The Sociopath Next Door
by Martha Stout
|
List Price: Our Price: $8.51 You Save: $6.44 (43%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $6.99 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of The Sociopath Next Door
Book Review: Poor evidence and analysis
Summary: 1 Stars
The Sociopath Next Door is a very disappointing book. Stout promises the reader some deep insight into sociopathy, but her worthwhile content could have filled a newspaper article. She refers to a few, bare facts from the research of Hare and others (and has a somewhat decent bibliography) but merely mentions conclusions like "4% of the population are sociopaths." Well, how was that number determined? Who were the populations studied? What measures did they use? Is there a debate on the validity of the research? I wanted a bit more meat before I believed her conclusions about the extent of sociopathy.
Apparently, she wanted to educate the public about these people so individuals can protect themselves, a laudable goal in itself. However, along with anecdotal stories, she merely lists sociopaths' characteristics, with a few illustrations. She tells the reader to look for a lack of normal feeling, empathy and no conscience, and tells us stories of sociopaths to help us recognize these. I have several problems with her analysis. First, she gives no definitive means of differentiating someone who's repressed from someone with no feeling. I'm also confused about how their lack of empathy is different from the mindblindness of autism. I know the two syndromes present very differently, but the descriptions of some of their characteristics seem very similar. Obviously,the research psychologists must be rather poor at describing the distinctions, which then makes me suspect their research methodology.
Finally, as another reviewer mentions, she spends time in several chapters railing about the West and how our individualism promotes sociopathy - as opposed to the peaceful, kind East. She claims that populations in the East have fewer sociopaths, and suggests that the group-oriented philosophies widely accepted in the East, like Buddhism, promote empathy and deter the development of sociopathy.
Hmm, I know plenty of Eastern history that argues against this: what about Indian widow-burning? Eastern societies have had at least as many, if not more, dictatorial rulers, through Chinese, Indian and Japanese history as the West, and their people are generally quite unempathetic to those who don't fit in to societal norms. Japan, a largely Buddhist nation, had a history of massive repression of the populace through the Shogunate. Its people were less than empathetic to those they conquered - see the invasion of Korea and China and World War II; try their prisoner of war camps. So, once again, how did the researchers come up with their data about East versus West? No data or methods are given.
I'm disappointed in the simple-minded attack on self-interest as the cause of sociopathy. Stout's own evidence argues against self-interest as a cause - since she demonstrates what miserable lives they lead! A full, enlightened view of self-interest would recognize that human beings, to live happy lives, need to interact well with one another and have loving and vital relationships. Duh, this is not a new idea, but apparently a difficult one for some to grasp. However, to claim that sociopathy in the West is a result of individualism is not only intellectually and historically ignorant but a smear on individualism.
Finally, the way she presents the condition of sociopathy,it appears intractable. Without sharp analysis and tools for differentiating emotionally normal people from sociopaths, the book throws the suspicion of sociopathy on all manner of people who act meanly, manipulatively or commit crimes. What does that imply for public policy?
Book Review: You've got to be kidding.
Summary: 1 Stars
If you like simplistic white-hat, black-hat moralizing dressed up in pseudo-scientific posturing, this book is for you. In it, Martha Stout will tell you that there are people who are good, hard-working and caring, and then there are people who are just plain evil, conscienceless and cruel. And they're all around us! Look out! One might be behind you right now!
Stout conceives of a world where pretty much any bad deed-- murder, rape, infidelity, genocide, theft, lying, you name it-- it's all the product of sociopathy. Stout identifies an incredibly large numbers of historical villains as being sociopaths. Not that there's any way to really know, considering that these people aren't around to undergo psychological testing. But Stout is sure they are, because they fit her profile, and they seem "bad".
The fact of the matter is, every day, people show incredibly cruelty to each other as acts of conscience. People kill and maim and hurt each other ever day because the think it is the right thing to do. Stout cites September 11th over and over and over again (to the point of absolutely cheapening the reference). Osama bin Ladin is her sociopathic extreme. But that ignores the fact that bin Ladin, who is an abominable murderer and horrendous person, did what he did because he thought it was the right thing to do.
The truth is that the world isn't divided between good and evil, and it's not divided between sociopaths and the rest of us. The world is full of people who will all tell you that they are acting out of righeousness as they commit acts of immorality. There isn't simple black and white, predator and prey relationships in the world, but real people, beating against each other, caught in conflicts of ideology and politics. You don't need to create alarmist tales of boogeymen to understand the cruelty of the world. People of conscience do more than enough damage themselves, thanks.
