Master's Of Manipulation

Ooo, sounds intense

I have done a lot of reactions in my writing, and usually the articles or videos that I react to are just garbage. I thought, why not do one about Kevin Dutton, and react to what he has to say. Dutton, for those of you not aware, is a professor of psychology, formally of Oxford, who specializes in psychopathy among other things, because his father was psychopathic. He tends to not have his own head up his rear, huffing his own farts, to ascribe to psychopathy his own egotistical ramblings. He’s pretty good.

Masters of Manipulation: How do I see through a psychopath’s methods?

The title of that just sounds so hyperbolic to me, but whatever. I guess to neurotypicals it may appear that we are somehow better at manipulation than they are, but they are incorrect about that. We learn to manipulate by watching neurotypicals interact. The main difference is the staked involved. We have no emotional connection or requirement in our interactions with others, and because, for us, there are no stakes, and we don’t get hurt by such things, we have a leg up on the neurotypical competition… or so they say.

Anyway, on to the article.

They have no conscience and know neither fear nor compassion. However, these characteristics do not necessarily make psychopaths merciless criminals. In reality, it is a combination of factors that determines whether someone becomes a serial killer or ends up on the executive floor of a company.

If I ever get the chance to speak to Dutton, I am going to ask him what he thinks creates a serial killer in a psychopath, because honestly, I do not get what the appeal would be. Likely this is what neurotypicals also think, and why their reaction to serial killers of their own neural type is to assign the word, “psychopath”, to them, I accept that there are serial killers that are psychopathic, I just don’t get why they’re serial killers. Frankly, serial killers of any sort make me roll my eyes. They just seem like edge lords to me. I know, I know, they actually kill people, but their reasoning for doing so is weak, so they get to fall into edge lord territory forever more.

Dutton is, so far, not incorrect in his statement about psychopaths having no fear or compassion, so well done there.

For the English psychologist Kevin Dutton, unpleasant encounters with psychopaths are like a lesson in life. He visits his country’s closed institutions on a mission: Dutton wants to find out how psychopaths manage to commit half of all serious crimes – even though they make up only one percent of the population.

Ughhhh, why though? Why are we already conflating ASPD and psychopathy? Come on, dude, you know better than this. Psychopaths do not, nor have we ever, been responsible for half of all crime. You know this means I have to do the whole, ASPD and psychopathy are not remotely related. Antisocial personality disorder is a garbage diagnosis for exactly this reason. Anyone that is making the argument that most crimes are committed by psychopaths because the wonderful world of psychology has decided in their infinite wisdom that ASPD and psychopathy are related, needs to go get their critical thinking skills installed, because somehow, y’all missed that when you got put together in the first place.

Instead of repeating myself, I will just leave this here, and move on:

As currently construed, the diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder grossly over-identifies people, particularly those with offence histories, as meeting the criteria for the diagnosis. For example, research shows that between 50% and 80% of prisoners meet the criteria for a diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder, yet only approximately 15% of prisoners would be expected to be psychopathic, as assessed by the PCL-R. As such, the characteristics and research findings drawn from the psychopathy research may not be relevant for those with antisocial or dissocial personality disorder.

Psychopathy/antisocial personality disorder conundrum

Why do they continue to deceive or murder normal people? The results of Dutton’s interviews with the inmates of Broadmoor are as fascinating as they are chilling: the brains of psychopaths work differently. While this puts them at some disadvantage in everyday life, the reality is more complex. In some areas of life, psychopaths are even more gifted than average.

I wonder how much of this is the author of this article catastrophizing psychopathy, and how much it actually came from Dutton. We shall see, I suppose. Yes, Dutton studied people at Broadmoor, but he doesn’t usually have these sorts of silly things to say. Yes, our brains work differently. No, that in no way creates a criminal. People choose to commit crimes, and instead of looking at their brains and manufacturing excuses for them, look at their choices and hold them to account for them. No psychopath gets a pass for being a psychopath. It isn’t an excuse, and it also isn’t a reason for criminal activity.

What makes psychopaths exceptional?

Nothing. We’re different, not exceptional. Why does psychopathy seem to only be described in extreme terms? It seems so over the top.

You could be the surgeon who saves someone’s life – or the man who smashed that someone’s skull. “A psychopathic personality is not a question of black and white. You have to think of it more like a scale or the faders on a DJ console,” says Dutton. If all the controls are turned up to full, you’ll probably end up behind bars for thirty years. But violence is not necessarily one of the criteria for a psychopath – nor is intelligence.

He is correct, there are plenty of dumb ass psychopaths. They are not rare. We exist on the same spectrum of intelligence as everyone else. As for the description of psychopathy in terms of knobs, there is an image for that:

I know it seems counterintuitive to say when the controls are turned all the way up, because when it comes to people and behavior, control is what you want them to have, so if controls are turned all the way up, they should have their sh*t together, right? Not in this case. Actually, looking at the image, and knowing his traits for psychopathy, there are only a few on there that really would be problematic, and that would be impulsivity, fearlessness, and possibly ruthlessness. The rest of them really don’t have a lot in the way of a downside. Maybe I am just being shortsighted, though, and if you guys think of something negative about the rest of the traits there, let me know.

