Dr. Robert Hare, who did seminal work in identifying psychopaths, refers to them as “intraspecies predators.” This prompted questions from a Lovefraud reader who asked,
- If psychopaths are indeed natural predators (by implication, their design is part of nature’s plan to maintain some balance) then would we ever be able to weed them out of society?
- Do they have a purpose in the natural order of things?
In this article, I’m going to address the second question. Then, next week, I’ll suggest an answer to the first question.
I don’t know about a purpose, but there are researchers who believe psychopaths are around us today because they survived the natural selection process of human evolution.
These researchers call psychopathy “a nonpathological, reproductively viable, alternate life history strategy.” This theory is outlined in Coercive and Precocious Sexuality as a Fundamental Aspect of Psychopathy, a paper published in 2007 by Grant T. Harris, PhD; Marnie E. Rice, PhD; N. Zoe Hilton, PhD; Martin L. Lalumiere, PhD; and Vernon L. Quinsey, PhD.
Evolution
Let’s talk about the evolution idea first. The authors write that our distant ancestors probably formed stable groups, characterized by cooperation and adherence to rules, which enabled early mankind to survive and flourish. However, some humans survived through cheating and exploiting others—the alternative life strategy.
Grant et. al. write that from childhood, psychopathic personalities are fundamentally different from others, but the differences are not the result of a medical failure or injury. They point out that pregnancy difficulties can be related to schizophrenia and mental retardation, but not psychopathy. “While many adverse medical conditions and injuries lead to antisocial and violent behavior, our selectionist hypothesis suggests that they do not cause psychopathy,” they write.
The early psychopaths—cheaters then as now—put a lot of energy into acquiring sexual partners, and were willing to use deception and coercion to do it. As a result, they produced a lot of offspring. Even if early psychopaths died young because then, as now, they probably engaged in high-risk behavior, their liberal procreation was enough to get the hereditary train rolling.
Sex and criminal behavior
Psychopaths first have sex at a young age, have many partners, and are uncommitted in sexual relationships. Studies show that people who have this approach to sex also are more likely to engage in criminal and violent behavior.
Some people, called life course persistent offenders, Grant et. al. write, “begin aggressive and antisocial conduct at very young ages and persist at rates higher than any other offenders throughout the lifespan.”
People tend to think that their problem is poor social learning, that individuals who break laws against crime and violence also break social norms regarding sex. But research has also shown that delinquency and antisocial behavior are associated with early onset of puberty and sexual activity. Young people don’t learn, or decide, when to mature sexually. So why is there a connection between early onset of puberty and crime?
The study
Grant et. al. believe that “coercive and precocious sexuality” is not a result of the psychopathic personality, but a key to defining it. For the study described in the paper, the researchers predicted “early onset, high frequency and coercive sexuality would be a key, unique and diagnostic feature of psychopathy.”
The researchers studied the case histories of 512 male sex offenders. (Sex offenders were selected because their files generally contain detailed information about their sexual history.) They established the scores of the offenders on the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R). They also looked at the sexual histories of the offenders prior to age 15. A statistical analysis revealed correlations between early and frequent sexual behavior and sexual coercion with general antisocial behavior and elevated PCL-R scores.
“We propose that interpersonal sexual and nonsexual aggression are not best conceived of as the consequence of psychopathic personality traits, but as fundamental aspects of the condition itself,” the authors wrote.
Genetic history
The researchers’ expected that coercive and precocious sexuality were indicators of psychopathy because of their original hypothesis—psychopathy is an alternative life strategy.
“From a theoretical perspective, the present results lend some support to a selectionist hypothesis that psychopathy exists because it has been a heritable and reproductively viable condition during human evolution.”
Psychopaths, in other words, are not physically defective or medically ill. These researchers believe that they are just different, and, because they engaged in a lot of sex, were able to pass on their genes through the millennia.
Read the complete study:
Coercive and Precocious Sexuality as a Fundamental Aspect of Psychopathy
They are what they are
It’s shocking to think that there may be nothing medically wrong with these “intraspecies predators.” But in a way, the idea that psychopaths are pursuing an “alternate life history strategy” dovetails with what we often say here on Lovefraud. Psychopaths are what they are. They are cheaters and exploiters. They take advantage of others because that’s what they do.
