Language and words for psychopaths are only word deep; there is no emotional colouring behind it. A psychopath can use a word like, ‘I love you’ but it means nothing more to him than if he said, ‘I’ll have a cup of coffee.
Robert D. HareRead
Many psychopaths describe the traditional treatment programmes as finishing schools where they hone their skills. Where they find out that there are lots of techniques they had not thought about before.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that treatment programs can inadvertently help psychopaths refine their manipulative behaviors rather than rehabilitate them.
In this quote, Robert D. Hare asserts that traditional treatment programs designed to rehabilitate psychopathic individuals can sometimes serve as venues for them to enhance their manipulative skills. Instead of facilitating genuine healing or change, these programs may inadvertently instruct them on various techniques for deception and manipulation that they had not previously considered, effectively functioning as 'finishing schools' for their harmful behaviors.
Themes
PsychopathyManipulationTreatmentRehabilitationSkills
In practice
Example use cases
In a psychological seminar discussing the challenges of treating antisocial behavior.
More from Robert D. Hare
All quotes →Psychopaths are social predators, and like all predators, they are looking for feeding grounds. Wherever you get power, prestige and money, you will find them.
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Measurement and categorization are, of course, fundamental to any scientific endeavor, but the implications of being able to identify psychopaths are as much practical as academic. To put it simply, if we can't spot them, we are doomed to be their victims, both as individuals and as a society.
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Not all psychopaths are in prison - some are in the boardroom.
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A psychopath can tell what you're thinking but what they don't do is feel what you feel. These are people without a conscience.
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