Careers With the Most Psychopaths

I believe that the American Greed connection is pretty straightforward...A sociopath/psychopath is drawn to the CON; they see trading as the guise for easy and unhindered access to client funds...In most cases (at least the ones I've seen), there is simply the pretense of trading, no real attempt to actually master the craft...Mostly, some superficial lip service given to a guaranteed return and then the ponzi begins...Fake statements, shifting clients funds around, recruiting new investors, etc, etc...IOW, all of the personality traits of the socio/psychopath put to use to get what they need with little to no regard for the victims.

According to the episodes I saw, a few sincerely tried their hands at trading. They all failed miserably. Maybe something to do with the psycho/sociopathic tendency to fail to learn from mistakes, or to accept blame for any screw ups.
 
There is an important distinction between psychpathic personality and psychopathic organizational systems. As true psychopaths are believed to be just 2% of the population, they can and do make other people do as they think, especially when risen to the ranks of power.

A real trader is an expert at playing the market.
A real psychopath is an expert at playing YOU.

Chances are if you think someone is a pscyhopath, you're 98% likely to be wrong or inaccurate.

Psychopath test:
http://psychcentral.com/quizzes/psychopathy.htm

2!
Congratulations for not being a psychopath today!

Study shows traders to be worse than psychopaths. A class of their own?
http://www.forbes.com/sites/chrisbarth/2011/09/26/new-study-old-news-stock-traders-are-psychopaths/
 
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According to the episodes I saw, a few sincerely tried their hands at trading. They all failed miserably. Maybe something to do with the psycho/sociopathic tendency to fail to learn from mistakes, or to accept blame for any screw ups.

I used to read all of the enforcement actions by the NFA, CFTC, SEC, etc, etc...I won't argue that there weren't some earnest individuals who tried their hand at trading, lost big and then the cover-up began...I suppose there are too many examples of fraud to make generalizations...It still does seem to attract far too many sociopath's (psychopath's).
 
It still does seem to attract far too many sociopath's (psychopath's).
It's involved with money. I think all fields involved with money are extremely attractive to sociopaths and psychopaths. Banker equals bankster these days.
 
There is an important distinction between psychpathic personality and psychopathic organizational systems.
Which may explain the cop listing. Supposedly most cop applicants have to pass a psych evaluation, which should weed out most sociopaths. But if a cop shop is itself a sociopathic organization, then all bets are off.

As true psychopaths are believed to be just 2% of the population, they can and do make other people do as they think, especially when risen to the ranks of power.

A real trader is an expert at playing the market.
A real psychopath is an expert at playing YOU.

Chances are if you think someone is a pscyhopath, you're 98% likely to be wrong or inaccurate.
Disagree. A psychopath isn't automatically a Svengali or a criminal mastermind. Some are so antisocial, they stick out like sore thumbs. The average convict IQ is well below 100. Of course there are exceptions, but again nobody mistook Al Capone or Whitey Bulger for saints.
 
1. CEO.The corporate lexicon is full of bloodthirsty metaphors. Business is cutthroat; those who succeed are sharks; and they make a killing. What better place for a psychopath to really shine? Lots of CEOs are perfectly lovely, I’m sure, but study after study suggests that 4 percent of them—four times as many people as in the general population—qualify as psychopaths.

Interestingly, the "Psychopath Test" linked to earlier:

http://psychcentral.com/cgi-bin/psychopathy-quiz.cgi

contains the following at the end:

Common Myth: While many people believe that psychopathy is more prevalent among CEOs and Wall Street bankers, this is a myth not supported by any research. While on the surface it may seem that many of the symptoms and traits of psychopathy might lend themselves to positions of greater power, the two are not synonymous.

One of the problems is that psychopaths tend to be pretty quickly "outed" for their antisocial behaviors, because the charm is purely superficial and easily detected over time with greater exposure to the psychopath.

Congratulations for not being a psychopath today!
 
Wow. You were so eager to get that racist dig in, you completely ignored the domestic violence data that justifies the listing. Keep that shit in P&R.
I saw all of that. My comment was specifically in response to the so-called "police brutality."
By the way, my comment wasn't racist....just true.
 
According to the episodes I saw, a few sincerely tried their hands at trading. They all failed miserably. Maybe something to do with the psycho/sociopathic tendency to fail to learn from mistakes, or to accept blame for any screw ups.

They probably never seriously tried trading, they only saw it as something to be tied up with a scam - a way to easy money.
Psychopaths thrive in corporations because if their plans are successful they take credit - when unsuccessful they use manipulation to blame others for the failure, they can't lose.

Being a big fan of American Greed and having watched all the episodes, none of the supposed "traders" were successful in it, they didn't seem to try too much either as they found out it's much easier just to take suckers' money. Many of course only pretended to trade, never doing even one trade live.
 
Being a big fan of American Greed and having watched all the episodes, none of the supposed "traders" were successful in it, they didn't seem to try too much either as they found out it's much easier just to take suckers' money. Many of course only pretended to trade, never doing even one trade live.

I agree, d08
There are very few...'true traders'...out there.
I don't necessarily consider Wall St guys traders...they're more ...stock salesmen. Commission collectors. they could careless what direction it goes.:confused:

A 'true trader' to me...is someone who can grow his own individual, relatively small account...into a large one.o_O
 
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