What's most disturbing about the book, though, is the utter lack of any compassion for these people, this "4%" of society, that Stout describes. In the book she specifically says that the condition is largely genetic, and that most of the psychological dimension is brought on by childhood trauma. So in other words, these people have no control whatsoever over their condition. Now, they can control their behavior; but to Stout, this is not enough. Once a sociopath, to her, always a sociopath. There can't be any fate for these people, apparently, except fulfilling their "evil" natures.
She offers no solutions for these people, no idea of what we should do with them. And we need to know what to do with these people, if her absurd, Manichean view of the world is correct. Not against them; not what to do to protect ourselves from them, but for them, with them. I've looked and looked and looked and I can't find a single word-- not one word-- of compassion for this 4% of the population. Not an whisper of sympathy for people who are, she admits, deeply handicapped. By her own statistics, there are millions of these people in our country alone. And yet she washes her hands of all of them.
What kind of a conscience is this, that writes off millions of people? What kind of morally superior being effectively condemns one out of twenty-five people? What does Stout propose we do? March these people of to the camps? I don't want any part of that, thank you. I won't stand with a person or a book that flagrantly dismisses the lives of millions.
But wait! Maybe if I don't like her book, I'm a sociopath too!
Book Review: The Charismatic Sociopath!
Summary: 3 Stars
Dr. Martha Stout's "The Sociopath Next Door" starts out as a riveting analysis of the part of humanity (4%) that permeates our existence right under our noses. Dr. Stout's case studies of sociopaths as a clinical psychologist gave the book the scientific heft needed for credibility. In describing the traits of sociopaths as charismatic, it helped further my own body of work on Charismatology ("One of the more frequently observed of these traits is a glib and superficial charm that allows the true sociopath to seduce other people., figuratively and literally--a kind of charisma that, initially, can make the sociopath seem more charming or more interesting than most people around him, p. 7)
In part, there could even be a case made that she is describing President Obama as a sociopath on page 93 when she says, "Insidiously, when such a `savior' abducts the normal population to his purposes, he usually begins with an appeal to them as good people who would like to improve the condition of humanity, and then insists that they can achieve this by following his own aggressive plan."
The groundbreaking news comes on page 107, when Dr. Stout reveals the core motivation and warning signs in sociopaths being the need for pity and for people to feel sorry for them. It is pity not fear that sociopaths are after.
However, the scientific pattern established up to this point changed around page 171. "At least 96 percent of us are fundamentally thus (Filled with Conscience). What we will end up doing with the species survival problems created by the other 4 percent (sociopaths) is, at present, unknowable. From this point to the end of the book, it sounded like another person wrote it. Dr. Stout goes to great lengths to vindicate her sense of humanity as well as attempt to convince the 96 percent of the population that having a conscience is better than not having one at all. Her careful analysis seeps into a cacophony of internal dialogue, waxed poetry and girlish innocence. If sociopathy is a combination of biological predilections and environment influences, she makes a better case for sociopaths being born and not created through their own choices. Once more, she describes the tragic end to all sociopaths as part of their fate, but feels compelled to warn moral bound individuals of impending doom if these sociopaths are not stopped.
Through Dr. Stout's sermonizing, she loses her sense of objectivity, which turns "The Sociopath Next Door" into an emotional rant by a doctor who claims "End of Times" at the hands of sociopaths. She admits that all humans have the ability and propensity towards sociopathy when humans are perceptually turned into "Its." She uses Osama Bin Laden as an example. Most conscience bound individuals would separate the likes of Osama Bin Laden from the rest of humanity labeling him an "It" and as such rendering any heinous destruction upon him without compunction.
Could a child be born with a heart of gold and the cruelty of the world make his heart grow cold? If so, would the catalyst for becoming a sociopath be marked by the 4 percent of the population who are already sociopathic or the other 96 percent filled with conscience? The numbers alone favor the latter.
The few nuggets revealed in "The Sociopath Next Door" are valuable enough to read the entire book. In this instance, you have to sift through a lot of chaff to get to the wheat.
Edward Brown
Core Edge Image & Charisma Institute
Book Review: Society at the cusp of change.
Summary: 5 Stars
We are now at a juncture in history, when we will decide whether to take action to avert and resusbscribe and assign those who have plagued our society for all too long.
This book explains a personality and physiological type that explains nearly all of the man made ills as we know them.
Everything from seriel crime, to major wars, to racist movements, to corporate fraud, to white collar crime, to extreme and otherwise erstwhile manipulators throughout current events and past history.
