The Other Side of Psychopaths, Essay Example

The first impression in regard to the term, “psychopath” for individuals, is a ruthless killer, or one having mental retardation and subjected to enrollment in a psychiatric hospital. However, the true nature of psychopaths is not the same as what the stigmas imply. DSM-5 shows the diagnostic criteria for psychopaths as a person with psychopathic personality who is characterized as able to make good impressions, impulsive, disregard conventional methods, lack ability to love, lack remorse or shame and lack the ability to learn from mistakes or past experiences. (DSM-5) All of these characteristics sound as if a psychopath could not result in a successful life; however, research has centered on the ability of psychopaths to be successful due to their characteristic that allow them to charm, focus, be relentless, and super intelligent. As a consequence,, the wisdom of psychopaths is higher than the average normal person. Research has shown that not all psychopathic symptoms are negative and that some mental state is worthy of study. In addition, 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 fearlessness, which helps cope with everyday life resulting in successful life making decisions.

The psychopathic characteristics result in a consequence of the ability of psychopaths to not feel fear, they are more equanimity than normal people during the specific emergency situations. For example, on July 20^th 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin flew to the moon and tried to find a landing point. At this point, the biggest problem for them was the complex surface conditions of moon, and their fuel was extremely limited.  In addition, the rocks on the surface of the moon made it extremely difficult to land safely. Furthermore, with the possibility of running out of fuel, they were subject to death due to the physical property of weightlessness in space.  Aldrin was in a cold sweat because of nervousness and fear.  It was indicated that he looked at the barometer and the terrain, and then clearly told Armstrong that he had to determine the landing site as soon as possible.  However, it was also indicated that Neil Armstrong was of indifferent composure and more calm about the situation at hand.  In fact, it was said that Armstrong comprised the landing strategy. Armstrong told Aldrin to  calculate how many times the remaining fuel would support in seconds, and shouted countdown time to him. Aldrin shouted, while Armstrong guided the landing exploration to the moon on the hard complex surface. At the last 10 seconds in the countdown, a silver space appeared below the horizon, like an oasis. Armstrong quickly seized the opportunity, strained his attention quickly, and skillfully manipulated the spacecraft towards the only open space on the terrain for miles. Finally, the landing was a success and the astronauts landing safely. (Dutton 22)

Under extreme pressure, it is difficult for a normal person to think about solutions calmly,  especially during something of the sort of a countdown.  This made the situation in the atmosphere with the two astronauts very urgent. However, Armstrong in this urgent emergency situation remained calm with a normal heart rhythm and without a drop of cold sweat. It is said that Armstrong exhibits the personality characteristics of a psychopath.  Therefore, this example shows the fearless, calm and low anxiety of psychopaths and their ability to not feel nervous or sense fear.  These characteristics can also be correlated with bomb disposal experts. (Dutton 25)

Psychopaths are rationalist, they will not take moral factors or perceptual factors into consideration when making their daily decisions. They always can get maximum benefits from such kinds of decisions. A good example was proposed from Philosopher Philippa Foot in the famous trolley problem.  The trolley problem described a trolley that was going to hit five people if it continued on its course. In addition, it was stated that in order to save the five people a switch would need to be turned on, but it would kill only one person on that tract, instead of five. The question brought about was should the switched be turned on to save five people instead of one?  Most people usually answer with “yes”. A similar problem indicated by the philosopher Judith Jarvis Thomson was a modification to the trolley dilemma. As before, a trolley threatens to kill five people. In this problem, it was presented that you are standing next to a large stranger on a footbridge that spans the trolley tracks and five people. In this situation, the only way to save the five people is to push the stranger off the bridge onto the tracks below. The person would die; however, the trolley would be stopped before reaching the other five people; therefore, you would be saving five people at the expense of one person.  Most people say no to this situation. (JSTOR 1398)

The results of the two issues are to sacrifice one person in order to save five people. The first question cannot connect to personal feelings, so people can have a rational and objective analysis. But the second question was classified as personal feelings about the moral issues. It stimulates the amygdala which control human’s emotion. People cannot push a stranger to his death because it is too cruel. In other words, the feelings will affect people’s moral judgments. In the first question, psychopaths give the same decision with normal people, but they make completely different decision in the second time question. They will not hesitate to push down the larger stranger, unlike the normal people who always bound by the moral factors would hesitate to make decision, and then result in the sacrifice five people. During this question, the psychopath will feel that five families will receive good news and only one family with bad news. It is a good deal, isn’t it? In many cases, the exclusion of moral factors will encourage people to make a more objective analysis. This trait is relentless, this is why psychopaths are easier than normal person to achieve success. This trait sounds cruel, but the reality is often so cruel; put it on the battlefield, the decisions of each general will not be affected because of the death of their soldiers.

