Mike Spencer wrote:
>
> > [Time to bring the corporations off their psycho paths !]
> >
> > [snip]
> >
> > Evil lurks at the top?
> > MD urges screening CEOs for psychopaths
>
> In popular vernacular, "psychopath" is associated with violent, kinky
> sex, serial and mass murder, cannibalism and other extremes of
> spectacular, slasher flick behavior. This is, so far as I have
> figured out, a mistaken association. The nutters who do such nasty
> stuff are a subset of psychopaths with other psychological deviances
> as well. And some may not even be psychopaths.
>
> The DSM IV says that "psychopath is a synonym for "sociopath" and for
> the preferred diagnostic term, "anti-social personality disorder".
> There are several other similar and related personality disorders
> recognized by the DSM, including narcissistic personality disorder and
> borderline personality disorder that are differentiated, in the
> diagnostic setting, by rather subtle distinctions. None of these
> related disorders *neccessarily* involve sexual violence or perversion
> or other violent or horrific behavior.
I would distinguish the sociopath as a person who pursues their
personal interest, primarily financial, but also power, etc.
without regard for the consequences and without feeling any
remorse when their actions hurt anyone. The sociopath is
amoral (except as regards his or her own interests, sometimes).
A psychopath, on the other hand, pursues some obsessional
objective which may have no constructive "payoff" for the person.
Psychopaths sometimes even try to get caught -- sometimes they
are even in some sense aware that they are a danger to
society, and this may in some way enter into their
motivational dynamic. David Berkowitz ("The Son of Sam")
is perhaps a psychopath. The psychopath is demonic.
You will never hear a sociopath pleading for someone to
stop him before he does more damage. Psychopaths rarely
attain to high social positions.
Narcissist character disorder may look the same as
sociopathy, but secretly the narcissist is looking for
"mommy"'s love, and hoping to win it by succeeding.
I have personally known at least two highly successful
persons who would do whatever was necessary for them to
get ahead. Curiously, both were liberal professional
do-gooders, who devoted their lives to doing good for
"the poor" (etc.) but who treated their employees
as slave labor -- and both were very disappointed when their
employees did not worship them for this great
opportunity in life!
No person rises so high
that they cannot reach a hand down
to help another person up.
\brad mccormick
>
> I've found it interesting to note that the persona of the corporation,
> established by an accumulation juridicial fiat and by a century or two
> of practice, is a close match for the DSM's charaterization of a
> psychopath. It seems quite reasonable to me that, in a corporate
> context, corporate values and one or another corporate culture work to
> select personalities that are consonant with the underlying
> psychopathic character of the corporate persona. This sort of
> selection is obvious at the superficial level. That success in the
> executive millieu represents a strong selective process for the
> anti-social or narcissistic personality is less obvious but is a very
> reasonable hypothesis. The very traits that mark the psychopath or
> narcissist are valued in the executive and managerial context.
>
> - Mike
>
> ---
> Michael Spencer Nova Scotia, Canada
>
> http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/
--
Let your light so shine before men,
that they may see your good works.... (Matt 5:16)
Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (1 Thes 5:21)
<![%THINK;[SGML+APL]]> Brad McCormick, Ed.D. / [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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