However, these traits determine how a person develops. People who are psychopathic and violent often become criminals. But when intelligence is used instead of violence, many psychopaths end up in parliament or as gods in white. The controls on the psychopath’s console should only be turned up in moderation and in the right combination to have a solid and successful career.

I’m partially in agreement here, but I don’t think this comes down to using violence versus using intelligence. Really what matters is, environment. If you learn at an early age that you will get what you want using violence, then that is going to be the tool that they use.

I have said this many times, but I think the prevailing factor in how a psychopath turns out are the parents. How is that child raised, and what did you teach them to negotiate with, and what did you teach them regarding acceptable tools to use in the world. I hate to say it, but, there is a lot to be said for emotions polluting a psychopathic child when they are young. By that, I mean, we are difficult children to deal with, and can easily push a neurotypical to be reactive and extremely angry by just existing the way we do. If that neurotypical parent has any sorts of violent tendencies, a psychopathic child will bring them out. We don’t listen, we don’t acknowledge the world, “no”, and are punishment immune. Mix that into an unstable and violent upbringing, and the lessons learned are not the ones that a psychopath should be given.

This is when having no remorse helps

All right, I know I wrote a fair bit in response to the last paragraph, but nothing in that last paragraph should have led to the statement, “This is when having no remorse helps”. What does? Does he mean, for those that commit crimes? I would guess that would be true regardless of the criminal. There are a lot of criminals, most I would venture to say, that have emotional empathy, and theoretically feel remorse, but can pack that away tightly when it comes to whatever it is they are committing the crime to achieve. Entitlement really changes how people function.

Let’s consider the British neurologist Dr. Geraghty (Editor’s note: The names of Dr. Geraghty and all inmates have been altered): Thousands of people trust him and are willing to go under his knife. There are probably only a few characteristics that distinguish him from a dangerous criminal. Geraghty is one of the best in his field, not because of his compassion, but because of his lack of emotion.

Well, yeah… who wants an emotional doctor? I want someone that doesn’t have shaking hands when they are inside my body. However, neurotypicals can certainly be this way, they just compartmentalize before undertaking activities like that.

“I have no compassion for my patients. I cannot afford myself that luxury. In the operating room, I am reborn as a cold, heartless machine, in tune with scalpel, drill and saw. When you are cutting away and outsmarting death, emotions have no place. They mean insecurity and are bad for business. I have erased my emotions over the years,” he explains.

Compartmentalizing in action, ladies and gentlemen.

In the operating room, his brain is focused only on his task. It ruthlessly filters out fear and all other factors that could distract it. Thanks to his ability to push his emotions into the background, Geraghty’s performances are exceptional.

Exactly. This is how most neurotypicals deal with this sort of employment. You can’t be sitting there having an emotional reaction to having to cut open someone’s skull. It’s what has to happen, and being upset about the matter helps no one.

How do I turn off the fear in my head?

Ooo, this should be interesting.

Psychopaths would have no problem approaching any supermodel. They won’t be intimidated by anyone, not because of their exceptional social skills, but because fear is a foreign word to them. Their brains are wired differently. “The brains of psychopaths filter out fear. The fear center in the amygdala is never active. This means that a psychopath does not even perceive threats as threats,” Dutton explains.

Not entirely accurate. We can cognitively recognize threats, we just don’t have any sort of emotion attached to it. However, there are plenty of times that I have done something, only to have people tell me later on how dangerous it was. Or have people be surprised at how I react to different things that I should, apparently, be having an emotional response to. We certainly can perceive threats as threats, provided that we have the context necessary to do so. I have used this example previously, but:

Unless I understand what happens when I go crashing into the basement, I would have no problem finding a way to cross that. Actually, I have an excellent real-life example. My father is an engineer. He also understood that I was a fearless child that only wanted to have fun. One year, we went to a fair. My father, with his engineering brain, looked at the fairway, and saw all of the issues with the ride construction. I was like six… maybe. Now, do you think six-year-old me has any idea about carnival lawsuits, and how dangerous the rides can be? No, I had no clue. Do you think that six-year-old me was thinking that whatever ride I wanted to do on would yeet me into the parking lot as prejudicial speed:

(don’t watch if you are bothered by such things)

Parking lot yeeting

No, I had no freaking clue. I just wanted to do on rides, and I wasn’t allowed to most of the time. However, my father didn’t get a tantrum child out of that, and that is because he took the time to show me where he saw serious flaws in the construction of the ride. I could literally see beams that weren’t connected, cables dangling, etc. He showed me that I should avoid the danger, so I could do so in the future, and also not bug him about getting on the murder machine. We can see danger, if we have context. We just aren’t afraid of it, and that can lead to us negotiating ourselves right out of existence.

This trait gives the psychopath nerves of steel and great resilience. This makes some psychopaths ideal soldiers. When selecting its SAS special forces, the British Army goes to great lengths to test the resilience of its recruits to the limit. “You don’t break the psyche with violence itself, but with threats,” one of their instructors is quoted as saying.

