RE: What less than desirable traits promote survival?
June 23, 2019 at 3:40 pm
(This post was last modified: June 23, 2019 at 4:04 pm by vulcanlogician.)
(June 21, 2019 at 9:18 pm)Athena Wrote: I've read the hypothesis that psychopaths aren't broken, they're predators of our own species. Not all of them have predatory behavior, but they can benefit from their lack of empathy.
I got into a pretty interesting conversation with a psych major concerning psychological "disorders" that potentially benefit those who have the disorder. (It somewhat relates to your OP). Here are two examples:
Narcissistic Personality Disorder: I often doubt myself and thus appear unsure/in doubt of my own abilities. Because of this, I often fail to influence others... in any case, a lack of confidence doesn't help me. Not so with a narcissist! These guys can inspire confidence in large numbers of people (and often do). Also, if they are in a personal relationship with someone without the disorder, they can act like an emotional parasite on the other person, leading the other person to have low self esteem while they enjoy a self esteem boost at the expense of another.
Sociopathy: These guys lack empathy, but they can sometimes fake it so well, it hardly counts as a deficit. Is empathy even innately valuable? Is someone who can fake it not better off than a person who is genuinely empathetic? After all, real empathy often prevents a person from taking advantage of others.
Plenty of figures in history were narcissists and sociopaths. They used others to boost their own self esteem/slaughtered innocents when it suited their needs. Could it not be argued that these "disorders" actually served a net benefit to those who were "afflicted" with them?
