Anti Sociopath Activism
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white_collar_crimeIf you are intensely watching a ball game, you may not notice when someone with a gorilla suit walks into the middle of it. This post relates to why we may not even realize we are being duped (or, perhaps seduced) by a psychopath when it happens: sustained inattentional blindness (sort of).
I was reading a comment on this blog from someone claiming to be a self-diagnosed sociopath. While I have no idea if this individual is for real, it took me about three re-reads to even notice that the language is typical for someone who never wants to be pinned down: sentences give with one hand and take away with the other. (The comment is here). (After all, if you actually lie, it is so much to remember. Better to just never say anything you can’t deny saying later.)
So. Why didn’t I see this doublespeak immmediately? After all, the commenter did identify themselves as a potential sociopath.
On to gorilla suits, one of my favorite things in life.
About 10 years ago a paper came out with this photo:
Basically, when told to intensely watch one team handling the ball (say, the white shirts) in a complicated game, there are a fair number of people who just plain don’t notice an unexpected visual stimulus: the guy in the gorilla suit in the middle of it all (here, thumping his chest). This behavior has been dubbed, “inattentional blindness”:
Inattentional blindness is the failure to notice a fully-visible, but unexpected object because attention was engaged on another task, event, or object.
Daniel J Simons, Christopher F Chabris, “Gorillas in our midst: sustained inattentional blindnessfor dynamic events ,” Perception, 1999, volume 28, pages 1059 – 1074. (This work won an Ig Nobel prize in 2004, see here, and Dr. Simon’s visual cognition lab description and related work is here). (Scholarpedia article written by Dr. Simon here).
When I was reading anonypath’s comment in this blog (here, scroll down) I was intensely focused. Yet, clear as a bell, is the hallmark psychopath doublespeak — like, the inconsistencies “I don’t want to cause trouble” vs. “people will notice I manipulate them” (paraphrasing) etc. I was focused on trying to figure out how or whether to respond, or even if to delete, or if I would look like a weasel if I put in the usual disclaimer “Readers: I have no idea who this person is” etc. I didn’t really notice the total incongruities until I lightened up.
Your loyal bloggist is working on the “sustained inattentional blindness” hypothesis: did I fail to notice the “gorilla suit” the first few re-reads?
Perhaps when one’s synapses are in military formation for a particularly salient environmental cue, one’s other synapses are goofing off and not really paying attention to anything.
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4 responses so far ↓
1 Art // Oct 6, 2009 at 6:18 am
I noticed something a while ago that lead me to Google this topic. I was conversing via phone to a person who intimidates me a little, and I noticed something interesting. I realized after the fact that while I was speaking, I was evidently so focused on not saying anything that might be “jumped” on, that I cannot for the life of me remember what I was looking at while I was speaking to her. I have been told that when I speak, my eyes wander and, obviously, have difficulty maintaining eye contact. It seems that if I were “conscious” or, were not “unintentionally blind” that I would “see” that I wasn’t looking at people. It is an interesting phenomenon, and I would like to learn more about the root causes. I will tell you that people say I speak very well, but I have really no conscious anticipation of what I am about to say. It’s almost like, as I am talking, I can run my own commentary…”wow this is good stuff…I DID NOT know that!”…amazing. Any observations, assistance, woul dbe appreciated. – Art
2 swivelchair // Oct 6, 2009 at 3:48 pm
Thanks for the comment Art — I think you said it: when around someone who makes you uncomfortable, you concentrate on protecting yourself. Perhaps then you don’t notice what they’re saying, so they’re just buffalo all the way to the bank, so to speak.
I can’t figure out why you hear yourself in third person, sort of, if I understand your comment. Huh. Oh well, at least you have an appreciative audience
3 Anonypath // Dec 31, 2009 at 2:36 pm
What double speak? I never said I don’t want to cause trouble. I said that I don’t cause trouble, because sooner or later it’ll catch up to me. There was no double-speak or logical inconsistency until you put it into the words you wanted to read. I don’t need to deny saying that I don’t cause trouble, because I don’t cause trouble. I don’t need to deny saying that lying and manipulation would catch up to me, because lying and manipulation would catch up to me. The two statements go hand in hand, sir.
If you’re that intent on analyzing your reaction to my comment, you might consider the implications of blind hatred towards a group of people you don’t truly understand. Being prone to manipulation, completely lacking in empathy, and always looking out for number one, are only some of the traits you’ll find in a sociopath. Believe it or not, there are hundreds more personality traits and personal preferences that play a deciding role in one’s identity.
I’m sure you’ll just see this as some form of manipulation, but I think you should be genuinely concerned if you can’t even put two sentences together due to a deep seated hatred for a certain type of person. Your objectivity is compromised, yet you believe you stand in a position to judge, in fact to lead a crusade against people who might just be participating in the system constructively as a way to get ahead in life. The only crime these people would have committed would be being incapable of caring about you, and lying to their friends and family so they’re not treated like second class citizens, cripples, or worse, thrown in front of a bus like one of your commentors decided should be MY fate, though I’d committed no crimes.
To be fair, his other alternative was for me to submit myself for life-long labeling and relinquish my freedom, so I can spend the rest of my life being treated for an untreatable “condition” that doesn’t render me incapable of functioning, incapable of contributing, or cause me any distress.
So, imprisonment or death.
Without having done anything wrong.
For being born.
Go empaths!
No thanks. I’ll go on acting and contributing to society and community, since that’s clearly the most advantageous path for me.
Oh, and if you’re worried about the feelings I’ll occasionally hurt with my indifference toward people, you’ve got a double standard. You’ll hurt people, too, just as often, if not moreso.
I’ve had to pick up the pieces in an argument after watching two highly emotional people say and do terrible things to one another, and my calm and detached demeanor has enabled me to give honest and rational advice to people who only received agreement from their other friends, who didn’t want to hurt their feelings.
No no, I don’t think you understand how much pain empaths cause one another, in addition to the pain they cause sociopaths, and I don’t think you understand how our existence can be constructive. Your only concern is that we don’t really care if you or anyone else is happy for happiness’s sake, and that we don’t care if we have to lie to maintain our own happiness. You cling to a body of research and case studies performed almost exclusively on the prison population, the results of which are CLEARLY going to be negative in the extreme, and assign the same dangerous traits and habits to everyone who shares the same affliction. If you were to base your opinions on humanity itself by only studying the empath prison inmates, you’d be convinced that humanity as a whole is corrupt, except, of course, for you.
There are certainly a lot of bad apples among us, and those who go bad do go VERY bad.
That doesn’t make us all bad.
If that really escapes you grasp, then I personally think you’re the one who needs to be hit with a bus, if anyone. Not because of the group of people you belong to. Because of your own personal convictions, running a movement designed to persecute a specific class of people, who you’ve demonized based on the criminals and dregs of their kind.
I hope you have the courage to leave this up.
Good day, sir.
4 Anonypath // Dec 31, 2009 at 2:51 pm
Also, please don’t confuse “lying and manipulation” with acting / blending in. I know I used the same word for both in this last comment, but I see the two very differently.
Lying about my feelings, beliefs, and intentions, is what I consider acting. I do it daily, and I see nothing wrong with it. It’s the only way to survive without being persecuted by idiots like your commentor from the other post, who’d like to lock me up or throw me in front of a bus.
To me, real lying and manipulation involves telling lies about real events.
“I went to the store, not the bar.”
“So and so stole this.”
“So and so said that.”
Or lying about your feelings for someone so that you can use them.
These are all things that can and will come back to haunt you. Choosing a role for yourself and playing the part won’t, and it won’t hurt anyone, either.
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