When we see someone act in their own interest to an extreme degree, unconcerned about laws, rules and social mores, deep down we wish we could do that too: ‘That’s horrible! Lucky bastard.’”Įach of these responses reflect insightful truths, but I’d add one observation to the mix: Psychopaths can, under the right circumstances, make us feel great about ourselves. On some unconscious level we fantasize about being freed from the shackles of our superegos and going full-on id. “I’ve always felt that our fascination with psychopaths is envy-based. Michael Weithorn, creator and executive producer, “Weird Loners” and “The King of Queens”: in order to ‘understand’ them and thus make us feel as if they are at least somewhat predictable. So we’re drawn to stories of psychopaths. “Psychopaths can be terrifying because they manipulate and lie (and more) in unpredictable ways, and because of this unpredictably, we can’t really prepare for what they’ll do or when they’ll do it. Robin Rosenberg, clinical psychologist, assistant clinical professor at UC San Francisco, author of “What’s the Matter With Batman?”: I think that’s what happened with fictional characters like Tony Soprano and Walter White, and “The Jinx” is absolutely in that tradition - but it’s even more chilling because Durst is real.” It’s the normalcy, rather than the psychopathy, that fascinates us. We like figuring out the ways psychopaths and sociopaths resemble normal people - the closeness of normal behavior to psychopathic behavior, and the elusiveness of that line. That’s the game television has been playing for the last 15 years or so, and film for longer that. “To me, it’s the queasy sense of recognition. In entertainment settings, as opposed to real life situations that can lead to PTSD and other problems, the frightening situation resolves and we feel a decrease in the stimulation as fear is replaced by a sense of well-being, safety and, in some cases, justice.”īrett Martin, author of “Difficult Men: Behind the Scenes of a Creative Revolution”: One of those neurotransmitters, dopamine, is also the main neurotransmitter involved in pleasure, e.g. Why? At a very basic level, it’s the rush of neurotransmitters that is provoked by, and generates the sensation of, fear. “For some people, the draw is the same as it is for horror movies: We like to be frightened. Ron Schouten, clinical psychiatrist, associate professor at Harvard Medical School, author of “Almost a Psychopath”:
I was suddenly the poster boy for a disenfranchised and very odd community.” They were mostly writing to thank me because they felt like they were finally being genuinely represented on network TV. Some even hinted that they’d done a few questionable things themselves. But there were also letters from people who felt an odd kinship with him.
Some people thought my character Lincoln was hilarious. “When I took my first job playing a psychopath, I didn’t realize it was going to turn into a career path. It’s rarely discussed that the hero is often just a psychopath who wants (for whatever reason) to save innocent people.”ĭavid Dean Bottrell, actor, “Boston Legal,” “CSI,” “Criminal Minds”: Everybody knows that in fiction, the villain is a psychopath who wants to kill innocent people. They may have aims we appreciate or identify with, but they still kill without guilt or remorse, they lie easily to get what they want, and they experience no fear. I think that explains the fact that it’s not just the villains in popular entertainment that are psychopaths - the heroes are often what I’d term pro-social psychopaths.
We all have a sense for what would be possible if we were freed from the constraints of guilt, fear and shame. “The thing about psychopathy, at least as we usually represent it in fiction, is that a character without conscience is both an effective monster and a form of wish fulfillment. Matt Nix, creator and executive producer, “Burn Notice” and “Complications”: We remain safe, or at least think that we are.” Their stories immerse us in the drama of others’ misfortunes, often random, sometimes deadly. Their behaviors touch our primal fears of being hunted, as well as our deeper, and largely unconscious, desires to be the hunter. “Psychopaths are intra-species predators. Reid Meloy, forensic psychologist, clinical professor of psychiatry at UC San Diego, author of “The Psychopathic Mind,” technical consultant for “CSI”:
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