Understanding The Wisdom Of Psychopaths - Dr Kevin Dutton 

Hello you beauties. Access all episodes 10 hours earlier than RU-vid by Subscribing on Spotify - spoti.fi/2LSimPn or Apple Podcasts - apple.co/2MNqIgw. Here’s the timestamps: 00:00 Intro 03:13 Why Does Psychopathy Exist? 10:05 Psychology of Penalty Shootouts 18:01 The Human Ability to Categorise 28:13 Lessons on Narrow Focus from Hoarders 38:55 Kevin’s Studies of Conmen 47:30 The Evolution of Super-Categories 55:49 Why a Different Accent Evokes Prejudice 1:02:13 How Brains Conflate Simplicity with Truth 1:11:33 Where to Find Dr Dutton

The quality of an interview is dependent on many factors, with the quality of questions by the interviewer being one of the most important. The quality of your questions is top-notch and not only shows a great deal of preparation and insight, but also a respect for the topic discussed and the person being interviewed. 10/10 points. One of the most worthwhile RU-vid channels I've come across so far.

Never heard of Dr. Kevin Dutton before this episode, what a hidden gem. Love watching people think out loud

“We don’t think like scientists; we think like lawyers” - loved this line about social media. Would like to hear more about what he has studied in this area.

According to Dutton, these are the 10 jobs that have the highest concentration of psychopaths: CEO, Lawyer, Media (TV/Radio), Salesperson, Surgeon, Journalist, Police Officer, Clergyperson, Chef, Civil Servant. And these are the professions with the least psychopaths: Care Aide, Nurse, Therapist, Craftsperson, Beautician/Stylist, Charity Worker, Teacher, Creative Artist, Doctor, Accountant

Dude, 3 minutes into this podcast until I realize that this is KEVIN DUTTON! Man I loved your book, amazing person, amazing work!

Dr. Dutton says "mate" every six words. I love it.

So glad to see Dr.Dutton on more excellent pods recently! His books are excellent. "Persuasion is giving people a reason to do what they already want to." *The Red Carpet*. "People are as nice as you make them." ..so many great, perspective shifting concepts.

I respect Kevin Dutton’s open-minded enthusiasm for his topic, but extreme scenarios such as Viking invasions doesn’t really help any of us understand how to integrate low-empathic personality variations into modern society. Factor 2 psychopathy also needs to be differentiated as a dissociative disorder that can be clustered with any number of other psychological disorders; and the psychopathic mindset is actually very vulnerable to suggestion and exploitation because of the associated lack of fear/caution and inclination towards thrill-seeking/excitement. We also have to take responsibility for the environment that we all contribute to creating and maintaining; psychopaths have to mimic normal behaviour in order to blend in and the more that narcissism and apathy becomes the norm, the more negative behaviour traits a low-empathic person will learn to imitate. It takes a village to raise a child, but if the village abuses the psychopath, the psychopath will raze the village... As someone with some degree of Factor 2 psychopathy (among other dissociative reactions to stress), I would encourage Kevin Dutton or someone else with a similar understanding of the topic to co-write a book with a number of people diagnosed with low-empathic resonance (psychopathy) from a variety of different life experiences; other than that of an SAS commando who fits the Viking stereotype. In terms of persuasion, it would be much easier to enlist someone with empathy/patriotism to face the horrors of war than the highly intelligent salesperson with very little empathy who would probably get themselves a job far behind the frontlines of a pointless conflict over nationalist or religious differences. You would also find that neurotypical/empathic types would defend their village from an invasive force with more passion than that of someone who has an inability to care about their immediate family/community; which is understood very well by the nationalist governments who make effective use of propaganda to fight their wars of terror against a neighbouring tribe/community/cultural group. There wasn’t actually a lot of content about psychopaths in this podcast; and despite the excellent content that was discussed, much more information needs to be made available in order to integrate the better aspects of psychopathy and reduce the damage done by the negative aspects.

