Jobs With the Most Psychopaths: Kevin Dutton's Top 10 List

According to Oxford psychologist Kevin Dutton, the ten jobs that attract the highest share of people with strong psychopathic traits are: CEO, lawyer, media (TV and radio), salesperson, surgeon, journalist, police officer, clergy, chef and civil servant. The list comes from his 2012 book The Wisdom of Psychopaths and an online survey, not from clinical diagnoses, so it tells you where certain personality traits cluster, not that your boss or your surgeon is dangerous.

Below is the full ranking, the jobs at the other end of the scale, what each profession has in common, and the most common misunderstandings about psychopathy at work.

Where the ranking comes from

Kevin Dutton is a research psychologist at the University of Oxford who has spent much of his career studying people with psychopathic traits. In 2011 he ran what became known as the Great British Psychopath Survey: participants answered a personality questionnaire online and gave their occupation. Dutton then compared the professions whose members scored highest and lowest.

He published the results in The Wisdom of Psychopaths: What Saints, Spies and Serial Killers Can Teach Us About Success (2012), and the lists spread quickly through newspapers and blogs. His central argument is that psychopathy is a spectrum. A certain amount of fearlessness, focus, coolness under pressure and emotional detachment can be useful in high-stakes jobs, while the same traits in extreme form can be destructive.

Two cautions matter. The survey was voluntary and self-selected, so it is not a representative sample of each profession. And a high score on a questionnaire is not a clinical assessment. The ranking is best read as an interesting snapshot, not a scientific measure of how many "psychopaths" work in any industry.

The 10 professions with the most psychopathic traits

1. CEO

Top executives sit at the head of the list. Robert Hare, who created the most widely used psychopathy checklist, has suggested that around 3 to 4 percent of people in senior business roles show marked psychopathic traits, compared with roughly 1 percent of the general population. These figures come from small studies and are debated, but they fit Dutton's idea that power and hierarchy attract people who are bold, persuasive and comfortable making hard decisions without much emotional cost.

2. Lawyer

Adversarial law rewards people who can argue a case forcefully, stay calm in court and set aside their personal feelings about a client. One lawyer Dutton interviewed joked that a "serial killer" lurked somewhere inside him. Of course, the same detachment that wins a cross-examination is also what lets good lawyers defend unpopular clients fairly.

3. Media (TV and radio)

Broadcasting favours confidence, charm and a hunger for attention, all traits linked to the "bold" side of psychopathy. Performing well on camera means appearing relaxed under enormous pressure, which comes more easily to people with low anxiety.

4. Salesperson

In Working With Monsters, Australian psychologist John Clarke argued that a psychopath can make an excellent salesperson: glib, persuasive and untroubled by rejection. The downside is that the same person may bend rules, take credit for colleagues' work or mislead customers to hit a target.

5. Surgeon

This entry surprises many readers, especially because doctors in general appear on the list of professions with the fewest psychopathic traits. The explanation is focus. Surgery demands the ability to cut into a living body and make split-second decisions without being overwhelmed by emotion. Dutton has described this kind of controlled detachment as a positive use of the traits.

6. Journalist

Reporters need to approach strangers, ask uncomfortable questions and keep going when people slam doors. Freelance writer Justin Cash once argued in HuffPost UK that a touch of psychopathy helps in public-interest journalism. A thick skin, curiosity and a willingness to annoy powerful people are useful here; manipulation and indifference to the people in the story are not.

7. Police officer

Policing involves authority, danger and the need to stay calm in violent situations. Older versions of this list often added an alarming claim that domestic abuse occurs in at least 40 percent of police families. That figure comes from small self-report surveys in the early 1990s and is widely repeated, but it cannot be taken as a measure of psychopathy, and better data on the question is still limited.

8. Clergy

Religious leaders hold trust, influence and often little outside oversight. Dutton's explanation is that positions of moral authority can attract people who enjoy power and admiration. The child abuse scandals in several churches show how that trust can be exploited and covered up, although abuse and cover-ups have many causes and are not proof that the abusers were psychopaths.

9. Chef

Professional kitchens are hot, loud, hierarchical and unforgiving, with long hours and constant pressure. Gordon Ramsay told Vanity Fair in 2009 that chefs are "absolute psychopaths. Every last one of them", which was clearly said with some humour. The more serious point is that perfectionism and intense pressure can reward people who do not mind being harsh.

10. Civil servant

Bureaucracies offer power over rules, permits and other people's time. Commentators like to cite Dennis Rader, the "BTK" serial killer in Kansas, who worked as a census field supervisor and later as a compliance officer enforcing local regulations. One notorious case proves nothing about millions of public employees, but it shows how a little authority can suit someone who enjoys control.

The 10 professions with the fewest psychopathic traits

Dutton's other list is just as revealing. The professions with the lowest scores were:

1. Care aide
2. Nurse
3. Therapist
4. Craftsperson
5. Beautician or stylist
6. Charity worker
7. Teacher
8. Creative artist
9. Doctor
10. Accountant

Most of these jobs are built around caring for people one at a time, close and repeated contact, or careful skilled work. They reward patience and empathy rather than dominance, which is exactly the opposite of what attracts people high in psychopathic traits.

What psychopathy is, and what it is not

In everyday speech "psycho" suggests a violent killer, but in psychology psychopathy refers to a cluster of personality traits: shallow emotions, little empathy or remorse, superficial charm, manipulation, boldness and impulsivity. Researchers often describe three dimensions: boldness, meanness and disinhibition.

Some common myths are worth clearing up:

• Psychopathy is not an official diagnosis. Neither of the main diagnostic manuals lists it as such. The closest formal diagnosis is antisocial personality disorder, and clinicians use specialised tools such as Hare's Psychopathy Checklist to measure the traits.
• Most people with these traits are not violent. Psychopathy and violence overlap, but they are not the same thing. Many people with high scores never commit a crime.
• Psychopathy is not psychosis. Psychosis means losing touch with reality; psychopathy describes personality and is a separate thing.
• Online quizzes cannot diagnose anyone. Only a trained professional using validated tools can assess psychopathy properly.

If your job is on the list

Working as a lawyer, chef or journalist says nothing about your personal character. Most people in these fields are ordinary, decent colleagues. What the list reflects is that these environments reward traits such as fearlessness, decisiveness and emotional distance, and that people with very high levels of those traits may be drawn to them.

If you do work with someone who seems manipulative, the practical response is the same whatever the label:

• Keep a written record of agreements, decisions and incidents.
• Set clear boundaries and avoid sharing personal information that could be used against you.
• Pay attention to actions rather than charm or promises.
• Use proper channels such as HR or a trusted manager when behaviour crosses a line.
• If the situation affects your health, talk to a doctor or a qualified counsellor.

And if you are curious about your own traits, remember that a degree of boldness and calm under pressure is normal and often useful. What matters most is whether you also care about the people affected by your choices.

Sources: Wikipedia: Kevin Dutton; Wikipedia: Psychopathy in the workplace; Wikipedia: Psychopathy; Philadelphia Magazine: Top 10 professions that attract psychopaths (January 2013); Time (March 2014). Earlier versions of this list were published by Higher Perspectives, AlterNet and the Washington Times.

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