<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[The Dish]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[http://dish.andrewsullivan.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[Andrew Sullivan]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://dish.andrewsullivan.com/author/sullydish/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[Psychopaths All Around&nbsp;Us]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<object data="http://swf.tubechop.com/tubechop.swf?vurl=HT_SQFtCrcs&amp;start=0&amp;end=72&amp;cid=667918" height="315" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="515"> <param name="data" value="http://swf.tubechop.com/tubechop.swf?vurl=HT_SQFtCrcs&amp;start=0&amp;end=72&amp;cid=667918" /> <param name="src" value="http://swf.tubechop.com/tubechop.swf?vurl=HT_SQFtCrcs&amp;start=0&amp;end=72&amp;cid=667918" /> <param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /> </object> <p>In his new book, <em><a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Wisdom-Psychopaths-Killers-Success/dp/0374291357/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1351700873&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=psychopath">The Wisdom Of Psychopaths</a>,</em> Kevin Dutton <a href="http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/The-Pros-to-Being-a-Psychopath-176019901.html">describes</a> the misconceptions of psychopathy and why&#0160;it&#39;s far more prevalent than most people realize. Last year he ran a survey in the UK:</p> <blockquote> <p>The results made very interesting reading, especially if you’re partial to a sermon or two on a Sunday, because the clergy cropped up there at number eight. You had the usual suspects at the top; you had your CEOs, lawyers, media—TV and radio. Journalists were a bit down the list. We also had civil servants. There were several police officers, actually, so as opposed to being criminals, some psychopaths are actually out there locking other people up. Any situation where you’ve a got a power structure, a hierarchy, the ability to manipulate or wield control over people, you get psychopaths doing very well.&#0160;</p> </blockquote> <p>Buddhist monks also <a href="http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cross-check/2012/10/26/dexter-and-british-psychologist-ask-who-wants-to-be-a-psychopath/" target="_self">rank</a> high: </p> <blockquote> <p>Like psychopaths, monks are often calm and decisive in the face of  stress; free of anxiety, even in the face of death; and able to read  others’ expressions accurately. The big difference, Dutton said, is that monks are motivated by  compassion for others, whereas psychopaths seek only their own pleasure. </p> </blockquote> <p>Though not a psychopath himself,&#0160;Dutton recently <a href="http://chronicle.com/article/The-Psychopath-Makeover/135160/">underwent</a>&#0160;an experiment to temporarily make his brain activity resemble a psychopath&#39;s:</p> <blockquote> <p>The effects aren&#39;t entirely dissimilar [to getting &quot;a buzz out of a  beer&quot;]. An easy, airy confidence. A transcendental loosening of  inhibition. The inchoate stirrings of a subjective moral swagger: the  encroaching, and somehow strangely spiritual, realization that hell, who  gives a s---, anyway?</p> </blockquote>]]></html></oembed>