*New Study, Psychopaths in the US*: Washington, DC Ranks First
As Washington’s shock over winning the Stanley Cup demonstrates, the nation’s capital isn’t used to being first in anything...But finally, the capital has a claim to No. 1—and unfortunately, it’s not just in hockey. Ryan Murphy, an economist at Southern Methodist University, recently published a working paper in which he ranked each of the states by the predominance of—there’s no nice way to put it—psychopaths. The winner? Washington in a walk. In fact, the capital scored higher on Murphy’s scale than the next two runners-up combined. “I had previously written on politicians and psychopathy, but I had no expectation D.C. would stand out as much as it does,” Murphy wrote in an email.
When Murphy matched up the “constellation of disinhibition, boldness and meanness” that marks psychopathy with a previously existing map of the states’ predominant personality traits, he found that dense, coastal areas scored highest by far—with Washington dominant among them. “The District of Columbia is measured to be far more psychopathic than any individual state in the country,” Murphy writes in the paper. The runner-up, Connecticut, registered only 1.89 on Murphy’s scale, compared with the overwhelming 3.48 clocked by the District.
..There tend to be more psychopathic personalities in denser areas, and the District of Columbia is denser than even the densest state, so it makes sense that it would top the list. But even when you correct the rankings for density, Murphy says, Washington still ranks first. This, Murphy hypothesizes, is because psychopaths are attracted to the kinds of jobs Washington offers—jobs that reward raw ambition, a relentless single-mindedness and, let’s admit it, the willingness to step over a few bodies along the way...
Washington is awfully rich in the kinds of jobs rated “disproportionately psychopathic” by the psychologist Kevin Dutton, author of The Wisdom of Psychopaths: What Saints, Spies, and Serial Killers Can Teach Us About Success. These include lawyers, journalists and civil servants, as well as CEOs and chefs. (What are the low-psychopathy jobs? Nurse, therapist, craftsperson, beautician/stylist, charity worker, teacher, artist, doctor and accountant.)
The top five habitats for such people, by Murphy’s measure, are D.C., Connecticut, California, New Jersey and—tied for fifth—New York and Wyoming. The five least psychopathic states are West Virginia, Vermont, Tennessee, North Carolina and New Mexico. READ MORE...
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/06/23/washington-dc-the-psychopath-capital-of-america-218892
Newsweek, June 23, 2018, http://www.newsweek.com/psychopathy-washington-dc-connecticut-981563
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HARPER COLLINS: Revised and updated with the latest scientific research and updated case studies, the business classic that offers a revealing look at psychopaths in the workplace—how to spot their destructive behavior and stop them from creating chaos in the modern corporate organization.
Over the past decade, Snakes in Suits has become the definitive book on how to discover and defend yourself against psychopaths in the office. Now, Dr. Paul Babiak and Dr. Robert D. Hare return with a revised and updated edition of their essential guide. All of us at some point have—or will—come into contact with psychopathic individuals. The danger they present may not be readily apparent because of their ability to charm, deceive, and manipulate. *Although not necessarily criminal, their self-serving nature frequently is destructive to the organizations that employ them. So how can we protect ourselves and our organizations in a business climate that offers the perfect conditions for psychopaths to thrive?
In Snakes in Suits, Hare, an expert on the scientific study of psychopathy, and Babiak, an industrial and organizational psychologist and a leading authority on the corporate psychopath, examine the role of psychopaths in modern corporations and provide the tools employers can use to avoid and deal with them. *Together, they have developed the B-Scan 360, a research tool designed specifically for business professionals.* Dr. Babiak and Dr. Hare reveal the secret lives of psychopaths, explain the ways in which they manipulate and deceive, and help you to see through their games. The rapid pace of today’s corporate environment provides the perfect breeding ground for these "snakes in suits" and this newly revised and updated classic gives you the insight, information, and power to protect yourself and your company before it’s too late. https://www.harpercollins.com/9780061147890/snakes-in-suits/
One of the articles, maybe Newsweek below, mentioned the positives of lower numbers in Calif.- you're good.
Last edited Tue Jun 26, 2018, 07:14 PM - Edit history (1)
Forensic psychologists studying Madoff-type minds start with the usual menu of personality disorders, particularly narcissism. "These people get real enjoyment from doing what they do," says forensic psychologist Michele Galietta of John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. "They feel good pulling the wool over other people's eyes."
