Can Twitter tell if you’re a psychopath?

You probably have at least a few people on your Twitter or Facebook friends list that you'd consider "crazy," and a new study by Florida Atlantic University and the Online Privacy Foundation says you might be right. According to the researcher's results, simply using certain words in your daily tweets may be enough to determine if you have psychopathic tendencies.

The study apparently tallies the frequency with which you use words like "bury," "die," and "kill," and weighs that data against other, unspecified warning signs. After putting 3,000 volunteers through the filter — and then questioning each one individually — the researchers found that 1.4 percent of those who participated may be closet psychopaths.

Of course, having certain words in your Twitter vocabulary certainly seems like a rather flimsy way to help diagnose something as serious as psychopathic tendencies, and the scientists are quick to point out that the results may not be perfect. That's probably an understatement.

[via CNET]

This article was written by Mike Wehner and originally appeared on Tecca

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