The Psychopath Test

Jon Ronson centers this chapter around the psychopath test and two different methods for determining psychopathic behavior.  Ronson spends three days with a psychologist named Bob Hare, who created a psychopath checklist of behaviors unique to psychopaths.  Bob was intrigued by psychopathic behaviors from when he worked as a prison psychologist, and this influenced him to come up with tests to determine unique psychopathic behaviors. One of his early tests involved shocking patients in prisons to study their reaction; he found that people seen as psychopaths didn't respond to the shock the same why as nonpsychopaths.  The Psychopath Test shows how these people have no concept of emotions, but rather absorb information from other people and mimick these behaviors.  Ronson is also introduced to a neuroscience reseacher named Adam Perkins.  Adam studies the central nervous system and looks for differences in the brain between psychopahts and nonpsychopaths.  He found that the amygdala in a psychopathic persons brain is different and that is why they cannot feel emotion.  Ronson concludes psychopaths can be a dangerous asset to society, especially if they are people like CEOs and politicians who are ranked high in social standing.

I found that both of these chapters fit well together to help explain the traits of psychopaths and how they can be spotted in the real world.  I found chapter four interesting mainly because Ronson concludes his conversation with Bob Hare discussing how society is run by a bunch of psychopaths.  This made me wonder how likely it is that society is somewhat powered by manipulative and emotionless people.  In chapter five I liked the story of Toto and his journey from Haiti to the United States, and how Ronson finally cracks him into exposing his psychopathic side.  One part I didn't quite understand was on page 131 when Ronson includes the part about the guard who scares the visitors.  I'm not sure if this is included because Toto finds the guard intimidating and powerful (kind of like how he was in Haiti) or for some other reason.