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Study shows psychopathy can be hidden if the individual has high intelligence

á´…eparted

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ground-breaking research shows that there could be increased numbers of psychopaths in senior managerial positions and high levels of business

This is a very interesting study (which has been published in a scientific journal), and validates something I have felt for a long, long time: that it's indeed very possible for individuals to mask certain traits and personality deficits if they understand themselves enough and know what to show and not show.

Here are the important excerpts from the article:

She points out that, despite the media’s invariably lurid use of the term, there are various categories of psychopath and they are not all prone to physical violence.“The ones who are at the top of businesses are often charming and intelligent, but with emotional deficits, as opposed to psychopaths who are quite erratic and tend to commit gruesome crimes and are often caught and imprisoned.”

The measures were taken by first assessing IQ of the participants, then assessing psychopathy in the participants via another test. Then, measuring galvanic skin response to images depicting emotional scenes.

Carolyn found that the GSR responses among her participants were much as she would have predicted – except for the fact that it was only those with lower levels of intelligence who displayed the expected levels of excitement.
The conclusion is that those with higher IQs had sufficient intelligence to fake their emotional response, making it more difficult to detect their condition. This is the discovery that means Carolyn has made an original contribution to research in the field.

Finally, it's added at the potential implications this can have throughout the world:

She has contemplated the implications and whether or not it is important to develop new procedures to screen out psychopathic people who are in line for top business posts.

This is an interesting point to consider. However, one that I think might be too far to extend at this point and time. I mean, they used a 50 person sample size of students for the study. I think they're just using the headline of "CEO hate" which is extremely popular in the post 2008 economy crash world to garner attention (which is pretty dishonest and distasteful IMO). Still, the study seems to be statistically sound, this is the first major study of such a correlation, and it's going to have to be repeated and changed in some manners to validate it further. The title likely also come from the fact that it feels rather confirming to what a lot of people (such as myself) suspect. Everyone seems to know "that one person" who really does not belong in business, politics, etc. for the very reasons that they are unethical, or show signs of psychopathy in this regard.

It's also interesting to consider if other types of personality disorders, mental disorders, or related neurosis that can be hidden or masked (they or may not be dependent upon intelligence). This is actually rather important if this ends up being true, because it will show a very strong need to modify how disorders are screened. Ultimately, I feel the study is most important for the questions that it begs.

Discuss.
 

prplchknz

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i thought 98% of people who in big business/politics were that. and so those do belong but it's actually the honest people who don't. the world is fucked up, but people pretend that honesty and integrity get you places. it doesn't being hot (if you're a female) being funny (if you're male or female) being manipulative, and being smart is what gets you places
 

DiscoBiscuit

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Yawn. Academic study confirms that a class of people you don't like have a character flaw. Or study confirms biases of those conducting the study.
 

Beorn

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Yawn. Academic study confirms that a class of people you don't like have a character flaw. Or study confirms biases of those conducting the study.

I don't dislike the class and I don't doubt the findings based on my own experience.
 

prplchknz

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Yawn. Academic study confirms that a class of people you don't like have a character flaw. Or study confirms biases of those conducting the study.

congrats on making assumptions. everyone i know who is more succesful than me in any aspect of life lies and manipulates more than me, are they all sociopaths? no do i hate all of them? not really. so it would stand to reason someone successful in a public way would have more sociopathic traits. you can have the traits without being a sociopath. and studies are proven wrong all the time, this one might be. so many ground breaking studies have been proven wrong cuz others try to replicate them and they get different results.
 

DiscoBiscuit

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congrats on making assumptions. everyone i know who is more succesful than me in any aspect of life lies and manipulates more than me, are they all sociopaths? no do i hate all of them? not really. so it would stand to reason someone successful in a public way would have more sociopathic traits. you can have the traits without being a sociopath. and studies are proven wrong all the time, this one might be. so many ground breaking studies have been proven wrong cuz others try to replicate them and they get different results.

What's the point of the study though? If its valid to study sociopathic traits inherent in those at the higher levels of business, would it also be valid to study say the IQ range of NFL players, how cowardly teachers are, or how flaky artists are?

Certain kinds of people are drawn to different professions. In each profession, the type of people who are drawn to it are going to have traits that the public perceives as positive and some perceived as negative (just like anyone). How does the study benefit society? Because it seems to me that studies like this exist solely to give ammunition to those who regard the class of people being studied unfavorably.

Some of the traits perceived as negative by the public certainly allow these business leaders to be good at what they do.

I don't see any valid public policy objective arising from the conclusions in the study. To suggest that one would screen business leaders based on their personality is absolutely ludicrous.

It's like studying the IQ variance between Ashkenazi Jews vs. other types of people. Yes there might be a statistically significant difference, but what good can society put that information to?

These kind of studies are certainly interesting to psychologists, academics and those with the esoteric and specialized knowledge to understand the results in a nuanced way, but then publishing the result just gives those in the public an excuse to use the studies to confirm their preconceived notions.

