Compelling Characters: Character Analysis With Cartoons to Boot

When Do Dangerous Traits Become Leadership Skills?  An Evaluation of the Psychopath  6 min read When you hear the word 'psychopath,' you probably picture Jack The Ripper , Ted Bundy or Anthony Hopkins doing his famous fava beans scene. But what if I told you that psychopathy doesn’t always fit that image? In fact, high-functioning psychopaths are all around us—teaching in classrooms, running companies, leading congregations, and even playing heroes on screen or being heroes on the battlefield.  More often than not these individuals exhibit traits like charm, fearlessness, and emotional detachment, which make them uniquely suited for leadership. When people with psychopathic traits are diagnosed it's usually with antisocial personality disorder because it covers sociopathic and psychopathic behaviours. But still, the question is, why do we trust them so easily? The Charm of High-Functioning Psychopaths Psychopathy exists on a spectrum . At one end, you’ve got violent offen...