Psychology Today on The Danger of the Wolf Pack Mentality

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Her last paragraph was the most unusual to me in her tone, almost accusatory, in her suggestion there were psychopaths lurking specific to her readership environment that were going to dislike her article. Her comment you don't fool me, almost had a paranoid tone to it. There is a great deal of callous behavior evidenced in society; if she sees displays of calloused behavior, even among those that have textbook innate characteristics of psychopathy, as potential murderers, I guess she has her own private reasons of concern.

One statistic I find very interesting is that convicted serial killers numbered at close to 100 a year until the 70's, 80's, and 90's, where the rates shot up to about 300 a year, then suddenly after the year 2000, back down to 100 a year. General crime rates including homicide started dropping in the early 90's at a steady decline that continues in the US. Lots of reasons cited, but those statistics don't appear to support any of her assertions associated with serial killers, or homicides.

Her life's work hasn't likely been colored by an upbeat work environment, her world view is likely much different than most people's by now. It seems to come through loud and clear in the article.

Actually, I think the author is dead on. The use of "psychopath" may be slightly exaggerated but the general point of her article carries great weight.

Some people may say the author sounds paranoid but in reality she is getting at the heart of what lies deep in the souls of common men. Capitalistic society is built on competition, it is built on taking advantage of the weak. I have seen many people take great pride in their utter and complete disregard for the weak so the author is really not all that far off. I mean, seriously, I see it everywhere.

Her view reflects the attitude of most hardcore conservative republicans. I am talking about the extremists of course. But even those who don't have these extreme views think these thoughts to themselves, they just try to deny it to themselves. Very few people can face head on the true evil within their heart.

worst part is the word psychopath is very much a media buzz word and not an actual DX or medical term.

She may be on to something but it's so sloppy, so easy to knock holes in, it would've been better not written or at least not published in the media. It's worthy, perhaps, of a forum thread but not much more than that. It would not even be good enough that I'd want it on the front page here, let alone in a glossy mainstream publication.


Exaggeration isn't the only problem there. She's using one false stigma to attack another, exploiting one social hysteria to attack another - it makes no sense, and ethically, it's extremely dubious.

Competition is life. No animal can completely escape that reality, regardless of what environment or society they live in. For most of human history physical strength and good health played a much larger role in survival than it does in modern societies. It still plays a larger role in some societies that do not have the cultural infrastructure to support those whom are disabled. In general the weak have a greater advantage in human society than they ever have had in history, because of the benefits society, not the evils of society.

If competition is evil all of nature is evil.

The problem with the article was that the author was suggesting there is a growing "wolf pack/psychopathic tendency targeting the disabled in society. She provided no evidence to support her opinion, other than reflections of what she's read in some reports in the media lately. Not likely she believes in evil as a scientist; the wolf pack and psychopath analogy is the closest thing she can find to what some others identify as such, but still myth based, at least in part, per the evidence as it exists.

At this point in time the disabled have the greatest historical advantage in the US, per legislation that has extended health care that has been made available to those under 19 with preexisting medical conditions and expansion of health care to age 26. Some people want to take it away, but to this point it is something additional that society has provided to the disabled through the political process, that has influenced greater rights for the disabled since FDR, one whom had a serious disability, leading society toward an infrastructure that provided assistance for the disabled and the disadvantaged.

The continuing battle to provide additional care for the disabled and disadvantaged through increased health care availability and access has been one going on for decades; but part of that battle has been won, and no matter what happens to the legislation, part of the expanded benefits for the disabled and disadvantaged will remain intact.

Societies that take care of the disabled and disadvantaged are measured as healthier societies in the world. The US isn't one of the healthiest ones, but in part there is an attempt to advance that health through the measures legislated that are currently still in effect.

Close to half of the country is against this effort. Are they misguided? Perhaps. Are they evil and do they have dark intent in their heart? Not much more likely than what one sees in the reality of a real pack of wolves in the wild taking care of a nuclear family.

Many express concerns about the long term financial survival of their own family, regardless if their rationale is logical or fact based given the larger consequences in society or their potential future as it may relate to their own needs. I don't agree with that type of logic but I don't see any evidence of evil.

The reality in life, is that anyone at anytime can become disabled, no one has control over that potential; unfortunately some whom are fortunate enough not to have been personally touched in this realm of reality, ignore the potential of it, including the reality of those that are disabled. There is no evidence of evil there either; in part, just another evidenced aspect of human nature attempting to maintain order in a chaotic world through whatever defense mechanisms one finds effective.

Evil, psychopath, wolf pack mentality, are all overused analogies, evidenced as defense mechanisms, used by humans to provide a sense of order, to the chaos of life, where competition and cooperation is evidenced as an inherent part of animal nature.

