by GARY STIX
The bizarrely intricate reasoning of the psychopath is what fascinates. And it is not just the prison cell where these stories can be found. The psychopathic personality type turned up in Shakespeare and the Greek tragedies. And Occupy Wall Street could have a field day: among the 1 percent of the population characterized as psychopaths, a not insignificant number are thought to occupy the corporate suite. A recent study conducted by New York psychologist Paul Babiak showed that one in 25 business leaders may meet the criteria for classification as psychopaths.
Imaging and other research are creating an emerging picture of what’s happening right behind your forehead, the seat of “executive function” that governs self control. (picture the area right around the Ash Wednesday spot, the Hindu tilaka or, perhaps most appropriately in this context, the mark of the beast from the Book of Revelations).
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The study of psychopathy has profound implications for the criminal justice system. If psychopaths are, in fact, brain damaged in some sense, will the law have to be changed to allow them to enter an insanity defense? (See “Neuroscience in the Courtroom” by Michael S. Gazzaniga in April 2011.) Both lawyers and scientists will inevitably have to accommodate these shifts in our understanding of the brain’s workings. The University of Wisconsin, in fact, has just established a program that will allow students to earn a law degree while at the same time procuring a doctorate in neuroscience. Imagine the courtroom of tomorrow: “Your honor, I would like to enter this diffusion tensor image of my client’s ventromedial prefrontal cortex.”
Scientific American for more