Pop culture was wrong - psychopaths are more likely to have below-average intelligence

vellavu

vellavu

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Pop Culture Was Wrong - Psychopaths Are More Likely to Have Below-Average Intelligence
In movies and TV shows, psychopaths are portrayed as cold, callous, and manipulative 'bad guys', who pose a particular challenge to law enforcement due to their high intelligence - think Hannibal or the Zodiac Killer.

But new research disagrees with this notion. Based on a meta-analysis of 187 previous studies, researchers have found that psychopaths actually have lower than average intellect, which means our favourite fictional villains probably wouldn’t be nearly as calculating in the real world.

This notion that psychopaths are all geniuses is so prevalent, psychologists themselves call it the 'Hannibal Lecter myth', and Boutwell found it hard to reconcile these 'evil geniuses' with the facts.

"Psychopaths are impulsive, have run-ins with the law, and often get themselves hurt," he told Jessica Hamzelou over at New Scientist. "That led me to think they’re not overly intelligent."

Boutwell and his team examined 187 previously published studies that tackled psychopathy and intelligence. These studies involved not only psychopaths who were imprisoned, but also those who were successful.

When their meta-analysis was complete, the team found that psychopaths actually scored lower on intelligence tests compared to those who didn’t have psychopathic traits, meaning the popular notion that psychopaths are inherently smart is likely the opposite to what happens in the real world.
 
I did have my doubts about them psychopaths, but maybe I was right, they all get to be politicians.
 
Yup, you read any book about real life serial killers- you'll notice that they ain't that bright.
In fact they're spectacular failures at real life. Some of them have poor upbringings and crappy parents, but not all and other people take worse and turn out better than average.
You get the odd exception- John Wayne Gacy for example was a upstanding member of the community. But none of them are anything approaching Hannibal Lector's Machiavellian genius.

There's a neat theory that most psychopathy is less to do with psychology but more about differing societal pressures, which has very little to do with level of intelligence anyway.
 
The ones that don't get caught usually stop on their own anyay, either because they die or get arrested for something else.
The 'mad genuis killer who is uncatchable' is kinda a myth. I'll bet Jack the Ripper and Zodiac stopped 'cause they died, they didn't live to a ripe old age, their psychology would never allow it.
 
ILLYRIAN
ILLYRIAN
Jack the Ripper was so named purely due to a newspaper report. Word is that he was Italian, so the name wouldn't be Jack.
What name is given to those serial killers who are so dumb they don't get caught, politicians.
However the odd few continue being serial killers while in office, what is disappointing to them is that they keep getting away with it.
Heck some of them even get voted into higher office.
 
@ILLYRIAN
While its true that 'Jack The Ripper' was a name attributed to the man, he later did respond to it. He signed a letter to the newspapers as 'Jack'.
(This is one of the letters that's definitely genuine- not a fake- since it contained a portion of one of his victim's kidneys)
 
And they matched that part kidney with what.
Let's see the murders were in 1884 +. Blood groups were still being found in WW1 and in what year could they test for a kidney being compatible with specific types of blood? It'd be just as convincing if he wrote the date in the corner of the letter.
 
People have two kidneys.
So they matched them with samples from Elizabeth Eddow's corpse.
And while the newspapers talk about 'mutilation', they don't specifically mention 'kidney removal' so safe to say that the guy who sent the organ was either Jack, or (somehow) had intimate knowledge of the crimes.

Anyways, the reason Jack wasn't caught is because he targeted low-risk victims (prostitutes) in a crowded city that had an amazing amount of them (estimated at about 1 million by 1885).
 
There was never any indication that Mrs Eddow's was a prostitute, only that she was a woman. And Catharine Eddowes was gutted completely, no mention was made of bit of her innards being taken, as in religious mutilation.
 
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