But that might not be a terrible thing. <\/p>
If you were a psychopath in the Hollywood sense (think Hannibal Lecter), it would be odd if you didn\u2019t realise that, at the very least, you\u2019re \u2018different\u2019 and simply not very nice. After all, this kind of psychopath is essentially an aggressive sadist hiding behind a mask of superficial charm.<\/p>\n
However, psychologists are increasingly realising that you can score highly on one or more psychopathic personality traits without having criminal or violent tendencies. These traits, which we all score on to some greater or lesser degree, include \u2018self-centred impulsivity\u2019 (how selfish you are), \u2018cold heartedness\u2019 (how much you\u2019re switched off from other people\u2019s suffering) and \u2018fearless dominance\u2019 (being less susceptible to fear, stress and anxiety).<\/p>\n
On average, men tend to score higher on these traits than women. And don\u2019t tell your boss, but people in management positions also\u00a0generally\u00a0score higher, as do people holding far-right or racist views.<\/p>\n
Yet \u2018fearless dominance\u2019 can be extremely useful in certain challenging or risky lines of work, such as surgery, special forces, elite sport or political leadership. If you\u2019re completely unfazed by the prospect of cutting into a person\u2019s flesh, parachuting behind enemy lines, performing in front of thousands, or making decisions that will affect millions, there\u2019s a good chance that you\u2019re a high scorer in this trait. Perhaps without realising it, you could be what psychologists call a \u2018successful psychopath\u2019.<\/p>\n
Read more:<\/strong><\/p>\n To submit your questions email us at questions@sciencefocus.com (don\u2019t forget to include your name and location)<\/em><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n But that might not be a terrible thing. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":26285,"template":"","categories":[30],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/04\/how-you-could-be-a-psychopath-and-never-know-it.jpg",940,420,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/04\/how-you-could-be-a-psychopath-and-never-know-it-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/04\/how-you-could-be-a-psychopath-and-never-know-it-300x134.jpg",300,134,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/04\/how-you-could-be-a-psychopath-and-never-know-it-768x343.jpg",768,343,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/04\/how-you-could-be-a-psychopath-and-never-know-it.jpg",800,357,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/04\/how-you-could-be-a-psychopath-and-never-know-it.jpg",940,420,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/04\/how-you-could-be-a-psychopath-and-never-know-it.jpg",940,420,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"But that might not be a terrible thing.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/26284"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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