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Psychopathy might sound rare and scary, but it’s not just movie villains who are psychopaths: The condition affects as much as 1% of the population, psychologists say. And since the 2008 economic crisis, the idea of a “financial psychopath” – someone who is ruthless and reckless with other people’s money – has piqued researchers’ interest.
Psychopaths are thought to be more common in the financial sector than in other industries, and research shows they’re disproportionately represented in New York’s financial organizations. With love of money among the informal hallmarks of the condition, it’s perhaps not difficult to see why.
Clive Boddy, of Anglia Ruskin University’s school of management, researches psychopaths in financial settings. His latest work centers on a new premise: that most psychopaths would be untroubled by causing financial misery for others if they could personally profit from it. That would extend to causing a global crash that would hurt millions – their own greed simply overrides any concerns about wider society.
And forget about shame. Boddy’s findings suggest that even if they could be identified as the person responsible for the crash, most psychopaths would be happy to carry on regardless in their pursuit of personal gain.
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