Am I a psychopath?
CrowdScience
BBC
4.8 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 23 July 2021
⏱️ 36 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
One CrowdScience listener finds herself unconcerned about much of the world’s problems, it leaves her wondering: am I a psychopath?
Inspired by a previous episode on empathy, this listener asked is it true that psychopaths don’t empathise and what are the character traits of psychopathy?
Marnie Chesterton talks with a diagnosed pro-social psychopath to find out.
She also pays a visit to the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience and gets into an MRI scanner to discover what is happening in her brain when she empathises.
Studies suggest around 1 percent of the general population exhibit traits associated with psychopathy and that rises to 3-4 percent in the world of business. But is this really the case?
Why is there so much stigma associated with psychopathy and do psychopaths even exist or is it just a convenient term to label those whose emotional range sits outside of the “norm”?
Presented by Marnie Chesterton and produced by Caroline Steel for the BBC World Service.
Guests: Julia Shaw Jim Fallon Valeria Gazzola Kalliopi Ioumpa
[Image credit: Getty Images]
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Take some time for yourself with soothing classical music from the mindful mix, the Science of |
| 0:07.0 | Happiness Podcast. |
| 0:08.0 | For the last 20 years I've dedicated my career to exploring the science of living a happier more meaningful life and I want |
| 0:14.4 | to share that science with you. |
| 0:16.1 | And just one thing, deep calm with Michael Mosley. |
| 0:19.4 | I want to help you tap in to your hidden relaxation response system and open the door to that |
| 0:25.4 | calmer place within. Listen on BBC Sounds. I have constructed a persona that serves me well. |
| 0:37.0 | I've always felt much less emotion than other people around me, you know, I respond as others do because you have to blend. |
| 1:00.2 | But I don't find myself moved by very much. |
| 1:08.1 | That's Barbara, a crowd science listener from the US. |
| 1:11.2 | And crowd science is the show from the BBC World Service where we answer |
| 1:15.5 | science questions from all over the world. Barbara got in touch with us with a startling request. |
| 1:22.3 | I want to know if I'm a psychopath. I suspect I may be. I |
| 1:29.4 | look at things a little bit differently than most of my peers at least I think so. |
| 1:38.0 | I'm in my 60s and I've had friends who probably would say we're close, but I know far more about them than they know about me. |
| 1:49.6 | And honestly, if I don't see people for weeks, months, years, that's fine. |
| 1:56.0 | Doesn't really bother me at all. |
| 1:58.0 | But Barbara has spent her life surrounded by people. |
| 2:01.0 | She's a recently retired nurse and part of a large family. |
| 2:05.0 | I'm the second of four. |
| 2:07.0 | And have you talked about this with them? |
| 2:09.0 | No, oh no, oh no, as far as they are concerned I am everybody's favorite aunt, but no I would never |
... |
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