The Wisdom of Psychopaths

Dutton, Kevin

Science & Math

Arrow

'What if I were to tell you that a psychopathic arsonist might also be the person most likely to save you from a burning building'? This book is about a special kind of persuasion: 'flipnosis'. It has an incubation period of just seconds, and can instantly disarm even the most discerning mind. Flipnosis is black-belt mind control. It doesn't just turn the tables, it kicks them over. From the malign but fascinating powers of psychopaths, serial killers and con men to the political genius of Winston Churchill - via the grandmasters of martial arts, Buddhist monks, magicians, advertisers, salesmen, CEOs and frogs that mug each other - Kevin Dutton's brilliantly original and revelatory book explores what cutting-edge science can teach us about the techniques of persuasion.

Split-Second Persuasion: The Ancient Art and New Science of Changing Minds

Parenting & Relationships

Mariner Books

A groundbreaking and timely book about how evolutionary biology can explain our black-and-white brains, and a lesson in how we can escape the pitfalls of binary thinking. Several million years ago, natural selection equipped us with binary, black-and-white brains. Though the world was arguably simpler back then, it was in many ways much more dangerous. Not coincidentally, the binary brain was highly adept at detecting risk: the ability to analyze threats and respond to changes in the sensory environment--a drop in temperature, the crack of a branch--was essential to our survival as a species. Since then, the world has evolved--but we, for the most part, haven't. Confronted with a panoply of shades of gray, our brains have a tendency to "force quit:" to sort the things we see, hear, and experience into manageable but simplistic categories. We stereotype, pigeon-hole, and, above all, draw lines where in reality there are none. In our modern, interconnected world, it might seem like we are ill-equipped to deal with the challenges we face--that living with a binary brain is like trying to navigate a teeming city center with a map that shows only highways. In Black-and-White Thinking, the renowned psychologist Kevin Dutton pulls back the curtains of the mind to reveal a new way of thinking about a problem as old as humanity itself. While our instinct for categorization often leads us astray, encouraging polarization, rigid thinking, and sometimes outright denialism, it is an essential component of the mental machinery we use to make sense of the world. Simply put, unless we perceived our environment as a chessboard, our brains wouldn't be able to play the game. Using the latest advances in psychology, neuroscience, and evolutionary biology, Dutton shows how we can optimize our tendency to categorize and fine-tune our minds to avoid the pitfalls of too little, and too much, complexity. He reveals the enduring importance of three "super categories"--fight or flight, us versus them, and right or wrong--and argues that they remain essential to not only convincing others to change their minds but to changing the world for the better. Black-and-White Thinking is a scientifically informed wake-up call for an era of increasing extremism and a thought-provoking, uplifting guide to training our gray matter to see that gray really does matter.

Black-and-White Thinking: The Burden of a Binary Brain in a Complex World

Self-Help

Success

Farrar. Straus and Giroux

In this engrossing journey into the lives of psychopaths and their infamously crafty behaviors, the renowned psychologist Kevin Dutton reveals that there is a scale of "madness" along which we all sit. Incorporating the latest advances in brain scanning and neuroscience, Dutton demonstrates that the brilliant neurosurgeon who lacks empathy has more in common with a Ted Bundy who kills for pleasure than we may wish to admit, and that a mugger in a dimly lit parking lot may well, in fact, have the same nerveless poise as a titan of industry.
Dutton argues that there are indeed "functional psychopaths" among us―different from their murderous counterparts―who use their detached, unflinching, and charismatic personalities to succeed in mainstream society, and that shockingly, in some fields, the more "psychopathic" people are, the more likely they are to succeed. Dutton deconstructs this often misunderstood diagnosis through bold on-the-ground reporting and original scientific research as he mingles with the criminally insane in a high-security ward, shares a drink with one of the world's most successful con artists, and undergoes transcranial magnetic stimulation to discover firsthand exactly how it feels to see through the eyes of a psychopath.
As Dutton develops his theory that we all possess psychopathic tendencies, he puts forward the argument that society as a whole is more psychopathic than ever: after all, psychopaths tend to be fearless, confident, charming, ruthless, and focused―qualities that are tailor-made for success in the twenty-first century. Provocative at every turn, The Wisdom of Psychopaths is a riveting adventure that reveals that it's our much-maligned dark side that often conceals the trump cards of success.

