Psychopaths can be good for society, study says

LONDON Psychopaths are beneficial for society because in morally dubious situations they make pragmatic choices for the greater good, a new study suggests.

Although psychopaths are often viewed as dangerous, cold or lacking empathy, in fact, in certain situations, such traits can be helpful.

It means they would not think twice about shooting down an aircraft to prevent it from crashing into a highrise building, or throwing a stranger under a bus to prevent it crashing into five people down the road.

A study led by the University of Plymouth in England compared people’s judgments in moral dilemmas with how they scored in measures of psychopathy. Around one in 100 people are thought to exhibit psychopathic traits.

In each dilemma, participants

For the first time, we demonstrate how personality traits can influence the physical power of our moral actions.

had to decide whether to sacrifice a person by performing a harmful action against them, in order to save a larger group of people.

In one moral quandary they were asked to push a victim off a footbridge into the path of an oncoming train to stop it hitting several workmen farther down the track. In another scenario, they had to decide whether to stab to death an injured soldier to avoid him being tortured by enemy troops and giving away secrets that could jeopardize the platoon.

Participants were invited to give their response by squeezing on a robotic handle that measured the strength of their action. A weaker squeeze suggested they would not carry out the morally dubious action.

The research showed that people with strong psychopathic traits were more likely to generate harmful actions with greater physical power, meaning there was a greater chance they would go through with it.

The authors say that in certain circumstances, psychopathic traits could be considered beneficial.

Dr. Kathryn Francis, now of Reading University, who carried out the study while at Plymouth’s School of Psychology, said: “For the first time, we demonstrate how personality traits can influence the physical power of our moral actions.

“In the experiment we found that the physical power of simulated utilitarian responses was predicted by individual levels of psychopathy.”

Psychopathy is generally characterized by anti-social behaviour and impaired empathy. As such, it is thought that these individuals are, on a whole, bad for society. Psychopathic traits have often been blamed for decisions that have led to financial crises or amoral political behaviour.

The research was published in Scientific Reports.