Top 10 jobs that attract psychopaths

Historic City News readers with a taste for the avant-garde can review some interesting conclusions about what saints, spies, and serial killers can teach us about success; in a recent book by Oxford psychologist Kevin Dutton, “The Wisdom of Psychopaths”.

According to America Online feature writer Dan Fastenberg in an article this week entitled, “The Jobs with the Most Psychopaths”, if you’ve ever experienced the feeling at work that everyone around you is unstable, it might not be your imagination.

Dutton identifies superficial charm, egocentricity, persuasiveness, lack of empathy, independence, and focus as “psychopathic attributes” and believes that they present more commonly in business leaders than in so-called “disturbed criminals”.

Dutton’s careers most likely to attract a psychopath:

1. Chief Executive Officer
2. Lawyer
3. Media (Television/Radio)
4. Salesperson
5. Surgeon
6. Journalist
7. Police Officer
8. Clergy person
9. Chef
10. Civil Servant

Dutton’s careers least likely to attract a psychopath:

1. Care Aide
2. Nurse
3. Therapist
4. Craftsperson
5. Beautician/Stylist
6. Charity Worker
7. Teacher
8. Creative Artist
9. Doctor
10. Accountant

Huffington Post blogger Eric Barker also chimed in on the topic; saying that the professions with the highest rate of psychopaths offer power — many require an ability to make objective, clinical decisions divorced from feelings. Conversely, Barker opines, those jobs that require a human connection, or deal with personal feelings, or that don’t offer much power, attract relatively fewer psychopaths.

One recent study, conducted by the University of Minnesota, found when college students are caught cheating and lying; they’re more likely to do the same after graduation when they enter the workforce. According to psychology professor Nathan Kuncel, the study found that “deceptive behavior”, considered typical in psychopaths, if exhibited by students, tends to carry over into the workplace in practices such as long lunches and falsifying expense reports.

Historic City News editor Michael Gold said, “If you go to Flagler Hospital, expect your doctor or nurse to be level-headed; but, if you go to the cafeteria and send your grits back because they’re too runny, you might expect a few unpredictable fits and outbursts from the chef.”