Psychopaths in Power: How Manipulative Leaders thrive in Politics and Business

Aoife Watson

When using the term psychopath, we initially think of a cold-hearted killer from the latest crime show we are watching, not a powerful politician, brought in to drive our economy with their radical new ideas. The definition of a psychopath is not limited to just the anticipated group of people, it can actually apply more broadly. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) psychopathy is a ‘neuropsychiatric disorder marked by deficient emotional responses, lack of empathy, and poor behavioural controls’.

Though it is well known that within the criminal community the psychopathy level is exceedingly high, estimated at 15 -25% of prison populations, versus less than 1% of the general population (according to NIH), but disproportionately high levels are also seen in leaders around the world. 

In the United States, in one sample of senior executives, about 3.5% were shown to be psychopathic. Similarly, in a recent Australian study, it was said that individuals with these psychopathic traits make up between 3 - 21% of individuals in the ranks of executives. 

So, what makes emotionally deficient people drawn to these roles in industry?

Psychopathy is often assessed through the use of Hare's checklist - a short list of 20 questions, which is scored out of 40. If a trait is not present you score 0, if a trait is somewhat present you score 1, and strongly present is 2. Scores above 30 provide strong indications of antisocial personality disorder or the degree of psychopathic traits.

Qualities such as manipulativeness, superficial charm and often impulsivity are indicators of psychopathy suggested by Hare's checklist.    

Superficial charm can be useful in business and political worlds as it allows these people to easily gain others' trust and quickly build relationships with others. They often use emotional manipulation in order to control others through exploitation of their insecurities and emotional vulnerability. Additionally, they often manipulate group dynamics into supporting their agenda. Further, psychopaths are often impulsive which can be seen as an advantage in these industries as it allows them to make quick decisions that can create opportunities, and often drives others to follow them as they make the decisions others can't. Supporting this decisiveness is their lack of empathy as it means stress and overwhelming emotions take less of an effect on these people, making them calmer and more precise when making decisions in high pressure situations. 

These and other qualities shown by Hare's checklist suggested that psychopaths' unique personalities often cause them to thrive in these powerful roles, making us wonder what famous leaders score highly on a psychopath test?

One historical example of someone who scores highly on Hares scale is Adolf Hitler. Frequently exhibiting psychopathic behaviour such as a lack of empathy shown through his policies which led to millions of deaths. Hitler’s superficial charm and manipulativeness allowed him to gain masses of followers through his speeches and ideas. He was able to manipulate huge numbers of people to his ideology through lies, working on their vulnerability after the defeat and suffering that followed the first world war.  The typical characteristics of psychopaths allowed Hitler to achieve his political goals.

Through this example, along with many others, we can see that people with psychopathic characteristics allow some individuals to frequently thrive in the political and business worlds.