Speaking of Psychopaths
About 1% of any population are psychopaths.
As an example as numbers are sketchy, 1% of the 1% will be used as having the propensity for violence.
- There are about 7 Billion people on earth today.
- 1% of 7B = 70 million psychopaths
- 1% of 70M = 700 thousand violent psychopaths globally.
- If the 700,000 are plotted on a normal curve of IQ with the average being 100. This means that there are 350K psychopathic, violent, above average IQ. It also means that there are 350K psychopathic, violent, below average IQ.
- About 2% of any population have an IQ above 130, which qualifies for Mensa.
- 2% of 700,000 = 14,000 psychopathic, violent, geniuses.
- 0.1% are approximately Einstein level IQ.
- 0.1% of 700,000 = 700 psychopathic, violent, Einstein-level geniuses.
- This also means that the same figures appear at the other end of the distribution. 14,000 psychopathic, violent, ‘anti-Mensa’ candidates.
I figure (I am not a psychologist) that the narrow, upper end of violent psychopaths are more likely to have or be able to develop the necessary skills to manipulate those below them to lesser and greater degrees to act in ways that support and gratify their violent tendencies. It is also possible that those on the lower end are likely to seek out people and organisations that allow them to fulfill their need and capacity for violence. A match made in heaven. Well, maybe not heaven, but you get the idea.
It is possible that the skills of manipulation are so high that they can convince and recruit people that do not fall into a psychopathic category but other vulnerable areas (maybe depressed, disconnected, autistic, lonely etc) to join their rank and file. This would also help to further legitimize the group and as group numbers swell and depth and variety increase, more would be attracted and gravitate towards the group. In time, it may even become mainstream and a new normal.
Note that this doesn't factor in a thousand other influencers such as religion, background, upbringing, status, charisma, income, etc. These kinds of things are probably likely to both dull or sharpen a psychopaths metaphorical (sometimes literal) blade. And of course, this doesn't account for all of the violent, non-psychopaths (genius or anti-genius) types out there either.
Since I live in Finland which has a population of 5.4 million, there are approximately 54,000 psychos, 540 violent with about 11 being both violent and genius level. The incarceration rate in Finland is about 570 per Million. Some estimates say between 15% - 25% of prisoners are psychopaths. 570 x 5.4 = 3078 prisoners. 15 % (lower estimate) = 461 of them are psychopaths.
Therefore, there are about 80 violent psychopaths out there that haven’t been caught which may infer that they are also the smarter ones (or too young to make an impact yet).
Some further questions:
- How does it look for your country?
- What does this mean for cults and terror organisations?
- Are they more attracted to fundamentalist groups?
- Can the lone psychopath feign sociability to service needs?
- Can the numbers be changed through education or environment?
- Does the surrounding environment influence activation or suppression of tendencies?
Caveat: As said, I am not a psychologist nor am I a mathematician. I am just someone that likes to play with ideas and this has come to mind several times over the years. Perhaps, with input and clarity from others, the loop can be closed and it will never come to mind again...
Be careful, there are a lot of psychos out there.
;)
Taraz
[a Steemit original]
They just haven't cought me yet.
anonymity: the friend of the psycho... :D
Psychopaths exist on a continuum. The high functioning ones are less psychopathic than the extreme ones. Intelligence also plays a role.
One characteristic of psychopaths is the inability to learn from punishments. Interestingly, it has been found that they do respond to rewards. It is possible, to some degree, to modify the behavior and habits of a psychopath by the use of carrot if not stick.
Psychopaths are seriously harmful to their fellow human beings and society at large. They present a thorny ethical dilemma as from a utilitarian point of view, it would be prudent to abort all fetuses that are future psychopaths if it could be reliably detected at that stage. On the other hand, all manner of nasty scenarios would be opened up if that were a strong recommendation let alone mandatory.
"It is possible, to some degree, to modify the behavior and habits of a psychopath by the use of carrot if not stick."
It seems logical that they would respond to rewards, however once the rewards stop or they work out a mechanism to gather greater rewards, they will opt for that mechanism. If this mechanism causes harm to others they will be indifferent, or even pleased, as they reserve their greatest derision for their victims.
All research about psychopathy, that I have inspected, concluded psychopathy is incurable. Therefore efforts to cure or mend their ways is a waste of time. If you find yourself close to one, you should escape as quick as possible. This is difficult if they are family members, spouses or work colleagues.
This post by tarazkp, highlights the necessity of game theory within cryptocurrency, to punish inevitable bad behavior. The current haejin flag war is no better example of this. It also highlights to people who think that there is good in everyone, that they are incorrect, such foolish thinking will make you easy prey to a psychopathic predator.
Remember most psychopaths are non-violent. But they will damage you mentally and spiritually. The best thing you can do is avoid them, if possible. Definitely don't try to fix them. They can't be fixed. Nor listen to them if they tell you they will change. They can't change.
I'm talking about modifying the behavior of children with early signs of antisocial personality disorder (the modern name for psychopathy). That diagnosis is not even given to minors. The environment has an effect on how children with those traits (except maybe for the high end) turn out.