Many psychopathic symptoms to include unique thought, attractiveness, focus, and fearless, help cope with the conditions of modern life. In 1972 years, writer Alan Harrington published a book called Psychopaths. Harrington believes that psychopaths are a dangerous new Homo sapiens. He characterizes them as an indomitable spirit that is the unique product from morbidly evolved to survive in modern society.( Harrington, page 188). Psychopaths have the fearless, confident, charismatic, ruthless, focused and other characteristics. In contrast with the views of the general public, psychopaths are not necessarily violent. Although the most of this population is very dangerous, the most famous figures also have similar characteristics, the difference is they hide the negative side. Like Jobs, he has all of the pursuit of perfection and focus qualities, and these two qualities help him more likely to succeed than the common traits. When Steve Jobs returned to Apple, the first thing he did was subtract costs. He cut about two thirds of Apple’s production in addition to cutting implementation of new design for the new products. Jobs indicated that indicated that increasing the focus to a few products only would increase the quality and sales of their goods overall. ( Isaacson 338)  This is illustrated in the simple and less attractive design of the early models of the iPod Shuffle and iPod Nano. Steve Jobs decision for this business move is correlated with the focus symptom for psychopaths.  Pyschopaths usually concentrate more on one thing compared to the averag normal person. In the case of Jobs, Jobs put more attention on a few products to help him gain success. In addition, Steve Jobs claimed that simplicity and perfection are inextricably related. Up to now, Apple products have consistently adhered to a concise style, intuitive operation, and no extra complex buttons.  The results of this type of model allowed people and children who live in remote areas and have less access to electronic products, the ability to understand and use the product without guidance. Pursuit of perfection enabled Jobs to not decrease any errors in details for production for specificity to size, the curvature of the shell, and the color of the font products.  Steve Jobs participated in every aspect of the design and sales of his products.  Overall, it can be inferred that without Steve Jobs decisions, Apple would not have been as successful as a company as it is today. (Isaacson 173)

Besides Neil Armstrong and Steve Jobs, many successful people around us are also considered psychopaths. A survey called “Great British Psychopath Survey”, illustrated statistics on the occupation distribution of psychopaths versus non-psychopaths. Research compiled from this survey concluded that the top five occupations with the most people considered psychopaths are CEO’s, Lawyers, Media related occupations, salespeople, and surgeons. Most people are proud of these occupations, especially with the title of a CEO, Lawyer or Surgeon; however, these are occupations which have the most psychopaths.  The interesting point is that some of the psychopathic personality traits helped with the development of these professions and helped these individuals gain success. For instance, the confident and manipulative aspect could help a CEO gain the respect and trust from subordinates. In addition, other traits can help a surgeon during surgeries and allow them to remain calm under extreme pressure and unforeseen accidents. Furthermore, the cold-hearted trait involved with pyschopaths also allows lawyers to judge cases without the impact from external factors or personal feelings. Therefore, many of the traits of psychopaths are worth learning and are helpful in many jobs that lead to successful lives.  (PsyBlog)

Overall, psychopaths are generally termed with the stigma of being unsuccessful in life and deemed as serial killers or murderers. Research has shown that not all psychopaths are unsuccessful in life. In fact, some of the most famous people in history, such as Neil Armstrong and Steve Jobs, have marked history with their accomplishments. In addition, famous medical surgeons are also characterized with psychopathic personalities. Therefore, the stigma associated with psychopathic individuals is not clearly represented and further research should allow people diagnosed with a psychopathic personality to be shown the capability of being a successful individual in society.

Work Cited.

DSM-5. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: DSM-5.. 5th ed. Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Association, 2013. Print.

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

Thomson, Judith. “page 1398.” JSTOR. The Yale Law Journal Company, Inc., n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2014. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/796133?seq=4>.

“Which Professions Have The Most Psychopaths?.” PsyBlog RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Apr. 2014. <http://www.spring.org.uk/2013/07/which-professions-have-the-most-psychopaths.php>.

Isaacson, Walter. Steve Jobs. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2011. Print.

Harrington, Alan. Psychopaths ... New York: Simon and Schuster, 1972. Print.

Jobs. Dir. Joshua Michael Stern. Perf. Ashton Kutcher. Open Road Films, 2013. Film.