Kevin Dutton
The Wisdom of Psychopaths
What Saints, Spies, and Serial Killers Can Teach Us About Success
FSG, 2012
Aperçu
Maybe being a bit of a psycho is a good thing.
Recommendation
“Functional psychopaths” surround you. They’re steely, cool under pressure and devoid of empathy, but these “saints, spies and serial killers” excite the imagination. Sadly, though, it’s the semi-psychotic politicians, lawyers or law enforcement agents who disproportionately hold positions of power and who prove to be masters at taking advantage of others’ weaknesses. University of Oxford research psychologist Kevin Dutton backs up his provocative theories with hair-raising research references. You’ll learn why psychopaths in suits can control their tendencies, why those wielding chain saws cannot and why that renders the former more dangerous than the latter. Dutton could have made his prose a bit tighter, and you have to be a big fan of metaphors to appreciate his style, but if you’re on the rise in your career and want to understand your extra edge – or if you would like to avoid being on the receiving end of someone else’s edge – getAbstract recommends Dutton’s innovative, entertaining, well-documented treatise.
Summary
About the Author
Social influence expert Kevin Dutton, PhD, is a research psychologist with the Center for Evolution and Human Sciences at Magdalen College, University of Oxford. He also wrote Split-Second Persuasion.
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