tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/psychopath-18990/articlesPsychopath – The Conversation2023-02-08T13:42:40Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1923162023-02-08T13:42:40Z2023-02-08T13:42:40ZHere’s what to do when you encounter people with ‘dark personality traits’ at work<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508142/original/file-20230203-14078-gedpau.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1000%2C569%2C4133%2C2848&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Keeping your eyes and ears open can keep you from falling for the antics of a dark personality.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/young-businesswoman-sitting-in-cubicle-high-section-royalty-free-image/200495922-001">Noel Hendrickson/DigitalVision via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Have you ever suffered through tales of greatness from a self-absorbed “friend” who reminds you of Michael Scott from “The Office” – and not in a good way? Have you been betrayed by a colleague out of the blue, undermined on a project by the office mean girl, or had a work friendship dropped altogether without explanation?</p>
<p>If any of these scenarios sound familiar, you may have been dealing with someone who has what psychologists term a “dark personality.” These people score higher on three socially undesirable traits: narcissism, psychopathy and Machiavellianism.</p>
<p>As an organizational scholar, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=O6GMV30AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">I’ve spent years studying personality traits</a> in the context of the sales profession. In recent work, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=fP64fToAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra">my colleagues</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=3JMMd3sAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">and I focused</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=-8Rz4qMAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">on the ways</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/00222429221113254">people with these dark personalities succeed</a> in sales organizations and the social factors that allow them to extend their successful tenures. Based on our research, here’s a primer on these antagonistic personality types – and how you can unmask examples you encounter in your everyday life.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508143/original/file-20230203-12714-kjwewj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="man stands soaking in applause from people around conference table" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508143/original/file-20230203-12714-kjwewj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508143/original/file-20230203-12714-kjwewj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508143/original/file-20230203-12714-kjwewj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508143/original/file-20230203-12714-kjwewj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508143/original/file-20230203-12714-kjwewj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508143/original/file-20230203-12714-kjwewj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508143/original/file-20230203-12714-kjwewj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A narcissist is always first in line to compliment himself.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/multi-ethnic-businesspeople-having-meeting-royalty-free-image/79214499">Jon Feingersh Photography Inc/DigitalVision via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Defining the dark personalities</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/a0016338">Narcissists</a> have the most familiar type of dark personality. They aren’t shy about letting you know exactly how highly they think of themselves. At work, you might find the narcissist bragging about their superior sales skills, even though their performance <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/00222429221113254">isn’t much better than the average salesperson</a>. Conservative estimates of narcissism in the <a href="https://doi.org/10.4088/jcp.v69n0701">general population fall around 6.2%</a>. </p>
<p>While narcissistic behavior can be annoying, it’s usually more tolerable than what the other two dark traits tend to serve up. </p>
<p>Functional – meaning noncriminal – psychopaths are particularly disturbing. Psychologists estimate they <a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/snakes-in-suits-paul-babiakrobert-d-hare?variant=39689396617250">comprise up to 4% of the general population</a>. Psychopaths have no qualms about <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2009.02.005">exploiting others</a> for their own benefit. Stubbornly antisocial, functional psychopaths generally have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/a0025679">little empathy for others</a>. They’re more concerned about “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/s0092-6566(02)00505-6">getting theirs” by any means necessary</a>. Psychopaths are quick to deflect blame and throw others under the bus, even if it means <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2014.06.038">telling lies</a>.</p>
<p>With their impulsive tendencies, psychopaths are prone to telling lies for no particular reason at all. If you find yourself in a group water-cooler conversation and hear someone telling lies that don’t seem to serve any purpose, you might have stumbled on a functional psychopath.</p>
<p>In the workplace, at first a psychopath may seem charming. But eventually you’ll likely find yourself either questioning their motivations, or becoming a victim of their destructive behavior. Though they can be harder to identify than narcissists with their nonstop bragging, psychopaths’ egregious behavior tends to unmask them in the end. </p>
<p>Machiavellians are the most prevalent of the dark personalities, estimated to be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/pas0000784">about 16% of the population</a>. They get their name from Italian Renaissance statesman <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Niccolo-Machiavelli">Nicolo Macchiavelli</a>, who believed the ends could justify immoral means. Less annoying than narcissists, less abrasive than functional psychopaths, Machiavellians are more subtle in the pursuit of their agendas. They forge ahead regardless of ethical considerations. Like lions, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0092-6566(02)00505-6">Machiavellians seem benevolent</a>, watching their prey from afar – until they strike. They’re adept at playing the long game – it’s their stealth, patience and subtle manipulation that make them a particularly dangerous dark personality.</p>
<p>Compared with a psychopath’s unnecessary lies, you’re more likely to overhear the Machiavellian in the group <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2014.06.038">telling little white lies</a> that are strategically designed to further a future agenda. For example, you might hear them flattering the colleague you happen to know will be getting a big bonus in the near future – the Machiavellian may be strategically laying the groundwork for being invited to help them spend it. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508144/original/file-20230203-13410-mzpn5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="two warehouse workers with a pallet truck" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508144/original/file-20230203-13410-mzpn5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508144/original/file-20230203-13410-mzpn5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508144/original/file-20230203-13410-mzpn5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508144/original/file-20230203-13410-mzpn5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508144/original/file-20230203-13410-mzpn5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508144/original/file-20230203-13410-mzpn5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508144/original/file-20230203-13410-mzpn5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Someone with a dark personality may be happy to take sole credit for work to which you contributed.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/man-warehouse-workers-pulling-a-pallet-truck-with-royalty-free-image/993650090">Halfpoint Images/Moment</a></span>
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<p>In short, targets of dark personalities likely find narcissists to be conspicuously and irritatingly self-centered, but generally innocuous. Psychopaths are less obvious in their bad behavior, but their transgressions can be quite severe. Machiavellians are less in-your-face than narcissists, and their nefarious actions are likely to be less severe than those of psychopaths. In the long run, though, a Machiavellian can leave you reeling from an unexpected betrayal to benefit their personal agenda.</p>
<p>As you consider these dark traits and how they show up in interpersonal relationships, you might sense a spark of recognition. Here are five tips for avoiding dark personalities in your own life or minimizing the harm they cause.</p>
<h2>1. Don’t fall for first impressions</h2>
<p>Dark personalities are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550612461284">experts at making great first impressions</a>, drawing you in with humor and charisma. So, when you meet someone new, be wary of superficial appeal. Narcissists, with their tendency to talk themselves up, are the easiest to spot.</p>
<p>To identify the others, ask questions about past relationships and listen carefully for clues about who this person really is. Because dark personalities are almost always unmasked in the end, they’re less likely to have long-standing friendships – an absence they may explain away by faulting others.</p>
<p>Just be mindful not to overcorrect and ditch a potential new work friend based only on first impressions, either.</p>
<h2>2. Share your own (bad) experiences</h2>
<p>When you encounter a dark personality and the outcome is unpleasant, you might feel embarrassed for allowing yourself to be fooled or manipulated, or you might feel guilt or shame when you observe someone treating someone else badly. As a result, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/hrdq.21395">you might not want to talk about it</a>. Dark personalities exploit that reluctance because your silence helps keep hidden their “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/per.1893">core of darkness</a>” – the antagonistic traits that define them. </p>
<p>So to help unmask the dark personality and keep others from meeting the same fate, sharing your experience, with discretion, is critical.</p>
<h2>3. Manage up to clue bosses in</h2>
<p>Those with dark personalities are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/a0025679">good at carefully managing the impressions</a> they make on people in positions of power. So, at work, you can practice managing up to help your boss see the dark personality more clearly.</p>
<p>Share your experiences in a nongossipy way, such as expressing concern about incidents of incivility that you witnessed or requesting advice or guidance in dealing with a very boastful colleague who may be alienating prospects or customers. It may help your boss see through the facade and help you deal with the issue.</p>
<h2>4. Plug into your networks</h2>
<p>On the flip side, remember to also listen to others. To avoid falling into a manipulator’s web, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/00222429221113254">tap into the network of those around you</a> who share a link to the person in question. See if you can gather references regarding their behavior over the long term. Ideally, you can benefit from others’ knowledge, without having to learn the hard way. </p>
<h2>5. Be aware of your own biases</h2>
<p>Don’t underestimate the strength of a dark personality’s machinations. When someone shares a personal story of betrayal, be wary of thinking, “that would never happen to me!” Dark personalities are <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1177/147470491201000303">experts in manipulating situations to serve their interests</a>, and you may never notice you’re ensnared until it’s too late. Considering yourself too smart or savvy to ever find yourself in the same predicament is misguided.</p>
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<span class="caption">Keep discussions professional and focused on what’s making it hard for you to do your job.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/businesswomen-having-meeting-with-laptops-in-royalty-free-image/1128219622">Klaus Vedfelt/DigitalVision</a></span>
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<p>As you apply these tips in your life, you want to be wary of becoming an <a href="https://www.mindtools.com/blog/armchair-psychology-at-work/">armchair pscyhologist</a>. Anyone can have a bad day – and everyone has. Instead of diagnosing friends, partners and colleagues based on what you think might be their underlying personality traits, focus on any bad behaviors you personally witness, and respond to the actions – not what you think underlies them. Best leave that to the professionals.</p>
<p>If you are in charge of organizations or teams, consider having clear guidance and pathways of communication for individuals to report any concerning behavior they witness. By working together and sharing collective experiences, the rest of us can shine light on the workplace misdeeds of those with antagonistic personalities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/192316/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>I began this work while on faculty at Northeastern University, continued it while on faculty at the University of Connecticut, and completed the work at the University of New Hampshire. Research funding was provided as part of my employment contract at all entities, but not specifically for this work. Additionally, I currently serve as the Research Director for the UNH Sales Center at the Peter T. Paul College of Business and Economics at the University of New Hampshire.</span></em></p>Narcissists, psychopaths and Machiavellians, oh my. These antagonistic personality types can make life hard for the people around them. Here are five tips for how to deal with them at work.Cinthia Beccacece Satornino, Research Director at the UNH Sales Center and Assistant Professor of Marketing, University of New HampshireLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1814462022-04-21T12:16:49Z2022-04-21T12:16:49ZPsychopaths can feel emotions and can be treated – don’t believe what you see on crime shows<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458705/original/file-20220419-26-yhm67b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Who really is a psychopath?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/man-in-a-suit-removes-his-mask-royalty-free-image/1178499546?adppopup=true">Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>On any given day, millions of Americans curl up to watch their favorite crime shows. Whether it is “FBI” on CBS, “Dexter” on Showtime, “Mindhunter” on Netflix, “Killing Eve” on BBC, reruns of “Law & Order,” or any of a myriad of other similar shows, they draw huge audiences with their vivid portrayals of villains whose behaviors are perplexingly cruel. I’ll confess: I am part of that audience. My students even make fun of how much crime television I, a <a href="https://psychology.yale.edu/people/arielle-baskin-sommers">researcher who studies criminal behavior</a>, watch. </p>
<p>I justify some of my TV time as work, providing material for my undergraduate lecture course and for my seminars on the nature of the criminal mind. But I am also captivated by the characters in these dramas, despite – or because of – how unrealistic many of them are.</p>
<p>One of the most common character types on crime TV is the psychopath: the person who commits brutal murders, acts recklessly and sits stone-cold in front of law enforcement officers. Although the shows are obviously fiction, their plotlines have become familiar cultural touchstones. People watch Agent Hotchner on “Criminal Minds” label any character who is disturbingly violent as “someone with psychopathy.” They hear Dr. Huang on “Law & Order: SVU” refer to a youthful offender who hurt a young girl as “an adolescent with psychopathy” who he suggests is incapable of responding to treatment. </p>
<p>Such portrayals leave viewers with the impression that individuals with psychopathy are uncontrollably evil, unable to feel emotions, and incorrigible. But extensive research, including years of work in my own <a href="https://modlab.yale.edu/sites/default/files/files/BaskinSommersBrazil_2022_TiCS.pdf">lab</a>, demonstrates that the sensationalized conceptions of psychopathy used to drive those narratives are counterproductive and just plain wrong.</p>
<h2>What really is psychopathy</h2>
<p>Psychopathy is <a href="https://content.iospress.com/articles/restorative-neurology-and-neuroscience/rnn139001">classified by psychologists</a> as a personality disorder defined by a combination of charm, shallow emotions, absence of regret or remorse, impulsivity and criminality. About 1% of the general population meets the diagnostic criteria of psychopathy, a prevalence roughly twice that of schizophrenia. The exact causes of psychopathy have not been identified, but most scholars conclude that both <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41572-021-00282-1">genetics and environment</a> are contributing factors.</p>
<p>Psychopathy imposes a <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4059069/">high cost</a> on individuals and on society as a whole. People with psychopathy commit two to three times as much crime overall as others who engage in antisocial behavior and account for roughly 25% of the incarcerated population. They also commit new crimes after being released from incarceration or supervision at a <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16904507/">much higher rate</a> than other types of offenders. My colleagues and I have found that people with psychopathy tend to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2016.11.014">start using substances</a> at an earlier age and try more types of substances than others. There also is some evidence that people with psychopathy tend <a href="https://modlab.yale.edu/sites/default/files/files/Ch17.pdf">not to respond well</a> to conventional therapeutic strategies.</p>
<p>Reality is significantly more nuanced and encouraging than the grim media narratives. Contrary to most portrayals, psychopathy is not synonymous with violence. It is true that individuals with psychopathy are more likely to commit violent crime than are individuals without the disorder, but violent behavior is not a requirement for a diagnosis of psychopathy. Some <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0963721415580297?casa_token=TRBZMrNdOeoAAAAA:jCzxWTf_LAPfTE1xcsO2jacjRimMWju606w3VWol_8-3bSui8i283qwemOCPffphya1Ds0oTs0pESnM">researchers</a> argue that key traits of psychopathy are present in individuals who show no violent behavior but who tend toward impulsive and risky behaviors, take advantage of others and show little concern for the consequences of their actions. Those traits can be observed in politicians, CEOs and financiers.</p>