This got more and more interesting as it developed. Strayed a lot from psychopathy, but the tangents were welcome. Very very interesting. Thank you!

Brilliant podcast BTW, Chris your intelligence shines through and you give so much room for speakers. Love it

Thank you for the amazing content Chris. Good fortune and health to you sir. Kind Regards Jason

I genuinely loved this guy from start to finish. Awesome episode man, just got better and better as it went along.

This was a very great guest. I hope he returns

This has been so so interesting and thought provoking , thank you .

wow, happy to have found this podcast! last night in my country the PM was guest in a controversial but highest rating talkshow (2 days prior to elections) and another guest (criminal lawyer) mentioned the possibility of the PM being psychopath, referring to studies that made me immediately think of the wisdom of psychopaths by dr Dutton... I just had to go and see what still can be found here on YT on dr. Dutton.. so, this one, for instance! Many greets from Netherlands!

I can personally testify to the accent bias. I am Italian with an English mother, so I am fully bilingual and it's always been a professional benefit to me, when dealing with Brits, that they would immediately overcome their prejudice as soon as they realised that I spoke like them.

Thanks, Chris. And a big thank you to Keven, his books are in my must-read stack and have been for years. 👍👍

6 minutes in and this guy seems funny as hell. I love how smart but working class he is.

Loved the bit about cognitive complexity/closure ❤

I love the way Kevin Dutton always focus on the positive side of psychopaths, however according to my experience working in corrections both as officer and later as a Research and Behavior Analyst, with a Master's degree in Psychology, working with low functioning psychopaths; living and working with high functioning psychopaths; Psychopathy has tremendous advantages but please never forget that the negative side always outweigh the positive side soon or later no matter what according to the Statistics! For example: A. Imagine waking up in a world without anxiety, ptsd, fear and having high self confidence... B. Imagine a world where you woke up and can't feel bond, love for your parents, kids, wife; very low level of the feelings of reward, (low motivation), no affective empathy for anyone even yourself sometimes! living in constant and infinite boredom, not having a strong sense of self! Imagine going in the bedroom and looking at your sleeping baby with empty eyes, staring at the child or seeing your children as useful objects with same role like your car! Dr. Kevin Dutton Dad was just an outlier psychopath!( No rule without exception) mild psychopath with high consciousness ( which is very rare or very low within psychopaths). Punchline: The majority of psychopaths are extremely controlling ( Dutton knows it well and will be curious if he also can sometimes focus on the consequences of being micro manager, especially in kids who are under 7 years old. It creates an identity disturbances because of the total ignorance and challenges of the emotions of your kids. My experience working in mental health area as a psychologist in the USA( mid-west)I am not always surprised to see the kids of psychopaths to be diagnosed with BPD, NPD, OCD or even ASPD because of the extreme controlling behavior or total emotional neglect and the confusions psychopaths create. Dutton in his book mentioned that the relationship with a psychopath always end with tears. I always feel confident i. the ideas of suggesting psychopaths to do not having kids. It can be expensive to get therapy and most their kids go through a lot of emotional pain that they didn't choose. Some do come out normal but most of the time very good with manipulations! Just join the special forces or just go drink, have sex, and have fun as much you can! Talking to the real psychopaths, the real masterminds, the real gangsters , the majority of them are really not happy! I interviewed an offender in Jail in 2017 who voiced: "Living without emotions or not feeling them is worthless bro"! It's just like a smart brick. Imagine working without feeling or enjoying the recompense? No LOVE feeling just the cognitive love. Dr Kevin Dutton just focus on the positive side of psychopathy which is really good but can confuse many people especially women looking for the Alpha male or people trying to escape their trauma to fall into the trap! I will love to have a scientific talk with Mr. Dutton if he gives me the chance to do so. Some psychopaths can feel happiness, other can have depression, most of the depression type in psychopathy is the worst thing you wish to your enemies: anhedonia. It's really hard to generalize based on a fewer emotions...Living without feeling several emotions regularly and at a socially acceptable frequency may not be as good as you think! If there's a way to try it out even for 2 months, I can bet you'll either commit suicide out boredom,( psychopaths are used to it) or you will beg to go back to the Neurotypical state, unless you have an extreme BPD but still...

