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“What is it like to be a psychopath?”

Cognitive neuroscientist Kent Kiehl discusses his research and personal experience working with "those without conscience." Scott and Kent demystify the historically fascinating illness as it relates to criminal activity, genius, evil, flourishing, the brain, gender and treatment.

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American


Cognitive neuroscientist Kent Kiehl discusses his research and personal experience working with “those without conscience.” Scott and Kent demystify the historically fascinating illness as it relates to criminal activity, genius, evil, flourishing, the brain, gender and treatment.

In this episode you will hear about:


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  • Why there’s been so much interest in psychopathy

  • What it means to be a true “card carrying” psychopath

  • Was Dexter Morgan a true psychopath?

  • What it’s like to work with psychopaths in maximum security facilities

  • How your average person rates on the psychopath scale

  • How a psychopath thinks about love or justice

  • The nature and nurture of a psychopathic personality disorder

  • Which types of crimes are associated with the diagnosis

  • How we can treat psychopathy

  • The relation between introversion/extroversion and psychopathy

  • The darker things Kent has come across in his career

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“Dr. Kiehl is an author and neuroscientist who specializes in the use of clinical brain imaging techniques to understand major mental illnesses, with special focus on criminal psychopathy, psychotic disorders (i.e., schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, affective disorders), traumatic brain injury, substance abuse and paraphilias.” –Blurb taken from Kent’s website

Scott Barry Kaufman is a humanistic psychologist exploring the depths of human potential. He has taught courses on intelligence, creativity and well-being at Columbia University, N.Y.U., the University of Pennsylvania, and elsewhere. He hosts the Psychology Podcast and is author and/or editor of nine books, including Transcend: The New Science of Self-Actualization, Wired to Create: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Creative Mind (with Carolyn Gregoire), and Ungifted: Intelligence Redefined. Find out more at http://ScottBarryKaufman.com. In 2015 he was named one of "50 groundbreaking scientists who are changing the way we see the world" by Business Insider. He wrote the extremely popular Beautiful Minds blog for Scientific American for close to a decade. Follow him on X.

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