confident or feel at ease or know exactly what to say to get the attention of women.

'Psychopathic individuals may use their charm and exciting personality to elicit trust and desire, but their ultimate goal seems to be selfish pleasure.

'The old cliché of getting to know someone well may be one maxim to live by to protect oneself from getting into a relationship with a psychopathic individual.'

In his research Mr Brazil recruited 46 men to produce two-minute videos of themselves to be shown to prospective romantic partners.

They were interviewed by a female research assistant in the clips, and spoke about what they'd do on a first date or what they looked for in a relationship.

The same men were then tested to measure whether they had psychopathic personality traits, and to gauge their social intelligence and their views on sex.

A group of 108 women then watched the videos and rated the men on their attractiveness in general, how sexy they thought they were, and their confidence.

Mr Brazil found that the higher a man scored on the psychopathy test, in general, the more attractive he was considered to be by the women.

He said that, in prison, psychopathic individuals were particularly good at seducing guards but were also among some of the most violent inmates.

In his paper, published in the journal Evolutionary Psychological Science, he wrote: 'In the landscape of individuals looking for romantic relationships, there may be sexual “sneakers” or “mimics” who appear attractive and desirable by mate choice standards yet have underlying dispositions that indicate a deceptive and loosely committed orientation.'

The researchers said that, in prison, psychopathic individuals were particularly good at seducing guards but were also among some of the most violent inmates (Pictured: Cristian Bale as suave murderer Patrick Bateman in American Psycho)

WOULD YOU KNOW HOW TO SPOT A PSYCHOPATH? Psychopaths display different traits depending on their disorder. Common signs include superficial charm, a grandiose notion of self-worth, the need for stimulation and impulsiveness, pathological lying, the ability to manipulate others and a lack of remorse and empathy. But despite the popular association, not all psychopaths become killers. Experts claim people usually find psychopaths intriguing, but can't put their finger on why. This is down to incongruous behaviour because psychopaths tend to do a lot of acting to deceive, or mimic normal reactions, sometimes changing their views and reactions quickly. For example, Self-professed psychopath Jacob Wells said that upon meeting someone, he tries to become 'the most interesting person they know' and presumably adopts suitable interests and responses to do this. His response also gives away another common trait - a grandiose notion of self-worth - in that he can be the most interesting person in the room. Psychopaths occasionally tend to exhibit unconvincing emotional responses, with slip-ups including tone of voice or body language. This may be because they are unable to understand emotions such as fear and love, but can mimic them. Psychopaths display different traits depending on their disorder, but common signs include superficial charm and the ability to manipulate others. Despite the popular association, not all psychopaths become killers (stock image) Generally psychopaths' 'emotions' are shallow and short-lived and there is a manipulative ulterior motive to showing them. For example, Mr Wells said he offers to do favours and tells false secrets to people to gain their complete trust. He also displays insincere charm - another trait associated with psychopaths. He says: 'I keep secrets, and tell them fake secrets to further gain their trust, and once they trust me enough, I ask for favours, reminding them of the favours I did them. I can get literally anything from them, which is incredibly useful.' Psychopaths typically display an incredible ability to manipulate others and sometimes take pleasure in doing so. Psychopaths often have an air of superiority about them, perhaps shown by Mr Wells' belief he can spot other psychopaths Even expert Dr Hare, who came up with the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) used as a diagnostic tool to determine where someone lies on the psychopathy spectrum, warns that anyone can be duped during a short interaction with a psychopath. Advertisement

What he found adds to past research which has suggested psychopathic traits can give individuals an evolutionary advantage.

Scientists from Serbia found in 2017 that prisoners who scored higher on psychopathy tests tended to have more children than those who scored lower.

They said the manipulative traits psychopaths embody made them more likely to be successful at finding partners to have sex with.

Mr Brazil said understanding these traits – over-confidence and always saying the right things, for example – could help people spot potentially dangerous partners.

He added: 'More research needs to be done on this, but whatever the reason, our research shows that psychopathic traits certainly don’t seem "disordered".

'There is something in this personality style that may provide individual benefits, which makes us think it is not a disorder.'