Rating: 
(138 reviews)
Author: Kevin Dutton
ISBN : 0374533989
New from $8.99
Format: PDF
(138 reviews)Author: Kevin Dutton
ISBN : 0374533989
New from $8.99
Format: PDF
Direct download links available PRETITLE The Wisdom of Psychopaths: What Saints, Spies, and Serial Killers Can Teach Us About Success POSTTITLE from 4shared, mediafire, hotfile, and mirror link
One of Slate’s Twenty Overlooked Books of 2012
In this engrossing adventure into the infamously crafty behaviors of psychopaths, the renowned psychologist Kevin Dutton reveals that there is a scale of “madness” along which we all sit. Incorporating the latest advances in neuroscience, Dutton argues that there are “functional psychopaths” among us who use their detached, charismatic personalities to succeed in mainstream society. As he mingles with the criminally insane in a high-security ward and undergoes transcranial magnetic stimulation to discover firsthand exactly how it feels to see through the eyes of a psychopath, Dutton shows that society as a whole is more psychopathic than ever. After all, psychopaths tend to be fearless, charming, and focused—qualities that are tailor-made for life in the twenty-first century. Provocative at every turn, The Wisdom of Psychopaths reveals that it’s our dark side that often conceals the trump card of success.
- Paperback: 288 pages
- Publisher: Scientific American / Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Reprint edition (September 3, 2013)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0374533989
- ISBN-13: 978-0374533984
- Product Dimensions: 1.1 x 1.1 x 1.1 inches
- Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
{PRETITLE} The Wisdom of Psychopaths: What Saints, Spies, and Serial Killers Can Teach Us About Success {POSTTITLE}
This is a clearly well researched and often fascinating book, but one which nevertheless rests on a whole bunch of assumptions and long bows.
Dutton takes the term psychopath and completely undermines any point to it as a diagnostic term. Once he's placed it on a 'spectrum' it enables him to talk about 'turning up and down' the dials, even turning them up on some traits associated with the psychopath (fearlessness, ruthlessness) while not on others. What if, says Dutton, we could take those traits and apply them to particular situations, like defusing a bomb, or performing difficult surgery? But this isn't the issue of psychopathy. The problem with psychopathy is precisely that it is a general callous disregard for other individuals as worthy of any consideration other than that which will serve their self interested needs. It's not something they 'turn on and turn off' as situations require. And he never makes the case that it is.
Dutton focuses on the functional psychopath to make his argument that they're not all damaging to society, but that they often perform much needed tasks. What he doesn't do is talk to the families of these so called 'functional' psychopaths. He doesn't look at the psychological havoc often spread, which while not illegal, and not landing them in jail, often has enormous ramifications for those individuals that are forced to deal with them on a day to day basis.
His treatment of the term empathy is curious to say the least, and again he stretches it to a point where it largely becomes meaningless. Far from lacking empathy, says Dutton, psychopaths have too MUCH empathy. His proof? Well look at the obvious pleasure a serial killer psychopath takes in the distress of his victim.
If you've ever thought your boss is a psychopath, you may be right, according to psychologist Kevin Dutton. And if you're a top-flight markets trader, captain of industry, surgeon or soldier, you may well be one yourself. But that's OK, says Dutton. It may even be optimal.
"The Wisdom of Psychopaths," an exploration of serial killers, monks, spies and CEOs through the prism of personality tests and neuroscience, is a good book lurking within a bad one. In this regard it perfectly reflects its theme, which is that among the dark traits which make a person psychopathic nestle behaviors and abilities that are not only necessary, but good, for individuals and society. In the seeds of evil, he proposes, wisdom may be found.
An Oxford University research psychologist, Dutton may discomfit many readers with an almost adolescent joy in mixed metaphors and grating puns, relishing the shock value of his premise as he liberally applies the term "psychopath" to all kinds of people. It may sound like he is suggesting sadistic ax-murderers or serial rapists lurk within all men, but his point is rather more subtle. Perhaps this approach is a deliberate attempt to open the reader's mind to new ideas. Or perhaps he needs a more restrained editor.
Still, a razor-sharp intellect with a serious academic purpose lurks behind the loose phrasing and wordiness. Dutton stacks up references to interlocking personality studies, brain scans and physiological examinations, comparing members of the general population with those behind bars and those who excel at certain sharp-end professions. His argument is that most "psychopaths" aren't violent, and indeed most aren't locked away.
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