It is for that reason that I think studies like this, no matter who is made to look bad by the result, are pretty much bullshit.
 

prplchknz

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[MENTION=22098]Jarlaxle[/MENTION] showed me this, it's relevant

 

INTP

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Sorry but i think the emotional deficit is at the side who doesent recognize a psychopath when in close relation with the person.. Not saying that they are necessarily dumb, but naive and poor judges of character at least.
 

Opal

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Burn the witch!

 

FDG

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I guess you do need a certain "lack of empathy" in order to take hard business decisions, so all of this doesn´t really surprise me. It can be a tough world out there and in some professions being cutthroat is likely the only way to survive, so there´s a sort of self-selection bias at play. I also believe much of the press focusses on finance while the world is full of any kind of businesses, many of which f.e. deal directly with the public and where this sort of behavior would be detrimental to someone´s performance, so...
Finally, I believe what we don´t want to see is public managers being like that, because there should be no need to.
 

FDG

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Thank you, I know the story.
 

Rail Tracer

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i thought 98% of people who in big business/politics were that. and so those do belong but it's actually the honest people who don't. the world is fucked up, but people pretend that honesty and integrity get you places. it doesn't being hot (if you're a female) being funny (if you're male or female) being manipulative, and being smart is what gets you places

Slightly off topic, but there is a philosophical viewpoint that it is better to be dishonest and lie (or be neutral) than it is to be honest. The reasoning behind it is because it is better to be dishonest and gain than it is to be honest and lose everything. In places like business and politics, you won't get anywhere with being honest. People either don't want to see your negative views, that they want your views under wraps, or they want you to share their views (whether true or not.) How many people did you see show a negative view and end up having it blow up into everyone's faces later on?

In these type of roles, one does have to have a level of "psychopathy" to ignore and manipulate to get places. At the end of the day, it is either allowing another business winning, or having a temporary ally getting taken away because of honesty in business and political terms. In places like becoming a surgeon, it becomes paramount to not feel or empathize because surgery is already a risky and intensive business. If one can be honest but dishonest, all the better.
 

Cellmold

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Slightly off topic, but there is a philosophical viewpoint that it is better to be dishonest and lie (or be neutral) than it is to be honest. The reasoning behind it is because it is better to be dishonest and gain than it is to be honest and lose everything. In places like business and politics, you won't get anywhere with being honest. People either don't want to see your negative views, that they want your views under wraps, or they want you to share their views (whether true or not.) How many people did you see show a negative view and end up having it blow up into everyone's faces later on?

In these type of roles, one does have to have a level of "psychopathy" to ignore and manipulate to get places. At the end of the day, it is either allowing another business winning, or having a temporary ally getting taken away because of honesty in business and political terms. In places like becoming a surgeon, it becomes paramount to not feel or empathize because surgery is already a risky and intensive business. If one can be honest but dishonest, all the better.

What if your honesty is positive?
 

wildflower

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screened by whom? employers? i really don't see employers handing out the MMPI to potential employees in the corporate world. if anything they might give you a bonus if you score high on those traits. ;) you might want to also consider that a psychopathic/narcissistic/etc CEO may well be the one who started the firm so it might be a tad difficult to oust them if it's their private company.

it looks like it would also be illegal not to mention highly unethical/big brotherish:

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) is a highly validated psychopathology test that is generally used in a clinical psychology setting and may reveal potential mental health disorders.[10] However, this can be considered by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission as the employer having knowledge of a medical condition prior to an offer of employment. This is an illegal basis for a hiring decision in the United States. Employers considering personality tests should focus on tests designed for job purposes and do not provide any information regarding an applicant's mental health or stability.

Notable situations in which the MMPI may be used are in final selection for police officers, fire fighters, and other security and emergency personnel, especially when the employees are required to carry weapons. An assessment of mental stability and fitness can be reasonably related and necessary in the performance of the job. wiki
 

Fluffywolf

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There is a big difference between rationally deciding against emotional input such as the loss/gain morality in business through 'intelligence' (bracketed because you know, intelligence, such a wrongly defined concept) and being psychopathic.

Sure intelligent psychopathic people may be able to adjust to society better then unintelligent ones. Thats pretty logical. But I'm against the notion that 'the elite' (bwaha) in society are psychopaths, even if their descision making may seem to leave something to be desired.
 

TheCheeseBurgerKing

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I'm against the notion that 'the elite' (bwaha) in society are psychopaths, even if their descision making may seem to leave something to be desired.

Totally agree that a lot of them are not, but I'd bet theres a number who are
 

Olm the Water King

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I thought that duplicitousness was part of psychopathic symptomatology in the first place. Or is that anti-social personality disorder?

Speaking of which, what is the difference between the two?
 

hacbad macbar

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I can discover psychopath easily. Because I feel the difference between true and false empathy. The key word is empathy. There are borderline psychopaths, also. They are in some ways empathetic in some not. God gave me the gift (or curse, curse often, because it's overwhelming), knowledge of the various nuances of the human psyche. And, straight to the core of the problem. Scorpio Midheaven. Sometimes, I'm scared of some people psyche and from my knowledge about that.
 
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