[Paleopsych] sociopathy in business

[Bill Tillier]

Steve says:
>>Capitalism is clearly at a turning point, having
been largely taken over by greedy psychotics.  It's
time to give more status to the artists and magicians
in the corporate world.<<

Of course you mean psychopaths, not psychotics (psychotics get a bad enough
rap as it is).
Here are three recent books of interest, the Psychopath's Bible is an
especially perverted one.
Bill Tillier

The Sociopath Next Door by Martha Stout
Hardcover - 256 pages 1 edition (February 8, 2005)
Language: English
Broadway ; ISBN: 076791581X
[Dr.] Stout says that as many as 4% of the population are conscienceless
sociopaths who have no empathy or affectionate feelings for humans or
animals. As Stout (The Myth of Sanity) explains, a sociopath is defined as
someone who displays at least three of seven distinguishing characteristics,
such as deceitfulness, impulsivity and a lack of remorse. Such people often
have a superficial charm, which they exercise ruthlessly in order to get
what they want. Stout argues that the development of sociopathy is due half
to genetics and half to nongenetic influences that have not been clearly
identified. The author offers three examples of such people, including Skip,
the handsome, brilliant, superrich boy who enjoyed stabbing bullfrogs near
his family's summer home, and Doreen, who lied about her credentials to get
work at a psychiatric institute, manipulated her colleagues and, most
cruelly, a patient. Dramatic as these tales are, they are composites, and
while Stout is a good writer and her exploration of sociopaths can be
arresting, this book occasionally appeals to readers' paranoia, as the
book's title and its guidelines for dealing with sociopaths indicate.

Psychopath: Emotion and the Brain Author: James Blair
Format: Trade Paperback · Published: June 2005
ISBN: 0631233369 · Published by Blackwell Publishing
>From the Publisher
This new book presents scientific facts of psychopathy and antisocial
behavior, addressing critical issues such as the definitions of psychopathy,
the number of psychopaths in society, whether psychopaths can be treated,
and whether psychopathy is due to nurture or nature.


The Psychopath's Bible: For the Extreme Individual (Expanded and Revised
Edition) Author: Christopher S Hyatt
Format: Trade Paperback · Published: June 2004
ISBN: 1561841749 · Published by New Falcon
[the psychopath as gifted individual, hero standing up to social injustice]
FROM THE PUBLISHER
"A Practical Guide for the Gifted" Throughout history, throughout most of
the world, psychopaths have gotten a bad rap. That is quite understandable
since almost all of the world's religious and social philosophies have
little use for the individual except as a tool to be placed in service to
their notion of something else: "God," or the "collective," or the "higher
good" or some other equally undefinable term. Only rarely, such as in Zen
and Tibetan Buddhism, and some schools of Existentialism, is the individual
considered primal. Here, finally, is a book which celebrates, encourages and
educates the best part of ourselves -- the Psychopath.
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