In my last post I talked about my recent experiences with 'Snakes in Suits'.
But how do you identify a psychopath?
"Likeable," "Charming," "Intelligent," "Alert," "Impressive," "Confidence-inspiring," and "A great success with the ladies": These are the sorts of descriptions repeatedly used by Cleckley in his famous case-studies of psychopaths. They are also, of course, "irresponsible," "self-destructive," and the like. These descriptions highlight the great frustrations and puzzles that surround the study of psychopathy.(Ray, J. J. and J. A. B. Ray, 'Some apparent advantages of Subclinical Psychopathy', The Journal of Social Psychology, 1982, 117, 135-142. Thanks to the commenter for pointing out the correct source)
Psychopaths seem to have in abundance the very traits most desired by normal persons. The untroubled self-confidence of the psychopath seems almost like an impossible dream and is generally what "normal" people seek to acquire when they attend assertiveness training classes. In many instances, the magnetic attraction of the psychopath for members of the opposite sex seems almost supernatural.
Cleckley's seminal hypothesis concerning the psychopath is that he suffers from a very real mental illness indeed: a profound and incurable affective deficit. If he really feels anything at all, they are emotions of only the shallowest kind. He does bizarre and self-destructive things because consequences that would fill the ordinary man with shame, self-loathing, and embarrassment simply do not affect the psychopath at all. What to others would be a disaster is to him merely a fleeting inconvenience.
Also have a look at Kubrick's Psychopaths.
Here's the really scary part: 4% of the adult population suffer from psychopathy...
More in my next post on how these individuals drain our relationships, our bank accounts, our accomplishments, our self-esteem, our very peace on earth. And what to do about it.
3 comments:
With all of our combined talents surely we could calibrate some kind of portable psycho-prophylactic pod that would pulse out the appropriate
frequency to unmask the ethically-challenged before we skip unknowingly in.
Something along the lines of the Mars Attacks solution would be most gratifying. mmm .. the golden age of humanity would roll on in
If you're going to copy/paste text, at least have the grace to cite the source: Ray, J. J. and J. A. B. Ray, 'Some apparent advantages of Subclinical Psychopathy', The Journal of Social Psychology, 1982, 117, 135-142.
I put the copy/paste section in a blockquote section to indicate that it was extracted from another source, and pointed to the "Kubrick's Psychopaths" article from which I originally got it.
Thanks for the proper original reference!
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