The proposed methodology is significant, since previous studies of psychopaths have primarily focused on institutionalized populations. The recruitment procedure incorporated the characteristics of psychopathy into an advertisement which was placed in the classified section of a major Boston counterculture newspaper. Twenty-three males and five females responded to the ad. The median age of the subjects was 25.7. Subjects were assessed with the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, the Porteus Maze Test, a questionnaire battery (including introversion, neuroticism, empathy, socialization, and Machiavellianism scales), a delay-of-gratification task, and a biographical interview. Since the sample met a range of criteria often associated with psychopathy, the recruitment method was apparently successful in locating noninstitutionalized psychopaths. The methodology should permit the investigation of the more "successful" psychopath who may be arrested frequently but is rarely convicted (this was true of this sample). The inclusion of noninstitutionalized persons in studies of psychopaths will enable researchers to distinguish between characteristics rooted in psychopathy and those attributable to the experience of institutionalization. 5 tables and 32 references