by Cameron Reilly | 10 Aug, 2021 | Blog
Some new research out of Spain suggests psychopaths might be more prevalent than we currently think.
In a meta-analysis of existing research, which involved 16 samples of adults totalling 11,497 people, the researchers concluded “the prevalence rate of psychopathy in the general adult population at 4.5%” or perhaps as high as 5.4%. This is much higher than the standard 1% figure I found in existing literature while writing the book. The samples of participants came mainly from the USA.
by Cameron Reilly | 30 Apr, 2021 | Blog
This guy makes a good point.
Individuals who mimic empathy in order to get what they want out of someone, are possibly psychopathic. What should we call it when brands do the same thing?
And what should we think about executives and marketers who think that mimicking empathy is a sound business strategy for building long-term relationships with customers?
by Cameron Reilly | 31 Jan, 2021 | Blog
Psychopaths are happy to break the law if it increases their wealth and power – especially when they know they will probably get away with it, or pay a paltry fine and be on their way.
In other news, “JPMorgan to pay $920 million for manipulating precious metals, treasury market”.
by Cameron Reilly | 23 Dec, 2020 | Blog
“What Else Explains America’s Bizarre, Shocking Indifference to Everything That Matters?”
From this great article by Umair Haque.
While I don’t think the United States has a monopoly on psychopaths, I do make the case in the book that capitalism has made it easier for psychopaths to get their hands on wealth and power. I also talk about how psychopaths in positions of political power can bring an entire country to exhibit psychopathic behaviours, and I think the United States is a good case study.
by Cameron Reilly | 19 Nov, 2020 | Uncategorised
It’s hard to read the details of the Brereton report and not reach the conclusion that there are psychopaths in the Australian military. As one soldier put it: “Psychos. Absolute psychos. And we bred them.”
Key findings:
None of the killings took place in the heat of battle, and they all occurred in circumstances which, if accepted by a jury, would constitute the war crime of murder.
All the victims were either non-combatants or were no longer combatants.
Evidence suggests junior soldiers were instructed by their superiors to execute prisoners in cold blood as part of a “blooding” process to give them their first kill.
“Typically, the patrol commander would take a person under control and the junior member … would then be directed to kill the person under control,” the report found. “‘Throwdowns’ would be placed with the body and a ‘cover story’ was created for the purposes of operational reporting and to deflect scrutiny.”
Unsurprisingly, the report “absolves senior command of blame or knowledge that war crimes were being committed”. However I think it’s fair to argue that the culture of an organisation is the responsibility of its leadership. To say “we didn’t know what was going on in our own military” should be completely unacceptable.
by Cameron Reilly | 6 Nov, 2020 | Blog
“A culture of the pursuit of profit at all costs”, how the former chairman of the NSW gambling regulator has described Crown Casino, sounds like a symptom of a psychopathic culture. In the book we talk about how psychopathic leadership can create psychopathic organisational cultures, whether that organisation is a business or an entire country. Look at the 66 million people in the United States who voted this week for Donald Trump as an example of how a large chunk of a country can easily be swept along with psychopathic values like putting the economy ahead of the safety of the population.
by Cameron Reilly | 15 Oct, 2020 | Podcast
Alan Blotcky is a clinical psychologist in private practice in Birmingham, Alabama. He was written a number of articles over the last year in which he says that, in his professional opinion, Donald Trump is a psychopath and a narcissist. I spoke to him today about psychopaths in positions of power in the US and what to do about them.
Follow Alan on Twitter.
by Cameron Reilly | 20 Aug, 2020 | Blog
“Just to say Trump is “unfit” and “dangerous” is not enough and the public will not understand. We need to tie his psychopathology to his presidential behavior in the observable, in the concrete. [In my view], his pandemic response and his attack on democracy are where his psychopathology is evident.”
Alan D. Blotcky, Ph.D., a licensed clinical psychologist in private practice in Birmingham, Alabama (source)
While Trump might be the most prominent potential psychopath in the world today, I still believe the bigger issue we have to face isn’t one man, but the system that allows psychopaths to hold extreme power and wealth. Trump is merely a symptom of a much bigger problem.
by Cameron Reilly | 9 Jun, 2020 | Podcast
What goes on in the brain of a psychopath? Are they really unable to control their aggressive behaviour? Would they lie on a psychopath test?
My guest on this episode is
David S. Chester, Ph.D., an Assistant Professor of social psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University, where he runs the Social Psychology and Neuroscience Laboratory in the College of Humanities and Sciences, and leads a research team that investigates the dark sides of human behavior, trying to discern the underpinnings of traits like violence, aggression and revenge.
Follow
David on Twitter to stay up to date with his research.
by Cameron Reilly | 8 Jun, 2020 | Blog
Probably no surprise if you’ve read the book, but new research by Pavel S. Blagov Ph.D. which is about to be published in the journal Social Psychology and Personality Science suggests that “people who scored higher on the psychopathic subtraits of meanness and disinhibition tended to show less interest in social distancing and hygiene”. (source)
Blagov is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Whitman College.
