Any time I think of the science of persuasion I think of author Dr. Kevin Dutton, he was born in London in 1967. He has a Ph.D in psychology, and is an expert on the science of social influence. No matter what your business type, everyone can benefit from Dutton’s experience and interviews dealing with psychopaths.

Lets get something out of the way right away, when you think psychopath what comes to mind immediately? Do images of a shadowy knife wielding killers pop into your head?

Although there is a particular type of psychopath that are violent killers, that is only a small percentage of psychopaths. Dutton argues that there are indeed “functional psychopaths”among us different from their murderous counterparts—who use their detached, unflinching, and charismatic personalities to succeed in mainstream society, and that shockingly, in some fields, the more “psychopathic” people are, the more likely they are to succeed.

There is no yes or no to tell if your a psycho, there is a test however The Psychopathic Personality Inventory (PPI-Revised) is a personality test for traits associated with psychopathy in adults created by  psychologists Scott Lilienfeld (now at Emory University) and Brian Andrews. 

Dutton uses the system to rate certain people, and there general fitting in today’s society. Dr. Dutton found that jobs that dealt with extreme levels of focus needed the assistance of personality traits derived from psychopaths.

Jobs like neurosurgeons, marines, CEO’s and even Buddhist monks were rated quite high on the PPI test. These vocations often require an almost super human level of concentration, many specialized professionals such as the ones listed above report a hypnotic state in which their heart rates would actually slow and their body would regulate itself in order to adapt to what it was about to do. (talk about keeping a cool head)

People who often rate higher on the PPI test tend to be empowered with major skills of persuasion. Dutton goes into detail with his book “Split-Second Persuasion: The Ancient Art and New Science of Changing Minds”, which I found to be quite beneficial.

To be honest any book on psychology will almost always be beneficial, but the way Kevin Dutton presents the information is really something that separates him from the rest of the crowd as he targets the more of the practical ways in which we can use everything to our own personal advantage.

“Ruthlessness, charm, focus, mental toughness, fearlessness, mindfulness (living in the moment), and action. Who wouldn’t, at certain points in their lives, benefit from kicking one or two of them up a notch? What was important was being able to turn them back down.” 
― Kevin Dutton, The Wisdom of Psychopaths: What Saints, Spies, and Serial Killers Can Teach Us About Success

 

Cheers

Nicholas