{"id":8457,"date":"2014-10-03T15:31:56","date_gmt":"2014-10-03T15:31:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress72\/?p=26154"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:22:27","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:22:27","slug":"look-for-your-psychopathic-self","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2014\/10\/03\/look-for-your-psychopathic-self\/","title":{"rendered":"Look for your psychopathic self"},"content":{"rendered":"

Psychopaths provide the best examples for a successful life. This was the message psychologist Kevin Dutton (University of Oxford) delivered to a packed out theatre in the Erasmus Paviljoen on Tuesday afternoon.<\/p>\n

However, don\u2019t let there be any misunderstandings: according to Dutton, real psychopaths are extremely dangerous, both to themselves and their environment. Sooner or later, they will end up in either prison or an institution. Dutton has met many psychopaths in the course of his research and \u2013 during his highly stimulating lecture \u2013 he talked about predatory beings without morals; beings who act purely for personal gain. They threaten and manipulate to achieve their aims. If that doesn\u2019t work, they won\u2019t hesitate to kill. They are constantly seeking challenges and taking irresponsible risks. Real psychopaths are extremely difficult figures, possessing a \u2018magnetic aura\u2019 while radiating a \u2018glacial coldness\u2019; which makes empathising with them virtually impossible.<\/p>\n

Ordinary madness <\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite this, psychopaths can teach us a few things, explained Dutton; because in their madness, psychopaths are often less mad than other people deemed more or less \u2018ordinary\u2019 or \u2018normal\u2019. This can be illustrated by a couple of examples. Take a game of chance whereby in each round a player can put in a one pound stake and has a fifty percent chance of winning 2.5 times the original stake. A group of ordinary people will quickly show a tendency to sit on their money and avoid all risks; as opposed to subjects displaying psychopathic tendencies who \u201cwill be prepared to play forever\u201d. Rationally, the latter strategy is, in this case, the most sensible. <\/p>\n

Pleaders<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another good example is the collection of \u2018pleader\u2019 videos which Dutton showed to his respondents. Pleaders are people who, via the media, appeal to the public to help them find a missing loved one. Generally, these appeals are done with the best of intentions, but sometimes such an appeal is simply a cover to conceal the fact that, as the murderer, he or she is responsible for the person being missing. When you show people films of pleaders \u2013 as Dutton did during his talk \u2013 the psychopaths in the audience appear to have a sixth sense and are able to identify which pleaders are actually liars. Psychopaths don\u2019t look at the emotionally charged story that is being told but, with surgical precision, recognise tics and idiosyncrasies which betray the weakness in the act. Dutton went on to say that psychopaths are cold fish who can \u2013 as it were \u2013 experience reality in \u2018slow motion\u2019; in a way that is only bettered by some elite Buddhist monks. <\/p>\n

Lessons for life <\/strong><\/p>\n

Surgeons, top lawyers, bank analysts and special army units frequently display psychopathic traits. And that\u2019s good; as it means they remain cool and calculating at times when others can\u2019t cope with the stress and anxiety of suffering pain or loss of face. In Dutton\u2019s opinion, anyone who wants to be successful should \u201cmake a pact with his or her psychopathic self\u201d. A couple of lessons for life: try to act rather than react; live in the present and don\u2019t dwell too much on the past or yourself; study the world about you. And, in particular: teach yourself not to be overly scared of pain or failure. According to Dutton research has shown that you will ultimately experience less pain in your life if you think and act like a psychopath. Dutton told the audience to compare psychopaths to people who immediately leap into the water at the beach. While other people stand and shiver thinking about how cold the water might be, the psychopaths are already having fun in the water. The lesson provided without impunity by psychopaths is, therefore, very simple: \u201cJust do it!\u201d DR <\/p>\n\n\t

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