<h2>What the science says about psychopathy</h2>
<p>Many crime shows, as well as many mainstream news stories, associate psychopathy with a lack of emotion, particularly of fear or remorse. Whether a character is standing calmly over a lifeless body or giving the classic “psychopathic stare,” viewers are accustomed to seeing people with psychopathy as almost robotic. The belief that people with psychopathy are emotionless is widespread not only among laypeople but among psychologists as well. There is an element of truth here: Considerable <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315085470-8/getting-heart-psychopathy-christopher-patrick">research</a> has found that individuals with psychopathy exhibit a reduced ability to process emotions and to recognize the emotions of others. But my colleagues and I are finding evidence that individuals with psychopathy actually can identify and experience emotions under the right circumstances.</p>
<p>In my lab, we are conducting experiments that reveal a complex relationship between psychopathy and emotions. In one <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0956797610396227?casa_token=9QNubDoQZEEAAAAA:Upap-zjRRJ6R6Jifoh0SpCrxBd24D_MeLOJ-GU0m85eBjR1-sAhva_bKImgpGwccP2Pm9a1VVxx2GB4">study</a>, we examined the supposed lack of fear of individuals with psychopathy using a simple lab test. We showed a group of participants the letter “n” and colored boxes on a screen. Seeing a red box meant a participant might get an electric shock; green boxes meant that they would not. The color of the box therefore signaled a threat. As a brief aside, the shocks were not harmful, just slightly uncomfortable, and this study was approved by appropriate human subject protection review boards. On some trials, we asked the participant to tell us the color of the box (forcing them to focus on the threat). On other trials, we asked the participant to tell us the case of the letter (forcing them to focus on the nonthreat), although the box was still displayed. </p>
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<img alt="A head shot of Hannibel Lecter from Silence of the lambs" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458876/original/file-20220420-22-5zrq74.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458876/original/file-20220420-22-5zrq74.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458876/original/file-20220420-22-5zrq74.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458876/original/file-20220420-22-5zrq74.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458876/original/file-20220420-22-5zrq74.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458876/original/file-20220420-22-5zrq74.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458876/original/file-20220420-22-5zrq74.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Hannibal Lecter – was he a psychopath?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hannibal_Lecter_in_Silence_of_the_Lambs.jpg">Wikipedia va MGM Pictures</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>We could see that individuals with psychopathy displayed fear responses based on their <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0956797610396227?casa_token=9QNubDoQZEEAAAAA:Upap-zjRRJ6R6Jifoh0SpCrxBd24D_MeLOJ-GU0m85eBjR1-sAhva_bKImgpGwccP2Pm9a1VVxx2GB4">physiological</a> and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3806893/">brain</a> reactions when they had to focus on the shock threat. However, they showed a deficit in fear responses when they had to tell us the case of the letter and the box was secondary to that task. Evidently, individuals with psychopathy are capable of experiencing emotion; they just have a blunted emotional response when their attention is directed toward something else. This is an extreme version of the kind of processing we all do. In routine decision-making, we rarely focus explicitly on emotion. Rather, we use emotional information as a background detail that informs our decisions. The implication is that individuals with psychopathy have a kind of mental myopia: The emotions are there, but they are ignored if they might interfere with attaining a goal.</p>
<p>Research in my lab and in others has uncovered additional evidence that individuals with psychopathy are capable of experiencing and labeling emotions in the context of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/a0030958">observing emotional</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/per0000473">scenes</a> or <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/per0000473">faces</a>, the <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/1681369">pain</a> of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awt190">others</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1609985113">experiences of regret</a>. Here, too, individuals with psychopathy are able to process emotion when focusing on the emotion, but they display deficits when emotion is hard to detect or is secondary to their objective. </p>
<p>Many <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2018-14405-004">studies</a> have shown that individuals with psychopathy are great at using information and regulating their behavior if it is directly relevant to their objective; for instance, they can act charming and ignore emotions to con someone. But when information is beyond their immediate focus of attention, they often display impulsive behavior (such as quitting a job without a new one lined up) and egregious decision-making (such as seeking publicity for a crime while they are wanted by police). They have difficulty processing emotion, but unlike the common characters on television, they are not inherently coldblooded. The image of the fearless killer draws on an outdated scientific conception of psychopathy. Instead, it appears that people with psychopathy can access emotions – the emotional information just gets stifled by the focus on goals.</p>
<h2>Everyone can change</h2>
<p>One of the most damaging fallacies about psychopathy – in fiction, in the news and in some of the old scientific literature – is that it is a permanent, unchanging condition. This idea reinforces the compelling good-versus-evil trope, but the latest research tells a quite different story. </p>
<p>Traits of psychopathy naturally decrease over time for many young people, starting in late adolescence into adulthood. Samuel Hawes, a psychologist at Florida International University, and his collaborators <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2018.09.009">tracked more than 1,000 individuals</a> from childhood to adulthood, repeatedly measuring their traits of psychopathy. Although a small group showed persistently high levels of psychopathic traits, more than half of the boys who initially had high levels of those traits trended downward over time and no longer presented with them later in adolescence.</p>
<p>With proper intervention, the prospects for improvement get better. We are finding that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-criminol-030620-023027">youths with traits of psychopathy</a> and adults with psychopathy can change and respond to treatments that are tailored to their needs. Several studies have documented the effectiveness of <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41572-021-00282-1">specific treatments</a> designed to help youths learn to identify and respond to emotions. Parenting interventions that focuses on enhancing the emotional warmth of the caregiver and helping youths identify emotions seems to reduce symptoms and problematic behavior.</p>
<p>In a series of experiments, we have been investigating video games designed to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2167702614560744">train the brains</a> of individuals with psychopathy by helping them improve the way they integrate information. For example, we show a group of participants a face and instruct them to respond on the basis of the emotion they see and the direction in which the eyes are looking, coaching them to integrate all features of the face. Or we play a game in which we show participants a series of cards and see if they can pick up when we shift the rules, switching which one is a winning or losing card. The participants are not told when the shift will happen, so they have to learn to pay attention to subtle contextual changes as they go. Our preliminary data shows that lab-based tasks like these can change the brains and real-world behavior of individuals with psychopathy.</p>
<p>Such studies open the possibility of reducing the social and personal harm caused by psychopathy. I believe society needs to retire the myths that individuals with psychopathy are fundamentally violent, emotionless and incapable of change. </p>
<p>The behavior of individuals with psychopathy is fascinating – so much so that it does not need to be embellished to make for dramatic plotlines. We should work harder to aid individuals with psychopathy so that they can notice more information in their environment and use more of their emotional experience. Pop culture can help rather than hinder those goals. </p>
<p><em>A version of this article appears on <a href="https://www.openmindmag.org/">OpenMind</a>, a digital magazine tackling disinformation, controversies and deception in science.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181446/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Arielle Baskin-Sommers receives funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Institute of Justice (NIJ). </span></em></p>Cartoon villains on TV crime shows obscure the huge social and personal costs of psychopathy, as well as the encouraging new science that can help treat it.Arielle Baskin-Sommers, Assistant Professor of Psychology, Yale UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1787152022-03-16T12:07:24Z2022-03-16T12:07:24Z‘Dark empaths’: how dangerous are psychopaths and narcissists with empathy?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451885/original/file-20220314-17-ivtayz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=147%2C38%2C5013%2C3135&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">You may have psychopathic traits, too.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/woman-hair-covered-face-portrait-studio-1016735176">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>People with “dark personality traits”, such as psychopathy or narcissism, are more likely to be callous, disagreeable and antagonistic in their nature. Such traits exist on a continuum – we all have more or less of them, and this does not necessarily equate to being clinically diagnosed with a personality disorder. </p>
<p>Traditionally, people who are high in dark traits are considered to have <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00095/full">empathy deficits</a>, potentially making them more dangerous and aggressive than the rest of us. But we recently discovered something that challenges this idea. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191886920303615?via%3Dihub">Our study</a>, published in Personality and Individual Differences, identified a group of individuals with dark traits who report above-average empathic capacities – we call them “dark empaths”. </p>
<p>Since this study, the dark empath <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tl20Ke2Y58g">has earned a reputation</a> as the most dangerous personality profile. But is this really the case?</p>
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<p>Dark personality traits include psychopathy, machiavellianism and narcissism, collectively called the <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00467/full">“dark triad”</a>. More recently, it has been suggested that sadism be added, culminating in a <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/284274893_The_Dark_Tetrad">“dark tetrad”</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-a-psychopath-125660">Psychopathy</a> is characterised by a superficial charm and callousness. People high in such traits often show an erratic lifestyle and antisocial behaviour. <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00454/full">Machiavellianism</a> derives from the writings of <a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/machiavelli/">Niccolò Machiavelli</a>, a Renaissance author, historian and philosopher. He described power games involving deception, treachery and crime. Thus, machiavellianism refers to an exploitative, cynical and manipulative nature. <a href="https://theconversation.com/narcissists-theres-more-than-one-type-and-our-research-reveals-what-makes-each-tick-165636">Narcissism</a> is characterised by an exaggerated sense of entitlement, superiority and grandiose thinking, while <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-psychopaths-to-everyday-sadists-why-do-humans-harm-the-harmless-144017">sadism</a> denotes a drive to inflict and enjoy pain in others.</p>
<p>The dark traits, particularly psychopathy and machiavellianism, have been consistently associated with aggressive and anti-social behaviour.</p>
<h2>The empathy puzzle</h2>
<p>Empathy can refer to the capacity to share feelings, namely “affective empathy” (if you are sad, I also feel sad). But it can also be the ability to understand other people’s minds, dubbed “cognitive empathy” (I know what you think and why you are feeling sad). </p>
<p>For example, the lack of (specifically affective) empathy is a well documented hallmark in clinical psychopathy used to explain their often persistent, instrumental violent behaviour. Our own work supports the notion that one of the reasons people with dark traits hurt other people or have difficulties in relationships is an underpinning lack of empathy. </p>
<p>Paradoxically, however, some researchers have previously reported <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01316/full">average or even higher levels of some aspects of empathy</a> in some people with dark traits.</p>
<p>This makes sense in a way, as to manipulate others for your own gain – or indeed enjoy the pain of others – you must have at least some capacity to understand them. Thus, we questioned whether dark traits and empathy were indeed mutually exclusive phenomena. </p>
<h2>Dark empaths</h2>
<p>We asked almost 1,000 people to complete assessments, based on questionnaires, on the dark triad and empathy. We then used a method called <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001879120300701#:%7E:text=Latent%20profile%20analysis%20(LPA)%20is,a%20certain%20set%20of%20variables.">latent profile analysis</a> that allows you to establish clusters of people with different profiles of certain trait combinations.</p>
<p>As expected, we found a traditional dark triad group with low scores in empathy (about 13% of the sample). We also found a group with lower to average levels across all traits (about 34% were “typicals”) and a group with low dark traits and high levels of empathy (about 33% were “empaths”). However, the fourth group of people, the “dark empaths”, was evident. They had higher scores on both dark traits and empathy (about 20% of our sample). Interestingly, this latter group scored higher on both cognitive and affective empathy than the “dark triad” and “typical” groups. </p>
<p>We then characterised these groups based on measures of aggression, general personality, psychological vulnerability and wellbeing. The dark empaths were not as aggressive as the traditional dark triad group – suggesting the latter are likely more dangerous. Nevertheless, the dark empaths were more aggressive than typicals and empaths, at least on a measure of indirect aggression - that is, hurting or manipulating people through social exclusion, malicious humour and guilt-induction. Thus, although the presence of empathy was limiting their level of aggression, it was not eliminating it completely.</p>
<p>In line with this notion, empaths were the most “agreeable” (a personality trait showing how nice or friendly you are), followed by typicals, then dark empaths, and last dark triads. Interestingly, dark empaths were more extroverted than the rest, a trait reflecting the tendency to be sociable, lively and active. Thus, the presence of empathy appears to encourage an enjoyment of being or interacting with people. But it may potentially also be motivated by a desire to dominate them. </p>
<p>Moreover, dark empaths were a little higher in neuroticism, a type of negative thinking, but did not score higher on depression, anxiety or stress. Instead, their neuroticism may reflect sub-traits such as anger, hostility or self-doubt. Indeed, the dark empaths reported judging themselves more harshly than those with dark triad personalities. So it seems they may have a conscience, perhaps even disliking their dark side. Alternatively, their negative emotions may be a response to their self-loathing. </p>
<h2>Hidden dangers</h2>
<p>Though the aggression reported by the dark empaths was not as high as the traditional dark triad group, the danger of this personality profile is that their empathy, and likely resulting social skills, make their darkness harder to spot. We believe that dark empaths have the capacity to be callous and ruthless, but are able to limit such aggression. </p>
<p>It is worth noting, however, that those clinically diagnosed with an antisocial personality disorder (often showing excessive levels of dark traits), most certainly lack empathy and are dangerous predators – <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4059069/#:%7E:text=The%20psychopath%20has%20had%20and,in%20North%20American%20prison%20systems.">and many of them are in prison</a>. Our research is looking at people in the general population who have elevated levels of dark personality traits, rather than personality disorders.</p>
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<img alt="Image of a psychological support group." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451888/original/file-20220314-3190-hi5run.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451888/original/file-20220314-3190-hi5run.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451888/original/file-20220314-3190-hi5run.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451888/original/file-20220314-3190-hi5run.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451888/original/file-20220314-3190-hi5run.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451888/original/file-20220314-3190-hi5run.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451888/original/file-20220314-3190-hi5run.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Empathy may protect against aggression.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://shutterstock.com/image-photo/rear-view-upset-man-feel-pain-1477336778">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>We are continuing our quest to find out more about the characteristics of the dark empaths in relation to other psychological outcomes. For example, we are interested in their risk taking, impulsivity or physically aggressive behaviour. We also want to understand how they process emotions or facial expressions, or how they perceive and react to threats. </p>
