Wilde Things
| by Fingal Wilde
Psychopaths in the Workplace
– Part Two
In the June 2014 issue of aBr, I discussed the issue of psychopaths
in the workplace, and the havoc that they can cause in
your business, and to your reputation. I promised to
give you the Hervey Checkley’s List of Psychopathy
Symptoms in this month’s issue, a promise which I
now keep (if I didn’t keep this promise, then I would be
displaying one of the psychopathic symptoms!):
12. Ingratitude for any special
considerations, kindness and trust.
Hervey
Checkley’s List
of Psychopathy
Symptoms*:
13. Fantastic and objectionable
behaviour, after drinking and
sometimes even when not drinking.
Vulgarity, rudeness, quick mood
shifts, pranks for facile entertainment.
1. Considerable superficial charm
and average or above average
intelligence.
14. No history of genuine suicide
attempts.
2. Absence of delusions and other
signs of irrational thinking.
15. An impersonal, trivial, and poorly
integrated sex life.
3. Absence of anxiety or other
“neurotic” symptoms.
Considerable poise, calmness and
verbal facility.
16. Failure to have a life plan and to live
in any ordered way (unless it is for
destructive purposes or a sham).
4. Unreliability, disregard for
obligations, no sense of
responsibility, in matters of little
and great import.
5. Untruthfulness and insincerity.
6. Antisocial behaviour which is
inadequately motivated and poorly
planned, seeming to stem from an
inexplicable impulsiveness.
7. Inadequately motivated antisocial
behaviour.
8. Poor judgment and failure to learn
from experience.
9. Pathological egocentricity.
Total self-centeredness and
an incapacity for real love and
attachment.
10. General poverty of deep and
lasting emotions.
11. Lack of any true insight; inability to
see oneself as others do.
And to add some meat to this, I give you
Robert Hare’s
Checklist of
Psychopathy
Symptoms*:
1. GLIB AND SUPERFICIAL CHARM —
the tendency to be smooth, engaging,
charming, slick, and verbally facile.
Psychopathic charm is not in the least
shy, self-conscious, or afraid to say
anything. A psychopath never gets
tongue-tied. He can also be a great
listener, to simulate empathy while
zeroing in on his targets’ dreams
and vulnerabilities, to be able to
manipulate them better.
2. GRANDIOSE SELF-WORTH — a
grossly inflated view of one’s
abilities and self-worth, self-assured,
opinionated, cocky, a braggart.
| words in action
50
july 2014
Psychopaths are
arrogant people
who believe they
are superior human
beings.
3. NEED FOR
STIMULATION
or PRONENESS
TO BOREDOM — an excessive
need for novel, thrilling, and
exciting stimulation; taking
chances and doing things that
are risky. Psychopaths often
have a low self-discipline
in carrying tasks through to
completion because they get
bored easily. They fail to work
at the same job for any length
of time, for example, or to finish
tasks that they consider dull or
routine.
4. PATHOLOGICAL LYING —
can be moderate or high; in
moderate form, they will be
shrewd, crafty, cunning, sly,
and clever; in extreme form,
they will be deceptive, deceitful,
underhanded, unscrupulous,
manipulative and dishonest.
5. CUNNING AND
MANIPULATIVENESS: the use
of deceit and deception to
cheat, con, or defraud others
for personal gain; distinguished
from Item #4 in the degree to
which exploitation and callous
ruthlessness is present, as
reflected in a lack of concern
for the feelings and suffering of
one’s victims.