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posted by cmn32480 on Tuesday November 15 2016, @02:41PM   Printer-friendly
from the mind-games dept.

The subject of psychopaths comes up frequently on Soylent in many contexts, so this story caught my eye:

How do you think a psychopath can be affected despite all that has been written about the psychopath being so devious etc.? I am sure there are weaknesses which one can dig into to break him 'psychologically'. I read somewhere that they are basically people who are very insecure and they love to control people so that they feel they have a power within themselves.
I know of a psychopath who insists on people doing what he wants and anyone defying him will see his vengeful self lashing out. But I am sure there must be something that can break such a psychopath. How about belittling or bring him to shame?

The first part of the answer is to be able to distinguish a narcissist from a psychopath:

I agree with the other post that points out that the person described is a narcissist, not a psychopath. Psychopaths are very secure and they to not seek control for the sake of feeling powerful, nor are they vengeful or spiteful. You could say that psychopaths are very practical, they want pure gain for the sake of the gain (e.g. money, a sexual favor, special access to something such as convince) rather than the ego stroke or prestige. A smart psychopath would probably keep things as low key as possible, as to maximize potential gain and minimize the danger of being caught. They are cool and calm, unlike the person described who lashes out for personal reasons.

Read the rest of the article for the takeaway.


Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday November 15 2016, @04:52PM

    by Phoenix666 (552) on Tuesday November 15 2016, @04:52PM (#427040) Journal

    There might be useful discrete applications for them. For example, if you need cannon fodder, a platoon of psychopaths might be just the thing. They will be able to keep their calm under fire because they'll be immune to worry about their own safety or the shock of their comrades falling around them. And when it comes time to storm the enemy barricades, they won't hesitate to kill the enemy.

    I agree they ought to be removed from general circulation, though.

    There is a test that can establish that a person is a psychopath by monitoring his brain. It should be administered to politicians, CEOs and the like so that those that test positive can be disqualified from holding that position.

    --
    Washington DC delenda est.
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  • (Score: 2, Funny) by VLM on Tuesday November 15 2016, @05:17PM

    by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday November 15 2016, @05:17PM (#427054)

    For example, if you need cannon fodder, a platoon of psychopaths might be just the thing. They will be able to keep their calm under fire because they'll be immune to worry about their own safety or the shock of their comrades falling around them. And when it comes time to storm the enemy barricades, they won't hesitate to kill the enemy.

    Its pretty much the anti-Trump protestors there in the streets.

    • (Score: 3, Informative) by Zz9zZ on Tuesday November 15 2016, @05:38PM

      by Zz9zZ (1348) on Tuesday November 15 2016, @05:38PM (#427060)

      Just gotta bring it back to politics... we all know why this article popped up, but of course Mr. GlassHouse here wants to start up the flamewar.

      --
      ~Tilting at windmills~
      • (Score: 3, Insightful) by VLM on Tuesday November 15 2016, @08:57PM

        by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday November 15 2016, @08:57PM (#427195)

        What too early for a laugh? I'll wait another week. It'll be funny someday.

  • (Score: 2) by JNCF on Tuesday November 15 2016, @05:51PM

    by JNCF (4317) on Tuesday November 15 2016, @05:51PM (#427068) Journal

    Ah, so the military is to be filled with psychopaths, and the civilian population won't have any? Do I have time to make popcorn before the authoritarian bloodbath starts, or are the tanks rolling over the countryside already? This sounds like the ending of Blindsight [wikipedia.org] , where (SPOILERS) vampires are an extinct species of human that are cloned for their usefulness (Homo vampiris is extremely intellignt and non-empathetic) and end up taking over the world and murdering all of the Homo sapiens.

    Srsly tho, forced labor programs are a dark path to go down, especially when the slavery is for sake of war. Biometric data being used as a legal qualifier for public office sounds sketchy too -- imagine if the tables were turned, and they made a law against having too much activity in the sympathetic areas of the brain. "We can't have some pinko hippy in charge of the launch codes, Halderman!" How do you feel about sociopaths voting? Is that a different line than serving office, in your eyes?

    I'm guessing that we developed a pretty helpful hawk/dove ratio in prehistoric times, and that modern society -- particularly the advent of large cities and easy transportation between cities -- has made sociopathy more beneficial to the individual than it has prehistorically been. I feel less comfortable saying whether that increase has yielded a net positive or net negative for civilation as a whole, but I would err towards "net negative."