Dr. Dutton's accent gets a bit more colloquial when he's telling stories about his old man!

This was great. You need to have him back on, I love the insights he has. Looking up his books now.

This is gonna be good!

Great interview! I hope you have him back! Linguistics is so interesting-including the link of accent and written language. Other studies have shown that font that’s a little harder to read is *remembered* better than simple font. Also, when I was 18, I worked in a hostel that had people from all over the world--and my accent went all over the place that summer 😂 and it just happened naturally. I’m musical and so my voice naturally is musical too… I wonder if musicality adds to the likelihood of picking up accents! Since I know it happens naturally to me when I’m around other accents, I’ve always felt like the celebs who pick up British accents are way too picked on! 🤣 it may not be the fakery/affect that many suggest! Also, regarding psychopaths… have you read the recently discovered statistics that in Canada, USA that male surgeons kill/harm 32% more females than men??? This statistic differential is NOT found with female surgeons. They have higher recovery statistics for both women AND men. What’s disturbing is that there is NO EXPLANATION for how male surgeons are causing 32% more death and disability to their female patients vs male. Can you please bring on some people to really dig down into this mystery? It’s very important! Seeing as how there are more psychopathic surgeons than other fields, seeing as how Nazi Germany’s FIRST solution were murders in hospitals executed by nurses and doctors who volunteered for the position of murder for the benefit of the elitists in Germany who didn’t want the trouble of caring for the old or disabled, seeing as how our own regulatory agencies are funded by the corporations they’re supposed to regulate (the very definition of fascism), seeing as how hospitals make decisions based on profit over human health as well as our politicians who are funded by them… this is an important issue to try to get to the bottom of! It’s been crazy to see those studies come and go with no mention in msm. 32% affects MILLIONS of women in USA! Please consider and thank you, Chris!

Listening to him describe neurotypical perception is fascinating.

Get the coffee ready. First saw Dr. Ken on a podcast with legendary singer Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden! Amazing guest in all respects.

Great stories!

Cheers Chris Mate

Precision vs Abstraction is a better boundary distinction than precision vs practicality. CAP theorem may be constrained to DB architecture but the same contention model extends pretty much everywhere. Usually shows up as cheap - quick - well done, rank order and hope your model/approach optimizes 2 factors because you'll never optimize all 3.

Excellent podcast! Please do the study on accents/impersonations. I'm good at accents and languages and would love a diagnosis :D

Brilliant!

After listening to this I can see how Gurus could be seen as psychopaths, telling people want to hear but not explaining the personal cost. Many used humor (e.g. Osho, Krishnamurti). All have charismatic speaking voices and are fantastic readers of people's emotions , needs and wants.

Hey Chris, 🙏 can you please put time stamps in your videos like Lex Friedman does? That way, when we come back to the video, we can find the subject that we were listening to earlier. I love your videos too so thank you! 🤘 This was a cool episode!

good stuff, very interesting ...

Nice. We need a second interview with more on the psychopathy.

There's *absolutely* the reality that picking up the "master society's" language is desirable, there's writing in Berlin basements from WW2 that translates from German of the time "Learn Russian Fast!", they knew they were about to be annexed, and in that case, it would be a matter of survival. The detail of picking up the other tribe's language and culture being a survival capacity if annexed is fully confirmed, even as late as 1945 AD for clarity.

His description of hoarding sounds ajacent to autism, systematizing vs empathizing (Baron-Cohen) consistent with Temple Grandin's church metaphor.

Our psychology is really very simple: we really do tend to believe that we're in a state of constant warfare against the rest of the world; that's what antisocial personality disorder really is at its core... we really do tend to frankly have a mix of not caring what anybody's emotions are on any state, certainly not our own- it simply is not important at all. This's not callousness, it is a sorting of data. For a lens from "Star Trek" classic, think "Romulan" for a lens on the psychology; this's going to certainly clarify a lot.