Nearly every intentional excess can be traced to a reptile mindset that has been given the capacity of intellect to further its basic programming; defends it territory and further its own agenda.
This is in stark contrast to the mamalian agenda which uses those primitve instincts as a foundation, but tempers them with a social awareness, and an innate need and desire to further and foster communal bonds for the good of all.
Two two programs are in direct opposition, and result in clashes. Imagine you cannot feel sympathy towards your fellow man. Imagine you cannot love your family. Imagine you want to do what can ease your misery, regardless of what anyone else feels. Imagine being born that way. Imagine becoming successful through manipulation.
I'm reminded of everything from the head of Ford Aerospace in "Roger and Me" to "Ted Bundy" to Facist leaders and movements, to the U.S. officers during the Indian Wars on the frontiers, to Tojo during the second world war, to anyone who has purposefully, intentionally, wantonly comitted heinous acts of torture and misery on all living creatures for the sake of gain.
One can think of the most horrible practices in poultry farms, slaughter houses, mercenary bankers, mercenary loan officers, drug kingpins, certain kinds of police officers, certain kinds of societal leaders, certain kinds of so-called "geniuses" and the like, and it all boils down to a lack of wiring in the grey matter.
I never believed in pure evil before. I truly thought that anti-social types who were so callous as to feel no remorse for screwing over their fellow man, were merely a product of environment.
It is not so. Not one bit. This book confirms and answers every notion and question I had about the world social order, society as a whole, and history.
Theories about sexual repression, mistreatment as a youth, financial pressures and the like, can account for a small part of petty crime. But the awful truth is that for all the petty thievery and other small time criminality that exists, it is the sociopath, the reptile, the unevolved and undeveloped person, the "human in name only", who causes nearly all of the serious crime in all societies.
We now have the mechanical and electronic means of screening out and dealing with malformed persons. We have the technology and know how. Do we have the will?
I believe this to be more important than anything else in the world in terms of us finally ending and uprooting, literally and figureativle, the root of all evil.
Excessive exploitation of the world's natural resources, the exploitation of the young, women and elderly, the destruction of emotional and financial lives, can finally all be addressed if we take steps to bottle this genie once and for all.
The madness must be stopped.
Book Review: Helped me understand my reality!
Summary: 3 Stars
I left this book feeling mixed emotions. I liked some of the stories Martha Stout used as examples, but I was often left wondering how she felt inclined to throw about diagnosis without ever having met any of the actual subjects. It was something like reading a book of short stories and then being told how those interpretations led you down the path of acquainting yourself with 1 out of 25 people who presumably fit the mold of insanity. That being said, I couldn't help but compare some of the characteristics to my ex-wife, and admittedly seem to have gained some insight into her way of thinking.
Yes, if the book did anything for me, it has helped me realize my ex-wife is as close to a sociopath as anyone described in this book. While we all conjure up ax murdering Freddie Kruger types, in reality that is just not the case. Most of the conscious devoid human beings spend their time making us average normal human beings miserable. Lying, manipulating, playing people for all they are worth, it just comes natural to the selected 4% of society that somehow fell off the gene pool one stop too quickly.
I did love the advice on how to deal with one of these mentally disturbed people, avoid them. Damn, if only life were that simple. I have found firsthand, once they sink their teeth in you, they are like a rabid pit-bull and won't let go. They just keep chomping down, over and over again hoping to severe an artery. Interestingly, you will never even know you are dealing with one until the very end and then your mouth will drop to the floor with the sudden realization of damn, now that helps a lot of things make sense. For me personally, I just hope I am alive when my ex finally decides to torture somebody else.
I am not really sure where the author was going with this book though. It isn't a typical psychology book, filled with facts and figures that make your head spin, and it isn't geared toward the "intellectual" crowd either. It is just too simple to read and understand. I found myself enjoying it for a few pages, and then questioning what the point was and how she could make such broad generalizations the next. While I have firsthand experience with my ex-wife and I can definitively say she has all the qualities of a true sociopath, the author of this novel was not personally involved with most of the subjects she was labeling.
Anyway, I did enjoy the concept overall. It wasn't perfect, but it was an interesting read and if nothing else it did help me understand my own situation so much more. I think I will find it easier to refrain from anger in the future knowing that my ex is completely devoid of a conscience. It is just who she is, so I will attempt to use the advice from Martha and do my best to avoid her whenever I can. For that I will give the book 3 solid stars and would recommend it as an enlightening easy read for the everyday afflicted common man.
And it might even help you understand that person in your life a little bit better, who is driving you absolutely crazy.