Other conditions such as bipolar or manic disorders may be involved as well, particularly since they are characterized by grandiosity and impulsiveness, with little regard for consequences. But grandiosity and impulsiveness can also be self-limiting, and lead to smaller-bore crimes that don't require the patience and plotting of a Ponzi scheme. Madoff, says Galietta, "was very planful." Such deliberateness requires a whole different type of disorder, one that may rise to the level of true psychopathy. In the popular mind, psychopathy is an impossibly broad term that more or less means crazy. But psychologists see it differently and have devoted no shortage of energy to defining just what the condition is. The researcher who may have come closest is psychologist Robert Hare of the University of British Columbia, author of numerous books including Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go to Work.
Many criminals, Hare explains, suffer from some form of antisocial personality disorder, a condition that causes them to behave impulsively and aggressively and generally commit violent crimes.
*Within that group, a subset also exhibits psychopathy, a coldness and lack of empathy for the people they hurt. They are the ones most likely to commit repeat violent crimes. The smallest group of all is the people who suffer from psychopathy alone — indifference to others, without the violence.*These, says Galietta, are the "white-collar psychopaths." And that group is an incubator of Madoffs...It helps too, Norton says, if while you're picking your investors' pockets you can also convince yourself that you're justified in doing so. Maybe you grew up poor; maybe you've been cheated yourself. Or maybe, as with Madoff, the phony dividends you're paying are initially benefiting charitable foundations. You're actually doing the groups a lot of good — at least until you bankrupt them. More,http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1869123,00.html
- Bernard Madoff is accused of orchestrating a $50 billion fraud and was placed under house arrest as BNP Paribas became the latest European bank to be sideswiped by the scandal.
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*Bernie Madoff Aide May Have Been Duped by Psychopath, Lawyer Says,* ABC News, Feb. 10, 2014
https://abcnews.go.com/Business/madoff-aide-pawn-psychopath/story?id=22417574
Bernard Madoff: psychopath? That's one of the questions expected to be asked this week in a Manhattan federal court when lawyers begin the defense of five former aides to the jailed Ponzi schemer, including Daniel Bonventre, former head of Madoff's back-office operations. One witness that the defense wants to call to the stand is Paul Babiak, Ph.D., described by Bonventre's attorney as a world authority on psychopaths in the workplace. Bonventre and four other former Madoff colleagues stand accused by the government of having participated in Madoff's $17 billion swindle, for which Madoff is now serving a 150-year prison sentence in North Carolina. At issue is whether they were duped by Madoff or knew they were helping to perpetrate a crime.
Babiak, a licensed psychologist, is co-author with psychologist Robert Hare of "Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go to Work." Bonventre's attorney, Andrew Frisch, wrote in a court filing last week that Babiak has studied corporate psychopaths extensively. His expertise includes the ability of psychopaths to deceive and manipulate those around them, Frisch wrote in the filing. "If Dr. Babiak is called to testify, we expect him to say in substance that Mr. Madoff's conduct is consistent with that of a corporate psychopath." Frisch wrote.
According to Frisch, Babiak's research shows that the more time an employee spends with a psychopathic boss, the greater the employees' vulnerability to being duped and "the greater the likelihood [the employee] will buy into the con and accept the psychopath's legitimacy." So, was Bonventre conned? Did he believe in Madoff's legitimacy? Those are questions Babiak could address -- that is, if he were allowed to testify. The prosecution would just as soon that he did not...Babiak's co-author Hare is the creator of the Hare Psychopath Checklist, a widely-used tool for assessing psychopathy. It assigns a numerical score to a person for each of 20 traits, including "glib and superficial charm," "need for stimulation" and "parasitic lifestyle." Score high enough, and you are a psychopath.
On his website, Hare says that in 2010 he studied a group of 203 corporate professionals. Four percent of them, he found, fit the clinical definition of being psychopaths. The study, he points out, was not based on a representative sample, so it cannot be applied to the worlds of business or high finance in general. However, says Hare, while it may not currently be possible to say how many psychopaths are working on Wall Street, the number might be greater than 4 percent, "on the assumption that psychopathic entrepreneurs and risk-takers tend to gravitate toward financial watering-holes, particularly those that are enormously lucrative and poorly regulated." MORE.