I can't believe this is what it is like to be a psychopath.

1:01:45 A lot of people who have autism are strangely good at impressions because one common symptom of ASD is a thing called “echolalia” which makes them easily able to take on different voices. I have autism and as a kid I would freak people out because I would repeat people’s sentences with the exact same voice they used. It’s a mostly involuntary compulsive behaviour. It actually gets really stressful sometimes because I can’t stop repeating weird little routines and mantras in my mind that had no actual meaning or use they were just there. It can get you into trouble because people think you’re mocking them lol.

When it comes to so-called prejudices or biases, if the posters on social media platforms tune out the "pack of wolves" black and white thinking, and switch to lone individual mode, they will come to their own individual conclusions on any topic. They'll be less likely to follow the herd by engaging in groupthink, and they'll be better able to FOCUS and ANALYZE on a more intimate level (avoiding surface- level gossip and rigid black-and-white conclusions).

Finally!

With regards categorisation: words and concepts are certainly reductive, but that doesn't mean they are inaccurate or arbitrary. Calling the sun 'hot' is something of a simplification, but it's not untrue.

56:02 Chris, what you have just said, is what’s causing almost all of our current societal issues. It isn’t race that divides America, it’s all the cultural ‘accents’ that are the point of friction. “If we sound similar, we play together. If we sound different, we judge, instead of playing.”

Is Kevin's father Brick Top from Snatch?

Concerning the very damaging initiation of force, when the gun enters, morality leaves.

There's way more you could have gone into about psychopaths (given the title) but this was interesting nonetheless.

The berserkers I thought also went psyco from eating a ton of shrooms before they battled.

What about the initiation of force on many, many peaceful people in the War on Drugs?

Hey man. I have 4 of the top 10 psychopath careers. I think I need to reexamine myself 😂.

He's NOT Australian. That accent is British

Forget studying psychopaths. Let's find out what percentage of psychologists study human behavior for understanding, versus the percentage that study human behavior for influence/leverage. While the number of true psychopaths is around 1%, I'd bet the number of activist psychologists (in western nations) is through the roof.

Not sure I'll get clarification, but I don't understand the use of the word 'need' when talking about cognitive complexity. Surely some people 'see' more cognitive complexity than others? Being able to see more cognitive complexity would then be either an advantage or a disadvantage, depending on the situation, but 'need' seems inaccurate to me...

Hey Chris, why are your podcasts only a little over an hour long?

Bit disappointing he constrains limbic response to to "fight/flight" when freeze and faun have more impact on the social dimension

Great vid. Great advice for a psychopath looking to learn to persuade people

F**k me! For a moment there I thought you’d brought on the Wealdstone Raider!

first thing I learned from this video as an American: Australians think 8.30 is 'bright and early.' 😄

I'm genuinely curious Chris, why do you always position yourself kind of side on to the camera?

There is something basically wrong about this analysis of psychopaths. First, the defining character trait of a psychopath is the utter lack of any moral sense. There may other secondary traits associated with psychopathy but the lack of a moral sense is the definition I can and ease risks characteristic. Psychopaths lie, cheat, steal, and kill others without sense of remorse or guilt at all. They utterly lack empathy and are incapable of any normal human relationships. All those other traits like fearlessness, risk taking, etc. are strictly secondary to the lack of cons e ice. That being the case, the question posed is: why do a certain small fraction of the human population lack any moral sense at all? Humans are social creatures by nature and depend on the social group for survival therefore, a moral sense is basically necessary for survival in a social setting in which cooperation among the members of the group is necessary for the survival of all members. So we can easily understand how a moral sense is selected for by evolution. But how can the lack of moral sense be favored? How can a predisposition to criminality be favored? Sure, psychopaths lack empathy and this can make good soldiers - they’re able to kill without guilt. They can be fearless and ruthless. But even soldiers in war have to rely on other soldiers for their survival and no psychopath is going to risk his life to save a comrade in arms. But even if we grant that psychopaths make effective warriors, how does that help them to survive and reproduce in peacetime? And psychopaths are notoriously dishonest. How can that be helpful in the evolutionary struggle for survival?