I think many people with a great deal of skill exhibit sociopathic/psychopathic tendencies so aborting might be a bit harsh.
However, I think in the future there are going to be various alternatives such as shipping and recalibration for certain factor but again, there will be ethical considerations raised. takes all kinds to make this world and dealing with some kinds make the rest stronger in various ways too.
I do not believe that a psychopath behavior can be changed with reward . It may cause a change in a decision but not the root problem . You cannot teach empathy . There are evil people in this world and they will never change . I am referring to true psychopath not them that could / might fit into the mold somewhere . There are people with psychopathic tendencies , They are not psychopaths , manipulative bastards , but not psychopaths
I agree with the response by rob.roache .
We here in American probably have between 80 - 120 active psychopaths right now . The number of psychopaths in our society is somewhere around 1 % of our population , That's a lot of people .
I don't know if I put this in the right place (chain)
What to do with true psychopaths is an interesting question. Sea-steading is a concept that billionaires such as Peter Thiel, are considering as a way to escape government interference and ensure personal security. Such man-made self-sustaining islands could be constructed and true psychopaths might be banished to these islands to live out their days where they won't be a danger to the general public.
Separation from people seems the only way to ensure true psychopaths might be prevented from damaging their surrounding humans. I would only suggest this for psychopaths at the high end of the spectrum. Serial rapists and pedophiles could also be quarantined on these islands due to their inability to change and their danger to people who surround them.
I don't want to sound cruel but there is only two things that can be done . One is to remove them completely as you suggested and the second is to send them to God and let him figure it out . I prefer the later
Yeah, send them back to their maker for him to figure out what went wrong. lol
Psychopaths drive people to suicides and cause severe suffering to many in their lives and commit a disproportionate number of horrific crimes. I do not agree with the takes-all-kinds argument and seriously question the humanity of psychopaths. Roughly speaking, the human mind can be thought of consisting of a primitive or "lizard" layer of base needs including sexual lust and power, a human level consisting of empathy and the ability to form genuine social bonds, and an intellectual level responsible for abstract thought. A psychopath is one who only has the lowest and the highest levels of the three. In my opinion, they are intra-species predators and parasites best eradicated or cured if possible. But I do realize the practical and ethical problems in any attempt at doing so however well thought-out.
The actual estimate is around 4% of the population (spectrum remember) and most who do exhibit tendencies are not violent nor are they so manipulative. Some are highly driven though and do tend to do well in business and politics....
I think 1/25 is setting the bar quite low. A regular asshole is not a psychopath.
Yeah, I think this is the issue as to where to draw the line though. If you include regular assholes, it might be 3/10 :D
:D
Makes you wonder how many of them are on steemit. Even more so does a place like this lure such behaviors in or would they prefer to stay away from a place like this. There are lots of people just on social media that seem to be psychopaths.
Personally i will just wrap it all with you are one hell of an analyser!!@tarazkp
Now lets do a quick math
About 1% of any population are psychopaths.
As an example as numbers are sketchy, 1% of the 1% will be used as having the propensity for violence.
There are about 1 million people on steemit today.
1% of 1M = 10 000 psychopaths
1% of 10,000 = 100 violent psychopaths on steemit.
If the 100 are plotted on a normal curve of IQ with the average being 100. This means that there are 50 psychopathic, violent, above average IQ. It also means that there are 50 psychopathic, violent, below average IQ.
About 2% of any population have an IQ above 130, which qualifies for Mensa.
2% of 10 000 = 200 psychopathic, violent, geniuses.
0.1% are approximately Einstein level IQ.
0.1% of 10 000 = 10 psychopathic, violent, Einstein-level geniuses.
Now that's a matter of concern dont you think?
Excuse my plagiarism, and my math..
While based on the numbers sure. You are forgetting massive amount of those accounts are bots, or alt accounts as well. Many are also not active anymore so they are not on steemit and therefore no longer a concern. We are also not your standard subset of human population either.
As Tarazkp point out a place like this (social media) might attract certain kinds of people like those who are NPD. On top of that many views a place like this as lawless and do whatever is necessary to make as much as possible. Which would incentive certain types of behavers to be here if they realize the profit to be had.
If we assume we are just a normal population and it’s more down to 40k active real users. Than it really is not that concerning. Granted it has felt like I have in the past come across more than what such a sample size would yield.
I added bidbot operators in the last line but removed it :P
I think there are several here that I have interacted with that show certain traits. There are plenty of NPD'ers though.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_personality_disorder
I think the number is higher than 1%. I would guess it's between 10-50% maybe even above 50%. Not every psychopath does things like murder people. It seems like most people nowadays only care about themselves and a lot of them suck at even doing that.
It is a comforting fiction to segregate psychopaths as the other 1% of an abstract population, who live over there. Psychopathic potential resides in every human soul; it may be that such tendency is the default state of human beings. If you have doubts regarding the inherent psychopathic nature of humanity, just observe an infant in its natural state; the only reason the infant does not enact its evil upon you is solely due to its lack of ability and not because of any restraints from virtue.