Did nature intend this? I don’t know, but they survived.
While researching this story, I came across another paper with an interesting perspective on what to do about it, which I’ll discuss next week.
Mike … what a poetic description of all your beautiful plants! I can almost see them and sense the energy you get from them. I like the description of the Rapunzel plant with her hair streaming down! Do you write poetry? If not … please consider it – there is reverance and awe for everything living in your words 🙂 That man who was here Mike was trying to steal our energy .. he wanted us to feel pain – when that happens we switch our topic of talk to house plants or something inane like decorating or films we have seen – usually they go away. We don’t respond to what they are using to provoke us – one visited when I was very new here and I didn;t understand what was happening, but I saw it last night and recognised he was a predator – I will delete part of this comment after you have read it – just let me know – when you;ve read it tell me again about the Rapunzel plant 🙂
Mike that is wonderful you have been offered another job – it’s especially impressive given the economic conditions – do you have someone who can advocate with you at your old job? A union? Or someone from an autism organisation? Employers are not legally allowed to have bullying happening in employment situations – the penalties can be quite severe for them if they don;t take swift action when they find out about it.
The Christmas lights sound delightful – your home sounds like a little oasis from the bustle of the world. I am glad you have such a nurturing space to unwind in.
I agree with you – the net makes friendships possible that otherwise wouldn;t be. Just because we aren;t all meeting in one another;s cities doesn;t mean we are not friends 🙂
I have lost the article but I read an article by Liane Leedom that identified one type of spath who looked at children as a mechanism to keep women trapped with them. There was another type however that looked at children with jealousy and would pressure women to abort if they became pregnant – silly me for losing the article!
Overcoming I see he wanted you to miscarry – what kind of man wants that??? I think the high libido IS an unconscious wish to spread genes … but then they don’t want to take responsibility for any children that eventuate – maybe impregnating and dumping is the ultimate win for them?
Icanseeclearly, your description of your psycho fit me to a “T” which I have come to the realization before and was quite disconcerted about it.
It has been stated by a sociopath that we were nothing more than two different sides of the same coin.
Needless to say that did not sit well with me. Sort of like in Empire Strikes Back when Darth Vader tells Luke Skywalker, “Luke, I am your father.” And then Luke’s face contorts in the obvious torment as he process this information and screams, “NO!!!” realizing that it was true that they were in fact kin and then just seemingly breaking under it the realization, Luke chooses to let go falling to what would have been sure death…
ICANSEE CLEARLY wrote: “…If they cook a meal, they learn one meal and cook it EXACTLY the same way each time. That’s it. No variation. Like a robot…”
Again you might as well be describing me.
“…There is an automatic, rehearsed, learned quality to their movement that is not fluid, as well as compulsive repetitive movements…”
Exactly, that is me too. and although it would also be accurate to state that not all of them have these deficits, to be sure some may move quite well and fluently, but a type of them most certainly have these deficits. I think when I met my ex-friend, co-worker it was nearly like looking at myself in the mirror which was one reason I didn’t recognize him for what he was. But that is no difference in many arenas. (I guess I was really clueless last night, huh? and one step, that very day, did warn me.)
i digress, moving back to topic; he did seem to get things down a lot faster than I did, because he practiced more apparently. And his motivations were quite different. Disparingly different. Like he would practice different flirting techniques, and I had no interest in such things. Also, I had different priorities and work ethics that I wouldn’t compromise. Like during work I focused on work and would allocate time to be social when I felt it was deemed appropriate, like break time or lunch time but not during the time I was actually working.
But his career seemed to be more along the lines of fine tuning his human social interaction skills at every moment and turn and oppurtunity, which I guess would be a very good reason why he moved better and more fluently than I did.
Competency in social interactions is an interest to me. but more as a function to reach a certain goal, which is: to get along with others, make a few true friends, and live in relative harmony with my fellow man. It is not a lifelong obsession, in and of itself. I had no intention or the need to win everyone over. And I never understood this about him.
eventually i realized our differences. There is a distinct difference between lack of emotional connection (him) versus the inability to convey emotion (me) . Visibly it can be difficult to ascertain the differences between the two.
