What is a psychopath?
Psychopaths are individuals incapable of empathy, remorse, guilt, and to be diagnosed as a psychopath requires meeting criteria from the checklist.
Hare Psychopath Checklist:
- grandiose (exaggeratedly high) estimation of self
- need for stimulation
- pathological lying
- cunning and manipulativeness
- lack of remorse or guilt
- shallow affect (superficial emotional responsiveness)
- callousness and lack of empathy
- parasitic lifestyle
- poor behavioral controls
- sexual promiscuity
- early behavior problems
- lack of realistic long-term goals
- impulsivity
- irresponsibility
- failure to accept responsibility for own actions
- many short-term marital relationships
- juvenile delinquency
- revocation of conditional release
- criminal versatility
The Hare Psychopath Checklist is one of the methods used to identify a clinical psychopath. Other methods in addition to the Hare checklist include using FMRI brain scan to determine if a person is capable of feeling empathy. Psychopaths are incapable of feeling empathy and the brain of a psychopath is wired in such a way where empathy simply does not register and this can be seen because the portion of the brain associated with feeling empathy never lights up. In addition psychopaths do not process fear in the normal way and this can also be detected in a brain scan.
Dr. Katherine Horton in her video claims:
- Psychopaths treat other people as objects.
- Psychopaths have a need for control over others.
- Psychopaths use enablers.
- Most old style organizations are captured by psychopaths.
How many centralized top down pyramid style organizations are already captured by clinical psychopaths?
Old style organizations typically give lots of power to people at the top. Clinical psychopaths are attracted to positions of absolute power and will seek out these positions at the top. If a person is naturally seeking to be in these positions of great power then it is important to question why that person wants to be in that position. People who are not psychopaths often do not want to be in positions of power because of the responsibility that goes with it but a psychopath will enjoy being in this position rather than stressed out by the responsibility.
In prison populations around 20% of prisoners are said to be psychopaths and Robert Hare has stated around 50% of violent crimes are committed by psychopaths. So psychopaths are naturally suited to doing violence and because psychopaths have difficulties with morality it is also true that prisons have a high percentage of psychopaths. We also have to consider not all psychopaths end up in prison and many psychopaths are the successful variety and it is these psychopaths who might rise to the top of pyramid style organizations.
References
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychopathy_Checklist
- http://www.minddisorders.com/Flu-Inv/Hare-Psychopathy-Checklist.html
- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3767545/Inside-mind-PSYCHOPATH-Researchers-feel-fear-don-t-recognise-danger.html
- https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/08/160830113745.htm
- http://www.businessinsider.com/what-a-psychopath-brain-looks-like-2015-7