Bustle | Press Contribution, 2018
Sociopaths are people with antisocial personality disorder. The defining feature of sociopaths is their lack of what most of us experience as a guilty conscience. Sociopaths don’t experience remorse or guilt for breaking rules or getting “over on people” the way others do. They thrive on manipulation, power, and aggression.
Sociopaths are drawn to jobs that allow them to channel some of their antisocial needs and wishes in a socially acceptable manner. For example, surgeons who are sociopaths are able to displace their desire to inflict physical aggression in a way that actually helps others. Other jobs that attract sociopaths are ones that allow them to feel powerful and be manipulative of others, such as CEO’s, salespeople, journalists or media personalities. These positions contain inherent power struggles, coercion tactics, sometimes bribery or explicit lying and backstabbing.
As much as society at large rejects these behaviors, many of the above-mentioned jobs not only condone them but actually require them to get ahead.