<p>We are currently replicating and extending some of our findings using the dark tetrad instead. Our results are yet to be published, but indicate there are two further profiles in addition to the four groups we’ve already identified. One is an “emotionally internalised group”, with high levels of affective empathy and average cognitive empathy, without elevated dark traits. The other shows a pattern similar to autistic traits – particularly, low cognitive empathy and average affective empathy in the absence of elevated dark traits. </p>
<p>We are hoping this research may be able to shift our understanding of empathy in the context of the dark traits.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/178715/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Researchers used to believe people with ‘dark personalities’ had empathy deficits, but new research is challenging that.Nadja Heym, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, Nottingham Trent UniversityAlexander Sumich, Associate Professor of Psychology, Nottingham Trent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1440172020-09-24T12:30:16Z2020-09-24T12:30:16ZFrom psychopaths to ‘everyday sadists’: why do humans harm the harmless?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/359775/original/file-20200924-23-t6kffe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C18%2C3060%2C1940&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Some 6% of people are sadists.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/surprised-blue-eye-looking-on-surprise-134112665">Brian Goff/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Why are some humans cruel to people who don’t even pose a threat to them – sometimes even their own children? Where does this behaviour come from and what purpose does it serve?</em> Ruth, 45, London.</p>
<p>Humans are the glory and the scum of the universe, concluded the French philosopher, <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/352/35258/pensees/9780140446456.html">Blaise Pascal</a>, in 1658. Little has changed. We love and we loathe; we help and we harm; we reach out a hand and we stick in the knife. </p>
<p>We understand if someone lashes out in retaliation or self-defence. But when someone harms the harmless, we ask: “How could you?” </p>
<p>Humans typically do things to get pleasure or avoid pain. For most of us, hurting others causes us to feel their pain. And we don’t like this feeling. This suggests two reasons people may harm the harmless - either they <em>don’t</em> feel the others’ pain or they <em>enjoy</em> feeling the others’ pain.</p>
<p>Another reason people harm the harmless is because they nonetheless see a threat. Someone who doesn’t imperil your body or wallet can still threaten your social status. This helps explain otherwise puzzling actions, such as when people harm others who help them financially.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313328/original/file-20200203-41485-1foofme.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313328/original/file-20200203-41485-1foofme.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313328/original/file-20200203-41485-1foofme.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313328/original/file-20200203-41485-1foofme.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313328/original/file-20200203-41485-1foofme.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313328/original/file-20200203-41485-1foofme.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313328/original/file-20200203-41485-1foofme.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><strong><em>This article is part of <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/lifes-big-questions-80040?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=LifesBigQuestionsUK">Life’s Big Questions</a></em></strong>
<br><em>The Conversation’s new series, co-published with BBC Future, seeks to answer our readers’ nagging questions about life, love, death and the universe. We work with professional researchers who have dedicated their lives to uncovering new perspectives on the questions that shape our lives.</em></p>
<p>Liberal societies assume causing others to suffer <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5325/jnietstud.48.3.0402">means we have harmed them</a>. Yet some philosophers <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/179/179417/on-the-genealogy-of-morals/9780141195377.html">reject this idea</a>. In the 21st century, can we still conceive of being cruel to be kind?</p>
<h2>Sadists and psychopaths</h2>
<p>Someone who gets pleasure from hurting or humiliating others is a sadist. Sadists <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/1107454">feel other people’s pain more</a> than is normal. And <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/1107454">they enjoy it</a>. At least, they do until it is over, when they may <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167218816327">feel bad</a>. </p>
<p>The popular imagination associates sadism with torturers and murderers. Yet there is also the less extreme, but more widespread, phenomenon of <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0956797613490749">everyday sadism</a>.</p>
<p>Everyday sadists get pleasure from hurting others or watching their suffering. They <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1027/1015-5759/a000602">are likely to</a> enjoy gory films, find fights exciting and torture interesting. They are rare, but not rare enough. Around <a href="https://open.library.ubc.ca/cIRcle/collections/ubctheses/24/items/1.0369056#downloadfiles">6% of undergraduate students</a> admit getting pleasure from hurting others.</p>
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<img alt="Picture of a man from behind staring at a computer screen." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/359562/original/file-20200923-14-zjlxg5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/359562/original/file-20200923-14-zjlxg5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359562/original/file-20200923-14-zjlxg5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359562/original/file-20200923-14-zjlxg5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359562/original/file-20200923-14-zjlxg5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359562/original/file-20200923-14-zjlxg5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359562/original/file-20200923-14-zjlxg5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">On-line trolls may be everyday sadists.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/hacker-doing-his-crime-on-desktop-1148369792">Sander van der Werf/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>The everyday sadist may be an <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2014.01.016">internet troll</a> or a <a href="https://open.library.ubc.ca/cIRcle/collections/ubctheses/24/items/1.0369056#downloadfiles">school bully</a>. In online role-playing games, they are likely to be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2017.03.062">the “griefer”</a> who spoils the game for others. Everyday sadists are drawn to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2016.08.021">violent computer games</a>. And the more they play, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2016.08.021">the more sadistic they become</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/donald-trumps-use-of-humiliation-could-have-catastrophic-consequences-a-psychologist-explains-why-95690">Donald Trump's use of humiliation could have catastrophic consequences – a psychologist explains why</a>
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<p>Unlike sadists, psychopaths don’t harm the harmless simply because they get pleasure from it (though <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1999-10991-002">they may</a>). Psychopaths want things. If harming others helps them get what they want, so be it.</p>
<p>They can act this way because they are less likely to feel <a href="https://www.guilford.com/books/Psychopathy/Millon-Simonsen-Davis-Birket-Smith/9781572308640/contents">pity</a> or <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/lhb0000137">remorse</a> or <a href="https://acamh.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1469-7610.2010.02353.x?casa_token=PDPA2slOJv4AAAAA:UQoJZAXcyVCc5O8UybP56HCBxfTy3J460Cd2odO3h6pj1TdWbQdWeAlUSrWoisfXuyuagnkoCvEnK0Or">fear</a>. They can also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2012.01.008">work out what others are feeling</a> but not get infected by such feelings themselves.</p>
<p>This is a seriously dangerous set of skills. Over millennia, humanity has <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/530240/the-goodness-paradox-by-richard-wrangham/">domesticated itself</a>. This has made it difficult for many of us to harm others. Many who harm, torture or kill will be <a href="https://academic.oup.com/qjmed/article/111/2/73/4793224">haunted by the experience</a>. Yet psychopathy is a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ab.20238">powerful predictor</a> of someone inflicting unprovoked violence.</p>
<p>We need to know if we encounter a psychopath. We can make a good guess from simply looking at <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2011.09.002">someone’s face</a> or <a href="https://open.library.ubc.ca/cIRcle/collections/ubctheses/24/items/1.0369056#downloadfiles">briefly interacting with them</a>. Unfortunately, psychopaths know we know this. They fight back by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550612461284">working hard</a> on their clothing and grooming to try and make a good first impression.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Picture of a man in handcuffs." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/359636/original/file-20200923-20-mus1kc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/359636/original/file-20200923-20-mus1kc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359636/original/file-20200923-20-mus1kc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359636/original/file-20200923-20-mus1kc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359636/original/file-20200923-20-mus1kc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359636/original/file-20200923-20-mus1kc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359636/original/file-20200923-20-mus1kc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Not all psychopaths are criminals.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/handcuffs-376645498">Billion Photos/shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Thankfully, most people <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijlp.2009.01.002">have no psychopathic traits</a>. Only <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijlp.2009.01.002">0.5% of people</a> could be deemed psychopaths. Yet <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijlp.2009.02.008">around 8% of male and 2% of female prisoners</a> are psychopaths.</p>
<p>But not all psychopaths are dangerous. Anti-social psychopaths may seek thrills from drugs or dangerous activities. However, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2010.03.005">prosocial psychopaths</a> seek their thrills in the fearless pursuit of novel ideas. As innovations <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-tech-billionaires-visions-of-human-nature-shape-our-world-144016">shape our societies</a>, prosocial psychopaths can change the world for all of us. Yet this still can be for both good and for ill.</p>
<h2>Where do these traits come from?</h2>
<p>No one really knows why some people are sadistic. Some speculate sadism is an adaptation that <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17214016/">helped us slaughter animals when hunting</a>. Others <a href="http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160401-how-did-evil-evolve-and-why-did-it-persist">propose</a> it helped people gain power.</p>
<p>Italian philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/320841/the-portable-machiavelli-by-niccolo-machiavelli/">once suggested that</a> “the times, not men, create disorder”. Consistent with this, neuroscience suggests sadism could be a survival tactic triggered by times becoming tough. When certain foods become scarce, our levels of the neurotransmitter, serotonin, <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/320/5884/1739.full">fall</a>. This fall makes us <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1009396107">more willing to harm others</a> because <a href="https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2761-12.2013">harming becomes more pleasurable</a>. </p>
<p>Psychopathy <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00223980.2014.925845?casa_token=NRV1Px3QS0AAAAAA:HJJ4yG88C10Kpm9gUnXI3FUvFYSN4j5N2yAdUkB3yjz1g23eZYwNhGIcU4-APC0zPsI3cmFsdGMM6g">may also be an adaptation</a>. Some studies have linked higher levels of psychopathy to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/bsl.2038">greater fertility</a>. Yet others have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2018.05.017">found the opposite</a>. The reason for this may be that psychopaths have a reproductive advantage specifically in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s40806-017-0097-5">harsh environments</a>.</p>
<p>Indeed, psychopathy can thrive in unstable, competitive worlds. Psychopaths’ abilities make them master manipulators. Their impulsivity and lack of fear help them take risks and grab short-term gains. In the film Wall Street, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1556-4029.12359">the psychopathic Gordon Gekko makes millions</a>. Yet although psychopathy may be an advantage <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/bsl.925">in the corporate world</a>, it only offers men <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/apl0000357">a slim leadership edge</a>.</p>
<p>Psychopathy’s link to creativity may also explain its survival. The mathematician <a href="https://bigthink.com/culture-religion/eric-weinstein-intellectual-dark-web">Eric Weinstein</a> argues, more generally, that disagreeable people drive innovation. Yet, if your environment supports creative thinking, <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10869-014-9386-1">disagreeableness is less strongly linked to creativity</a>. The nice can be novel.</p>
<p>Sadism and psychopathy are associated with other traits, such as narcissism and <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/machiavellians-gulling-the-rubes/201509/meet-the-machiavellians">machiavellianism</a>. Such traits, taken together, are called the “<a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2018-32574-001">dark factor of personality</a>” or D-factor for short. </p>
<p>There is a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2007.09.007">moderate to large hereditary component</a> to these traits. So some people may just be born this way. Alternatively, high D-factor <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291709991279">parents could pass these traits</a> onto their children by behaving abusively towards them. Similarly, <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1976-25817-001">seeing others behave in high D-factor ways</a> may teach us to act this way. We all have a role to play in reducing cruelty.</p>
<h2>Fear and dehumanisation</h2>
<p>Sadism involves enjoying another <em>person’s</em> humiliation and hurt. Yet it is often said that <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250003836">dehumanising people</a> is what allows us to be cruel. Potential victims are labelled as dogs, lice or cockroaches, allegedly making it easier for others to hurt them.</p>
<p>There is something to this. Research shows that if someone breaks a social norm, our brains <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000132">treat their faces as less human</a>. This <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000132">makes it easier</a> for us to punish people who violate norms of behaviour.</p>
<p>It is a sweet sentiment to think that if we see someone as human then we won’t hurt them. It is also a dangerous delusion. The psychologist Paul Bloom argues our worst cruelties may rest on <a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/against-empathy-paul-bloom?variant=32122194853922"><em>not</em> dehumanising people</a>. People may hurt others precisely because <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/11/27/the-root-of-all-cruelty">they recognise them as human beings</a> who don’t want to suffer pain, humiliation or degradation.</p>
<p>For example, the Nazi Party dehumanised Jewish people by calling them <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250003836">vermin and lice</a>. Yet the Nazis also humiliated, tortured and murdered Jews precisely because <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/11/27/the-root-of-all-cruelty">they saw them as humans</a> who would be degraded and suffer from such treatment.</p>
<h2>Do-gooder derogation</h2>
<p>Sometimes people will even harm the helpful. Imagine you are playing an <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/319/5868/1362">economic game</a> in which you and other players have the chance to invest in a group fund. The more money is paid into it, the more it pays out. And the fund will pay out money to all players, whether they have invested or not. </p>
<p>At the end of the game, you can pay to punish other players for how much they chose to invest. To do so, you give up some of your earnings and money is taken away from the player of your choice. In short, you can <a href="https://oneworld-publications.com/spite-hb.html">be spiteful</a>.</p>
<p>Some players chose to punish others who invested little or nothing in the group fund. Yet some will pay to punish players <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/319/5868/1362">who invested <em>more</em> in the group fund</a> than they did. Such acts seem to make no sense. Generous players give you a greater pay-out - why would you dissuade them?</p>
<p>This phenomenon is called “do-gooder derogation”. It can be found around the world. In hunter-gatherer societies, successful hunters are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797617752642">criticised for catching a big animal</a> even though their catch means everyone gets more meat. Hillary Clinton <a href="https://oneworld-publications.com/spite-hb.html">may have suffered do-gooder derogation</a> as a result of her rights-based 2016 US Presidential Election campaign.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Picture of a woman hugging a friend while looking dissatisfied." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/359640/original/file-20200923-20-fbn5id.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/359640/original/file-20200923-20-fbn5id.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359640/original/file-20200923-20-fbn5id.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359640/original/file-20200923-20-fbn5id.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359640/original/file-20200923-20-fbn5id.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359640/original/file-20200923-20-fbn5id.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359640/original/file-20200923-20-fbn5id.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some people struggle to be grateful.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/young-woman-dissatisfied-angry-facial-expression-670858699">fizkes/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Do-gooder derogation <a href="https://oneworld-publications.com/spite-hb.html">exists because of our counter-dominant tendencies</a>. A less generous player in the economic game above may feel that a more generous player will <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797617752642">be seen by others as a preferable collaborator</a>. The more generous person is threatening to become dominant. As the French writer Voltaire put it, the best is the enemy of the good.</p>
