The Psychopath Test
Are you psychopathic enough to be the CEO of a large
corporation or an important national politician? I’m not.
Jon Ronson is a
deservedly popular non-fiction writer, known for the New Journalistic technique
of immersing himself into his stories. In The Psychopath Test, Ronson explores
the history of the most comprehensive test used to identify criminal
psychopaths, those narcissistic personalities, lacking in empathy, who are determined
to seize what they want. Ronson realizes early on that not just rapists and
serial killers fit this profile, but that many titans of industry and
politicians seem to fit it as well. He wonders if these powerful men (yes,
nearly all are male) are, in fact, psychopaths.
The book begins with Ronson speculating, anxiously, that he
has psychological disorders, which leads him to the Hare Psychopathy
Checklist. Ronson interviews Dr. Robert Hare and later learns how to
administer the test. During those conversations, as he thinks about the
ruthless nature of psychopaths, Ronson begins to speculate that many of the
most powerful men in the world seem to fit the checklist. A prime candidate, he
concludes, is “Chainsaw”
Al Dunlop, who literally delighted in firing hundreds of employees in order
to increase short-term profits. Ronson’s decision to diagnose Dunlop as
psychopathic, however, then leads him to wonder about the propensity of
psychiatrists to classify people into such neat categories.
This book, a tasty look at a
fascinating subject, is well worth your time.
- Dr. Jim McWilliams
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| Available at Stoxen Library: HV33 .R66 2011 |
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