As such there is also a distinct difference from feigning emotion (him), and attempting to display the emotions I did have for others (me).
our similarities seemed only that for either of us it was not a natural thing for us to accomplish and it did not come to us automatically, many times giving off a forced look to things. it was something we both had to work on, even if it was for two totally different reasons and for disparingly different ends…
Mike
Mike,
I like the symbolism of the lightsaber from The Star Wars stories. I spent some time earlier today reading about Luke and Darth Vadar and the Force and Light and Dark.
So, your using Star Wars and Luke and Darth Vadar to describe your own situation is MOST FITTING 🙂
Mike says: “I think when I met my ex-friend, co-worker it was nearly like looking at myself in the mirror which was one reason I didn’t recognize him for what he was.”
“And his motivations were quite different.
Disparingly different.”
Yes. I can see that! Two sides of the coin indeed. I can totally understand how this would cause so much trepidation and, like Luke Skywalker, a kind of repulsion – to see someone that exhibits outward similar mannerisms, yet be a force or energy for bad/evil, while you yourself want the opposite. It’s a true horror.
Mike says: “I guess I was really clueless last night, huh?
We are ALL clueless at times. This is the nature of the game when evil wheres a mask. We CAN be fooled. But, we can also learn, so as not to be fooled again 🙂 Plus you are NOT clueless about so many things! I have learned from your genuine insight.
I found your last 3 paragraphs particularly eloquent – actually the last 4 paragraphs.
Thank you so much for sharing your perspective.
lightsaber
weilder of light saber – your name is still about light and seeing! awesome!
Pollyannnomre said: “…Mike that is wonderful you have been offered another job ”“ it’s especially impressive given the economic conditions ”“ do you have someone who can advocate with you at your old job? A union? Or someone from an autism organisation? Employers are not legally allowed to have bullying happening in employment situations ”“ the penalties can be quite severe for them if they don;t take swift action when they find out about it…”
i can have, but in a sense, i’m not sure i’m comfortable with having others fight my battles for me unless absolutely necassary. some things i have to eventually learn to manage on my own. i don’t want to be coddled. there are those that really do need some outside assistance, far more deserving and needing of them then i am. and it is not right to exhaust resources best utilized elsewhere. i’ve gotten this far i can positively view this as a learning expereince.
publicly shutting down like i did as if i slipped into some catatonic state is really not good in the work place regardless. i want to be treated like others, not get special treatment. somehow even if i felt that i can move past that episode i don’t think that even as hard as i have strived to be seen as capable and functional in my time there, that it’s likely others will probably not be able to move past or erase the image of a grown man shutting off, rocking back and forth staring at nothing and becoming completely unresponsive.
my guess would be that too many people there will not be able to get past that image. at the same time i will not be comfortable returning to environment where everyone will possibly be walking on egg shells around me as if i would break like glass.
it was unfortunate but regardless of who instigated the meltdown, or who pushed all my buttons so as to ignite and put on display that part of my autism that i never wanted anyone there to ever witness, it IS unprofessional to shut down in the work place like that especially in light that most people there were unaccustumed to seeing such a display.
Mike
one_step – yeah I know eh LOL It’s a theme with me 🙂
lightsaber: “BACK OFF EVIL FORCES!!”
Mike I can understand that – I often say to people “When it gets to the point that you have to involve the union – you are probably going to have to leave” The reality is often employers and colleagues don’t treat you the same after you’ve had a dispute at work. In your case – you were severely provoked … I am wondering if you have a provision like ‘stress leave’ in your country. In my country I could go to my Doctor, explain the situation and have him give me a medical certificate signing me off from work for several weeks on the grounds of psychological stress. Remember Mike a stress breakdown is quite a different thing to what we think of as a nervous breakdown. A stress breakdown and the responses you described could happen to anyone if provoked enough – even without having Autism.
Sometimes though you are right that people can’t forget the image of us at our lowest point … if that;s the case then maybe a clean break is the best bet. It’s really lucky you have that other offer on the table – that gives you choices right now. A lot of people I have known who have had stress breakdowns are unfit for work for a long long time afterwards.
