Reddit Reddit reviews The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry

We found 30 Reddit comments about The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.

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The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry
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30 Reddit comments about The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry:

u/[deleted] · 12 pointsr/technology

I think you may be referring the The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson. Here's the Daily Show segment. Here is an excellent episode of This American Life about the book. It covers the psychopath as CEO thing.

u/theestranger · 9 pointsr/AskReddit

For a slightly lighter - yet no less disturbing - read, check out The Psychopath Test. Blew my mind.

u/mathent · 5 pointsr/politics

Thanks for the book, I'm going to add it to my list. Have you read The Psychopath Test as well?

u/itty53 · 4 pointsr/Documentaries

There was a study (of a sort) done a few years back that showed the incidence of psychopathy was something like 4x among CEOs than it is in the general populace (4% rather than 1%). I say 'of a sort' because it wasn't really held to stringent standards; it was simply for this guy's book.

And let me stop the train here: I am not saying this as a put-down to corporate environments or executives; I am not against 'big business' or high-paid executives. It's just that a functional sociopath would be an extremely good CEO or other executive position, so it would make sense that these people would 'filter to the top' in a corporate environment.

On that note, and along with the point of applying the "demon" term being unfair, this is a great quote from that article linked:

> I can look at, say, Dominique Strauss Kahn, who, if one assumes that what one is hearing about him is true, certainly he hits a huge amount of items on the checklist — the $30,000 suits, the poor behavioral controls, the impulsivity, the promiscuous sexual behavior. But of course when you say this you’re in terrible danger of being seduced by the checklist, which I really like to add as a caveat. It kind of turns you into a bit of a psychopath yourself in that that you start to shove people into that box. It robs you of empathy and your connection to human beings.

To use a quote from the Amazon page: As the study of psychology evolves, we're going to more and more see that "relatively ordinary people are .. defined by their maddest edges". I'm not entirely sure about how good I feel about that, but I do feel it is getting truer every day.

u/BettyMcBitterpants · 3 pointsr/MLPLounge

No, it's not that unusual. But it's not in the average, "HAY GUISE!" category. I do think it is weird, tho--imo, it's more fuck-with-your-mind than just a normal [crazy] dream.

And I don't know what reality-testing you're doing, but it sounds, to me, like you're doing it wrong? I mean, I can't imagine how I would ever be able to materialise a sandwich in front of me in my waking life. Unless you're saying you can't materialise sandwiches in your dreams because of this, I guess--I can see how that would be possible. What about reading written material, then looking away, then re-reading it? Does it stay consistent? That would be highly impressive to the point of nigh-unbelievable [to me personally] if you said you could do that in a dream.

Tbh, if you want to know more about it, you should read some books or even talk to people in /r/LucidDreaming; I'm not an expert. What I can say from my personal observations is that there do seem to be correlations between different personalities and the kinds of dreams people have.

The best example I can come up with off the top of my head that I didn't just make up: Researches have found memory & dreaming are somehow related. I've read it hypothesised that dreaming might be a mechanism which assists in memory storage. Also, psychopaths are known to both have poor memories as well as, for the most part, actually not experience dreams, or have very weak/pale ones. This is highly unusual, as you may already know, since even though many people can't remember their dreams this is not an indication of them not having dreams; everyone dreams, so it is said. However, psychopaths aren't considered to have the most normal personalities, anyway. (Iirc, these tidbits were cherry-picked from The Head Trip & The Psychopath Test.)

So anyway, as a lay person, I make wild personal speculations about how whatever it is that gives rise to personality also gives rise to types of dreams & dream experiences, but it's just for my own amusement & I haven't looked into it deeply enough to make some kind of insightful statement to you about this kind of "uncanny valley of waking consciousness" dream. But I guess usually that kind of thing seems to pop up when one's life is highly routine..? So perhaps trying something new & breaking out of your comfort zone could be in order?

I mean, if you like.

u/eldub · 3 pointsr/business

This is interesting to read in the wake of the release of Jon Ronson's recent book that looks at psychopathic leaders. I think people tend to like having others do their dirty work for them, whether it's their bosses doing high-level dirty work or the cleaners doing low-level dirty work. Rudely aggressive people can be a temptation (not always, of course, but this also seems to fit an intimate relationship stereotype, doesn't it?), as long as you can preserve the hope that they'll point that thing in someone else's direction.