<p>Yet there is a hidden upside of do-gooder derogation. Once we have pulled down the do-gooder, we are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550611415695">more open to their message</a>. One study found that allowing people to express a dislike of vegetarians led them to become <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550611415695">less supportive of eating meat</a>. Shooting, crucifying or failing to elect the messenger may encourage their message to be accepted.</p>
<h2>The future of cruelty</h2>
<p>In the film <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2582802/">Whiplash</a>, a music teacher <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7d_jQycdQGo&pp=QAA%3D">uses cruelty to encourage greatness</a> in one of his students. We may recoil at such tactics. Yet the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche thought we had <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5325/jnietstud.48.3.0402">become too averse to such cruelty</a>. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7d_jQycdQGo?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5325/jnietstud.48.3.0402">For Nietzsche</a>, cruelty allowed a teacher to burn a critique into another, for the other person’s own good. People could also be cruel to themselves to help become the person they wanted to be. Nietzsche felt suffering cruelty could help develop courage, endurance and creativity. Should we be more willing to make both others and ourselves suffer to develop virtue?</p>
<p>Arguably not. We now know the potentially appalling long-term effects of suffering cruelty from others, including damage to both <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2014.10.012">physical</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291715002743">mental health</a>. The <a href="https://www.littlebrown.co.uk/titles/paul-gilbert/the-compassionate-mind/9781849010986/">benefits of being compassionate towards oneself</a>, rather than treating oneself cruelly, are also increasingly recognised. </p>
<p>And the idea that we <em>must</em> suffer to grow is questionable. Positive life events, such as falling in love, having children and achieving cherished goals <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000173">can lead</a> to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2013.791715">growth</a>.</p>
<p>Teaching through cruelty invites abuses of power and selfish sadism. Yet Buddhism offers an alternative - <a href="https://tricycle.org/magazine/arent-we-right-be-angry/">wrathful compassion</a>. Here, we act from love to confront others to protect them from their greed, hatred and fear. Life can be cruel, truth can be cruel, but we can choose not to be.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon McCarthy-Jones receives funding from the US-based Brain and Behavior Research Foundation.</span></em></p>What causes unprovoked acts of violence? And is there any place for such cruelty in our society?Simon McCarthy-Jones, Associate Professor in Clinical Psychology and Neuropsychology, Trinity College DublinLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1432402020-08-06T12:24:19Z2020-08-06T12:24:19ZJim Thompson is the perfect novelist for our crazed times<p>Crime fiction often thrives in periods of social and political tension, when readers long for both justice and stability. So it’s no wonder that as the pandemic took root, crime fiction <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jul/07/fiction-boom-as-book-sales-rocket-past-2019-levels">sales</a> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/books/best-sellers/">rose</a>. </p>
<p>As I explain in my new book, “<a href="https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/title/detectives-shadows">Detectives in the Shadows</a>,” many of the protagonists of hard-boiled crime fiction, from <a href="http://www.thrillingdetective.com/marlowe.html">Philip Marlowe</a> to <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2357547/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Jessica Jones</a>, are models of moral authority, humility and empathy.</p>
<p>Doggedly pursuing justice, they defend those in distress, earning little for their efforts. </p>
<p>In 1945, novelist Raymond Chandler famously <a href="http://www.en.utexas.edu/Classes/Bremen/e316k/316kprivate/scans/chandlerart.html">defined the hard-boiled hero</a> as “a man … who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid… He must be, to use a rather weathered phrase, a man of honor, by instinct, by inevitability, without thought of it, and certainly without saying it.”</p>
<p>These were reassuring characters who served as models of competent leadership and ideal authority figures. But it didn’t exactly paint the full American picture. In truth, no matter how many Marlowes or Joneses came to the rescue, signs of America’s deranged underbelly were always lurking just beneath the surface. </p>
<p>One crime author, the singularly harrowing <a href="https://www.crimetime.co.uk/cigarettes-and-alchohol-the-extraordinary-life-of-jim-thompson/">Jim Thompson</a>, gave this unique brand of American craziness center stage.</p>
<h2>Unreliable, deceptive and sadistic</h2>
<p>Author of more than 20 novels including “<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/298663.The_Killer_Inside_Me">The Killer Inside Me</a>,” “<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19161888-pop-1280">Pop. 1280</a>” and “<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19161914-the-grifters">The Grifters</a>,” Thompson created a sinister army of corrupt police, cunning con-artists and psychopathic murderers. </p>
<p>“The Killer Inside Me,” published in 1952, is his best-known novel. Its narrator is Lou Ford, a 29-year-old Texas sheriff who pretends to be a bland and boring rube but ends up committing every murder in the novel.</p>
<p>Unlike classic hard-boiled characters who understate their own misfortunes but have compassion for others, Ford exults when others suffer. He claims spiritual authority and a superior intellect but displays an “aw-shucks” helplessness to seem innocent. </p>
<p>Unreliable as a narrator, he talks in populist clichés – saying things like “haste makes waste” and “every cloud has a silver lining!” – while confiding in the reader that he “should have been a college professor or something like that.” He sometimes references his “sickness,” hinting he is <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1046/j.1440-1819.1999.00584.x">schizophrenic</a>, but he shows no signs of psychosis – only psychopathy. </p>
<p>Most of all, he consistently and calculatingly shirks responsibility, making sure others take the fall for his misdeeds. When a man witnesses him brutalize a town prostitute, he bullies that witness before murdering and framing him. </p>
<p>“Don’t you say I killed her,” he warns the terrified witness. “SHE KILLED HERSELF!”</p>
<h2>The gaslit 1950s</h2>
<p>The novel arrived at a period in American history that was rife with demagoguery, paranoia and manipulation.</p>
<p>In 1950, the National Security Council paper <a href="https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/NSC68">NSC 68</a> advised a massive buildup of military power in response to the threat of the Soviet Union. <a href="https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/nsc-68/nsc68-2.htm">The report remarked</a> that “a democracy can compensate for its natural vulnerability only if it maintains clearly superior overall power in its most inclusive sense,” and warns against our “tendency to expect too much from people widely divergent from us.” It would soon become apparent that retaining power – and a readiness to mistrust those deemed too different – were becoming fundamental to the country’s foreign policy.</p>
<p>Condemning others while behaving badly seemed to be a specialty of the early 1950s. Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Conspiracy_So_Immense/738dzm-R-5EC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=senator+joseph+mccarthy+university+press&printsec=frontcover">anti-communist crusade</a> was ruining lives with sensational and unsubstantiated allegations. In 1951, McCarthy accused former Secretary of State <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/George-C-Marshall">Gen. George Marshall</a> of a “<a href="http://www.americaslibrary.gov/aa/marshall/aa_marshall_mcarthy_2.html">conspiracy on a scale so immense as to dwarf any previous such venture in the history of man</a>,” arguing that his <a href="https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/marshall-plan">Marshall Plan</a> was helping and appeasing the country’s enemies.</p>
<p>It’s no wonder that American novelist Norman Mailer called the 1950s “<a href="https://www.dissentmagazine.org/wp-content/files_mf/1353950503Mailer_WhiteNegro.pdf">years of conformity and depression</a>,” while “<a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Homeward_Bound.html?id=O5KLUxbqtT4C">Homeward Bound</a>” author <a href="https://cla.umn.edu/about/directory/profile/mayxx002">Elaine Tyler May</a> described the decade as one of “containment,” with fearful insularity as characteristic of American society as it was of foreign policy.</p>
<p>When Jim Thompson published “The Killer Inside Me,” Lion Books nominated it for the National Book Award, calling it “<a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Savage_Art/YMOSDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=authentically%20original">the most authentically original novel of the year</a>.” An editor at the New American Library found in his books “the passions of men and women revealed in their naked, primeval fury.” Thompson’s characters, from the gloating gaslighter Lou Ford to the <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Pop_1280/_tfD2GBkwEsC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=pop+1280&printsec=frontcover">messianic delusionist Nick Corey</a>, echoed the paranoid thoughts, delusions and deceptions already patent in 1950s politics. </p>
<p>The writer’s fiction dismantles point-by-point the classical hard-boiled heroes whose word was good and whose ethics were reliable. Its real bleakness comes from the vacuum that replaces any sense of accountability, empathy or reliability. </p>
<p>His novels are chilling precisely because they smash the beloved American illusion that with rugged individualism comes rugged integrity.</p>
<h2>Echoes today</h2>
<p>“The Killer Inside Me” is a testament to moral accountability exultantly shredded, and its resonance today is uncanny.</p>
<p>America has long embraced the figure of the unhinged or explosive person in <a href="https://www.tvguide.com/news/charlie-sheen-behavior-1029895/">entertainment</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ml6S2yiuSWE">advertising</a>, <a href="https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2009128-a-reporters-tale-the-john-rocker-story-15-years-later">sports</a> and <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/07/how-american-politics-went-insane/485570/">politics</a>. </p>
<p>But today’s craziness has reached another level. From <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-shoppers-pull-guns-hit-police-with-car-over-mask-policy-2020-7">Walmart</a> to the <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/transcript-fox-news-sunday-interview-with-president-trump">White House</a>, Americans are claiming to be both completely righteous and entirely blameless. </p>
<p>Whether it’s the Florida man advancing on fellow Costco shoppers, bellowing “<a href="https://miami.cbslocal.com/2020/07/08/florida-man-fired-mask-meltdown-video-costco-viral/">I feel threatened</a>!” the <a href="https://6abc.com/montclair-monclair-dispute-neighbor-confrontation-white-confronts-couple/6292198/">New Jersey woman trying to have innocent neighbors arrested</a> for building a patio on their own property, or the president insisting that he takes no responsibility as over <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#cases">150,000 Americans die of COVID-19</a>, our current moment is the nightmarish version of society that Thompson envisioned. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1280332929613398017"}"></div></p>
<p>As Stephen King famously wrote in the introduction to a 2011 edition of Killer, “In Lou Ford, Jim Thompson drew for the first time a picture of the <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Killer_Inside_Me/5DOmGjVmuPUC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=great%20american%20sociopath">Great American Sociopath</a>.”</p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>In a sense, the conduct is not new, even if it now readily goes viral on social media. Men have long <a href="https://www.indiewire.com/2020/02/harvey-weinstein-reacts-rape-conviction-1202213203/">complained of blamelessness while harming women</a>, and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/100000007159234/amy-cooper-dog-central-park-police-video.html">whites of both sexes</a> have simulated fear while attacking people of color. The wealthy have long encouraged the poor to <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-02-16-mn-8585-story.html">take personal responsibility for privations they themselves caused</a>. Individuals historically most called to account are curiously those who have the <a href="https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2020-07-29/congress-600-unemployment-pay">least to answer for</a>. </p>
<p>Those in power readily <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/trumps-ask-china-response-to-cbss-weijia-jiang-shocked-the-room--and-was-part-of-a-pattern/2020/05/12/a04bed28-947d-11ea-82b4-c8db161ff6e5_story.html">pass the buck</a>, even managing to seem innocent or misguided. The contrived specter of helplessness – combined with claims of absolute conviction – create chaos and dissolve accountability. That Thompson did all this in a book famous for its bleakly sociopathic vision testifies to the insanity and abusiveness that surround us.</p>
<p>A torrent of lies and injustice has demoralized Americans much as it dejected Ford’s victims. To me, we are living in Thompson’s world and can only dream of such fundamentals as honesty, empathy and accountability.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/143240/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Susanna Lee does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The author’s novels, famous for their bleakly sociopathic depiction of American culture, testify to the insanity and abusiveness that surround us.Susanna Lee, Professor of French and Comparative Literature, Georgetown UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1423642020-07-15T12:13:30Z2020-07-15T12:13:30ZPersonality can predict who’s a rule-follower and who flouts COVID-19 social distancing guidelines<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347340/original/file-20200714-139854-1wyiypp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=107%2C86%2C3368%2C2069&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Who will wait on the checkout line footprints and who will rage against them?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/vons-shopper-maintain-safe-distance-in-the-checkout-line-at-news-photo/1212798930">Al Seib/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As states struggle to get the COVID-19 balance right – between eased restrictions and rising infection rates – it falls to individuals to abide by mask-wearing rules and to maintain six feet of distance between themselves and others when out and about.</p>
<p>Some people dutifully endure the hardships of coronavirus lockdown, while others can’t be bothered to keep their distance. Why?</p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=fXwMNNMAAAAJ&hl=en">As a cognitive researcher</a>, I’m interested in how what psychologists call the <a href="https://www.verywellmind.com/the-big-five-personality-dimensions-2795422">“Big Five” personality traits</a> influence the ways individuals deal with social distancing rules in daily life. Who is more likely to mask up every time they leave their home? And who is more likely to flout these evolving behavioral expectations?</p>
<h2>Personal space, territorial invasion</h2>
<p>How comfortable you are being near to other people has a big cultural component. Anthropologist Edward T. Hall made a study of <a href="https://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-proxemics-definition-examples.html">what he called proxemics</a>, measuring personal space expectations around the world.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347172/original/file-20200713-50-13b1guu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347172/original/file-20200713-50-13b1guu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347172/original/file-20200713-50-13b1guu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347172/original/file-20200713-50-13b1guu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347172/original/file-20200713-50-13b1guu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347172/original/file-20200713-50-13b1guu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347172/original/file-20200713-50-13b1guu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347172/original/file-20200713-50-13b1guu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Pandemic response means the personal space bubble is now bigger than the previous norm.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Personal_Spaces_in_Proxemics.svg">Jean-Louis Grall/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>Touching or whispering happens in the closest zone. From about 1.5 to 4 feet away is the distance reserved for communicating with friends. Now public health recommendations have extended that zone to 6 feet or more, the distance that had been normal for interactions with those you don’t know well.</p>
<p>When people violate proximity norms, it can feel like they’re invading your territory. And nowadays, the stakes are higher than just your personal comfort – these distance guidelines are meant to protect you from infectious germs.</p>
<p>Subconsciously, everyone knows the traditional spatial zones. The “wait here” foot emblems now found at a store’s checkout line are necessary to help rewrite the cognitive script for where you stand until it becomes a mindless habit. You are forced to “unlearn” subconscious behavior; old dogs must learn new tricks. </p>
<p>Strangers who invade your social distance are being aggressive if they’re aware of what they’re doing. But if it’s done mindlessly or subconsciously, then personality traits are helping drive the behavior.</p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<h2>Predictions based on personality traits</h2>
