According to a survey conducted by psychologist Kevin
Dutton—called the Great British Psychopath Survey—here are the top 10 professions
with the most psychopaths:
1. CEO
2. Lawyer
3. Media (TV/Radio)
4. Salesperson
5. Surgeon
6. Journalist
7. Police Officer
8. Clergyperson
9. Chef
10. Civil Servant
And
here are the professions with the least psychopaths:
1. Care Aide
2. Nurse
3. Therapist
4. Craftsperson
5. Beautician/Stylist
6. Charity Worker
7. Teacher
8. Creative Artist
9. Doctor
10. Accountant
Although people tend to think of psychopaths as
killers—indeed about 15-25% of people in prison are psychopaths—in fact many
people with psychopathic tendencies are not criminals.
Here are some of the traits of psychopaths:
- Self-confident
- Cold-hearted
- Manipulative
- Fearless
- Charming
- Cool under pressure
- Egocentric
- Carefree
If you look through the list of professions, then you can
see how a few of these traits might be useful.
None of this means that every CEO or lawyer is a psychopath,
nor should the suggestion be that having psychopathic tendencies is helpful in
any of these jobs (although it may be!).
Rather, there is an overlap between psychopathic personality
traits and the types of people who go into those professions.
Successful
psychopath?
A few people try to talk up the benefits of psychopathic
personality traits, saying that there are such things as 'successful
psychopaths': people who benefit from being that way.
But many psychologists have questioned whether there really
is such a thing as a 'successful psychopath'.
That's because research has found that psychopaths generally
do worse at the things that are often associated with success: their
relationships are worse, they earn less money and do not generally attain high
status.
Maybe the standard for a 'successful psychopath' should be
lower. We should simply be amazed that someone with little or no fear response,
unlimited confidence and without fellow-feeling can live outside of an institution,
let alone become a respected professional.
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