Edit: The reference to cleaners is intended to be in connection with the more literal "dirty work," not rudeness or aggression.

u/tikael · 3 pointsr/atheism

>For instance, nobody desires to be a true sociopath (ie: physically and chemically cannot feel good or evil), and those who are true sociopaths... well... many do not function well in society. Like it or not, what God defines as good... really is good

That is not a sociopath. Sociopaths lack empathy, but they may be acutely aware of societal norms. Jon Ronson just wrote a book about socio/psychopaths. I would suggest you read up on the Euthyphro dilemma. We can debate all day about the meaning of "good", but the god in the bible is not it. Condoning rape, commanding genocide, condemning though crime, those are the acts of the god of the bible. Those are not in any way good. If you want to know a little more about modern views of morality you should read up on the evolutionary causes of morality. Sam Harris wrote a very good book about it recently

>How much evil should God get rid of divinely?

Well, none of it according to the bible. Isiah 45:6-7 (Young's literal translation but you can look it up in whichever version you like)

>So that they know from the rising of the sun, And from the west, that there is none besides Me, I [am] Jehovah, and there is none else, Forming light, and preparing darkness, Making peace, and preparing evil, I [am] Jehovah, doing all these things.'

u/KingBroseph · 3 pointsr/Psychonaut

Psychopaths (sociopath is not used anymore, clinically) seem to show signs that their amygdala (a center of the brain important to emotional response and thus empathy) is damaged, possibly from birth, meaning that no matter what they do they will never care about other people truly as we wish they could.

LSD has been given to psychopaths and murderers since the 70s as part of psychological research and if I remember correctly it didn't work at all.

Source: Recently read The Wisdom of Psychopaths
and The Psychopath Test

EDIT: Also see this from a few weeks ago Sociopath seeking advice to achieve enlightenment.

u/Liebo · 2 pointsr/suggestmeabook

The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson- Fascinating book about psychology and neuroscience about how psychopathic tendencies are pretty common among us humans. Very readable and entertaining.

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson- Incredibly wide-ranging look at the developments of the universe and natural sciences from the big bang to today. It's an informative read but also contains Bryson's usual wit. Not my favorite book by Bryson but you will likely learn a lot and it's a worthwhile read.

u/asnof · 2 pointsr/AskReddit

I read a book on socio paths/psychopaths(The Psychopath test). So I can recognise the behaviour before its too late. They are the best at faking emotions while not actually having any. I recommend it due to the fact it has enabled me to read people better.

u/anschauung · 2 pointsr/NoStupidQuestions

It might be really risky.

There's a famous story that's summarized in The Psychopath Test where a person faked mental illness:

> Tony said the day he arrived at the dangerous and severe personality disorder (DSPD) unit, he took one look at the place and realised he’d made a spectacularly bad decision. He asked to speak urgently to psychiatrists. “I’m not mentally ill,” he told them.

Unfortunately no one believed him. The psychiatrists eventually concluded that only a psychopath would fake being a psychopath, and the dude was stuck there for years.

Probably not worth the risk.

u/comfyred · 2 pointsr/worldnews
u/woodycanuck · 2 pointsr/AskReddit

http://www.amazon.com/Psychopath-Test-Journey-Through-Industry/dp/1594488010/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1313985944&sr=8-1

Not making fun, it's more common than people think. FYI, lots of CEO's are psychopaths.

u/EncasedMeats · 2 pointsr/bestof

Probably not but Jon Ronson's The Psychopath Test is funny as hell.

u/frijolito · 2 pointsr/WTF

>Item 6. Lack of Remorse or Guilt: A lack of feelings or concern for the losses, pain, and suffering of victims; a tendency to be unconcerned, dispassionate, coldhearted, and unempathic. This item is usually demonstrated by a disdain for one's victims.

