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Despite Popular Opinion, Psychopaths Can Show They Care
Caring about others, for psychopaths, may be a matter of identity.
Posted May 14, 2013
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The quintessential psychopath shows callous disregard for others, a complete lack of empathy, a glibness and superficial charm, and an impulsive and antisocial lifestyle. We would never, given this set of qualities, expect such individuals to make decisions that would benefit anyone but themselves. Their lack of empathy should make it nearly impossible for them to understand how other people are feeling. Yet, when you think about it, the ability of psychopaths to con and smooth talk their way into situations that allow them to take advantage of people requires some pretty sensitive people-reading skills. Perhaps behaving in psychopathic ways isn’t a matter of lack of ability to empathize, but is instead due to lack of proper incentive. If that’s the case, it should be possible to put the psychopath’s people-reading skills to good use.
Following this logic, psychologists Nathan Arbuckle and William Cunningham (2012) explored the possibility that, under the right circumstances, people high in psychopathy would willingly behave in ways that would benefit someone other than themselves.
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Perhaps we don’t know as much about psychopaths as we think we do. If they are, in fact, capable of caring about the effect that their behavior has on others, we may be able to build on their empathy, one group identity at a time.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog ... -they-care