Which Professions Have the Most Psychopaths? The Fewest?

CEO is the profession with the most psychopaths.

But first off, psychopath doesn’t just mean someone who cuts you up with a chainsaw — though the majority of people who do things like that are psychopaths. What’s the definition?

Psychopathy is a personality disorder that has been variously described as characterized by shallow emotions (in particular reduced fear), stress tolerance, lacking empathy, coldheartedness, lacking guilt, egocentricity, superficial character, manipulativeness, irresponsibility, impulsivity and antisocial behaviors such as parasitic lifestyle and criminality.

So which professions (other than axe murderer) have the most psychopaths? What about the least?

Via The Wisdom of Psychopaths: What Saints, Spies, and Serial Killers Can Teach Us About Success:

And the next thing that comes to mind is: Why?

Most of the professions on the right require human connection, dealing with feelings and most of them don’t offer much power. Psychopaths, by their very nature, would not be drawn to or very good at these things.

On the other hand, most of the roles on the left do offer power and many require an ability to make objective, clinical decisions divorced from feelings. Psychopaths would be drawn to these roles and thrive there.

That said…

Chef? Really? I guess it pays to tread lightly around anyone who has a set of knives bearing their initials.

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Do Starbucks employees have more emotional intelligence than your doctor?

Are psychopaths more likely to become criminals… or CEOs?

Are there too many psychopaths in Corporate America?

This piece originally appeared on Barking Up the Wrong Tree.

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