 | Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com | "Psychopaths are social predators who charm, manipulate, and ruthlessly plow their way through life, leaving a broad trail of broken hearts, shattered expectations, and empty wallets. Completely lacking in conscience and in feelings for others, they selfishly take what they want and do as they please..." In Without Conscience Robert Hare argues convincingly that "psychopath" and "antisocial personality disorder" (a psychiatric term defined by a cluster of criminal behaviors) are not the same thing. Not all psychopaths are criminals, he says, and not all criminals are psychopaths. He proposes a psychopathy checklist that includes emotional/interpersonal traits such as glibness, grandiosity, lack of guilt, and shallow emotions, as well as social deviance traits such as impulsiveness, lack of responsibility, and antisocial behavior. His writing is lucid and illustrated with numerous anecdotes. The final chapter, "A Survival Guide," is especially recommended: as Hare writes, "Psychopaths are found in every segment of society, and there is a good chance that eventually you will have a painful or humiliating encounter with one." |
Average Customer Rating:   Superficial Literature "Without Conscience" by Robert D. Hare is disappointing.
Despite the fact the rear cover makes reference to the
author's life time achievement award in 2005 none of the
sources cited for the book are more recent than 1994.
While psychopaths are elusive, in 2009 one must suspect
that additional insights have been gained on the topic,
especially if the author is as authoritative as publisher
suggests.
Additionally, all the conclusions and insights
presented are based on case studies and movies.
This made the conclusions Hare drew feel decidedly
unscientific
For the above reasons, it is difficult for me to recommend
"Without Conscience" as much more than a superficial
presentation by a well regarded scholar.
The Morally Insane Dance To Their Own Beat - the Macabre Robert D. Hare, in this book, definitely does define what a psychopath is and how to differentiate the type from a mere conniver, mere liar or someone suffering from "Narcissistic personality disorder." The essentials of the type brought out in the book through much (too much) repetition are lack of empathy, rapid if vague or unclear word-usage accompanied by "beats" or rapid and dramatic hand gestures to camouflage the lack of direct communication, charm (either sexual or baby-like), and a reptilian-like, staring gaze, all of which traits are accompanied by deceit and violence from a very early age.
My one objection to the book, besides its nearly overwhelming, anecdotal repetitiveness, is that the author attempts to make the psychopath appear attractive by emphasizing the psychopath's "good looks" and attractiveness. Psychopaths have certainly cornered no market on beauty! It's a cinematic myth that Mr. Hare wants to perpetuate here, a view he underscores by giving copious references to the many riveting movies the reader can watch and which capture the "charming" psychopathic personality in action. However, realistically, take a good look at pictures of John Wayne Gacy on the Internet, if you can stomach it. Or look at photos of Mary Ann Cotton. Think she's a hot number? It seems that Jeffrey Dahmer's visage is supposed to be the prototype for all psychopaths. It may be understandable to make the psychopath attractive for a riveting cinematic event as entertainment, but it's ethically disgusting to glamorize this type while attempting to educate the public about the anti-human psychology of such a type and theorize how science can explain such a type's behavior.
I don't know that this particular reader wants for a more scientific explanation or assessment of the psychopath than is found in this book, although many other reviewers on Amazon complain the book is merely "popular" and insufficient on some practical or useful grounds. I have encountered manipulative, controlling, and Narcisstic personalities in my adult life, but I had no idea there was another type that, by comparison and contrast, make such characters appear balanced and grounded.
This book forewarns and forearms you with knowledge so that dealing with this type can be averted or short-circuited, and that is a great gift to each reader who finds this book, although the most heart-wrenching circumstance remains that of the parents who discover their son or daughter is a psychopath. Nature produces this atavistic type but science has found no means of inducing moral sanity to those without moral foundations at all.
A superficial book about psychopaths There are people without conscience among us. And our society is really becoming increasingly tolerant of the psychopathic personality, enabling true psychopaths to hide out anonymously, pursuing their twisted goals. They may learn new and better ways of manipulating people at times, but make little or no effort to change their own views and attitudes.
It has often been said that there's something strange with their eyes. The look of an android? But it's the complete lack of empathy that's usually the most distinguishable aspect of the psychopathic personality.
I didn't appreciate the short and very superficial examples provided in this book. And I wasn't convinced with what was said about the author's "Psychopathy Checklist" either. He would totally fail to recognize the role of reason behind one's behavior. Emotions can and should be controlled. And I would claim that there exists also ethical kind of "psychopathy." -Is it morally wrong to slay one's slayers and abusers? I don't think so. Must reading Dr. Hare does a wonderful job of elucidating the nature of psychopathy in everyday life. This is a must-read for anybody working and living today. Be aware. Read this book to protect yourself from psychopaths This book is a must read to learn about psychopaths. Not all psychopaths are murderers. In fact, a lot of them are highly functioning members of society. They are manipulative and very smart at getting their way.
That is why this book is so essential to read. When you can spot people who have these traits, you can protect yourself from being duped by them.
I also highly recommend the book Political Ponerology by Andrew Lobaczewski. He goes into how people like this manipulate society to control for their needs. |  |
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