Modern societies, overall, provide life for the disabled to varying degrees of cooperation across societies. Many individuals with disabilities, depend on the infrastructure of society for survival. Life is evidenced as much more difficult for those with disabilities in developing countries, with little cultural infrastructure, including medical care. Modern society is a savior for those with disabilities, well above any potential harming force.

Last edited by aghogday on 26 Jun 2012, 6:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.

this woman does strike me as weird and i just dont see a connection between serieal killers and abortion and euthenasia of the disabled.

this is one of those sitiuations where the foolish stumble on a point by accident.regardless of how delusional and paranoid this author may be i must agree that mercy killings,abortion of disabled people are at an all time high and we dont need to go over the same over posted statistics to prove it.

i dont believe there is any wolfpack mentality or that act of euthenasia are comparable to ted bundy or charles manson.its a somple matter of inocent ignorance people realy believing there doing the sick or injured or disabled a favor by relieving there misery

What this article proves is Psychology is not a Science.

It is Propaganda, lies told to promote one point of view over another, Psych Warfare, Marketing, Advertisings.

A graph of the benefits of modern life, care of the disabled, vs the use of modern life to eradicate them, pre natal tests for Downes Syndrome, other conditions, run strongly in favor of protection.

Psychopath is a term without meaning, not defined. Even taking the popular meaning, not following the public views of something, it is still what is wanted for a company CEO.

To judge the entire population by the Ted Bundy Standard, makes as much sense as the standards of people over seven foot tall.

As for caregiver killers, I think them outnumbered by mothers who drown their children. Some use batch processing, strap them in the car seats and drive it into the lake, others take them one at a time for baths. Neither is much of a model for child care.

Mothers who bathe their children are taking them seconds from being Murdered! Shampoo, rinse, quit wiggling, this will only take a minute.

The old name was Retoric, speaking in ways that would influence opinon. As several points of view might be expressed, learning to speak to what was generally true to most people, facts plus political reality, was the goal.

This article has all the style of J Edgar Hoover in, The Red Menence, Red Rats trying to steal the same freedoms he was.

Her study has been women who kill, of those, caretaker killers, who she has studied, interviewed, and focused her life on. She has to disagree with them in public, but she is drawn to them. Somehow, all of life is a larger model of her Special Interest.

I think statistics show more people die from being struck by lightning.

After 9/11, people stayed away from planes. The excess deaths from traffic exceeded the lives lost in the towers, within two years. Doing the safe thing caused thousands to die.

This article seems about avoiding risks, like being groped by the TSA in the safest form of transportation, while ignoring tired people driving SUVs while talking on the phone.

Psychology Today will publish articles that Huffingtom Post would turn down.

[quote]In popular literature, wolf packs are often portrayed as strictly hierarchical social structures with a breeding "alpha" pair which climbs the social ladder through fighting, followed by subordinate "beta" wolves and a low ranking "omega" which bears the brunt of the pack's aggression. This terminology is based heavily on the behaviour of captive wolf packs composed of unrelated animals, which will fight and compete against each other for status. Also, as dispersal is impossible in captive situations, fights become more frequent than in natural settings. In the wild, wolf packs are little more than nuclear families whose basic social unit consists of a mated pair, followed by its offspring.[66] Northern wolf packs tend not to be as compact or unified as those of African wild dogs and spotted hyenas,[67] though they are not as unstable as those of coyotes.[68] Southern wolves are more similar in social behaviour to coyotes and dingoes, living largely alone or in pairs.[69] The average pack consists of 5–11 animals; 1–2 adults, 3–6 juveniles and 1–3 yearlings,[70] though exceptionally large packs consisting of 42 wolves are known. Wolf packs rarely adopt other wolves into their fold, and typically kill them. In the rare cases where strange wolves are adopted, the adoptee is almost invariably a young animal of 1–3 years of age, while killed wolves are mostly fully grown.[71] The adoption of a new member can be a lengthy process, and can consist of weeks of exploratory, non-fatal attacks in order to establish whether or not the newcomer is trustworthy.[72] During times of ungulate abundance (migration, calving etc.), different wolf packs may temporarily join forces.[73] Wolves as young as five months and as old as five years have been recorded to leave their packs to start their own families, though the average age is 11–24 months. Triggers for dispersal include the onset of sexual maturity and competition within the pack for food and breeding.[74][/quote]

Above excellent passage has disappeared from Wikipedia. It is extremely relevant because most of what else can be found online about wolf pack behaviour repeats old stereotypes from captive wolf research, apparently unaware that the 'fight for dominance' theory was disproved long ago through studies of natural wolf packs in the wild.

Does anyone know where to find up to date quality research about wolf pack behaviour online?

Ps. Sorry to but in - I know this wasn't the point of the discussion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?tit ... _structure

Here is a link to the historic page where the information can still be found in Wiki, in case you want to pursue some of the referenced links in the article, to find more information.

Thank you! And my apology for late reply.