Science > Psychopaths at Home, at work, and in the Garden

Psychopathy - something to strive for?

(1/9) > >>

whitecoast:
I found this article on io9:
http://m.io9.com/5916074/should-we-eliminate-psychopaths-from-the-gene-pool

It mentions Robert Hare, the author of Snakes in Suits, and gives a good overview of the neurological basis for psychopathy and their status as an intraspecies predator that had a district survival strategy separate from that of normal humans.

Some parts of it I rather dislike, such as its mentioning at intervals that society may benefit from psychopathy (but this is a point that is greatly contended by researchers in the article). Maybe they just threw it in there to show they're playing nice and unbiasedly (remaining impartial between the fire brigade and the fire, as Churchill would say).

Overall a good piece I thought. It is a conversation we need to be having as a people.

Here's the main body of text, though the site itself has all the in-text links people should feel free to explore.


--- Quote --- Should we eliminate psychopaths from
the gene pool?

By George Dvorsky, Jun 6, 2012 9:00 AM

Psychopaths make up an astounding 1 to 2
percent of the general population and
occupy virtually every niche in society.
Often ruthless, callous and completely
devoid of empathy, they impose an
incalculable toll on individuals and society.
And science is increasingly learning that
psychopathy may actually be a genetic
disorder — one that could eventually be
eliminated.

But what if it turns out that we actually need
psychopaths?

As a term, psychopathy often means
different things to different people. Part of
the problem is that psychopathy is not a
recognized clinical term, one that's defined
within the DSM-IV. But this is starting to
change. There's growing consensus among
clinicians and neuroscientists that
psychopathy does in fact exist as a
meaningful and identifiable personality
disorder. A growing community of experts
are starting to use psychopathy as a clinical
diagnosis.

Another part of the problem is that it's often
used interchangeably with such terms as
sociopathy and antisocial personality
disorder (ASPD). While sociopathy is a
rather vague term, ASPD does have a strict
definition within the DSM-IV — but it's not
the same same condition as psychopathy.
ASPD is diagnosed based on behavioral
patterns, while psychopathy includes
behavior but also measurable cognitive,
emotional, and neuropsychological
differences from neurotypical people. And
thanks to fMRI brain scans, neuroscientists
are increasingly showing that there is a
consistent and identifiable neurological
basis for psychopathy.

In terms of definition, psychopathy is a
personality disorder characterized by
severe emotional dysfunction, especially a
lack of empathy and remorse. Psychopaths
exhibit consistent disregard for the feelings
of others and the rules of society. They are
completely unable to recognize such things
as anger and fear in individuals, either
based on facial expressions or verbal
exclamations. In terms of behavioral traits,
psychopaths are generally regarded as
being callous, selfish, dishonest, arrogant,
aggressive, impulsive, irresponsible, and
hedonistic. At the same time, psychopaths
often exhibit higher than average
intelligence and a superficial kind of
charm.

But clearly, given that nearly 2 in every 100
persons is a psychopath, they can't all be
bad — otherwise society would have
completely imploded by now. There's
evidently more to this issue than meets the
eye.

An underlying genetic basis

Scientists are increasingly finding a genetic
basis to psychopathy . Work in genetics has
revealed that the heritability coefficient for
psychopathy is a shocking 50%.
Psychopathy, it would appear, runs deeply
in the family.

Moreover, neurologists are learning that
psychopathy can manifest early in a
person's life. There's an understandable
reluctance to brand children as
psychopaths, which is fair given the amount
of stigma involved, and the fact that many
children "act out" in age-appropriate ways.
Consequently, therapists and researchers
instead use the term "unemotional-callous"
to describe what might actually be
protopsychopathology.

Back in 2005, a twin study found that
antisocial children could be classified into
two groups: those who were influenced by
both genetic and environmental factors, and
those influenced by environmental factors
alone. Of the two, the former group
experienced the highest rankings of callous-
unemotional traits.

But while genes may be a key factor, there's
still plenty of room for environmental
factors. It's thought that, while genetic
factors may generally influence the
development of psychopathy, the
environment still affects the specific traits
that predominate.

It's also worth noting that virtually all
psychopaths exhibit anti-social traits as
children, but that half of them "grow out of
it". This gives therapists hope that the
condition could be treated environmentally.
Psychologist Robert Hare, a leading expert
on such matters, has argued that
psychopathy may actually be adaptive. He
has observed how many male psychopaths
have a pattern of mating with and quickly
abandoning women — and as a result, have
a high fertility rate. His contention is that
these children may inherit a predisposition
to psychopathy.