54:25 Well that just sunk my battleship, blarrrrrrr.

I sometimes wish I was a psychopath. When I was in the army I think I met psychopaths because everything Dr. Dutton mentioned seemed to resonate. These blokes, all of them were brilliant soldiers. Tough and high performers. However, a number of them were cruel and had no problem punching and assaulting soldiers they would openly say were 'pussies' or weak. Then when I went to Iraq the misery that disturbed me appeared to have zero effect on those type of men. They could perform their duty without any concern for ethical or moral standards. Yet, again I would have preferred to be one of them because they were outstanding and some of them were inspirational leaders and did provide a sense of group cohesion in the madness going on around us. When we got home their attitudes didn't change and watching how they enjoyed violence when we were at the battalion boozer was exhausting. I used humour to stay out of their way, though I punched out a couple of times over my four years of army service. I did notice that if I stood my ground, knowing full well that I was in no way going to 'win' the fight they were less violent. So I simply decided that when the psychopaths turned their crazy gaze upon you it was better to simply pretend confidence (when in fact I was a coward shaking like a leaf inside) and take the punches as their madness tended to be exacerbated by openly cowardly behaviour.

27:00:00 when he talks about some cultures in the world not seeing the difference between blue and green. I’m Vietnamese (Canadian), and in our language we do not distinguish between blue and green - they have the same word. We call both “xanh” (“sen”), and only differentiate if we need to by adding “leaf” or “sky” after it, if need be… it’s not that we don’t see it, it’s just that to reference it doesn’t really matter. And if there’s no immediate utility in differentiating them, then they are just called the same thing, and even thought of as the same thing. Unless there’s a reason to do so, it’s just categorized as the same colour.

"Everything is gray"? I think the world/universe is probably black-and-white. If it seems gray you have just run into something you don't completely understand or, more likely, a situation where others have found purposeful obfuscation to be advantageous.

Lmao this guy's great

Imagine world where psychopaths, sociopaths and narcissists are most of all people on earth

I liked Kev on Triggernometry but here he seems a bit obsequious and ingratiating.

I cannot imagine someone more likely to do well 'down under' that this guy. He's is ninety-nine percent Australian... just with a weird British accent.

very interesting bloke, had a little trouble understanding his accent...what is it?

casinos use chips instead of real money

Insofar as they don't let emotions rule their lives, psychopaths are arguably superior humans. And yet they are considered sick.

Victor Borge was Danish

Very annoying acknowledging frequency

Michael Bisping's older geeky brother, mate.

"The Viking's many years ago" probs a few more than many 😂

There's old pilots, there's bold pilots but there's no old, bold pilots!

hard to imagine yet...

first ?

Comment for the algo

So a person living in the most affluent period of man kind, prosperous enough to buy a plane ticket and fly through the air, something our ancestors would only dream of, got offended because the perfumes were categorized by gender? Are you kidding me!?

I wonder if he considers himself to be a psychopath?

I'm Scottish. Moved to England as a young boy. Speak perfect English, think in Scottish!

He's super hard to understand for me

Hee mate

Why are you’re views so low? I dont understand.

.. to what degree should we glorify vandalism?

I just have to say this for you, sorry... I'm not your mate. I know I'm a bad person.

ngl, this one was kinda boring. The dude doesn't have a lot of original thoughts and tries a bit too hard to project a 'friendly down-to-earth Aussie' persona (while being British..)

I think psychopathy may be caused by a rare recessive gene. When two psychopaths mate, they often have psychopathic children. But when only a single partner is psychopathic, the offspring are usually normal.