Particularly popular: the truck test. He waits for the recruits when they are already physically exhausted. Then the instructors tie up a soldier and place him in front of a truck. They blindfold him. The truck slowly moves forward until the engine is only centimeters away from the soldier’s ear. The noise is just the beginning: the driver jumps out and starts the engine.

Someone in the distance asks if the driver has pulled the handbrake. Now another instructor presses a spare tire to the recruit’s temple – the pressure is increasing. “After a few seconds, we take the tire away, pull off the eye shield and shout at them. At this point, many give up,” explains the instructor.

I mean… it stands to reason that you can’t kill your soldiers, so it clearly has to be some kind of test to overcome. That should be pretty obvious to anyone. They make it seem like they made a mistake, but that wouldn’t make any sense either. There would be freaking out if that were the case. Someone would start screaming at you to move your ass off the ground post-haste. Weird this works on anyone.

No fear of anything

Such stress tests are a joke to psychopaths. When Dutton visits the maximum-security Broadmoor prison, the inmates explain why: “It’s got nothing to do with courage. If you’re never afraid, you don’t have to be brave, right? The way I understand fear – and to be honest, I’ve never been afraid – is that it’s usually unfounded anyway. The truck stunt is just a mind game,” says psychopath Leslie.

Yes, exactly. I don’t know who Leslie is, but that is a correct statement.

His tip for everyday life: “Stop your brain from rushing into future scenarios. If you do that, you will gain courage.” Danny, another Broadmoor inmate, has another tip: “The next time you’re really scared, ask yourself: What would I do if I didn’t feel this way? And then just do it.

Yeeesss… yes, but what does this have to do with how Dutton handles psychopaths? I am starting to feel like this article is not about what it claimed to be.

A psychopath’s motto: “Just do it!”

*Narrows eyes* Well, maybe, but that makes more sense as a psychopath’s advice, not our motto. We don’t have anything preventing us from doing stuff, so what we need is the motto of, “Wait a minute… what are the chances of me dying from doing this”, and go from there. That’s more of a description of a psychopath, and less a motto of a psychopath.

One example: Almost everyone wants a raise. “But very few people have the courage to ask for it,” says Dutton. “Many people are afraid of what their boss will think or what their colleagues will think of them,” he continues. A psychopath focuses on the positive consequences of the raise.

What? No we don’t. We just ask for the raise. Positive consequences aside, we’re more like:

Give it to me.

All right, not to that degree, but if I want more money, I am going to expect more money. If I don’t get it, I have other offers that I have tabled to be working here. Maybe they won’t be so tabled any longer.

This makes him more confident and persuasive when he talks to his boss. The result: In all likelihood, he leaves the room with more money than his colleagues. The psychopath doesn’t care what they think of him – his motto is: “Just do it.” This mentality gives psychopaths another advantage: they never procrastinate and therefore work more effectively.

I swear, this article is more like, here’s how a psychopath behaves, and here’s how you, as a neurotypical, can emulate them. That’s cool and all, but that is not what the title promised me, and that is also what I set out to write about. I have written about this stuff in the past. Can we get to the whole, “handling psychopaths” part, please?

A look into a psychopath’s brain

Ooo, got you covered. Here it is:

Now can we get to the whole, “handling psychopaths” part?

Researchers at the University of Tübingen have even found a way to make stress training and psychological tricks unnecessary. Using so-called TMS technology, they can give anyone the nerves of steel of a psychopath.
TMS – transcranial magnetic stimulation – works like a light dimmer.

Uh-huh… and? It’s not like TMS lasts, anyway. It’s like thirty minutes of apparently experiencing psychopathy. If there were a way to put one of those things on a truck, and I knew that I could bulletproof liability, I would totally sell the “psychopath experience”. I’m pretty sure I’d make a mint, but there is so much legal BS that it really isn’t worth trying. Also, this has nothing to do with handling psychopaths, and also the supposed mastery of manipulation. Someone had better get to it.

It can inhibit electrical signals in certain areas of the brain. “The emotional center, the amygdala, is crucial to the psychopath experiment,” Dutton points out. TMS literally turns it off, and with it, our fear. The drawback: The effect lasts only about half an hour.

Right… I literally just said that, and do I need to repeat myself again? Where is the subject matter of this article’s title? Where?

Holy lord, that’s it. The article just ends there. Even if this were an article about psychopathy and how neurotypicals could emulate it, that is a very abrupt ending. What the actual hell? Where is the rest of this article, where is what the title claimed that it was about. I have no words for how bloody weird that is.

I don’t know what to tell you guys. I don’t read the articles before writing so I can have a real-time reaction to them, but this one seems, well, like the title was a manipulation to get us to read the text, that had absolutely nothing to do with it. Talk about masters of manipulation… Well, actually no, this is just straight up dishonest. Nuts to them. I will find a real article about, or by Dutton, and do a reaction to that.

This one was ridiculous.