Morley wrote:I don't know about the rest of the military, but psychopaths in combat are the last thing the military wants. In my admittedly limited experience, the combat arms do a pretty good job of keeping them out.
Few people want psychopaths. Yet psychopaths end up entering the workforce (and succeeding) anyway. I'm not sure how you imagine the US military filters out psychopaths from joining a field they are attracted to, but given that they have more high scorers than the general prevalence, it must not be a perfect system.
My sense here is that you think "psychopath" means something like "serial killer" when it really means something like, "person who lacks empathy, is prone to aggression and manipulation, lacks concern for social norms, and has shallow affect." Psychopaths are uninhibited and mean, but that doesn't mean they can't navigate social environments. They can be really good at that. Norms are just instrumental to them.
I suspect DrW is making the same mistake. Psychopaths are notorious for superficial charm and low anxiety, which would present as "personable," "calm" and "stable" which he specifically cited as traits that people possess that prove they aren't high on psychopathy scale. Psychopaths are good at keeping it together in stressful situations. That's why jobs that present that are a natural fit for them.