I don’t know if you have read much about workplace bullying Mike – Only you will know the reason you were singled out – it may not have been autism. I wonder if you might find this site helpful as I did.
http://www.bullyonline.org/
I am really sorry you went through that experience Mike – it destroys self esteem and makes us all really self conscious. Please know it wasn’t your fault – they were just looking for someone to target and if not you it would have been someone else. I hope you’re healing from this bad experience and finding some comfort in that beautiful garden!
Oh and Mike … if you haven’t resigned yet … hang off on doing so till you have seen an employment lawyer – you may have a valid case against your employer for not providing a safe working environment. If you do decide to take action in this area the fact you have autism will definitely throw favor on your side of the matter.
autisticsouls / Mike,
I read your last post, and understand how you feel. But maybe there is another way to look at this.
You wrote: “Publicly shutting down like i did as if i slipped into some catatonic state is really not good in the work place regardless.”
I would argue with this. A workplace is not a jail, nor is it a lockstep military environment where everyone has to be exactly alike. You weren’t hired to be “normal.” You were hired to produce something.
The only quality about a workplace that is different from most other environments is that we interact with the same people day after day. And in certain circumstances we work in teams who share certain tasks, swapping materials back and forth, negotiating over over processes and roles, but ultimately working toward a shared goal. I don’t know if you are working in a team like that, but they create a more intimate awareness and need to accommodate other team members, than an environment which is more about just dealing with each other in passing.
So we may have to deal with the guy who tells corny jokes or off-color jokes. Or the person who wants to talk too much about the kids or the vacation. Or someone who is ambitious and wants to steal credit for our work. Or people who are brag about their sexual conquests or who are crying over a romantic break-up. Or people who are suffering with a broken arm or the loss of a loved one. Or people who come back drunk from lunch. Or the ones who keep asking us for advice or trying to give us help we don’t need.
So, my point here is that the social issues that we face in workplaces are similar to what we face anywhere else in the world. Except we see the same people everyday, and maybe we work closely with them. In either case, we still have to deal with their uniqueness. And they still have to deal with ours.
Someone I know is the star reporter at an important publication with a small core staff. She comes from a very difficult family background and is only second-generation American. So she has a lot of “non-standard” quirks. These quirks cause her to be judged (wrongly) who don’t know her. Later, they discover that she’s generous, kind and infinitely smarter than they first realized, not just in information, but in understanding how to do things in better ways. She’s lived with these pre-judgments all her life, and used to be very hurt about it.
Now she’s been through the acceptance process enough times that she waits it out, just being her eccentric self (because she can’t help it), and figuring that they’re going to “get” her at some point. And they do. Over time, a huge group of people who “get” her have grown around her, and that makes it easier for her to get through the rough patches with people who talk about how crazy she is.
You wrote: “i don’t think that even as hard as i have strived to be seen as capable and functional in my time there, that it’s likely others will probably not be able to move past or erase the image of a grown man shutting off, rocking back and forth staring at nothing and becoming completely unresponsive.”
Mike, you are autistic. What you did is a pretty normal thing for an autistic person under stress to do. And actually, if you did a poll around here of how many people have done exactly the same thing in response to stress, you might be surprised. Maybe they didn’t do it front of anyone else. If they were at work, maybe they locked themselves into a stall in the restroom, or went outside to sit on a park bench, until the shutting down gave them a chance to let the feelings dissipate and the rocking comforted them. But they’ve done it. And the only difference with you is that you created this private space to deal with your feelings right in front of everyone else.
You can’t not be who you are. You can try to be something else, or “pass.” But no one, not even a sociopath who is very good at pretending, can spend much time around other people without their real thoughts and real feelings bleeding through. And as a person who is different from the everyday people around you, not completely different but in a few ways that do show up in daily exposure, you are in the position of raising their consciousness.
I know that no one told you that this was part of your job. But it’s part of the job of every minority person who interacts with majority people who assume that the majority reality is the only reality.
