Question

Aside from becoming a criminal, what other career paths are open to psychopaths?

Accepted Answer

Psychopathy is a mental dysfunction, but not necessarily an uncontrolled personality trait.  Many businesspersons, politicians, entertainers, etc. have the traits, but a monitored environment, with safeguards and buffers against extreme behavior leading to antisocial destructive results (someone who will monitor the ethics of the actions), can give the psychopath a pathway into the free enterprise system:  careers that call for charm, immediate attraction, and magnetic connection, such as sales (especially real estate or expensive cars, yachts, planes--other big-ticket items) where the buyer is as much taken with the salesperson as with the actual product, can make use of the psychopath’s immediate qualities, as long as there is a clear-headed superior to rein in the social damage inherent in fully believing the psychopath’s “story”.  On the opposite end of the scale, jobs with no human contact involved—manufacturing, warehousing, etc.—are possible, but the psychopath will not be happy without opportunities to charm others or outwit “the system.”  Be sure to separate other psychological terms—sociopath, ASPD, etc.—and to remember that having the trait is not the same as acting in the world without control.  Criminal behavior comes from the psuchopath's indifference to what society thinks of the behavior.

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Aside from becoming a criminal, what other career paths are open to psychopaths?

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