Sociopaths in High Places
Kirti HEWAMANNE
Impulsive nature
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According to Dr Martha Stout 4% of the population in the world are
sociopaths/psychopaths.
Dr Stout served on the clinical faculty of the Hervard Medical School
for over twenty-five years and also served on the academic faculties of
The New School for Social Research, the Massachusetts School of
Professional Psychology and Wellesley College.
She has written many excellent books on this subject.
In her book The Sociopath Next Door: The Ruthless Versus the Rest of
Us, she advises developing an awareness of the nature of anti-social
behaviour in order to avoid becoming its victim and proposes thirteen
rules as self-help guidelines to assessing relationships and behaviour
for these characteristics, as well as offering advice on handling
situations when one encounters the behaviour.
Profile of the Sociopath
* Glibness and Superficial Charm
* Manipulative and Conning
* Grandiose Sense of Self
* Pathological Lying
* Lack of Remorse, Shame or Guilt
* Shallow Emotions
* Incapacity for Love
* Need for Stimulation
* Callousness/Lack of Empathy
* Poor Behavioural Controls/Impulsive Nature
* Early Behaviour Problems/Juvenile Delinquency
* Irresponsibility/ Unreliability
* Promiscuous Sexual Behaviour/ Infidelity
* Lack of Realistic Life Plan/ Parasitic Lifestyle
* Criminal or Entrepreneuri al Versatility
There are many sociopaths in leadership roles. They can be in the
industrial world, the academic world and the non-profit organization
world. It is important for people to be with better awareness of this
sociopathic mind and its propensity for destruction of others, as well
as the major focus of this behaviour disorder – the need to win, and to
win at all costs.
Lack of empathy |
Suggestions for dealing with such individuals is presented to further
assist the reader in becoming more aware of their methods, behaviour and
self-centered focus, as well as how to deal with them.
Most people have interacted with sociopaths and rarely recognized
them as such. They act smooth, very smooth specially when in the public
eye. According to Martha Stout (2005) “The condition of missing
conscience is called sociopathy” (p.6) and those who demonstrate this
behaviour are termed sociopaths.
They are Chameleons of the first order, and often can pull the wool
over the eyes of most people, no matter their experience or education
level. Even psychologists and psychiatrists may succumb to their charms.
They can be quite disarming, for sure. They are not easy to spot and
unfortunately are singled out for what they really are, usually only
after their damage and hurt have been done and they are merrily on their
way – remorseless – to repeat their venomous behaviour on other
unsuspecting individuals, who often are admirers.
Many eminent authors in this subject have observed first-hand the
workings of such individuals – especially their techniques, their
callousness, their focused behaviour, their desire to destroy a
competitor, their delight in inflicting damage and pain on other, and
their remorseless willingness to do whatever it takes (unethical,
immoral, or illegal) to get what they want.
The writer is willing to share his knowledge on this subject with
anyone who wishes to contact him.
[email protected] |