And there appear to be physiological
differences between psychopaths and
everybody else — a recent study showed
that the psychopathic brain has significantly
less grey matter in the anterior rostral
prefrontal cortex and temporal poles than
the brains of both non-psychopathic
offenders and non-offenders. These areas of
the brain appear to be important for
reading other people's emotions and
intentions, and seem to be active when
people think about moral behaviour.
Neuroscientists have also found that the
amygdala is impaired in psychopaths. The
amygdala is responsible for stimulus-
reinforcement learning and responding to
emotional expressions, particularly fearful
expressions. It is also involved in the
formation of both stimulus-punishment and
stimulus-reward associations.

The psychopaths among us
At first blush, the estimate that 1 to 2
percent of all people are psychopaths seems
astonishingly high. In a country like the
United States, this implies that there are
between 3 to 6 million psychopathic
Americans. Psychopaths also make up
roughly 15 to 25 percent of the prison
population, and are responsible for the
lion's share of brutal crimes and murders.
And according to the neuroscientist Fabrice
Jotterand, psychopathy affects 3 to 5 % of
all CEOs.

But not all psychopaths are dangerous.
Given the high prevalence of psychopathy
in our gene pool, and given that many seem
to fare rather well in society, it's fair to say
that we run the risk of generalizing about
this condition and pigeonholing all
psychopaths as being inherently dangerous.
That said, it's not outrageous to suggest that
psychopathy may eventually be branded as
a genetic disorder — one that may be
subject to prenatal screening or gene
therapy. Genomics and the practice of
preimplantation genetic diagnosis may
eventually alert prospective parents, not to
mention their fertility doctors, to the
possibility that their offspring could be
psychopathic. Genetic technologies may put
prospective parents in a difficult position, if
tests reveal that their future child has a high
chance of being a psychopath.
This issue could get trickier if the
government gets involved. According to an
estimate by the neuroscientist Kent Kiehl,
the national cost of psychopathy in the U.S.
stands at $460 billion a year — roughly 10
times the cost of depression. The
government could stand to save a lot of
money, if it decides that psychopaths should
never be born in the first place.

Robert Hare, co-author of Snakes in Suits ,
takes a hard-line when it comes to
psychopaths, referring to them as
"intraspecies predators." He argues that
they lack the very qualities that allow
humans to live in social harmony and is
concerned about their ability to blend in,
undetected, in a variety of surroundings,
including corporate environments. By
conceptualizing psychopaths as remorseless
predators, he feels we can better
understand what often appears to be
senseless behavior.

Indeed, it may very well have to be the
human toll that's considered. Psychopaths,
given their indifference and often insatiable
desires, can harm people in any number of
ways, whether through physical violence or
ruthlessness in the workplace. It's the
continuing prospect of having psychopaths
around in the general population that may
eventually determine whether they should
be filtered from the gene pool.
An important social role?

But a reality check is also in order. As
already noted, not all psychopaths are
violent. In fact, that's far from the case.
Psychopathy is not an all-or-nothing
proposition. Like autism, it falls along a
spectrum. The Hare Psychopathy Checklist ,
a standard inventory used in law
enforcement, has a top score of 40.
Psychopaths tend to get a bit scary when
they score in the early 20s. A very
demented and dangerous psychopath would
score around a 30. As journalist Jon Ronson
has noted, "There are absolutes in
psychopathy and the main absolute is a
literal absence of empathy. It's just not
there. In higher-scoring psychopaths, what
grows in the vacant field where that
empathy should be is a joy in manipulating
people, a lack of remorse, a lack of guilt. If
you've got a little bit of empathy, you're
kind of not a psychopath."

This is why Ronson and others feel that
some psychopaths make for great CEOs. "I
think the other positive traits for
psychopaths in business is need for
stimulation, proneness to boredom,"
Ronson told Forbes. "You want somebody
who can't sit still, who's constantly thinking
about how to do better things."

Kevin Dutton, the author of the upcoming
book, The Wisdom of Psychopaths, agrees.
He feels that psychopathy is an indelible
component of the human fabric that
extends well beyond the business world.
Dutton feels that psychopaths have a lot of
good things going for them. He argues that
they are fearless, confident, charismatic,
ruthless and focused -– qualities Dutton
believes are tailor-made for success in 21st
century society. Specifically, attributes like
coolness under pressure and strong desire
give rise to successful surgeons, firefighters,
movie stars, and attorneys. Weed out
psychopathy, argues Dutton, and you may
lose some very important personality traits
that help to create the greater whole that is
humanity.