<p>For more than four decades, psychology researchers have divvied people up by personality types based on an individual’s <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781849200479.n9">combination of five key traits</a>. They’re used to predict how people make purchases, <a href="https://www.floridatechonline.com/blog/business/how-the-big-five-personality-traits-influence-work-behavior/">behave at work</a>, even <a href="https://www.psychologicalscience.org/news/releases/personality-traits-life-outcomes-replication.html">long-term life outcomes</a> like marriage stability and career achievement. <a href="http://psychology.iresearchnet.com/counseling-psychology/history-of-counseling/paul-costa-and-robert-mccrae/">Paul Costa and Robert McRae</a> popularized the acronym OCEAN, for openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness and neuroticism.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347342/original/file-20200714-38-fdgfjd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347342/original/file-20200714-38-fdgfjd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347342/original/file-20200714-38-fdgfjd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=342&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347342/original/file-20200714-38-fdgfjd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=342&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347342/original/file-20200714-38-fdgfjd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=342&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347342/original/file-20200714-38-fdgfjd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347342/original/file-20200714-38-fdgfjd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347342/original/file-20200714-38-fdgfjd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Everyone varies from high to low on each of the five personality traits.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/big-five-personality-traits-psychology-concept-royalty-free-image/1242962102">Olivier Le Moal/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span>
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<p>An open individual is inclined to be curious, imaginative, creative, original, artistic and flexible. Openness reflects a tendency to think in abstract, complex ways. People high in openness tend to be adventurous and intellectual and enjoy the arts, while those on the opposite end of the spectrum tend to be practical, conventional and focused on the concrete. The more open your personality is, the better you might cope with uncertainty over a long, sustained period – as in the case of a global pandemic.</p>
<p>Conscientiousness is the tendency to be habitually careful, reliable, hard-working, well-organized and purposeful. A conscientious person controls, regulates and directs their impulses. They would likely be early adopters of mask-wearing, even without direction to do so. This trait makes someone less willing to violate territorial space and social distancing guidelines.</p>
<p>Extroversion is characterized by being outgoing and drawing energy from interacting with others, compared to introverts who get their energy from within themselves. Behavioral neuroscience research has <a href="https://doi.org/10.3758/s13415-014-0331-6">revealed two subtypes of this trait</a>.</p>
<p>Agentic extroversion is about being comfortable in the limelight and taking a leadership position. These people are less likely to feel a strong bond with others and have more interest in going for rewards in social or workplace contexts.</p>
<p>On the other hand, affiliative extroverts don’t seek out leadership roles as much and have close social bonds with a lot of people from which they gather happiness and meaning.</p>
<p>Both types of extroverts would likely enjoy virtual networking during isolation, while probably struggling with isolation if sheltering alone.</p>
<p>Agreeableness reflects compliance. It is the opposite pole of antagonism and reflects a tendency to be good-natured, acquiescent, courteous, helpful and trusting. People high in this trait would probably go along with mask-wearing right away and be more likely to follow social distancing guidelines as soon as they’re announced without grumbling about the rules.</p>
<p>Neuroticism is characterized by impulsivity and a tendency to experience negative emotions including anxiety, worry, fear, anger, depression or sadness, hostility, self-consciousness and loneliness. This trait is associated with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.093008.100352">wishful thinking and disengagement</a> in order to escape feelings of distress. Presumably people high on neuroticism would tend to react to the pandemic with avoidance and denial.</p>
<h2>The dark triad of personality traits</h2>
<p>Personalities can have their dark sides, too.</p>
<p>Narcissism involves loving oneself obsessively; it goes along with grandiosity and vanity.</p>
<p>Machiavellianism is about manipulating others; it’s characterized by cynicism and long-term, calculating strategies.</p>
<p>Finally there’s psychopathy, meaning a lack of empathy. Psychopathic people are usually impulsive and have cold interpersonal relations. Individuals at the higher end of the continuum are deceptive, aggressive, sexually promiscuous and coercive.</p>
<p>All of these dark triad traits, as psychologists group them, would likely be associated with more social distancing violations.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347344/original/file-20200714-22-102fpcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347344/original/file-20200714-22-102fpcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347344/original/file-20200714-22-102fpcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347344/original/file-20200714-22-102fpcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347344/original/file-20200714-22-102fpcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347344/original/file-20200714-22-102fpcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347344/original/file-20200714-22-102fpcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347344/original/file-20200714-22-102fpcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Personality traits influence who’s fine with masks and who isn’t.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/taxi-driver-with-thumbs-up-and-wearing-a-facemask-royalty-free-image/1223488542">andresr/E+ via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Personality influences your behavior</h2>
<p>Everyone varies on all of those personality traits from high to low. It’s possible to deduce a personality profile for someone more likely to rampantly violate social distancing guidelines.</p>
<p>Pulling from meta-analyses of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/psrm.2017.14">how personality affects pro-social behaviors</a>, I’ve come up with this formulation. I have in mind coronavirus-mitigating behaviors in the U.S., but it could be tested cross-culturally and in other contexts.</p>
<p>Social distancing violator = Low openness + Low conscientiousness + Low agreeableness + High neuroticism + High Machiavellianism + High narcissism + High psychopathy + Error</p>
<p>My model predicts that a person who scores lower in openness, conscientiousness and agreeableness would be more likely to violate social distancing guidelines. Same for someone higher in neuroticism, Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy.</p>
<p>The error term in the equation is a bit of a fudge factor; it represents all the variation in social distancing that is not explained by the personality traits. For example, political ideology influences social distancing compliance, with <a href="https://voxeu.org/article/political-beliefs-and-compliance-social-distancing-orders">Republicans less likely to adhere</a> to social distancing orders.</p>
<p>Psychology researchers are starting to collect data during the pandemic that supports this model. In one study, for instance, Pavel Blagov found that people with lower levels of agreeableness and conscientiousness were less likely to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550620936439">endorse health recommendations</a> related to social distancing and hygiene during the coronavirus pandemic. </p>
<p>Personality is not fixed; it <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8721.2008.00543.x">can evolve over one’s lifespan</a>. As the coronavirus crisis drags on, I’ll be interested to see how adherence to social distancing guidelines changes over time – and wondering how much personality traits are changing too.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/142364/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>James M. Honeycutt does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Psychologists call these traits the ‘Big Five’: openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness and neuroticism. A researcher suggests your profile implies your response to social distancing.James M. Honeycutt, Lecturer in Executive Education; Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Communication Studies from Louisiana State University, University of Texas at DallasLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1256602019-11-07T16:08:41Z2019-11-07T16:08:41ZWhat is a psychopath?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300523/original/file-20191106-12506-153ykcz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Can you feel what I'm feeling?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/success?u=http%3A%2F%2Fdownload.shutterstock.com%2Fgatekeeper%2FW3siZSI6MTU3MzEwNDI0MywiYyI6Il9waG90b19zZXNzaW9uX2lkIiwiZGMiOiJpZGxfMTA2MzM3NzA1MyIsImsiOiJwaG90by8xMDYzMzc3MDUzL21lZGl1bS5qcGciLCJtIjoxLCJkIjoic2h1dHRlcnN0b2NrLW1lZGlhIn0sIlEzWEtYTnZlcm5SOFI3YStVTStRQzJuTjdONCJd%2Fshutterstock_1063377053.jpg&ir=true&pi=33421636&m=1063377053&src=6a2d751d-6be9-4c15-b23a-b4ad4788583c-1-0">Andrey Popov/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Millions recently flocked to the <a href="https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Joker-(2019)#tab=summary">cinema</a> to watch Joker, the origin story of Batman’s notorious nemesis. Many have commented that the film is a portrait of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/sep/28/he-is-a-psychopath-has-the-2019-joker-gone-too-far">a textbook psychopath</a>. But perhaps the bigger question is how many among the audience have similar traits? Indeed, is it possible that you are a psychopath yourself?</p>
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<p>To answer this question, we need to examine the diagnostic criteria for psychopathy presented in the <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/David_Cooke2/publication/232570257_Evaluating_the_Screening_Version_of_the_Hare_Psychopathy_Checklist-Revised_PCL_SV_An_Item_Response_Theory_Analysis/links/00b4951bb1ac064411000000.pdf">PCL-R</a>, which was developed by Robert Hare in the 1970s. </p>
<p>Thanks to Hare, experts can use the PCL-R to assess whether an individual is exhibiting any of the criteria for psychopathy. Estimates suggest that <a href="https://www.livescience.com/16585-psychopaths-speech-language.html">about 1% of the population qualifies</a> – although the percentage is thought to be far higher among <a href="https://www.livescience.com/16585-psychopaths-speech-language.html">the prison population (25%)</a> and company <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/on-small-business/wp/2016/09/16/gene-marks-21-percent-of-ceos-are-psychopaths-only-21-percent/">chief executives (21%)</a>.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/five-things-you-didnt-know-about-psychopaths-103865">Five things you didn't know about psychopaths</a>
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<p>The absolute or prototypical psychopath would produce a maximum score of 40 from Hare’s 20-item checklist, while a score of zero would indicate someone with no psychopathic tendencies. Those with a score of 30 or over should qualify for further assessment and indications of psychopathy, while many criminals score between 22 and 30. Consequently, psychopathy is perhaps best seen as a spectrum, with all of us exhibiting some traits at some point in our lives.</p>
<p>Ultimately, we cannot assume that nurture – a hard upbringing, for example – will make us psychopathic. The debate between nature versus nurture has been long discussed in relation to psychopathy and there has yet to be a clear answer. But it has been suggested recently that while a genetic predisposition is essential for a person to exhibit traits of psychopathy, some environmental factors, such trauma, abuse and rejection by loved ones, could determine the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/1359178995000100">course of the disorder</a>. </p>
<p>Nor should we assume that a person matching some PCL-R criteria is a psychopath. We must also keep in mind that not all psychopaths are criminals. Many are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721415580297">successful professionals</a>, so a high PCL-R score does not necessarily make us dangerous or murderous. Patrick Bateman, the blood-spattered anti-hero of Brett Easton Ellis’s infamous 1991 novel <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/10/american-psycho-bret-easton-ellis-irvine-welsh">American Pycho</a>, certainly is a psychopath – but not all psychopaths are Patrick Bateman.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, psychopaths are clearly relatively common – so how can we spot one? After all, if a person is a psychopath, they will rarely accept it or advertise the fact.</p>
<h2>The psychopath test</h2>
<p>The first characteristic of a psychopath according to the PCL-R is glib and superficial charm. Of course, this can be an apparently positive characteristic. This is not a trait motivated by a genuine interest or empathy for others, however, but allows psychopaths to charm and <a href="https://www.quora.com/What-is-an-example-of-psychopathic-charm">manipulate those around them</a>, from work colleagues to <a href="https://theconversation.com/worried-you-are-dating-a-psychopath-signs-to-look-for-according-to-science-106965">romantic partners</a>. <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/communication-success/201810/7-characterisitics-the-modern-psychopath">Gaslighting</a> – whereby others are led to question their own actions and beliefs – may be a favoured strategy.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300522/original/file-20191106-12474-120jedz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300522/original/file-20191106-12474-120jedz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300522/original/file-20191106-12474-120jedz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300522/original/file-20191106-12474-120jedz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300522/original/file-20191106-12474-120jedz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300522/original/file-20191106-12474-120jedz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300522/original/file-20191106-12474-120jedz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Answer with care.</span>
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<p>Another key characteristic is a grandiose sense of self-worth. Of course, this profound sense of confidence or self-belief may explain why so many psychopaths appear to thrive in the cutthroat world of business. Unfortunately for their colleagues and “friends”, however, psychopaths also tend to make themselves look better by <a href="http://parenting.exposed/dating-and-relationships-after-leaving-a-psychopath/">belittling those around them</a> and <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/David_Cooke2/publication/232570257_Evaluating_the_Screening_Version_of_the_Hare_Psychopathy_Checklist-Revised_PCL_SV_An_Item_Response_Theory_Analysis/links/00b4951bb1ac064411000000.pdf">may lie pathologically</a>. Keep an eye out for <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/communication-success/201810/7-characterisitics-the-modern-psychopath">narcissists</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/worried-you-are-dating-a-psychopath-signs-to-look-for-according-to-science-106965">Worried you are dating a psychopath? Signs to look for, according to science</a>
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<p>Other criteria on the PCL-R checklist include a lack of remorse or guilt, callousness, a parasitic lifestyle and <a href="https://www.mindbodygreen.com/articles/personality-types-most-likely-to-cheat-and-why-they-do-it">promiscuous sexual behaviour</a>. Psychopaths, in short, tend to be <a href="https://www.psychologicalscience.org/news/releases/psychopaths-cheat-and-take-risks-due-to-impaired-social-understanding.html">risk takers</a> and may be less likely to show, or feel, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2242355/">fear</a>. </p>
<p>But they’re not always cool operators. One characteristic that is both obvious and common is poor behavioural control, which is perhaps linked to psychopaths being more likely to have a history of <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/David_Cooke2/publication/232570257_Evaluating_the_Screening_Version_of_the_Hare_Psychopathy_Checklist-Revised_PCL_SV_An_Item_Response_Theory_Analysis/links/00b4951bb1ac064411000000.pdf">juvenile delinquency</a>. Psychopaths tend to have a good eye for seeing and emulating how others behave, but they may also have outbursts of antisocial behaviour.</p>
<p>Based on the above, my thought is that the Joker – or at least Arthur Fleck, the man behind the makeup – is only a borderline psychopath, with other mental health problems that would warrant further investigation first. There are certainly more real-life psychopaths that would score higher in Hare’s test.</p>
<p>The key question is, based on the above, whether you might be one of them and how you intend to use these traits and skills.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/125660/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Calli Tzani does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Everyone has something of the Joker in them.Calli Tzani, Lecturer in Investigative Psychology, University of HuddersfieldLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1115802019-03-06T11:39:21Z2019-03-06T11:39:21ZHow to distinguish a psychopath from a ‘shy-chopath’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261711/original/file-20190301-110143-twin8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ted Bundy, a day before his execution in January 1989.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Associated-Press-International-News-Florida-U-S-/93b4e2409de3da11af9f0014c2589dfb/90/0">AP Photo/Mark Foley</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>What makes a criminal a <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2016-05587-001">psychopath</a>? </p>
<p>Their grisly deeds and commanding presence attract our attention – look no further than murderer Ted Bundy and cult leader Charles Manson. </p>
