QuantumFog

July 10, 2006

I'll take that cerebellum and a quarter pound of frontal lobe

Psychopaths are defined as self-centered and manipulative people who use intimidation to control others. They may be charismatic and intelligent, but their intimidation can escalate rapidly into physical violence to achieve their ends. They fill our prisons, control street gangs and fit the description of several bosses I've had.

Dr. Joseph Newman has a different perspective on the problem. He's a psychologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Took the job 25 years ago because of its proximity to a good resource, the state prison.

He considered the nature of the beast; psychopaths are incapable of remorse or empathy for their victims. Then he spent a lot of face time with very bad people to study their reactions and general behavior. Dr Newman found they become focused on short term achievements, have difficulty processing peripheral cues and are oblivious to the reactions of other people.

All of which describes a game show contestant as well as Hannibal Lecter. But the doctor comes up with an interesting test.

He flashes a picture of something, say a pig, to subjects in an experiment. The picture of the pig will have the word "dog" superimposed, creating a descriptive conflict. Known psychopaths barely noticed the discrepency and answered quickly. Normal people noticed the difference and repeatedly stumbled in their response, taking longer to react because they're processing more information.

Newman tells us that if the psychopaths' focus is on emotions, their emotional response is normal. They are otherwise insensitive to others during any task.

I may be missing something here. Isn't that the typical workplace?

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