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Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Horrors Are You in the Psychopath Profession? Let's Find Out!

Posted by Wm.™ Steven Humphrey on Wed, Jan 2, 2013 at 2:13 PM

In Kevin Dutton's book The Wisdom of Psychopaths: What Saints, Spies, and Serial Killers Can Teach Us About Success, he presents the following side-by-side list of occupations that have the most psychopaths (CEOs) and the least (Care Aides).

Umm... nobody look at #6. And as a reminder, here's the definition of "psychopath."

Psychopathy is a personality disorder that has been variously described as characterized by shallow emotions (in particular reduced fear), stress tolerance, lacking empathy, coldheartedness, lacking guilt, egocentricity, superficial character, manipulativeness, irresponsibility, impulsivity and antisocial behaviors such as parasitic lifestyle and criminality.

Yep, that sounds about right.

(via Eric Barker)

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Comments (18) RSS

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I imagine the "doctor" category would look different if it was broken down by specialty. The rest of these simply seem to be correlated by a mixture of income and opportunity for (not explicitly healing) power over others.

Posted by sahara29 on January 2, 2013 at 2:37 PM

Surgeons are in the top ten for being psychopaths and doctors are in the top ten list for being non-psychopaths?

Posted by Urgutha Forka on January 2, 2013 at 2:42 PM

I would have thought politician was in the mix. But at least it confirms what I think of the Catholic Church.

Posted by Pope Peabrain on January 2, 2013 at 2:46 PM

I find myself in several categories on each side of the psychopathy index.
@1 and @2, "doctor" definately needs to be broken down into subprofessions. I would argue that "lawyer" does too.

Posted by Sandiai on January 2, 2013 at 2:51 PM

I'm so going to read this book.

(Fortunately for me, I fall into the psychopath category, which means I earn more).

Posted by doloresdaphne on January 2, 2013 at 3:09 PM

@2 would seem to be correct.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on January 2, 2013 at 3:14 PM

I'm not so much surprised by the two lists, but by the order of them. I'd put clergy higher up than journalists and I'd put the police higher up than lawyers.

Posted by originalcinner on January 2, 2013 at 3:28 PM

Accountant should be in the other column. Hardly a day goes by that I don't utter a polite version of "tough shit".

Posted by Lori D. on January 2, 2013 at 3:52 PM

Alternative column headings.

Scorpions, frogs.

Posted by Supreme Ruler Of The Universe

on January 2, 2013 at 4:20 PM

Remember, this is not DSM-IV (soon to be V) stuff and involves charged definitional momentum that equates "psychopathy" with "bad person". The headline grabbing psychopaths have acted out some negative behavior society finds abhorrent, but the behind the scenes psycho actually is your boss or doctor or neighborhood cop, who cuts through shit and gets things done without the conflict of emotional baggage. Its all in how you use the traits listed here. You want that focused, emotionless surgeon cutting off your rotting leg in the foxhole when the bombs are falling who is just fascinated with the fluidity of blood and tidy sutures...

Posted by Jaymz on January 2, 2013 at 4:44 PM

@7 Well, then, you're just going to dive right into the field research, then, aren't you? I mean, you wouldn't be posting an armchair opinion based on nothing more than your personal bias on the internet, now would you?

Posted by Some Old Nobodaddy Logged In on January 2, 2013 at 4:52 PM

Hah, lawyers are number 2. I'm guessing the number would be different if only looking at those of us who work in legal aid, helping poor people for little pay.

Posted by ourkind on January 2, 2013 at 5:14 PM

That sure describes nearly every CEO I've worked for. It's no wonder, when nearly every trait (aside from criminality and irresponsibility) makes for an effective one.

The exception is Paul Allen. He was very empathetic and didn't have an ego to speak of. He was also downright terrible at running a company.

Posted by Free Lunch on January 2, 2013 at 6:33 PM

I fall within the non-psychopathy category which is expected. I'm a sociopath..not a psychopath. Big difference thank-you-very-much. Time to season those fava beans.

Posted by bugwitch on January 2, 2013 at 10:12 PM

damn...right there at #4 - Salesperson. and that the job fell into my lap makes me feel even weirder.

Posted by LEE. on January 2, 2013 at 11:09 PM

@5: It's kind of interesting, but the guy is a lousy, annoying writer.

Posted by yuiop on January 3, 2013 at 1:05 AM

I should be a journalist.

Posted by watchout5

on January 3, 2013 at 3:06 AM

"...lacking empathy, coldheartedness, lacking guilt, egocentricity, superficial character, manipulativeness, irresponsibility, impulsivity and antisocial behaviors..."

I notice that "Clergyperson" is at number 8. That seems a little low to me.

Posted by tomsj on January 3, 2013 at 7:25 AM