Since we've been discussing Psychopaths
The Psychopath Inside
James Fallon, PhD lecture for Mind Science Foundation
What makes a killer? Neuroscientist James Fallon has unique insight into the brains of psychopaths - one that surprised him, and provides us with a compelling demonstration of nature vs nuture... or is it nature and nuture?
James Fallon is Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, and Emeritus Professor of Anatomy and Neurobiology in the School of Medicine at the University of California, Irvine, where he has served as Chairman of the University faculty and Chair and President of the School of Medicine faculty. Dr. Fallon received a Bachelor of Science in Biology and Chemistry from Saint Michael’s College, followed by a Masters in Psychology and Psychophysics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York. He concluded Ph.D. studies in primate neuroanatomy and neurophysiology at the University of Illinois, College of Medicine, as well as postdoctoral training in chemical neuroanatomy and circadian rhythms at the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Fallon is a Sloan Scholar, Senior Fulbright Fellow, National Institutes of Health Career Awardee, as well as a recipient of a variety of honorary degrees and awards, and patents on adult stem cells, and the genetics of psychiatric disorders.
Among many significant neuroscientific contributions, Dr. Fallon has lectured and written on topics such as the law and the brain, consciousness, and the brain of the psychopathic murderer. Additionally, he is a pioneer in the study of the distribution of dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine and endorphins in the brain. Dr. Fallon has written extensively on schizophrenia, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and nicotine and cocaine addiction, and imaging genetics studies in psychiatric disorders. He was the first to discover a characterized growth factor in the brain, as well as the first to demonstrate massive mobilization of adult stem cells, a finding presented by NIH to Congress in 2001.
He has appeared on numerous documentaries, radio, and TV shows. In the past two years, he appeared on the History Channel series on science, CNN, PBS, BBC, NPR, BBC, CBS, Discovery, and ABC for his work on stem cells, growth factors, psychopathology, tissue engineering, smart prostheses, schizophrenia, and human and animal behavior and disease. In 2009, he appeared as himself on the CBS crime drama series Criminal Minds, where the show explored his theory of trans-generational violence in areas of the world that experience continuous bouts of terrorism, war, and violence. In a related story, Dr. Fallon underwent functional brain imaging and genetic analyses for potential violence related brain and genetic patterns, especially in light of the paternal line of multiple murderers in his family’s past.
Comments
Too much prattle....
I've listened to 15 minutes or 25% of it, and I got one insight into the topic. Pre-conception and multiple fathers. I'd love to know what he has to say, but I cannot sit through it. Sorry.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
A little dense
I would recommend Snakes In Suits: When Psychopaths Go To Work.
"Polls don't tell us how well a candidate is doing; Polls tell us how well the media is doing." ~ Me
Shorter version
I watched the whole thing, and I liked it.
I think I would like it even more if I was conversant with French.
Did I let my cat out of the bag and admit to everyone I have the attention span of a turnip? 40 years talking to public servants and politicians taught me to keep it short and get to the point.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
I like your style and mind
short, concise and to the point writing. It cuts to the chase. I too have the attention span of a turnip. I blame hereditary, my son got it from me. He picked up a prickly chestnut from the ground when he was about 6 and said 'Look Mom it's my attention span.'
I recently read "The Psychopath Test" by Jon Ronson
and can recommend it as a good read. While focusing on psychopathy it also provides interesting anecdotes, interviews with committed psychopaths, and calls out as questionable some well accepted practices among practitioners and drug manufacturers. Definitely not written by someone with a vested interest.
The takeaway for me was that psychopaths have substandard wiring to and from the Amygdala (aka reptile brain) which typically prevents normal empathy and relationships with others, that it comes in shades of gray, and that there is little hope of a therapeutic cure. It affects a small percentage of the population but can more often be found among high achieving powerful people in business and politics. Surprise, surprise.
“The story around the world gives a silent testimony:
— The Beresovka mammoth, frozen in mud, with buttercups in his mouth…..”
The Adam and Eve Story, Chan Thomas 1963
Excellent summary
of the biological underpinnings of psychopathy as well as psychopathic behavior.
Thanks
Only connect. - E.M. Forster
Sadly, I could not get the video to play
However, some hypotheses of my own, offered after 40 years of involvement with the human psyche on a professional basis. There really two important brain systems: one is chemical (neurohormones, of a quite amazing variety) and neurostructure (anatomy). There is an irrevocable reciprocal arrangement be tween the two. However that arrangement is plastic, i.e., susceptible by both environmental and structural constraints. A full elucidation of either neurochemical or anatomical situations would take weeks (actually years) to understand in depth--so I am not going to try.
A relatively new twist on an old, supposedly settled, theme has been the discovery of neuronogenesis (creation of new nerve cells) occurring in adult brains. The mode of action is--stem cells native to the brain, present even before birth but persisting throughout life. The stem cells can be activated or deactivated by neurohormones and synaptic alteration. Synaptic architecture arises through usage or disusage.
A second newly discovered, which profoundly affects the concept of nature-versus-nurture is epigenetic. Epigenetics is a very complex issue, as is everything about brain. We are all taught in school the blueprint for cellular construction, an hence the whole organism is DNA. But only relatively recently has it been discovered that life experiences, whether internal or external con modify DNA by methylation--hence changing genetic expression. The epigenetic alterations can be maintained throughout one's life--but epigenetic changes can be passed on to the next generation-after that subsequent generation, the epigenetic can be rewritten or discarded.
So this makes the nature/nurture conundrum much more difficult to understand. To adequately understand the psyche of a psychopath, we must know of parental personality/behaviour. This does not mean that there are not ways to analyze an individual psychopath, but the best we can do with that is to understand traits, both social and genetic. The upshot is that there will not be uniformity of diagnosis if confined only to trait-analysis. Yes, there are psychopathy scales, but to ascribe accurately whether one is or is not is by understanding actual behavior--and not by scoring a test.
One more comment: when one speaks about a "reptilian" brain, the term does not apply only to the amygdala. The amygdala is actually a part of the "limbic system" which encompasses basic emotional response. To describe this a bit more in depth, neurologic systems are not single sub-organs, like the amygdala. Neurologic systems are networks, wherein nodes (e.g., amygdala) inter-relate to other constituent "nodes". This inter-relationship is mainly due to "hard-wiring" by the white matter tracts connecting nodes but also by chemicals released from some terminals of the white matter tracts.
Not having the opportunity to actually watch the video, I hope that this explanation helps your understanding.