All men have the potential to turn into a psychopath. In our civilized society, childhood indoctrination, multiple layers of social inhibitions, and different legal avenues for conflict resolution keep the cannibals at bay. Even with these measures, however, some, for inexplicable reasons, continue operating in their psychopathic mode. In a more elegant times, these dregs would have been pressed into the military regiments of the Crown to channel their obtuseness for a more constructive purposes.
In our modern era, in which childhood indoctrination is being undermined, sociocultural inhibitions demolished, and legal authority hampered, we will likely witness increased breeding of psychopaths. As such, it is incumbent upon all civilized men to conceptualize and connect with his inner psychopath. When faced with a psychopath, the civilized man ought to be able to become one himself, in order to preserve civilization.
I don't agree with that idea. Normal children have the ability to develop a conscience and emphathy. Empathy seems to be something that we have an innate wiring for. It does require loving interaction with a caregiver to develop, though.
The idea that we're gradually turning into psychopaths because of a growing lack of "cultural indoctrination, sociocultural inhibitions, and legal authority" has no evidence to back it up. On the contrary, violent crime has been on the decline for many decades.
@soo.chong163 I'm almost tempted to agree with you here. And practically, also agree with everything you've just said.
If it were not because after having gone myself through so many filters since my birth and surpassed all the purity tests. Thanks to having been so fortunate to have had a great family of humble, unusually very conscious free thinkers and formidable loving rebels. Thoughtful, attentive and smart parents. Who trained me well by letting me be as I was naturally and without restrictions. And also because in that way they succeed in made me such so kind, generous, empathetic, charming, friendly & lovable being. That kind of being with a splendidly odd sense of humor that speaks up to by his elbows, such as I am right now...
If it were not because all of that. ¡I would agree with your comment at 100%! }:)
"It is a comforting fiction to segregate psychopaths as the other 1% of an abstract population, who live over there. Psychopathic potential resides in every human soul"
I am not sure I agree with this. Psychopaths are more hereditary i.e. they are born psychopaths, there is a genetic component. Normal people who suffer through a difficult environment are more likely to become sociopaths or develop narcissistic personality disorder as a coping mechanism. Such people can be as destructive as psychopaths and as incurable.
Surprisingly, group therapy can socialize some NPD people so they are not beyond hope. However treatment of psychopaths and sociopaths often just teaches them new manipulation skills and further heightens their capacity to do wrong. Thereby treatment merely makes them them more dangerous and thus, treatment is worse than a waste of time. Hence banishment or execution to remove them from the gene pool are valid considerations.
Sociopaths can form bonds with people they are close to and can feel guilt if they harm these people. A person who has lived through a difficult life and developed sociopathic tendencies might have a chance of being socialized, if intervention happens early enough. However if this person reaches the age of 25 to 30, socialization may never be possible.
What happens in Venezuela is difficult to compare it with other countries in Latin America - except for Cuba - since the government managed to destroy the nation in all fields and humiliates the citizen in different ways such as selling paradises and skies that do not exist through a Gulag mediatic fierce and brutalizing.
Undoubtedly, in all societies there are rulers, businessmen, politicians and residents with psychopathic problems, but the coverage and intensity of psychopathy that have developed in Venezuela is unique in the region and in the world and this gives idea and projection of the social and cultural cataclysm in which the country is embarked.
I think that this goes in the way in which they grow and develop and if their frustrations do not flow this makes their level of evil grow, it is necessary to attack this from childhood to achieve attacking the problem from the root
So you’re saying there might be a few here in steemit land..
More than a few potentially ;)
I think the lone psychopath can definitely blend in to their surroundings to meet their sick desires. I wonder if psychopaths are more likely to be introverted or extraverted..if extraverted, then I can see them gravitating towards fundamental groups to exert their influence.
I have an aversion to meeting new people, crowds, and am naturally a hermit. Most random people I come in contact with are dumb. They say dumb things and they do dumb things. Staying away from psychopaths is another good reason not to bother with most people...or does having this perspective make me a bit too antisocial? Maybe even a bit psychopathic?
Just kidding ;) Great post! :)
One thing that characterizes psychopaths is being chronically bored and understimulated. Many of them are prone to substance abuse and other addictions because of this. Being chronically understimulated is a hallmark of extroversion.
You might not be a psychologist like you claimed, but you did well to search in to that.
I believe in the result of your research because no matter the upbringing or what anybody does, some people are just naturally violent, they prefer war to peace.
You wonder why some people behave violently, their is no need to be troubled about that anymore, they belong to the 1 percent Psychopaths...smile
But, to the question you asked, the answer is already in your post, we might not be able to stop every Psychopaths not to be violent, but with;
It will go a long way to produce less violent people. Often time, people grow up to become violent as a result of lack of love from childhood, showing more love to them as early as possible can help them behaving aother way round.
Thank you for this great wisdom.
God that fear! The worst thing is that we can have a psychopath on the side and not suspect it, so be careful.
meow!
It could be you....
I was discovered!