No easy answers

Clearly the issue of whether or not
psychopathy should be wiped out is not as
straightforward as it might appear. As
geneticists have shown, there's an adaptive
nature to psychopathy — and its prevalence
may actually be on the rise. And there may
be a very good reason for it in the human
gene pool, one that contributes to a kind of
neurodiversity that's socially beneficial.
Taking a step back, an overarching question
that needs to be asked is one about end-
goals. What's more important: changing
someone's behavior, or changing a person's
state of mind? A consequentialist would
argue that it's behavior, and that it doesn't
matter what a person thinks or what kinds
of empathic impairments they might have
— all that matters is how they act.
Subsequently, an argument can be made
that, if we can root out criminally harmful
behavior, our task is done.

But as Robert Hare has argued, that may not
be good enough. The absence of empathy,
he argues — the very definition of a
psychopath — will always result in
malevolence.

That may very well be the case, but the
truest expression of humanity is the ability
to extend empathy towards others — even
those incapable of mustering empathy
themselves.

--- End quote ---

Gonzo:
I haven't finished reading the article yet but took a break and jumped to the comments section.  It's interesting to see the first comment from a user named RemusShepherd, who claims to be a psychopath (or a sociopath, he adds), or at least believes so, saying he's had no diagnosis but the term is in his FBI file (Not sure why he has a file).  He claims to work on being a good man and feels it is a choice between a good man and a monster.  The comments from others, although detracting from the article itself, is quite interesting to see, as it demonstrates the range of understanding out there.

I am a little concerned about the slightly apologetic approach and concern the author shows for psychopaths. 

--- Quote ---But not all psychopaths are dangerous. Given the high prevalence of psychopathy in our gene pool, and given that many seem to fare rather well in society, it's fair to say that we run the risk of generalizing about this condition and pigeonholing all psychopaths as being inherently dangerous.

--- End quote ---

and


--- Quote ---Kevin Dutton, the author of the upcoming book, The Wisdom of Psychopaths, agrees. He feels that psychopathy is an indelible component of the human fabric that extends well beyond the business world. Dutton feels that psychopaths have a lot of good things going for them. He argues that they are fearless, confident, charismatic, ruthless and focused -– qualities Dutton believes are tailor-made for success in 21st century society. Specifically, attributes like coolness under pressure and strong desire give rise to successful surgeons, firefighters, movie stars, and attorneys. Weed out psychopathy, argues Dutton, and you may lose some very important personality traits that help to create the greater whole that is humanity.

--- End quote ---

It's rather fascinating to see the discussion around psychopathy make its way into niche publications and MSM.  However, I feel they are slowly preparing people to have a degree of feeling for psychopaths before everyone realizes how bad the situation actually is.

Gonzo

bngenoh:
"Should Psychopaths be Eliminated from the Gene Pool?"

No need as I see it, they are an evolutionary dead end, so nature will take care of them in its own time, but it is up to us to isolate them after recognizing them for what they are, a rare specimen in the evolution of species, that offers invaluable knowledge into behavior being influenced by biology. Only though our actions can this be done though.

Now, the culling that is already taking place will affect all of us psychopath or not, non-psychopaths have a greater survivability potential than psychopaths because we help one another without ulterior motives, at least if not completely ponerized. While psychopaths are always planning in the spirit of "what can I derive from this interaction," instability results from actions stemming from a lack of conscience, they are a force of nature, but they are out of balance with the rest of earth, so a balancing force is necessary, we are that balancing force in potential, but only if we act with knowledge and discernment, otherwise it's hello comets. Though comets may come irregardless of our actions, though our actions may mitigate their destructiveness.

lake_george:
I feel certain that there are psychopaths who could manipulate the data, the policy, and/or the message so that any intention to even identify them in some large-scale way would completely backfire. 

I think better would be to try to educate "person-to-person" - especially one's children and family members (let's hope none are not psychopaths) how to become responsible and aware, and be able to protect oneself from being 'conned', and as far as possible how to keep from support what is run by psychopaths.

Still though there is the problem of psychopaths in high places, who may even have been 'elected' ( by computerized voting machines... hmmmm.....).  Any ideas about 'culling' anybody out of the gene-pool while these guys rule would be bound to backfire bigtime.

All the above IMHO.

bngenoh:

--- Quote from: lake_george on June 08, 2012, 12:11:24 AM ---Still though there is the problem of psychopaths in high places, who may even have been 'elected' ( by computerized voting machines... hmmmm.....).  Any ideas about 'culling' anybody out of the gene-pool while these guys rule would be bound to backfire bigtime.

All the above IMHO.

--- End quote ---

Which is why the person to person, each one reach one strategy is our best shot osit, such little acts when performed by an ever increasing amount of people adds up, big time. Interesting p2p like how info is shared, completely circumventing establishment policies.  ;)

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page