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    Self-Worth Psychopathic Rise To The Upper Ranks: Personality Disorders

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    Tatiana Mihaela
    This document discusses a study that examined factors that predict whether psychopathic individuals become "successful" or end up incarcerated. The study found that psychopathic individuals who developed impulse control more quickly were less likely to reoffend and more likely to be successful. Specifically, successful psychopaths showed a stronger link between psychopathy and improved impulse control compared to those who continued reoffending. However, the document notes that while impulse control training may reduce criminal offending, it could also help psychopathic individuals learn to disguise and covertly express their aggression. Interventions focusing on reducing antisocial impulses directly, such as teaching compassion, may be more effective at reducing harm from psychopathic individuals.

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    Self-Worth Psychopathic Rise To The Upper Ranks: Personality Disorders

    Uploaded by

    Tatiana Mihaela
    65 views2 pages
    This document discusses a study that examined factors that predict whether psychopathic individuals become "successful" or end up incarcerated. The study found that psychopathic individuals who developed impulse control more quickly were less likely to reoffend and more likely to be successful. Specifically, successful psychopaths showed a stronger link between psychopathy and improved impulse control compared to those who continued reoffending. However, the document notes that while impulse control training may reduce criminal offending, it could also help psychopathic individuals learn to disguise and covertly express their aggression. Interventions focusing on reducing antisocial impulses directly, such as teaching compassion, may be more effective at reducing harm from psychopathic individuals.

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    They walk among us

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    This document discusses a study that examined factors that predict whether psychopathic individuals become "successful" or end up incarcerated. The study found that psychopathic individuals who developed impulse control more quickly were less likely to reoffend and more likely to be successful. Specifically, successful psychopaths showed a stronger link between psychopathy and improved impulse control compared to those who continued reoffending. However, the document notes that while impulse control training may reduce criminal offending, it could also help psychopathic individuals learn to disguise and covertly express their aggression. Interventions focusing on reducing antisocial impulses directly, such as teaching compassion, may be more effective at reducing harm from psychopathic individuals.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    65 views2 pages

    Self-Worth Psychopathic Rise To The Upper Ranks: Personality Disorders

    Uploaded by

    Tatiana Mihaela
    This document discusses a study that examined factors that predict whether psychopathic individuals become "successful" or end up incarcerated. The study found that psychopathic individuals who developed impulse control more quickly were less likely to reoffend and more likely to be successful. Specifically, successful psychopaths showed a stronger link between psychopathy and improved impulse control compared to those who continued reoffending. However, the document notes that while impulse control training may reduce criminal offending, it could also help psychopathic individuals learn to disguise and covertly express their aggression. Interventions focusing on reducing antisocial impulses directly, such as teaching compassion, may be more effective at reducing harm from psychopathic individuals.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 2

    They walk among us—psychopaths.

    These individuals possess a unique


    constellation of traits: callousness to others' suffering, a grandiose sense
    of self-worth, and a manipulative approach to dealing with others. Typically,
    such antisocial tendencies result in incarceration and other forms of
    exclusion from society. Yet some psychopathic individuals are able to
    suppress their psychopathic impulses enough to remain members of
    society. Many even rise to the upper ranks of business, law, and
    government. 

    Yet, what allows some psychopathic individuals to wind up as 'successful'


    versus those who find themselves incarcerated for their harmful and
    impulsive behavior?

    In a recently-published article in the journal Personality Disorders, Emily


    Lasko, M.S., and I tested whether a very specific psychological process,
    impulse control, contributed to the development of 'successful'
    psychopathy. We analyzed data from the Pathways to Desistance study,
    which followed over 1,000 adolescents (who were convicted of serious
    criminal offenses) over multiple years to examine what factors predicted
    who would get convicted for re-offenses and who would not. 

    As adolescent participants in this study aged into young adults, their


    impulse control improved, a well-established trend in psychological
    development. But we went on to find that the more psychopathic traits these
    individuals had, the more quickly they developed impulse control. We even
    replicated this finding when we looked specifically at how they suppressed
    their aggressive urges, finding that more psychopathic individuals learned
    to inhibit their aggression at a faster rate.

    We then compared participants who were relatively successful (they didn't


    commit future criminal offenses) versus those who were relatively
    unsuccessful (they re-offended), we saw striking differences. Specifically,
    the successful individuals showed a link between psychopathy and impulse
    control development that was over twice as strong as those who continued
    to re-offend.

    The data were clear, successful psychopaths are those who learn to
    restrain their antisocial impulses. This critical role of impulse control
    supports the results of a survey of psychopathy experts who
    rated conscientiousness (a cluster of personality traits characterized by self-
    discipline and self-control) as the key differentiating factor between
    successful and unsuccessful psychopaths.
    There are a few important implications of these findings. One of which is
    that interventions that teach teens how to better control their impulses may
    help reduce the amount of adolescent criminal offending, but it may do so
    by helping psychopathic individuals learn to make their aggression more
    covert and insidious. For example, learning impulse control may help steer
    a psychopathic person away from grand theft auto and towards a Ponzi
    scheme. Therapies and treatments that reduce antisocial impulses in the
    first place (for example, teaching compassion for the self and others) may
    be a more effective approach to reduce the presence and harm-doing of the
    psychopaths in our midst.

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