Man, reading this I was reminded constantly of "The Psychopath Test". Seriously, read that book. You don't even have to buy it, your local library will have it handy. Download it if you must, I don't care. Everyone should read that book.

u/doubleohd · 1 pointr/todayilearned

Read "The Psychopath Test" by Jon Ronson to see how truly messed up it can be on both sides: people who say they're sane when crazy, people who are crazy swear they are sane, and the doctors that sometimes get it wrong. Here's a link

u/AnxiousPolitics · 1 pointr/changemyview

>intelligence indicates failure

That's simply not true at all. Anecdotally we sometimes say smart people have it rough for a few specific reasons some other people might not, but a predictor of failure it is not. In fact, /u/MoliereSC2 posted in this thread an article which says that IQ is actually a great indicator of GDP.
The reason perseverance isn't tied directly into ego is because at some point to remain sane you do have to convince yourself to pursue something in a way that has absolutely nothing to do with who you are, and everything to do with your understanding of the efficacy and importance of what you're doing; of what it is or how it works or what it is for. In order to pursue those things, ego is 'necessarily' out of the equation by definition.
Look, I understand the reaction that most successful people have had big egos, I don't know if you've heard of this or not but this book attempts to go into detail about how and whether the people at the helm of business and perhaps government as well are all crazy in some way. Egotists, psychopaths, you name it. It is cited as saying the percentage for psychopaths in business is 4% which is higher than the percentage of the total population. So there is plenty of reason to 'think' something like ego is involved in it all when considering success.
I don't know if you're aware of it or not, but Trump isn't exactly responsible for his wealth. He has managed what he was given into more money than he started with but he also started with more than enough to take ego completely out of the question when considering what went into the actual decision making process.
In fact, I'm almost inclined to believe the idea of ego necessarily being involved in success has less to do with human nature and an accurate depiction of reality and more to do with the version of celebrity we see on the evening news. When Trump advertises his brand by being the thing he is, it appears ego is all over the picture and it's there by design but to say it bleeds over into all the success and thought processes would be being dishonest about why publicized versions of people aren't accurate.

>No, he was capable of doing so because he obstinately believed in his own odds of success, and this allowed him to overcome many rational perceptions of risks vs potential gains in a way that would cause many rational, "intelligent" people to claim defeat and walk away.

The problem with this is exactly what I already described. The real thought process behind major deals in which a person can retain their sanity by necessity involves a clear understanding of the situation involved and a perseverance not in the face of 'rational perceptions of risk' but perseverance in the championing of the deal they have spent the effort to understand so well.

>part of the reason his presidency has and will continue to be deemed unsuccessful is tied into the fact that he isn't out there criticizing presidents and justifying himself. Bill Clinton spent his last years in office dragging the title of the president through the mud, but now that he's still out in the political world, doing the thumb thing and reminding us how good times were

I'm not sure if you realize this either, but you say in this passage that ego has everything to do with being seen as 'unsuccessful' and not success. I'm not sure if you'll take that as a hit against your view or not since you could believe ego is involved in both success and a lack of success or perceived unsuccessful lives or goals.
So intelligence is a good predictor of success, and perseverance is more honest about the sanity maintaining thought process involved in understanding your risky deals and safe deals than ego would be because ego is often merely part of the branding we see successful people put off in clips on the nightly news.

u/whytcolr · 1 pointr/pics

If only there were some way to make the text in this image appear horizontal...

In other news: Here is an online copy of the article. And here's the text of the stuff in the image:

>If: He has too many photos of himself…
>
Maybe he’s just: An artist who does self-portraits.
>
But it could mean: He’s a psychopath.

>Kidding! Kind of. Too many solo photos, or an oil painting of himself, can indicate “an overblown sense of self-worth,” says Jon Ronson, author of The Psychopath Test. Too much gold and other flashy objects suggest grandiosity and narcissism, adds Ronson. “Even if he’s not an actual psychopath, I would avoid a narcissist because he’ll be a pain in the ass,” he says. “Instead, women should stick to nerdy intellectuals, like me!” And me!

In my estimation, the bit in this article about guys who own multiple gaming systems is a bit more of a stretch...

u/rushworld · 1 pointr/worldnews

I read in The Psychopath Test that Autism did increase around the same time as immunisations became "popular" but only because the psychology field had expanded the definition of "Autism" including conditions such as Aspergers and whatnot.

u/CottageMcMurphy · 1 pointr/politics

Lack of empathy = psychopathy

u/jbs398 · 1 pointr/pics

Pretty much. I recently read "The Psychopath Test," (just a link to amazon, no affiliate or whatever) and as a conclusion, as with many other diagnoses and diagnostic tools, I came to the conclusion that given the power of such a label it sometimes harms people unnecessarily, but there are people who do not have empathy and they will take advantage of you and other creatures to get pleasure or enjoyment (animal cruelty ranks highly in suggesting psychopathy (aka: antisocial personality disorder)). Sometimes you need someone else to step in if such an individual can't treat other individuals respectably, there is a reason why (even if it might be a last resort) that there are people, given power by your local government, that can intervene when needed.

