According to a survey conducted by psychologist Kevin Dutton—called the Great British Psychopath Survey—here are the top 10 professions with the most psychopaths:
- CEO
- Lawyer
- Media (TV/Radio)
- Salesperson
- Surgeon
- Journalist
- Police Officer
- Clergyperson
- Chef
- Civil Servant
- Care Aide
- Nurse
- Therapist
- Craftsperson
- Beautician/Stylist
- Charity Worker
- Teacher
- Creative Artist
- Doctor
- Accountant
Here are some of the traits of psychopaths:
- Self-confident
- Cold-hearted
- Manipulative
- Fearless
- Charming
- Cool under pressure
- Egocentric
- Carefree
None of this means that every CEO or lawyer is a psychopath, nor should the suggestion be that having psychopathic tendencies is helpful in any of these jobs (although it may be!).
Rather, there is an overlap between psychopathic personality traits and the types of people who go into those professions.
Successful psychopath?
A few people try to talk up the benefits of psychopathic personality traits, saying that there are such things as 'successful psychopaths': people who benefit from being that way.
But many psychologists have questioned whether there really is such a thing as a 'successful psychopath'.
That's because research has found that psychopaths generally do worse at the things that are often associated with success: their relationships are worse, they earn less money and do not generally attain high status (research described in Stevens et al., 2012).
Maybe the standard for a 'successful psychopath' should be lower. We should simply be amazed that someone with little or no fear response, unlimited confidence and without fellow-feeling can live outside of an institution, let alone become a respected professional.
Another faux psychologist? See:
Martha Stout demolishes Kevin Dutton's book on the 'wisdom' of psychopaths:
Best of the Web: Martha Stout demolishes Kevin Dutton's book on the 'wisdom' of psychopaths
The Wisdom of Psychopaths: What Saints, Spies, and Serial Killers Can Teach Us About Success, by Kevin Dutton Years ago, as a student, I attended some lectures by a prominent anthropologist who...