This impression is not wrong. Most psychopaths and criminals are highly overlapped, but there is a small group of psychopaths who are more likely to succeed than the average person.

Today we’re going to talk about psychopathy.

What is a psychopath?

Psychopath is not a diagnosis, and many people confuse it with antisocial personality disorder.

From the usual meaning of psychopathy, antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) describes more behavioral manifestations, while psychopathy emphasizes the emotional reactions of these people.

The former is a mental disorder, which is a personality trait.

Many psychopaths will develop antisocial personality disorder, but not all patients with antisocial personality disorder are psychopaths.

Psychopathy and antisocial personality disorder have overlapping manifestations: apathy, lack of empathy, lack of guilt and remorse, disregard for laws and customs, and possible violent tendencies.

There are many psychopaths who appear friendly and easy-going, but are actually psychopathic and antisocial.

Although they lack emotions, they can integrate into society relatively well as adults.

The core trait of psychopathy is callousness and ruthlessness, which is mostly innate.

Approximately 1% of the population is a psychopath, with men accounting for the majority.

Psychopaths may have a higher crime rate than ordinary people, but that doesn't mean they are all criminals and cold-blooded murderers.

Some of them not only live in a very high-functioning state, but also live more successfully than ordinary people.

High-functioning psychopaths are prone to success. In 1941, Hervey Cleckley discovered that as psychopaths, their lives are likely to be extreme: either reaching the top or failing miserably.

This has been continuously proven in subsequent studies.

Some psychopaths are dysfunctional, and their performance in work and life is often weaker than that of normal people.

According to research, people who show obvious psychopathic traits among ordinary company employees have worse work performance than others, and their position and income in the company are lower than the average level of their peers.

But another subset of high-functioning psychopaths are highly successful, and it's their personality traits that help them.

They are considered to have "successful psychopathic characteristics" and are often those who "surpassed the top 20 sales within six months", "married the most charming girl in the area", and "won elections when they first entered politics"

People, they are active in politics, business, law, and the military.

Statista, a German data survey company, has counted the 10 occupations in which psychopaths are most engaged. The probability of developing psychopathic traits among them is much higher than that of the general population.

These professions are: CEO, lawyer, media (TV or radio), sales, surgeon (interestingly, the proportion of psychopaths is very low among non-surgical doctors and nurses), journalist, police officer, clergy, chef

, civil servants.

In addition, the proportion of psychopaths among fund managers and extreme athletes is also high.

There is another profession in which psychopaths make up a sizable proportion—the President of the United States.

Scott Lilienfeld's research on 42 U.S. presidents found that Theodore Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Franklin Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and others all had obvious psychopath traits.

Why are high-functioning psychopaths so successful?

Research has found that high-functioning psychopaths are better able to adjust and control their impulses, and therefore do not embark on the path of ruining their lives like low-functioning psychopaths.

In addition, the success of high-functioning psychopaths also benefits from some of their characteristics: 1. Narcissism. In the "Dark Triangle" personality traits, narcissism and psychopathy have a high degree of overlap, that is, psychopaths

Often narcissistic.

They do not condemn themselves even when failure is their own fault.

They also always see the positive side when looking at themselves and are convinced that they will achieve success, regardless of the consequences.

2. Charm. People often find psychopaths charming. This may be because they place "enhancement of personal charm" in a very important position and deliberately conduct a lot of training, because they always hope to be in the same room or at a dinner party.

"The most outstanding person".

They want to speak every word beautifully, so many psychopaths work hard to learn knowledge and develop many skills in their spare time.

3. Intelligence. Studies have shown that psychopaths have higher IQs than the general population.

In addition, they often have strong lobbying skills and are very good at persuading others.

Also because of their high IQ, they are able to commit crimes thoughtfully and with exquisite designs (think Hannibal).

4. Adventurousness "Courage" is a very key trait of psychopaths.

Things that make normal people feel afraid, they often have no fear.

Their lives are reward-driven: when they find something profitable, they will put in 100% effort to complete it.

Even in the face of pressure, they never get discouraged.