<p>But despite years of theorizing and research, the mental health field continues to hotly debate what are the defining features of this diagnosis. It might come as a surprise that the most widely used psychiatric diagnostic system in the U.S., the <a href="https://www.psychiatry.org/psychiatrists/practice/dsm">DSM-5</a>, doesn’t include psychopathy as a formal disorder.</p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=MoPb-7cAAAAJ&hl=en">As a personality researcher and forensic psychologist</a>, I’ve spent the last quarter-century studying psychopaths inside and outside of prisons. I’ve also debated what, exactly, are the defining features of psychopathy. </p>
<p>Most agree that psychopaths are remorseless people who lack empathy for others. But in recent years, much of this debate has centered on the relevance of one particular personality trait: boldness. </p>
<p>I’m in the camp that believes boldness is critical to separating out psychopaths from the more mundane law-breakers. It’s the trait that creates the veneer of normalcy, giving those who prey on others the mask to successfully blend in with the rest of society. To lack boldness, on the other hand, is to be what one might call a “shy-chopath.”</p>
<h2>The boldness factor</h2>
<p>About 10 years ago, psychologist Christopher Patrick and some of his colleagues published an extensive <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/development-and-psychopathology/article/triarchic-conceptualization-of-psychopathy-developmental-origins-of-disinhibition-boldness-and-meanness/172BC63ED5C4C4C295C47DDCB01E838D">literature review</a> in which they argued that psychopaths were people who expressed elevated levels of three basic traits: meanness, disinhibition and boldness. </p>
<p>Most experts in the mental health field generally agree that the prototypical psychopath is someone who is both mean and, at least to some extent, disinhibited – though <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1359178911000176">there’s even some debate</a> about exactly how impulsive and hot-headed the prototypical psychopath truly is. </p>
<p>In a psychological context, people who are mean tend to lack empathy and have little interest in close emotional relationships. They’re also happy to use and exploit others for their own personal gain. </p>
<p>Highly disinhibited people have very poor impulse control, are prone to boredom and have difficulty managing emotions – particularly negative ones, like frustration and hostility. </p>
<p>In adding boldness to the mix, Patrick and his colleagues argued that genuine psychopaths are not just mean and disinhibited, they’re also individuals who are poised, fearless, emotionally resilient and socially dominant.</p>
<p>Although it had not been the focus of extensive research for the past few decades, the concept of the bold psychopath isn’t actually new. Famed psychiatrist Hervey Cleckley described it in his seminal 1941 book, “<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=00aQCwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+Mask+of+Sanity&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwij2tm5quvgAhUoSN8KHXo3Bu0Q6AEIKjAA#v=onepage&q&f=false">The Mask of Sanity</a>,” in which he described numerous case examples of psychopaths who were brazen, fearless and emotionally unflappable. </p>
<p>Ted Bundy is an excellent example of such a person. He was far from unassuming and timid. He never appeared wracked with anxiety or emotional distress. He charmed scores of victims, confidently served as his own attorney and even proposed to his girlfriend while in court. </p>
<p>“It’s probably just being willing to take risk,” Bundy said, in the Netflix documentary, of what motivated his crimes. “Or perhaps not even seeing risk. Just overcome by that boldness and desire to accomplish a particular thing.” </p>
<h2>Seeds planted in the DSM</h2>
<p>In the current DSM, the closest current diagnosis to psychopathy is antisocial personality disorder. Although the manual suggests that it historically has been referred to as psychopathy, <a href="http://www.psi.uba.ar/academica/carrerasdegrado/psicologia/sitios_catedras/practicas_profesionales/820_clinica_tr_personalidad_psicosis/material/dsm.pdf">the current seven diagnostic criteria for antisocial personality disorder</a> mostly fall under the umbrella of disinhibition – qualities like “recklessness,” “impulsiveness” and, to a lesser extent, meanness, which are evident in only two criteria: “lack of remorse” and “deceitfulness.” </p>
<p>There’s no mention of boldness. In other words, you don’t have to be bold to have antisocial personality disorder. In fact, because you only need to meet three of the seven criteria to be diagnosed with the disorder, it means you don’t even need to be all that mean, either.</p>
<p>However, the most recent revision to the DSM, the fifth edition, did include a <a href="https://dsm.psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.5555/appi.books.9780890425596.Section3">supplemental section</a> for proposed diagnoses in need of further study.</p>
<p>In this supplemental section, a new specifier was offered for those who meet the diagnosis for antisocial personality disorder. If you have a bold and fearless interpersonal style that seems to serve as a mask for your otherwise mean and disinhibited personality, you might also be diagnosable as a psychopath.</p>
<h2>Can a psychopath be meek?</h2>
<p>Whether this new model, which seems to put boldness center stage in the diagnosis of psychopathy, ultimately will be adopted into subsequent iterations of the DSM system remains to be seen. </p>
<p><a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2011-17135-001">Several researchers</a> have criticized the concept. They see meanness and disinhibition as much more important than boldness when deciding whether someone is a psychopath. </p>
<p>Their main issue seems to be that people who are bold – but not mean or disinhibited – actually seem to be well-adjusted and not particularly violent. In fact, compared with being overly introverted or prone to emotional distress, it seems to be an asset in everyday life.</p>
<p>Other <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2012-19373-002">researchers</a>, myself included, tend to view those criticisms as not particularly compelling. In our view, someone who is simply disinhibited and mean – but not bold – would not be able to pull off the spectacular level of manipulation that a psychopath is capable of.</p>
<p>To be sure, being mean and disinhibited is a bad combination. But absent boldness, you’re probably not going to show up on the evening news for having schemed scores of investors out of hundreds of millions of dollars. The chances that you’ll successfully charm unsuspecting victim after unsuspecting victim into coming back to your apartment to sexually assault them seem pretty slim. </p>
<p>That being said, timid but mean people – the “shycho-paths” – almost certainly do exist, and it’s probably best to stay away from them, too. </p>
<p>But you’re unlikely to confuse them with the Ted Bundys and Charles Mansons of the world.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/111580/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Edens has received funding from the National Institute of Mental Health to conduct research on individuals in criminal justice and forensic settings. </span></em></p>Psychologists are debating whether the presence of one trait – boldness – is the key to determining if someone is a psychopath, or just a garden-variety criminal.John Edens, Professor of Psychology, Texas A&M UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/875212018-01-28T18:08:03Z2018-01-28T18:08:03ZWhy the difficult person at work probably isn’t a psychopath<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203343/original/file-20180124-107974-1fdpuus.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Our workplace and work processes may be contributing to stress and bad behaviour.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As workplaces become <a href="https://www.healthandsafetyatwork.com/mental-injury">increasingly</a> difficult and damaging environments, there are plenty of <a href="https://hbr.org/product/how-to-work-with-toxic-colleagues-hbr-onpoint-magazine/OPFA16-MAG-ENG">articles</a> and <a href="http://sweetpoison.shop033.com/p/9265127/taming-toxic-people.html">books</a> on dealing with “psychopaths” among your colleagues. </p>
<p>But psychopathy is <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/wicked-deeds/201610/diagnosing-psychopathy">heavily contested</a> as a diagnostic category. And labelling a coworker a psychopath fails to account for how our workplaces can encourage bad behaviour.</p>
<p>From an “<a href="https://alwaysonculture.wordpress.com/">always on</a>” work culture to badly designed work practices, there are many reasons why a colleague could be behaving badly. This is partly why clinicians are <a href="https://www.psychiatry.org/news-room/apa-blogs/apa-blog/2016/08/the-goldwater-rule">prohibited</a> from diagnosing someone from afar - there may be many other factors influencing the behaviour.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/psychopaths-versus-sociopaths-what-is-the-difference-45047">Psychopaths versus sociopaths: what is the difference?</a>
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<p>The research on criminal psychopathy is <a href="http://www.bmj.com/content/345/bmj.e4692">based on thousands of cases</a> and involves statistical prediction of future actions based on these cases. The <a href="https://hbr.org/product/how-to-work-with-toxic-colleagues-hbr-onpoint-magazine/OPFA16-MAG-ENG">articles</a> that set out how to tell if your boss is a psychopath simply do not have the same evidence base. </p>
<p>Of the <a href="http://www.hare.org/scales/pclr.html">20 criteria</a> used to assess criminal psychopathy, many do not translate to the workplace (<a href="http://www.hogrefe.co.uk/psychopathic-personality-inventory-revised-ppi-r.html">other measures</a> have not been tested in work environments either). </p>
<h2>What about the workplace?</h2>
<p>As we have seen in recent sexual harassment scandals in <a href="https://theconversation.com/targeting-hidden-roots-of-workplace-harassment-is-key-to-fulfilling-oprahs-promise-to-girls-89908">media</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/taxpayers-are-subsidizing-hush-money-for-sexual-harassment-and-assault-86451">politics</a>, when workplaces don’t punish employees for unacceptable or harmful behaviour <a href="https://www.professionalstandards.org.uk/docs/default-source/publications/research-paper/antecedents-and-processes-of-professional-misconduct-in-uk-health-and-social-care.pdf?sfvrsn=8">it gives tacit permission</a>, in effect encouraging it to continue.</p>
<p>Individuals behaving badly are often oblivious to the impact they are having, and so without proper sanctions and containment remain unaware of the need to self-correct. But there are also specific aspects of our workplaces that may contribute to such problematic behaviour.</p>
<p>People’s personalities <a href="https://digest.bps.org.uk/2018/01/09/new-insights-into-lifetime-personality-change-from-meta-study-featuring-50000-participants/">aren’t fixed</a>, which means that some human resources tools, such as testing for “<a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/emotional-intelligence">emotional intelligence</a>” (also known as EQ), may actually incentivise people to become more skilful at manipulating others’ emotions.</p>
<p>If someone is hired or promoted because they are very good at impression management and manipulation, they are likely to be very effective at making their managers believe they are doing a good job while also bullying their peers and subordinates.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/emotionally-intelligent-employees-may-come-with-a-dark-side-manipulation-55942">Emotionally intelligent employees may come with a dark side – manipulation</a>
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<p><a href="https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/good-work-design">Badly designed</a> workplaces, including excessive demands, poor physical environment, unfair practices and a lack of social support, <a href="https://workfamily.sas.upenn.edu/wfrn-repo/object/pt3yu38m2ae8vj2t">can produce</a> stress in employees.</p>
<p>For example, ill-conceived human resources processes, including performance management, <a href="http://www.hrmagazine.co.uk/article-details/competitive-hr-practices-good-incentive-or-a-poisoned-chalice">can undermine</a> social relations. </p>
<p>As a result, coworkers’ coping strategies (including changing the way we think about a situation, using humour, or focusing on solving problems) <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/record/1986-19792-001">become overwhelmed</a>. This leaves them less able to attend to the day-to-day normal pressures of work, and to regulate their own social behaviours effectively. </p>
<p>In other words, bad behaviour in the workplace could be linked to fatigue, rather than to an aspect of a person’s character. </p>
<p>Distress caused by difficult social contexts <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5534210">can also lead to “dissociation”</a>. Dissociation is a self-protective mechanism that enables people to cut themselves off from their feelings of distress. But it can be experienced by others as coldness or a lack of empathy.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/understanding-others-feelings-what-is-empathy-and-why-do-we-need-it-68494">Understanding others' feelings: what is empathy and why do we need it?</a>
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<p>Instead of miscategorising these distressed people as psychopathic, we need to <a href="https://www.healthandsafetyatwork.com/mental-injury">better understand and recognise</a> early indicators of reactions that need care.</p>
<p>To be accurately used in a workplace, the term “psychopathy” would require collecting data on thousands of cases of employees and examining variables that predict, for example, bullying, harassment, fraud, and other counterproductive work behaviours. This research <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/bsl.925/abstract">does exist</a>, but it is preliminary and needs replication with much larger samples.</p>
<p>But more profoundly, this distracts us from what we should be doing: making our workplaces better places to be. This will come from careful attention to the way that structures and practices feed unfairness and bring out the worst in us. </p>
<p>Instead of developing new ways of scapegoating each other with psychological concepts, we need to create environments that <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29274614">take care of our need to belong</a> and <a href="https://www.whatworkswellbeing.org/">to be appreciated</a> for our contributions.</p>
<p>And finally, if you are really drawn to labelling a colleague a psychopath, you should perhaps also consider the question “is it me?”. There is <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0146167214529800">substantial psychological evidence</a> that judgement about the actions of others are usually harsher than our judgement of our own actions - even when they are the same actions. </p>
<p>Labelling someone a psychopath makes the issue about the individual, rather than focusing on what the organisational factors are that are contributing to the behaviour.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/87521/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joanna Wilde has written representing both the British Psychological Society and Council for Work and Health - in a voluntary capacity so no financial interest. Both invested in the creation of healthy workplaces which is aligned with the theme of the article currently in production.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katarina Fritzon and Rosalind Searle do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It’s tempting to think that difficult coworker might be a psychopath, but this just distracts us from the difficult work of making our workplaces better places to be.Katarina Fritzon, Associate Professor of Psychology, Bond UniversityJoanna Wilde, Industrial Fellowship, Aston UniversityRosalind Searle, Professor of HRM and organisational Psychology, University of GlasgowLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/842002017-10-31T00:46:33Z2017-10-31T00:46:33ZWomen can be psychopaths too, in ways more subtle but just as dangerous<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/189706/original/file-20171011-2024-wfpf1a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Behavioural differences in female psychopaths could cause them to slip under society’s radar.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Hear the word psychopath and most of us think of violent, dominant men. There are lots of male psychopathic monsters from movies to illustrate this point. Think Alex in A Clockwork Orange, or Patrick Bateman in American Psycho.</p>
<p>But we do have some female examples: Annie Wilkes in Misery, and who could forget Alex Forrest’s bunny-boiling character in Fatal Attraction? These frightening fictional femme fatales stay with us – I’ve heard the term “bunny boiler” used to signify a woman behaving irrationally and violently – but they are unusual. We largely expect psychopaths to be men.</p>
<p>Research indicates <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/14999013.2014.951105">there are likely</a> to be fewer female psychopaths than male. This may well be true. However, a compounding factor leading to the underestimation of the true occurrence rate of psychopathy in women could be behavioural differences that cause them to slip under society’s radar. This is important to acknowledge as female psychopaths can be just as dangerous as their male counterparts.</p>
<h2>What is psychopathy?</h2>
<p>Psychopathy is a personality disorder characterised by a number of abnormal behavioural traits and emotional responses. These include lack of empathy, guilt or remorse, and being manipulative and deceitful. People with psychopathy are often irresponsible and have a disregard for laws or social conventions.</p>
<p>Psychopaths often get away with these behaviours because they can be superficially quite charming. They are true observers of human behaviour, often <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40806-015-0012-x">being able to mimic</a> love, fear, remorse and other emotions well enough to go undetected. </p>
