On Sep 15, 2012, at 5:47 PM, Beth Benoit wrote: > I was chagrined to see our Scott Lilienfeld's name hooked up with this story.
I didn't have the same reaction (i.e., chagrin). And I know that others have studied correlations between psychopathic traits (which, of course, are dimensional) and success in areas such as business, politics, etc. (e.g., see Hall & Benning, 2006). An Emory University news release provides a nice summary of the study (http://esciencecommons.blogspot.com/2012/09/psychopathic-boldness-tied-to-us.html). It's no substitute for reading the journal article of course, but I mention it only because it provides a bit more information than the Huffington Post piece. The following seems to be the study's take-home point: > fearless dominance, linked to low social and physical apprehensiveness, > appears to correlate with better-rated presidential performance for > leadership, persuasiveness, crisis management and Congressional relations, > the analysis showed. Scott is quoted in the news release providing a bit of nuance with respect to the study's conclusions: > “The way many people think about mental illness is too cut-and-dried,” > Lilienfeld says. “Certainly, full-blown psychopathy is maladaptive and > undesirable. But what makes the psychopathic personality so interesting is > that it’s not defined by a single trait, but a constellation of traits.” It's a very complex issue, and I know that referring to the "successful psychopath" is controversial. But I don't think there is a great deal of controversy about correlations between psychopathic traits (which vary dimensionally, as do all personality traits) and success in areas such as politics. Best, Jeff Reference: Hall, J. R., & Benning, S. D. (2006). The "successful" psychopath: Adaptive and subclinical manifestations of psychopathy in the general population. In C. J. Patrick (Ed.). Handbook of Psychopathy (pp. 459-478). New York: Guilford. -- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jeffry Ricker, Ph.D. SCC: Professor of Psychology MCCCD: General Studies Faculty Representative PSY 101 Website: http://sccpsy101.wordpress.com/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scottsdale Community College 9000 E. Chaparral Road Scottsdale, AZ 85256-2626 Office: SB-123 Phone: (480) 423-6213 Fax: (480) 423-6298 --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=20444 or send a blank email to leave-20444-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
