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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.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday November 15 2016, @05:08PM
Given the oft-reputed ability for psychopaths to seemingly rise to positions of power and wealth, it seems to me as though they are the better evolved human for living in the modern world.
Reminds me of the saying, "the rich aren't like you and I. They have more money." Objectifying the rich as psychopaths seems to be par for modern society.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by VLM on Tuesday November 15 2016, @05:28PM
I find it annoying that there's a whole soft science of Philosophy focusing on "what is the right way to live?" (and other questions...) yet all we get is I like money and they're rich so I either want to hate them or eat them or clone them.
Could give them a good solid dose of "they're aggressively anti-social so they aren't compatible with a stable culture" or "they reduce the total net happiness of humanity" or "they kill too many people for no net positive reason"
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday November 15 2016, @05:34PM
Could give them a good solid dose of "they're aggressively anti-social so they aren't compatible with a stable culture" or "they reduce the total net happiness of humanity" or "they kill too many people for no net positive reason"
But then you'd have the problem that the rich aren't that sort of problem in the real world. Some being such a problem aren't all being such a problem. Most philosophers at least have the common sense to avoid positions that can be readily rejected by empirical observation.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday November 15 2016, @08:59PM
Oh here we go. I was intending to imply the psychopaths not the rich as the Venn diagram despite considerable overlap isn't quite 100%. But whatever close enough.