<p>Current thinking suggests psychopaths’ behaviour patterns result from variations in the structure of their brains at birth. A <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/07/170705123121.htm">recent study</a> from Harvard University indicated their brains are wired in a way that can lead to violent or dangerous actions. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/191563/original/file-20171024-20397-1yt8qwp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/191563/original/file-20171024-20397-1yt8qwp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/191563/original/file-20171024-20397-1yt8qwp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=255&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/191563/original/file-20171024-20397-1yt8qwp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=255&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/191563/original/file-20171024-20397-1yt8qwp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=255&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/191563/original/file-20171024-20397-1yt8qwp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=320&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/191563/original/file-20171024-20397-1yt8qwp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=320&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/191563/original/file-20171024-20397-1yt8qwp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=320&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Psychopaths, like Patrick Bateman in American Psycho, are keen observers of the human condition and can mimic normal behaviour.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0144084/mediaviewer/rm1804592384">Am Psycho Productions Edward R. Pressman Film Lions Gate Films, Muse Productions, P.P.S. Films, Quadra Entertainment, Universal Pictures</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Researchers used MRI scans to determine if activity and connections between areas of the brain associated with impulsivity and assessing the value of choices differed between those who scored highly for psychopathy and those who didn’t. The scans showed psychopaths make more short-sighted, impulsive decisions based on short-term gain, when compared to non-psychopaths, and that it is the structure of their brains that leads them to make these kinds of poor decisions. </p>
<p>Add this to their lack of empathy and it means if violence or dangerous behaviour will help a psychopath achieve a short-term goal, that is the path they will take. There is also <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2933872/">evidence genetics</a> are at least partly responsible for the development of psychopathic traits. In essence, psychopaths are born, not made.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/psychopaths-versus-sociopaths-what-is-the-difference-45047">Psychopaths versus sociopaths: what is the difference?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<h2>Case studies</h2>
<p>Certain case studies show how women psychopaths present in the real world. “Amy” is a 20-year-old female <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14999013.2012.746755">serving a life sentence</a> for murder. She has been diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder with psychopathic traits. </p>
<p>Amy fits the description of having extreme psychopathic tendencies. She was showing antisocial behaviour in her teens, including running away from home and engaging in substance abuse. Before her conviction for murder, Amy had numerous convictions for fraud and assault. </p>
<p>The authors who assessed her case described Amy as deceitful and boastful, with a strong sense of self-entitlement. She was also described as having an extreme lack of empathy and remorse, while taking no responsibility for her actions. </p>
<p>Amy is physically and verbally violent to those around her, preying on vulnerable prisoners through bullying behaviours. Perhaps most striking is that Amy is noted to be very domineering, predominantly seeking power and control over others, sometimes using sexual charm to get what she wants. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/191565/original/file-20171024-30565-1mnafiz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/191565/original/file-20171024-30565-1mnafiz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/191565/original/file-20171024-30565-1mnafiz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/191565/original/file-20171024-30565-1mnafiz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/191565/original/file-20171024-30565-1mnafiz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/191565/original/file-20171024-30565-1mnafiz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/191565/original/file-20171024-30565-1mnafiz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/191565/original/file-20171024-30565-1mnafiz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Female psychopaths seem to be more hidden than their male counterparts.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Female psychopaths</h2>
<p>Research, limited though it is, suggests female psychopaths are manipulative and controlling, cunning, deceitful, don’t take responsibility for their actions, are exploitative and, of course, they lack empathy. Studies of incarcerated women suggest psychopathic females <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/14999013.2014.951105">commit crimes at a younger age</a> compared to women without psychopathic traits. </p>
<p>They can have a history of being bullied and their behavioural traits <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/record/1998-00292-006">tend to develop</a> (or at least express themselves) in their teenage years.</p>
<p>Female psychopaths commit crimes across multiple categories – robbery, drug crimes, assault. Other female inmates largely have only one offence type in their history. And psychopathic offenders’ crimes are more often motivated by power, dominance or personal gain than for non-psychopathic females. Female psychopaths are also <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/record/1998-00292-006">more likely</a> to repeat-offend than those without psychopathic tendencies.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/understanding-others-feelings-what-is-empathy-and-why-do-we-need-it-68494">Understanding others' feelings: what is empathy and why do we need it?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Many of these traits apply to male psychopaths too. But there are differences. In terms of occurrence rates, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3379858/">studies show</a> female inmates with psychopathy make up 11-17% of the overall prison population, compared to their male counterparts at 25-30%. </p>
<p>This may be because female psychopaths are likely to be more <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/14999013.2014.951105">relationally or verbally aggressive</a> than physically violent, and therefore commit less violent crimes than male psychopaths. This might help explain the initially surprising fact that women with psychopathy are found to be less likely to commit murder than non-psychopathic women.</p>
<p>Female psychopaths can also be <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=LSiBsdxcGigC&pg=PA175&lpg=PA175&dq=hare+parasitic+lifestyle&source=bl&ots=noR2Be9f-V&sig=5eueM48iI3ssLNgQk_yK0F62HOc&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiQ2dTB3oXXAhXEX5QKHemFDqEQ6AEIMTAC#v=onepage&q=hare%20parasitic%20lifestyle&f=false">jealous and parasitic</a>, meaning they feel entitled to live off other people, using threat and coercion to get support. </p>
<p>So, while female psychopaths are not all like Glenn Close’s character in Fatal Attraction, they certainly exist and can be as violent, cunning and calculated as their male counterparts. But they more often express their psychopathy in more covert and manipulative ways, meaning their true natures are rarely identified.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/84200/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Xanthe Mallett does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>While research indicates there are likely to be fewer female psychopaths than male, this may be because their traits are less visible than their male counterparts.Xanthe Mallett, Forensic Criminologist, University of NewcastleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/558942016-04-28T21:52:44Z2016-04-28T21:52:44ZDemolition: a confused film about confusing emotions<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/120352/original/image-20160427-30953-1oq8nsq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Fox</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A tragic car accident. Investment banker Davis (Jake Gyllenhaal) emerges from the smash unscathed. His wife Julia (Heather Lind), however, is killed. Davis appears to be totally unable to feel anything about this event. So starts Demolition, a new film that – researcher of emotions as I am – I eagerly went to see.</p>
<p>A rush of telltale signs seems to signal a variety of emotional problems in Davis. These are problems that have occupied psychiatrists, psychologists, counsellors and social workers throughout the 20th century. I lapped these up, thinking Davis was slowly being revealed as a classic psychopath. An obvious disregard for others. Obsessing with small slights, like his peanut M&Ms failing to drop from a vending machine. Seemingly pointless lies to strangers on the train to work. Pulling the emergency cord of the train to avoid having to give an emotionally significant response. Practising crying in the mirror at his wife’s wake.</p>
<p>At this point I was sure. He admits to never having loved his wife, claiming that marrying her was an easy thing to do. He’s an investment banker, fitting today’s vision of the rich, charming, empathy-free psychopath – think <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0144084/">American Psycho</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/120353/original/image-20160427-30982-ut7vaa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/120353/original/image-20160427-30982-ut7vaa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120353/original/image-20160427-30982-ut7vaa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120353/original/image-20160427-30982-ut7vaa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120353/original/image-20160427-30982-ut7vaa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120353/original/image-20160427-30982-ut7vaa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120353/original/image-20160427-30982-ut7vaa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A banker – surely psychopathic?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Fox</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What is a psychopath?</h2>
<p>Psychopathy became a prominent issue in Britain and America during the 20th century. The concept was imported to British psychiatry from America by David Kennedy Henderson, an Edinburgh psychiatrist.</p>
<p>Concerns with juvenile delinquency and “anti-social behaviour” brought forward the figure of an easily angered young man, drifting between jobs, with grandiose ideas, a chip on his shoulder and an inability to understand why he wasn’t as successful as he thinks he should be. The Royal Medico-Psychological Association <a href="http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/usefulresources/thecollegearchives.aspx">defined</a> psychopaths in the 1950s as people with a “persistent anti-social mode of conduct” that may include: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Pathological lying swindling and slandering; alcoholism and drug addiction; sexual offences, and violent actions with little motivation and an entire absence of self-restraint, which may go as far as homicide.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The problem with psychopathy as a concept is that it is rather circular. Barbara Wootton, a prominent critic of the term, <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Social_science_and_social_pathology.html?id=cvoYAAAAIAAJ">lays it out</a> very clearly: psychopaths are “the model of the circular process by which mental abnormality is inferred from anti-social behaviour, while anti-social behaviour is explained by abnormality”.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/120030/original/image-20160425-22364-1vielqn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/120030/original/image-20160425-22364-1vielqn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120030/original/image-20160425-22364-1vielqn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120030/original/image-20160425-22364-1vielqn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120030/original/image-20160425-22364-1vielqn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120030/original/image-20160425-22364-1vielqn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120030/original/image-20160425-22364-1vielqn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jake Gyllenhaal in Demolition.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.foxpressofficeuk.com/films/demolition/images/">Twentieth Century Fox Press Office</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The key word in all of this is “social”. Social responsibility and anti-social behaviour. Davis is repeatedly confronted with his father-in-law, the straight-laced, emotionally repressed Phil (Chris Cooper). However much Phil tries to hold in his emotions, he appears on the verge of breaking down. Davis on the other hand, appears completely disengaged. He remarks on the atmosphere of the bar they’re in, right in the middle of Phil’s emotional confession of his pain. This sets up the key contrast: Phil is repressed, while Davis appears to be unable to respond emotionally at all.</p>
<h2>A puzzling twist</h2>
<p>But then my theory is destroyed. Davis begins to connect with a customer service operator named Karen (Naomi Watts), at the vending machine company that owes him the M&Ms. He meets and also connects with her son Chris (Judah Lewis), who is struggling with his sexuality. This part of the film is arguably shot with the most self-conscious symbolism in all of cinema history: Davis smashes up his house with a sledgehammer (in case the audience doesn’t get it he actually refers to this work as “destroying my marriage”). He reconnects with the world, through Karen and Chris. He uncovers emotions when he discovers an unsettling revelation about his late wife.</p>
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<p>So in the end it isn’t about psychopathy. It’s about shock, or grief, or delayed emotional reactions. Because then all the emotions do come out, and he makes up with his late wife’s family, and funds a carousel for children with special needs in her memory.</p>
<p>There is still something interesting here, despite the saccharine resolution. It’s about <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%BCbler-Ross_model">having the “right” emotions</a>, in the right contexts, and how difficult this can be. Even in the aftermath of a life-changing event, where all the old certainties have been upended, we must tread a fine line. Grief is fine, but not too much, and not for too long. But not too little either, and don’t be flippant. Emotions and emotional expression come easily for some. What some people feel fits into lots of the right boxes for the particular time and place. But what if you are unable to process your experience in those socially-sanctioned ways?</p>
<p>But I still have doubts. It is implied at points that Davis has never really had the right emotions his whole adult life. Admittedly, he might just be projecting that affective flatness back from his “in-shock” state. But then again, maybe he is empathy free and emotionless and he’s just learned to fake it a little better. Who buys a carousel for emotional closure? Clearly somebody with no idea about human emotional response.</p>
<p>But here are the questions that the film could have explored, but didn’t: how do we deal with people whose emotional responses we don’t understand? Are they ill? Are they bad? Instead, Davis resolves the questions and everything is fine. But we all have points at which our behaviour, or emotional response, or both doesn’t match what others expect. Who gets to decide those expectations, or the consequences when these things don’t match up?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/55894/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Millard receives funding from the Medical Humanities division of the Wellcome Trust. </span></em></p>How do we deal with people whose emotional responses we don’t understand? Demolition does not have the answers.Chris Millard, Wellcome Trust Medical Humanities Research Fellow, Queen Mary University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/512822016-01-26T10:43:01Z2016-01-26T10:43:01ZNot all psychopaths are criminals – some psychopathic traits are actually linked to success<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/106575/original/image-20151217-8104-bkgazi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Some psychopathic traits can lead to success, at least in the short term.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-298318184/stock-photo-man-in-suit-on-a-black-background.html?src=Ca6ymdbXqzZJ1p0Y5IR5iA-1-3">Man in suit via www.shutterstock.com.</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Tom Skeyhill was an acclaimed Australian war hero, known as “the blind solider-poet.” During the monumental World War I battle of Gallipoli, he was a flag signaler, among the most dangerous of all positions. After being blinded when a bomb shell detonated at his feet, he was transferred out.</p>
<p>After the war he penned a popular book of poetry about his combat experience. He toured Australia and the United States, reciting his poetry to rapt audiences. President Theodore Roosevelt appeared on stage with him and said, “I am prouder to be on the stage with Tom Skeyhill than with any other man I know.” His blindness suddenly disappeared following a medical procedure in America. </p>
<p>But, according to biographer Jeff Brownrigg, Skeyhill <a href="http://www.anchorbooksaustralia.com.au/Anzac%20Cove.html">wasn’t what he seemed</a>. The poet had, in fact, faked his blindness to escape danger. </p>
<p>That’s not all. After a drunken performance, he blamed his slurred speech on an unverifiable war injury. He claimed to have met Lenin and Mussolini (there is no evidence that he did), and spoke of his extensive battle experience at Gallipoli, when he had been there for only eight days. </p>
<p>You have to be pretty bold to spin those kinds of self-aggrandizing lies and to carry it off as long as Skeyhill did. Although he never received a formal psychological examination (at least to our knowledge), we suspect that most contemporary researchers would have little trouble recognizing him as a classic case of psychopathic personality, or psychopathy.</p>
<p>What’s more, Skeyhill embodied many elements of a controversial condition sometimes called successful psychopathy. </p>
<p>Despite the popular perception, most psychopaths aren’t coldblooded or psychotic killers. Many of them live successfully among the rest of us, using their personality traits to get what they want in life, often at the expense of others.</p>
<h2>All psychopaths are criminals if you look for them only behind bars</h2>
<p>Psychopathy is not easily defined, but most psychologists view it as a personality disorder characterized by superficial charm conjoined with profound dishonesty, callousness, guiltlessness and poor impulse control. According to some estimates, psychopathy is found in <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/03/is-wall-street-full-of-psychopaths/254944/*">about one percent of the general population</a>, and for reasons that are poorly understood, most psychopaths are male. </p>
<p>That number probably doesn’t capture the full number of people with some degree of psychopathy. Data suggest that psychopathic traits lie on a continuum, so some individuals possess marked psychopathic traits but don’t fulfill the criteria for full-blown psychopathy. </p>
