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Which professions have the most psychopaths?


First off, psychopath doesn't just mean someone who cuts you up with a chainsaw — though the majority of people who do things like that are psychopaths. What is the definition?

Psychopathy is a personality disorder that has been variously described as characterized by shallow emotions (in particular reduced fear), stress tolerance, lacking empathy, coldheartedness, lacking guilt, egocentricity, superficial character, manipulativeness, irresponsibility, impulsivity, and antisocial behaviors such as parasitic lifestyle and criminality.

So which professions (other than ax murderer) have the most psychopaths? What about the least?





The next thing that comes to mind is probably, "Why?"

Most of the professions on the right such as Teacher require human connection, dealing with feelings — and most of them don't offer much power such as creative artist.  Psychopaths, by their very nature, would not be drawn to jobs that don’t gain them power nor would they be  very good at these things.

On the other hand, most of the roles on the left do offer power, some lots of power and many require an ability to make objective, clinical decisions divorced from feelings. Psychopaths would be drawn to these roles and thrive there. Humm this may explain why TV is so hard for me and teaching is so wonderful. What about you? What do you think? What about your job? Does it require feelings or objectivity?

That said…

Chef? Really?

I guess it pays to tread lightly around anyone who has a set of knives bearing their initials.

 
Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at www.PattiWood.net. Check out Patti's website for her new book "SNAP, Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language and Charisma" at www.snapfirstimpressions.com. Also check out Patti's YouTube channel at http://youtube.com/user/bodylanguageexpert.