Non-Psychopathic People, Research Proposal Example

Topic

How do psychopaths achieve success easier than non-psychopathic people?

Thesis

Not all psychopathic symptoms are negative, some mental state is worthy of study.   Research has shown that psychopaths do not feel nervous and are more equanimity than non-psychopathic people, specifically during emergency situations.  This paper draws attention to the specific psychopathic symptoms, such as unique thought, that help cope with everyday life resulting in successful life making decisions.

Key Questions

Are all psychopathic symptoms are negative?

Does the lack of rationale and moral thought in psychopathic behavior benefit the individual in modern society?

What are the psychopathic symptoms that allow for life success?

Do successful individuals in today’s society share the same traits as psychopathic symptoms?

Summary to Research to Date

There are five sources to date that I want to discuss in regard to psychopathic behavior and the correlation with success.  I have found a few primary journal articles researching this specific topic.  The research is convincing and can both support and argue my topic.

Sources with brief annotations

Dutton, Kevin. (2012). The wisdom of psychopaths: what saints, spies, and serial killers can teach us about success. New York: Scientific American/Farrar, Straus and Giroux.  Print.

The paper discusses traits in psychopathic personality, such as intelligence and opportunity that result in an advantage.  The paper also discusses the broad spectrum of psychopathy, rather than what most people think of, such as serial killer with the term psychopathic.

PsyBlog.  (2014). Which Professions Have the Most Psychopaths?  Web. 10 Apr. 2014. http://www.spring.org.uk/2013/07/which-professions-have-the-most-psychopaths.php

The paper discusses the occupation distribution of psychopaths versus non-psychopaths.

Thomson, J.J.  (1985).  The Trolley Problem. The Yale Law Journal. 94(6):1395-1415 http://philosophyfaculty.ucsd.edu/faculty/rarneson/courses/thomsontrolley.pdf

The paper discusses moral issues and decisions that people make and whether those decisions are the right and moral decision.

Ullricha, S., Farrnington, D.P., Coid, J.W.  (2008).  Psychopathic personality traits and life-success. Personality and Individual Di?erences. 44: 1162–1171.

file:///C:/Users/owner/Downloads/Ullrich%20et%20al%202008%20-%20Psychopathic%20personality%20traits%20and%20life-success.pdf

The paper investigated the features of psychopathy that are related to success in a sample of middle-aged men.  The purpose of the study was to find specific personality traits that correlated with life success. The study did not find a correlation between psychopathic personality and life success.

Dutton, K.  (2012).  What Psychopaths Teach Us about How to Succeed.  Scientific American. 307(4). Web: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-psychopaths-teach-us-about-how-to-succeed/

The paper focuses on the specific traits that are common among psychopathic serial killers, such as self-worth, charm, persuasiveness, manipulation, lack of remorse, and others and how these traits are shared by successful leaders and world leaders.