Summary of Kevin Dutton's The Wisdom of Psychopaths

Everest Media

Description

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.
Sample Book Insights:
#1 The frog and the scorpion are sitting on the bank of a river, and the frog needs to get to the other side. The frog is suspicious of the scorpion, but allows him to ride on his back across the river. At first everything goes according to plan, but halfway across, the frog suddenly feels a sharp pain in his back and sees the scorpion withdraw his stinger.
#2 The brains of psychopaths and nonpsychopaths are similar, and there is no difference between them. However, a dead brain is very different from a living one, and the lights are on when examining a brain, not off.
#3 The brain waves of psychopaths are different from normal people, and they occur during normal waking states. Language is only word deep for psychopaths, and they have no emotional contouring behind their words.
#4 Fabrizio Rossi, the curator of the Museum of Serial Killers in Florence, Italy, said that the most intriguing thing about psychopaths is their normal appearance. But scratch beneath the surface, and you never know what you might find.

Sujets

• Général
• Psychopathology

Informations

• Publié par: Everest Media LLC
• Date de parution: 01 avril 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781669373568
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Insights on Kevin Dutton's The Wisdom of Psychopaths
Contents Insights from Chapter 1
Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The frog and the scorpion are sitting on the bank of a river, and the frog needs to get to the other side. The frog is suspicious of the scorpion, but allows him to ride on his back across the river. At first everything goes according to plan, but halfway across, the frog suddenly feels a sharp pain in his back and sees the scorpion withdraw his stinger.

#2

The brains of psychopaths and non-psychopaths are similar, and there is no difference between them. However, a dead brain is very different from a living one, and the lights are on when examining a brain, not off.

#3

The brain waves of psychopaths are different from normal people, and they occur during normal waking states. Language is only word deep for psychopaths, and they have no emotional contouring behind their words.

#4

Fabrizio Rossi, the curator of the Museum of Serial Killers in Florence, Italy, said that the most intriguing thing about psychopaths is their normal appearance. But scratch beneath the surface, and you never know what you might find.

#5

The study showed that people who score high on the Self-Report Psychopathy Scale are better at judging vulnerability than those who score low. However, the psychopaths in the study explicitly stated that it was because of the way people walked.

#6

The news that there are times when it isn’t a bad thing to be a psychopath is difficult to swallow. But the truth is that it depends on a variety of factors, including genes, family background, education, and intelligence.

#7

The distinction between a world-class super psychopath and a normal psychopath is blurred. The symptoms of psychopathy are the dials and sliders on a studio mixing desk. If you push all of them to max, you’ll have a sound track that’s no use to anyone. But if the sound track is graded and some controls are turned up higher than others, you may have a surgeon who’s a cut above the rest.

#8

There are many instances where psychopathic talent may be beneficial. For example, it may help police officers detect vulnerable people and criminals.

#9

The flip side of the scarlet-handkerchief equation is that we also feel uncomfortable around psychopaths. This is because they are known to have a reputation for sniffing out vulnerability, but they are also known to give us the creeps.

#10

The most prolific and empathetic hunters were not the most bloodthirsty and indefatigable, but the most cool and empathetic. They were able to assimilate their prey’s mind-set and predict its deft, innate trajectories of evasion.

#11

The idea that predators can be empathetic is difficult to believe, but it’s true. And while most people agree that psychopaths lack feeling, they don’t understand how this is possible.

#12

There are two types of empathy. Hot and cold. Hot empathy is what psychopaths lack. It is what normal people have, and it is what makes them good at solving moral dilemmas.

#13

The distinction between hot and cold empathy is important when it comes to psychopaths. They are capable of having cold empathy, which allows them to understand and predict what others might do, but they are not capable of having hot empathy, which allows them to understand and feel what others are going through.

#14

The trolley problem tests how much people would push the stranger off the bridge, and the results showed that 90 percent of people would not do it, even though they know that if they could just overcome their natural moral squeamishness, the body count would be one-fifth as high.

#15

The question of what it takes to succeed in a given profession is not that difficult to answer. There are certain traits that code for high achievement, and they are present in all successful people.

#16

The story of how NASA chose Neil Armstrong to be the first man to walk on the moon is a graphic illustration of how the refrigerated neurology that showed up on Robert Hare’s brain scans can confer real benefits.

#17

The men who were on the moon were able to keep their heart rates low, while those who were decorating the bomb didn’t. It was confidence that made the difference. The stars were able to stay focused on the task at hand, while the others weren’t.

#18

The same pattern of cardiovascular changes occurs in relationship abusers who are called Cobras. They are calm and focused before they attack, whereas Pit Bulls are emotionally more volatile and prone to let things fester.

#19

The fears of those around us are contagious, and can be caught just as easily as a cold. Some people are more susceptible to catching fear than others.

#20

The results of a experiment conducted by researchers at the University of Oxford proved that psychopaths are immune to others’ fear. While the non-psychopathic volunteers played it safe, the psychopaths continued to take risks even when they were pumped full of fear.

#21

The core thesis that psychopaths are in possession of wisdom is a serious one. Not wisdom in the traditional sense of advancing years and cumulative life experience, but an innate, ineffable function of their being.

#22

The Wisdom of Psychopaths explores the advantages of being a psychopath, and how they might have evolved. They appear to possess the personality characteristics that many of us would die for.

#23

The eyes are a common feature of psychopaths, and they blink slightly less than the average person. This may contribute to their intense reptilian aura. They are also known to be extremely predatory in their concentration levels.

#24

The follow-up funeral test is said to determine whether or not you think like a psychopath. But real psychopaths didn’t come up with that motive. Instead, they came up with the romantic rivalry rationale.