Some psychopaths are charming and successful (look at our world leaders). So, given that evolution works for humans as well as other species, why haven't we all evolved to be charming and successful psychopaths?
2007-09-18 10:03:36 · 14 answers · asked by jesussalvation 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
i don't see how being a psychopath would be beneficial in the process of propogating the species.
2007-09-18 10:08:37 · answer #1 · answered by just curious (A.A.A.A.) 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Maybe everyone would be if given the same conditions and circumstances as a psychopath. Maybe, people become psychopathic as a result of living in this world, carry the burdens of others, and just rebel against that role in life by making an innocent victim pay for the burdens so they can succeed and be charming.
2007-09-18 17:12:19 · answer #2 · answered by lightellen3 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Some psychopaths are charming and successful. Most are not.
Either way it is not a survival trait for societies, so in evolutionary terms it is not a good trait.
Alternatively I could argue that we are. We only define some people as psychopaths because they have greater psychopathic traits than the normal ones.
2007-09-18 17:15:14 · answer #3 · answered by Simon T 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
If everyone was psychopathic then no one would be. The condition would be the norm, and Norm is someone that I worry about. He is really way out there. I just completed an online Ted Bundy charm school course. Care to hang out with me? I am really really quite bequiling once you get to know me.
2007-09-20 01:02:07 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Actually, to a certain extent, everyone actually is.
It seems that under the right conditions, anyone can become a "little Hitler". Almost all of the most horrible atrocities committed in history have been committed by normal people that were parts of some army or another.
Do you really think that all the people in Nazi Germany were really that much different from everyone else in the world? Do you think that everyone in the Khmer Rouge was some sort of genetic mutation?
Normal people can do horrible things, and too often, they do.
2007-09-18 17:09:43 · answer #5 · answered by Azure Z 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Depends on what you want to call a psychopath. I think the offical definition is someone who feels no guilt or remorse for their violent actions. If we all evolved into that then we would kill each other off. We then be evolved out of existence.
2007-09-18 17:13:07 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
May I direct your attention to "The Blank Slate" by Steven Pinker?
He has some rather interesting things to say about psychopaths and the like.
2007-09-18 17:08:42 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sadly enough, those who are most against psychopaths in people, are most for psychopaths in corporations, for when they act in evil ways, they are rewarded under the false term "free trade."
2007-09-18 17:07:27 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
You've got it the wrong way round. We are all psychopathic, but most of us apply the thin veneer of civilisation.
Today's psychopathy was yesterday's survival trait.
2007-09-18 17:07:49 · answer #9 · answered by Dharma Nature 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Go your way, and I will go mine. I choose not to be.
It is a matter of opinion as to whether theya re charming.
2007-09-18 17:08:44 · answer #10 · answered by batgirl2good 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