Do psychopaths suffer from a disorder?
Technically, yes, it’s anti-social personality disorder. In practice, there are two ways to study psychopathy. One is to look at Mallory and try to understand him by observing and dissecting him. The other is to look at Mallory’s victims, and his relationships with them. The first approach leads to "Mallory is dysfunctional and needs help." The second leads to "Mallory damages people, and they need help." These are not at all the same.
I just want to avoid dating psychopaths
Don’t look for dates on line, and don’t trust total strangers with things that are precious to you. This is how you invite dangerous people into your life. Start by making friends of your own gender. Sooner or later they will set you up. The good friend of a good friend is less likely to be a predator.
How do you get that 4% figure?
Clinical research is often biased in huge ways. Let me give you two examples from the USA. You are four times more likely[88] to get a diagnosis of schizophrenia if you are black, than if you are white. Yet, when it comes to personality disorders, you’re less likely to be diagnosed if you’re black[89]. The judicial system pushes for diagnoses that lets them lock up poorer, black men, while sending wealthier men to therapy.
So when you read figures from clinical studies, you must question the sources of data. Hare’s classic estimate is 1%. He focuses on criminal male psychopaths. Others have estimated figures for malignant narcissism as high as 10%. I double Hare’s estimate to account for female psychopaths. I double it again for the many hidden psychopaths.
Is this figure the same in all cultures?
Predator-prey ratios are not constant, they cycle over time. There is no reason to suspect cheater-altruist ratios are a special case. So the figure could be from less than 1% to above 10% depending on context. Up-down cycles will take several generations. Matching the ratio of psychopaths you’ll see altruistic behavior swing between trusting and cynical.
Do you have historical examples of this?
I’d say the period 1950-1999 in the West was one of increasing trust, causing an upswing in psychopath ratios towards the end of the century. This led to numerous financial swindles peaking in the 2009 financial crisis. This is leading to an increase in cynicism and political pressure against institutional cheats.
Can we eliminate psychopathy?
I’m not even sure that’s a sane goal. This predator-prey battle has been the main force of human evolution for millions of years. Without it, we’d be a historical footnote. We can treat the effects of psychopathy like a disease to be eliminated. Yet without constant pressure from cheats, there is no game. And without a game, humanity has no future.
What do you mean by that?
I think we’re still evolving, as we must, to overcome the limitations of our planet. We will go to the stars, or we will go extinct. Not tomorrow. Maybe in a thousand years. And while the altruists will build the spaceships and design the hibernation tanks, it will be psychopaths that provide the hunger. Every dramatic voyage of discovery is driven by false promises and lies. Most end in disaster. Some succeed, and take us forwards.
So altruists aren’t hungry enough?
They aren’t, not in that untiring predatory sense. We aim to be safe and happy. Without Mallory challenging us, we’d be a species on holiday. Yet every time we build up some capital, savings, and wealth, along comes Mallory and steals it. It forces us to work harder, be more creative, and let go of the past.
You sound almost grateful to psychopaths…
In some specific ways, yes. Yet only when I step outside my own experience, and look at the big picture. If I speak from the heart, then Mallory’s casual abuse and the sheer harm he does to others enrages me. We can hold two contradictory ideas in our minds at once, right?
What if psychopaths get too much power?
I’m optimistic that the worse it gets, the better we become. The war between altruism and cheating has been going on for millions of years. Neither side can ever win.
Are psychopaths evil?
Good and evil are terms based on a self-centered view of the universe that religion has encouraged. That view is false, and the terms are meaningless. Do psychopaths cause hurt and harm to others? Yes. Is that a question of morality and religion? No. It’s biology. It’s inevitable and has been central to our evolution as a species.
If it’s inevitable, why write the book?
Maybe the book was inevitable. It was the right book at the right time, for me. Maybe I’m just a pen in the hand of destiny.
Do believe in God?
Only if you define "God" as "the universal laws of infinite maths and physics" and "believe" as "accept only models that make accurate predictions and cannot be any simpler." Or, to put it another way, "no."
How do I tell if someone is a psychopath?
It depends on how you know the person, and what your goals are. Also on your own experience, and how aware you are of yourself, and others.
You can pick out some, not all, psychopaths in a crowd by their appearance and behavior. You can see the combination of dominance, narcissism, and social distance. They are like car drivers who casually break the rules, knowing they’ll rarely be caught. This stops working if they think you’re watching them.
You can actively look for psychopaths when you see impact craters in organizations or families. Mallory will be well hidden. It takes a different process: elimination of all suspects until one is left. You look for rule breaking and conflict. You eliminate those who show honest guilt, shame, and remorse. It takes time and observation.
You can ask the question about a partner, relation, or colleague. In this case you work off your own responses and behavior. If the relationship is new, are you swept off your feet, and making big plans? Does it feel too good to be true? If the relationship is old, does it make you sad and depressed? Is there abuse, anger, drama?
Another, more general approach is "grey listing." You start by assuming everyone you meet is a psychopath. Don’t panic. It’s not a decision, just a possibility. Then you look for signs to disprove this possibility. Old friends who speak well of them. A clear public history. Zones of happiness around them. Modesty and shyness. Blushing, a sense of humor, creative zest. And so on. As long as you cannot disprove the theory "X is a psychopath," leave them in that category and treat them with care. If you get clear indicators, you can move them to your black list.
Are there different types of psychopath?
Some authors like to distinguish narcissists from sociopaths and so on. I don’t see the point of that. Mallory has many faces, and is opportunistic. It is always the same Mallory, however. He works the same way, has the same attacks and tactics, and has the same weaknesses.
Are you a psychopath, and this book just a twisted way of hiding it?