TL; DR: there's no such thing as black and white (in physics or psychology, but we're getting ahead of ourselves), but there are psychological conditions that cause people to treat others without empathy and sometimes intervention is necessitated if attempts to encourage "reasonable" (where this is determined by the community) behavior fail.

u/doves_n_ravens · 1 pointr/psychology

Its not too new, so you may or may not have heard of this. But I really enjoyed this book as intellectual fun reading and thought I'd suggest it!

The link is to the NY Times review, but here is the amazon link.

It explores Scientology's distain of psychiatric practices, the problems of checklists and self diagnosis, psychopathy in the community, and the role of insanity and the media. Just an all around enjoyable read. :)

u/roboticphish · 0 pointsr/politics

A philosopher, or an expert on political ideologies, would argue that capitalism is the form of economy & government most suited to human nature. In truth, everyone on the planet is concerned primarily with themselves and those closest to them. Even at the very top level (excluding outright sociopaths), wealthy businessmen & women care about their family, friends, and themselves. They aren't much different than the poor folk, only they have influence and power.

And in fact, it's that distinction that sets capitalism apart from other ideologies. Name the families who make up the oligarchy, and you'll come up with a dozen or so names. Waltons, Rockefellers, Kochs, etc. But, there are so many more wealthy people out there who actually did start from nothing. I have two within my own family! One invented the UPC barcoding system, one worked his ass off and is now a rocket scientist, working for massive satellite firms, even NASA at one point. These guys started from a town in Wisconsin of less than 4,000 people. They grew up drinking powdered milk and eating leftovers & casserole. Now they own million dollar homes, vineyards, the whole nine yards.

Now, they certainly had some help along the way (no one can succeed without help), but their success was determined by the willingness to work hard, a small dash of luck, and their willingness to take advantage of the resources that were out there.

I know there's a lot of things wrong with the capitalist system, but the whole idea it's founded upon is that anyone, even a poor-ass peasant, can put in the time and effort required to work their way up. And you know, that aspect is still intact.

u/arnie_apesacrappin · 0 pointsr/AskReddit

Your brother may be a psychopath in the clinical sense. Go through this checklist and see what he scores. If he is near 30 (or over 30) according to the checklist, there probably isn't much you can do for him. You can read more about psychopathy, but the gist is that if he is one, he can't see what he is doing is wrong and won't be able to change.

Please note, I'm not a mental health professional, just someone that read The Psychopath Test. The description of your brother screamed psychopath to me. Counseling could possibly help him, but the way you describe him, he sounds like the kind of person that will either have to monitored his whole life or left to suffer the consequences of his actions.

Edit: I didn't see your comment:

> He tries to pretend he's a sociopath

Until after I commented. So, you have probably already considered what I wrote. If he really does have psychopathic or sociopathic tendencies (or what is labeled antisocial personality disorder now) you don't have a lot of options. See if you can get him help.

u/mattman59 · 0 pointsr/conspiracy

>Yeah, they're called Zionists, and they want to enslave you in debt, coerce you into fighting and dying fighting Israel's wars, and bomb you with fals flag attacks like 9/11.

That might be true, there might also be evil unicorns living in my closet but I was referring to people who leave evidence, like the Time Square Bomber...well if you can even call him a bomber.

>They're truly dangerous socipaths and fanatacs, all the more so because they have so many brain-dead useful idiots doing a lot of their work for them.

Most Americans would shit their pants if they realize just how common psychopathy really was. Something like 1 in 25 people in the US meet at least a few of the qualifications on the Hare list.

Both of those are amazing books on the subject
http://www.amazon.com/Psychopath-Test-Journey-Through-Industry/dp/1594488010/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_1

http://www.amazon.com/Sociopath-Next-Door-Martha-Stout/dp/0767915828/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1322058965&sr=1-1

u/dermballs · 0 pointsr/WTF

The terms sociopath and psychopath are mostly interchangeable. Being psychotic is not a symptom of psychopathy and something completely different, which is what my first comment was alluding to.

Source: Finished reading Jon Ronson's The Psychopath Test recently.