International Law

The Eyes of the Psychopath

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In the 1941 book the Mask of Sanity, writing about psychopaths, Cleckly "emphasized his subjects' deceptive, predatory nature, writing that the psychopath is capable of "concealing behind a perfect mimicry of normal emotion, fine intelligence, and social responsibility a grossly disabled and irresponsible personality."

This mimicry allows psychopaths to function, and even thrive, in normal society. Indeed, as Cleckley also argued, the individualistic, winner-take-all aspect of American culture nurtures psychopathy

This is quote from an article in the New Yorker, written by John Seabrook, about psychopathy. Here is some more of the article.

"Psychopathy doesn't necessarily imply violence.

The most commonly used modern definition, based on the work of psychologist Robert Hare, suggests that psychopathy includes things like a lack of conscience, manipulative behaviour, impulsiveness and an anti-social

"To distinguish psychopaths from non-psychopaths among the Western volunteers, Kiehl and his students use the revised version of the Psychopathy Checklist, or PCL-R, a twenty-item diagnostic instrument created by Robert Hare, a Canadian psychologist, based on his long experience in working with psychopaths in prisons.

Kiehl was taught to use the checklist by Hare himself, under whom he earned his doctorate, at the University of British Columbia.

Researchers interview an inmate for up to three hours, and compare the inmate's statements against what is known of his record and his personal history.

The interviewer "scores" the subject on each of the twenty items--parasitic life style, pathological lying, conning, proneness to boredom, shallow emotions, lack of empathy, poor impulse control, promiscuity, irresponsibility, record of juvenile delinquency, and criminal versatilit, among other tendencies--with zero, one, or two, depending on how pronounced that trait is.

Most researchers agree that anyone who scores thirty or higher on the PCL-R is considered to be a psychopath. Kiehl says, "Someone who scores a thirty-five, a thirty-six, they are just different. You say to yourself, 'Aha, here you are. You are why I do this."

Be interesting if white collar criminals had to undergo the Hare test for psychopathy - I guarantee that people would be shocked to find out which of our so-called leading business people are actually nuts.

Thanks to Mind Hack for the reference.

Full post as published by Misleading Advertising Law on November 07, 2008 (boomark / email).