<p>Not surprisingly, psychopathic individuals are more likely than other people to commit crimes. They almost always understand that their actions are morally wrong – it just doesn’t bother them. Contrary to popular belief, only a minority are violent. </p>
<p>Because researchers tend to seek out psychopaths where they can locate them in plentiful numbers, much research on the condition has taken place in prisons and jails. That’s why until fairly recently, the lion’s share of theory and research on psychopathy focused on decidedly unsuccessful individuals – such as convicted criminals. </p>
<p>But a lot of people on the psychopathic continuum aren’t in jail or prison. In fact, some individuals may be able to use psychopathic traits, like boldness, to achieve professional success.</p>
<h2>A profoundly disturbed core</h2>
<p>The very existence of successful psychopathy has been controversial, perhaps in part because many scholars insist they have never seen it. Some say the concept is illogical, with others going so far as to term it <a href="http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Psychopathy">an oxymoron</a>. </p>
<p>Successful psychopathy is a controversial idea, but it’s not a new one. In 1941, American psychiatrist Hervey Cleckley was among the first to highlight this paradoxical condition in his classic book “<a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/1941-02603-000">The Mask of Sanity</a>.” According to Cleckley, the psychopath is a hybrid creature, donning an engaging veil of normalcy that conceals an emotionally impoverished and profoundly disturbed core. </p>
<p>In Cleckley’s eyes, psychopaths are charming, self-centered, dishonest, guiltless and callous people who lead aimless lives devoid of deep interpersonal attachments. But Cleckley also alluded to the possibility that some psychopathic individuals are successful interpersonally and occupationally, at least in the short term.</p>
<p>In a <a href="http://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/fedpro10&div=51&g_sent=1&collection=journals">1946 article</a>, he wrote that the typical psychopath will have often:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>outstripped 20 rival salesmen over a period of 6 months, or married the most desirable girl in town, or, in a first venture into politics, got himself elected into the state legislature. </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Charming, aggressive and looking out for number one</h2>
<p>In 1977, Catherine Widom published <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-006X.45.4.674">a study</a> about “noninstitutionalized psychopaths.” To find these individuals, she placed an advertisement in underground Boston newspapers calling for “charming, aggressive, carefree people who are impulsively irresponsible but are good at handling people and looking out for number one.” </p>
<p>The individuals she recruited exhibited a personality profile similar to those of incarcerated psychopaths, and about two-thirds of them had been arrested. </p>
<p>What’s the difference between the psychopaths who get arrested and the ones who don’t? Research from Adrian Raine, now at the University of Pennsylvania, conducted in the 1990s sheds some light. </p>
<p>Raine and his colleagues <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/abn/110/3/423/">recruited men from temporary employment agencies</a> in the Los Angeles area. After first identifying those who met the criteria for psychopathy, they compared the 13 participants who had been convicted of one or more crimes with the 26 who had not. Raine provisionally regarded these 26 men as successful psychopaths. </p>
<p>Each man gave a videotaped speech about his personal flaws. Raine and his colleagues found that the men they considered successful psychopaths displayed significantly greater heart rate increases, suggesting an increase in social anxiety. These men also performed better on a task requiring them to modulate their impulses. </p>
<p>The bottom line: having a modicum of social anxiety and impulse control may explain why some psychopathic people manage to stay out of trouble.</p>
<h2>The psychopath at the stock exchange</h2>
<p>More recently, <a href="http://cdp.sagepub.com/content/24/4/298.short">some researchers</a>, ourselves included, have speculated that people with pronounced psychopathic traits may be found disproportionately in certain professional niches, such as politics, business, law enforcement, firefighting, special operations military services and high-risk sports. Most of those with psychopathic traits probably aren’t classic “psychopaths,” but nonetheless exhibit many features of the condition.</p>
<p>Perhaps their social poise, charisma, audacity, adventurousness and emotional resilience lends them a performance edge over the rest of us when it comes to high-stakes settings. As Canadian psychologist Robert Hare, the world’s premier psychopathy expert, <a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/53247/your-boss-psychopath">quipped</a>, “If I weren’t studying psychopaths in prison, I’d do it at the stock exchange.” </p>
<p>Our lab at Emory University, and that of our collaborators at Florida State University, are investigating whether some psychopathic traits, such as boldness, predispose to certain successful behaviors.</p>
<p>What do we mean by boldness? It encompasses poise and charm, physical risk-taking and emotional resilience, and it is a trait that is well-represented in many widely used psychopathy measures. </p>
<p>For instance, in studies on <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092656613000822">college students</a> and people in the <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4106400/">general community</a>, we have found that <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/psychopathys-bright-side-kevin-dutt-12-12-28/">boldness is modestly</a> tied to impulsive heroic behaviors, such as intervening in emergencies. It’s also linked to a higher likelihood of assuming leadership and management positions, and to certain professions, such as law enforcement, firefighting and dangerous sports. </p>
<h2>Want to be president? Having some psychopathic traits could help</h2>
<p>There’s one job in particular in which boldness may make a difference: president of the United States.</p>
<p>In a study of the 42 American presidents up to and including George W. Bush, we asked biographers and other experts to complete a detailed set of personality items – including items assessing boldness – about the president of their expertise. Then, we connected these data with independent surveys of presidential performance by prominent historians.</p>
<p>We found that boldness was positively, although modestly, associated with better overall presidential performance. And several specific facets of such performance, such as crisis management, agenda setting and public persuasiveness, were associated with boldness too. This may be something to keep in mind the next time you see presidential candidates talk about how bold they’ll be in the White House.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/107591/original/image-20160107-14016-go56yy.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/107591/original/image-20160107-14016-go56yy.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/107591/original/image-20160107-14016-go56yy.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=865&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107591/original/image-20160107-14016-go56yy.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=865&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107591/original/image-20160107-14016-go56yy.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=865&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107591/original/image-20160107-14016-go56yy.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1088&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107591/original/image-20160107-14016-go56yy.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1088&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107591/original/image-20160107-14016-go56yy.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1088&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Theodore Roosevelt, the boldest of them all.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://catalog.archives.gov/id/530950">National Archives and Records Administration</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In an interesting coincidence, the boldest president in our study was the one who said he was proud to share a stage with Tom Skeyhill. Theodore Roosevelt was <a href="http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/T/bo21386470.html">described</a> by a recent biographer as possessing a “robust, forceful, naturalistic, bombastic, teeth-clapping, animal-skinning, keen-eyed, avalanche-like persona.” </p>
<p>The boldest presidents were not necessarily extreme or pathological on this dimension, but boldness was markedly elevated relative to the average person. </p>
<p>Although boldness was tied to some successful actions, we generally found that other psychopathic features, such as callousness and poor impulse control, were unrelated or negatively related to professional success.</p>
<p>Boldness may be associated with certain positive life outcomes, but full-fledged psychopathy generally is not.</p>
<h2>Where’s the line between success and criminality?</h2>
<p>Could psychopathic traits be adaptive? Few investigators have explored this “Goldilocks” hypothesis. Moreover, we know surprisingly little about how psychopathic traits forecast real-world behavior over extended stretches of time. </p>
<p>The charm of the psychopath is shallow and superficial. With that in mind, we would argue that boldness and allied traits may be linked to successful behaviors in the short term, but that their effectiveness almost always fizzles out in the long term. After all, Tom Skeyhill was able to fool people for only so long.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/51282/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Despite the popular perception, most psychopaths aren’t coldblooded or psychotic killers. Many live successfully among us, using their personality traits to get what they want.Scott O. Lilienfeld, Professor of Psychology, Emory UniversityAshley Watts, Ph.D. Candidate, Emory UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/450472015-07-28T02:32:06Z2015-07-28T02:32:06ZPsychopaths versus sociopaths: what is the difference?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/89862/original/image-20150728-7665-1sqj5jg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Television serial killer Dexter may be more of a psychopath than a sociopath due to his methodically delivered kills.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/pimkie_fotos/3484952865/in/photolist-6iXi5e-4jnui6-9b23AN-7QkLPc-6zeRjJ-9hx2Fa-6HrvLn-7sEQhy-qx8Juu-xA7Yk-7jQUms-7nQdZH-53uZoW-WziUP-dk4uiq-7UneFq-5r6Wzn-5r6W5F-GCr1C-ouSZjv-5r6Wdn-oUyotj-8WGR72-7xLpGf-xAzWK-dk4uzE-8UVdJT-8KCA3H-7nPxUM-9xsSwv-dk4sTB-7vuJif-5r6Wn8-8pWDFi-57Cu3f-6XZhsS-nbZTbj-7aGRzr-5F71sQ-rX1Ufb-GhzY4-pb1iLa-8UheFG-5uZdtm-8uVwGg-5r6WoM-5rbhmo-8uVwAZ-5r6VZa-b1U74i">Pimkie/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Psychopath and sociopath are popular psychology terms to describe violent monsters born of our worst nightmares. Think Hannibal Lecter in <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102926/?ref_=nv_sr_1">Silence of the Lambs (1991)</a>, Norman Bates in <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054215/">Psycho (1960)</a> and Annie Wilkes in <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100157/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Misery (1990)</a>. In making these characters famous, popular culture has also burned the words used to describe them into our collective consciousness. </p>
<p>Most of us, fortunately, will never meet a Hannibal Lecter, but psychopaths and sociopaths certainly do exist. And they hide among us. Sometimes as the most successful people in society because they’re often ruthless, callous and superficially charming, while having little or no regard for the feelings or needs of others.</p>
<p>These are known as “successful” psychopaths, as they have a tendency to perform premeditated crimes with calculated risk. Or they may manipulate someone else into breaking the law, while keeping themselves safely at a distance. They’re master manipulators of other peoples’ feelings, but are unable to experience emotions themselves.</p>
<p>Sound like someone you know? Well, heads up. You do know one; at least one. <a href="http://dsm.psychiatryonline.org/doi/book/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425596">Prevalence rates</a> come in somewhere between 0.2% and 3.3% of the population. </p>
<p>If you’re worried about yourself, you can <a href="http://vistriai.com/psychopathtest/">take a quiz to find out</a>, but before you click on that link let me save you some time: you’re not a psychopath or sociopath. If you were, you probably wouldn’t be interested in taking that personality test. </p>
<p>You just wouldn’t be that self-aware or concerned about your character flaws. That’s why both psychopathy and sociopathy are known as anti-social personality disorders, which are long-term mental health conditions.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/89865/original/image-20150728-7665-7t46is.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/89865/original/image-20150728-7665-7t46is.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89865/original/image-20150728-7665-7t46is.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89865/original/image-20150728-7665-7t46is.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89865/original/image-20150728-7665-7t46is.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89865/original/image-20150728-7665-7t46is.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89865/original/image-20150728-7665-7t46is.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Although most of us will never meet someone like Hannibal Lecter from Silence of the Lambs, we all know at least one sociopath.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What’s the difference?</h2>
<p>Psychopaths and sociopaths share a number of characteristics, including a lack of remorse or empathy for others, a lack of guilt or ability to take responsibility for their actions, a disregard for laws or social conventions, and an inclination to violence. A core feature of both is a deceitful and manipulative nature. But how can we tell them apart?</p>
<p>Sociopaths are normally less emotionally stable and highly impulsive – their behaviour tends to be more erratic than psychopaths. When committing crimes – either violent or non-violent – sociopaths will act more on compulsion. And they will lack patience, giving in much more easily to impulsiveness and lacking detailed planning.</p>
<p>Psychopaths, on the other hand, will plan their crimes down to the smallest detail, taking calculated risks to avoid detection. The smart ones will leave few clues that may lead to being caught. Psychopaths don’t get carried away in the moment and make fewer mistakes as a result.</p>
<p>Both act on a continuum of behaviours, and many psychologists still debate whether the two should be differentiated at all. But for those who do differentiate between the two, one thing is largely agreed upon: psychiatrists use the term psychopathy to illustrate that the cause of the anti-social personality disorder is hereditary. Sociopathy describes behaviours that are the result of a brain injury, or abuse and/or neglect in childhood.</p>
<p>Psychopaths are born and sociopaths are made. In essence, their difference reflects the nature versus nurture debate. </p>
<p>There’s a particularly interesting link between serial killers and psychopaths or sociopaths – although, of course, not all psychopaths and sociopaths become serial killers. And not all serial killers are psychopaths or sociopaths.</p>
<p>But <a href="https://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/serial-murder/serial-murder-1#four">America’s Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)</a> has noted certain traits shared between known serial killers and these anti-social personality disorders. These include predatory behaviour (for instance, <a href="http://www.biography.com/people/ivan-milat-17169710">Ivan Milat</a>, who hunted and murdered his seven victims); sensation-seeking (think hedonistic killers who murder for excitement or arousal, such as <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-10-24/thomas-hemming-sentenced-over-melbourne-double-murder/5839568">21-year-old Thomas Hemming</a> who, in 2014, murdered two people just to know what it felt like to kill); lack of remorse; impulsivity; and the need for control or power over others (such as <a href="http://www.biography.com/people/dennis-rader-241487">Dennis Rader</a>, an American serial killer who murdered ten people between 1974 and 1991, and became known as the “BTK (bind, torture, kill) killer”).</p>
<h2>A case study</h2>
<p>The Sydney murder of Morgan Huxley by 22-year-old Jack Kelsall, who arguably shows all the hallmarks of a psychopath, highlights the differences between psychopaths and sociopaths.</p>
<p>In 2013, Kelsall followed Huxley home where he indecently assaulted the 31-year-old before stabbing him 28 times. Kelsall showed no remorse for his crime, which was extremely violent and pre-meditated. </p>
<p>There’s no doubt in my mind he’s psychopathic rather than sociopathic because although the murder was frenzied, Kelsall showed patience and planning. He had followed potential victims before and had <a href="http://www.skynews.com.au/news/top-stories/2015/03/18/-worthless-psychopath--guilty-of-murder.html">shared fantasies he had about murdering a stranger</a> with a knife with his psychiatrist a year before he killed Huxley, allegedly for “<a href="http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/daniel-jack-kelsall-found-guilty-of-morgan-huxleys-murder-indecent-assault/story-fni0cx12-1227267704006">the thrill of it</a>”.</p>
<p>Whatever Kelsall’s motive, regardless of whether his dysfunction was born or made, the case stands as an example of the worst possible outcome of an anti-social personality disorder: senseless violence perpetrated against a random victim for self-gratification. Throughout his trial and sentencing, Kelsall showed no sign of remorse, no guilt, and gave no apology.</p>
<p>A textbook psychopath, he would, I believe, have gone on to kill again. In my opinion – and that of the police who arrested him – Kelsall was a serial killer in the making.</p>
<p>In the end, does the distinction between a psychopath and sociopath matter? They can both be dangerous and even deadly, the worst wreaking havoc with people’s lives. Or they can spend their life among people who are none the wiser for it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/45047/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Xanthe Mallett does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Psychopaths and sociopaths have similar characteristics, lacking remorse or empathy for others. And they can both be violent, deceitful and manipulative. But what are the differences between the two?Xanthe Mallett, Senior Lecturer in Forensic Criminology, University of New EnglandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.