ok sure
Can psychopaths have a positive impact on society,
as opposed to just using their advantages to get ahead?
I’ve interviewed a lot of special forces troops, especially the British Special Air Service.
They’re like Navy Seals. That’s a very good example of people who are pretty high on those psychopathic traits who are actually in a perfect occupation.
Also, I interview in the book a top neurosurgeon—this was a surgeon who takes on operations that are especially risky—who said to me, “The most important thing when you’re conducting a dangerous operation, a risky operation, is you’ve got to be very cool under pressure, you’ve got to be focused.
You can’t have too much empathy for the person that you’re operating on, because you wouldn’t be able to conduct that operation.” Surgeons do very nasty things to people when they’re on the operating table.
If things do go wrong, the most important facet in a surgeon’s arsenal is decisiveness. You cannot freeze.
You noted in the book that you’re not a psychopath yourself.
Despite my profession, I scored pretty low on your survey as well.
Can “normals” like you and me learn to develop these psychopathic traits, even if we don’t have them naturally?
Absolutely.
Normal people can work out their psychopath muscles. It’s kind of like going to the gym in a way, to develop these attributes. It’s just like training.
Psychopaths don’t think, should I do this or shouldn’t I do this?
They just go ahead and do stuff. So next time you find yourself putting off that chore or filing that report or something, unchain your inner psychopath and ask yourself this:
“Since when did I need to feel like something in order to do it?”
Another way you can take a leaf out of a psychopath’s book:
Psychopaths are very reward-driven.
If they see a benefit in something, they zone in on it and they go for it 100 percent. Let’s take an example of someone who is kind of scared of putting in for a raise at work.
You might be scared about what the boss might think of you.
You might think if you’d don’t get it you’re going to get fired. Forget it.
Cut all that stuff off. “Psychopath up,” and overwhelm your negative feelings by concentrating on the benefits of getting it.
The bottom line here is, a bit of localized psychopathy is good for all of us.
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