Robert Hare (psychologist) - Research

Research

Hare has spent more than 35 years researching psychopathy and is the developer of the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R), and a co-author of its derivatives, the Psychopathy Checklist: Screening Version (PCL:SV), the P-Scan, the Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version (PCL:YV), and the Antisocial Process Screening Device (APSD). He is also a co-author of the Guidelines for a Psychopathy Treatment Program. The Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised, with demonstrated reliability and validity, is rapidly being adopted worldwide as the standard instrument for researchers and clinicians.

The PCL-R and PCL:SV are strong predictors of recidivism, violence and response to therapeutic intervention. They play an important role in most recent risk-for-violence instruments. The PCL-R was reviewed in Buros Mental Measurements Yearbook (1995), as being the "state of the art" both clinically and in research use. In 2005, the Buros Mental Measurements Yearbook review listed the PCL-R as "a reliable and effective instrument for the measurement of psychopathy" and is considered the 'gold standard' for measurement of psychopathy.

Hare's book Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go to Work (2006), co-authored with Paul Babiak, is a study of the disruptions caused when psychopaths enter the workplace. The book focuses on what Hare refers to as the "successful psychopath." These psychopaths are generally not criminals but are highly successful in the corporate world.

Hare was involved in a controversy in 2010 in which he threatened legal action over a critical psychology paper that he claimed misrepresented his views. The paper eventually was published after a three-year delay.