I have that job as someone who is older than most of the people I know (and have strengths and advantages that come with it that they don’t know about, as well as infirmities and wrinkles). People of different races do too. Gay and lesbian people. Blind people, wheelchair people, people with accents, people of different religions, people with tattoos and piercings, people who dress up or dress down.
You know all this, but you say you want to be accepted. I would suggest you rephrase this. I think what you really want is to be recognized as an attractive and valuable person in your own right, and with something meaningful to share. Because all of that is true.
The problem is not you, and your differences. Because it sounds like you are doing what you are all there to do, which is produce whatever you’re supposed to be producing for the people who pay for your time. The problem is that you, just by being yourself, are challenging them to understand what to make of your differences. And they’re struggling with it. Which is pretty normal. Everyone fights change, especially change that requires them to let go of some easy, lazy thinking. And that would definitely be true if you’re challenging them to understand that something is okay for you that they never imagined could be okay for them.
One of the things I love about your wife is that she makes no apologies for who she is. She will explain it to someone who doesn’t have a clue. But her okayness with herself means that she feels no shame in making these explanations. She’s giving people a chance to understand, but her self-esteem doesn’t hang on whether they do or not. I’m sure she’s been in situations where people treated her with criticism, distrust, and lack of understanding. And she knows that those people can make her life more difficult in getting what she needs, so she looks for people who can understand her. But once she shares information abouat herself, their understanding or lack of it is about them, not her. If someone is willing come halfway, she’ll come the other halfway to them. But I doubt she wastes much time on people who are not willing to extend themselves to understand her.
Can you do that in an everyday workplace? Actually I think you can. It’s an attitudinal thing more than anything else. Being okay with yourself and your differences. What you did was what a lot of autistic people do under stress. Now they’ve seen it. If anyone asks, you can let them know what they saw — an autistic technique for stress management. It’s something that people like you do.
If someone wants to laugh at you or make some other kind of big deal about it, that’s what people like them do. If the people you work for — and these are really the only people you need to be worried about — express some concern that your behavior was disruptive, you can explain the same thing to them. From an employment perspective, you are probably protected by an “Americans with disabilities” status, but you can let them know that you would prefer that they help you in promoting understanding of your differences in your office. Because you like the job, like the people, and would like to give them the opportunity to get to know you beyond the apparent differences.
This is a simple diversity issue. There are always going to be people whose self-esteem is so fragile that they have to make fun of other people to make themselves feel better. Pretenders fit into that category, but way out on the far end of the spectrum, where they have to use other people to try to cure their feelings of being nothing. But there are many other people who are open and interested and looking to make friendly connections.
I like you. I enjoy your posts, and relate to what you say in so many ways. I think there are a lot of people here who would say exactly the same thing. And maybe there are a few people here who don’t understand you yet. And maybe a few people who will never understand you and maybe even find you threatening. And if that were the case, you’d be exactly like the rest of us.
The bottom line is that you are not wrong. There is nothing wrong about you. You are Mike. The everyday people have terms called autism or Aspergers to describe a set of differences, because this kind of naming is their version of getting their feelings under control and comforting themselves. But just because they name you and you’re a little different doesn’t mean that you’re not normal. You’re just a different normal than them.
And if you can come home to that in yourself, then you let go of your shame about behaving in a perfectly normal way for you. And you can move through live without assuming their their differences mean anything about you. And you can get a good attitude and maybe even a sense of humor about the little confusions and conflicts that arise. Doctor Spock was pretty sanguine about the challenges of working with Captain Kirk, and got to the point that he could crack dry little Vulcan jokes about it.
You wrote that it was “unprofessional to shut down in the work place like that especially in light that most people there were unaccustomed to seeing such a display.” Mike, they’ll live. And actually it’s good for them to have their consciousness raised a little. You didn’t attack someone or throw your desk out the window or start casting gypsy curses. You retreated into yourself, and shut them out. You took care of yourself.
Maybe it was in a way they hadn’t seen before. But maybe they can learn something from it. Maybe if you come back with a smile on your face and a joke about running seminars on autistic stress management, maybe you’ll be surprised at how relieved and happy some people are that you’re okay, and that you didn’t decide to reject them and never give them a second chance. You never know.
Kathy