The Wisdom of Psychopaths: What Saints, Spies, and Serial Killers Can Teach Us About Success

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Psychology & Counseling

Scientific American / Farrar, Straus and Giroux

It is a special kind of persuasion with an incubation period of just seconds. It is a psychological secret weapon that can instantly disarm even the most discerning mind . . .\nThis is the kind of high-wire psychological espionage which, in the right hands, can dismantle any conflict — but which in the wrong hands can kill. It is black-belt mind control. It doesn't just turn the tables, it kicks them over. From the malign but fascinating powers of psychopaths, serial killers and con men to the political genius of Winston Churchill —from Buddhist monks, grandmasters of martial arts, and magicians, to advertisers, salesmen, CEOs and frogs that mug each other —Kevin Dutton's brilliantly original and revelatory book explores what cutting-edge science can teach us about the techniques of persuasion.\nProvocative, and ultimately inspiring, Split-Second Persuasion reveals, for the first time, how each of us can learn to be that little bit more influential.

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

Doubleday, Canada

It is a special kind of persuasion with an incubation period of just seconds. It is a psychological secret weapon that can instantly disarm even the most discerning mind . . . This is the kind of high-wire psychological espionage which, in the right hands, can dismantle any conflict — but which in the wrong hands can kill. It is black-belt mind control. It doesn't just turn the tables, it kicks them over. From the malign but fascinating powers of psychopaths, serial killers and con men to the political genius of Winston Churchill —from Buddhist monks, grandmasters of martial arts, and magicians, to advertisers, salesmen, CEOs and frogs that mug each other —Kevin Dutton's brilliantly original and revelatory book explores what cutting-edge science can teach us about the techniques of persuasion. Provocative, and ultimately inspiring, Split-Second Persuasion reveals, for the first time, how each of us can learn to be that little bit more influential. From the Hardcover edition.

Anchor Canada

Psychopath. The word conjurs up images of serial killers, rapists, suicide bombers, gangsters. But think again: you could probably benefit from being a little more psychopathic yourself. Psychologist Kevin Dutton has made a speciality of psychopathy, and is on first-name terms with many notorious killers. But unlike those incarcerated psychopaths, and all those depicted in movies and crime fiction, most are not violent, he explains. In fact, says Prof Dutton, they have a lot of good things going for them. Psychopaths are fearless, confident, charismatic and focused--qualities tailor-made for success in today's society. The Wisdom of Psychopaths is an intellectual rollercoaster ride that combines lightning-hot science with unprecedented access to secret monasteries, Special Forces training camps, and high-security hospitals. In it, you will meet serial killers, war heroes, financiers, movie stars and attorneys--and discover that beneath the hype and popular characterization, psychopaths have something to teach us. Like the knobs on a mixing deck, psychopathy is graded. And finding the right combination of psychopathic traits, sampled and mixed at carefully calibrated volumes, can put us ahead of the game.

Psychopath. The word conjures up images of serial killers, rapists, suicide bombers, gangsters. But think again: you could probably benefit from being a little more psychopathic yourself. Psychologist Kevin Dutton has made a speciality of psychopathy, and is on first-name terms with many notorious killers. But unlike those incarcerated psychopaths, and all those depicted in movies and crime fiction, most are not violent, he explains. In fact, says Prof. Dutton, they have a lot of good things going for them. Psychopaths are fearless, confident, charismatic and focused--qualities tailor-made for success in today's society. The Wisdom of Psychopaths is an intellectual rollercoaster ride that combines lightning-hot science with unprecedented access to secret monasteries, Special Forces training camps, and high-security hospitals. In it, you will meet serial killers, war heroes, financiers, movie stars and attorneys--and discover that beneath the hype and popular characterization, psychopaths have something to teach us.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Dutton, Kevin. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Dutton, Kevin

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Dutton, Kevin. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Wisdom of Psychopaths

Split-Second Persuasion: The Ancient Art and New Science of Changing Minds

Black-and-White Thinking: The Burden of a Binary Brain in a Complex World

The Wisdom of Psychopaths: What Saints, Spies, and Serial Killers Can Teach Us About Success

The Wisdom of Psychopaths: What Saints, Spies, and Serial Killers Can Teach Us About Success

The Wisdom of Psychopaths: What Saints, Spies, and Serial Killers Can Teach Us About Success

Split-Second Persuasion: The Ancient Art and New Science of Changing Minds

Split-Second Persuasion: The Ancient Art and New Science of Changing Minds

The Wisdom of Psychopaths

The Wisdom of Psychopaths