1. THE CORPORATE
PSYCHOPATHS
THEORY OF THE BIG
FINANCIAL CRISIS:
clinical implications of
evolutionary approaches
Ambrogio Pennati, MD (ambrogio.pennati@gmail.com) , President, IML*
Mara Bertini, MD, (marabertini@fastwebnet.it), Steering Committee, IML*
Alessandro Baffigi, PsyD, (alessandro.baffigi@gmail.com), Steering Committee, IML*
*Integrational Mind Labs, Milano (http://integrationalmindlabs.it)

2. PSYCHOPATHIC TRAITS
 A psychopath is a person without conscience, empathy or even
an ability to experience the range of human emotions. Their
ability to feel is confined to a narrow range of primitive proto-
emotions such as anger, frustration and rage. Psychopaths will
tend to be pathological liars and expert manipulators victimizing
family, friends and strangers. Often they are
charming, charismatic, popular and admired, if not loved, by
members of both genders. They are not mentally ill, not
delusional, and may often be more coldly rational and intelligent
than non-psychopaths. They are likely to be promiscuous and
to abandon partners without remorse. They are prone to
entitlement, grandiosity and find nothing wrong with
themselves. They typically blame others for the consequences
of their actions and engage in moral reasoning that is glib and
superficial if not absurd. They usually have little fear of
consequences and enjoy risk as they need novelty, stimulation
and living on the edge to compensate for their emotional vacuity

3. EVOLUTIONARY ANALYSIS:
A SKETCH
 Psychopaths seem to try to maximize their efforts when trying
to find opportunities to copulate more than the normal
population, while completely disregarding their partners and
the offspring.
 Psychopaths look at Status symbols (money, social and
professional position, luxury goods) as the best ways to
reach the top of the ―sexual ―food chain‖‖
 Post-modern economy (dominant role of finance, increase in
size and complexity of big corporation) generated a lot of
―ecological niches‖ for psychopaths (frequent changes of
jobs, focus on short-term results, high-risk economical
strategies, depersonalization of professional relationships)
 Money, if considered a memetic social construction, seems to
generate addictive behaviors, spreading itself like a virus by
mean of psychopathic behaviors

4. PSYCHOPATHS
AND FINANCE
 ―Psychopathy is mistakenly regarded as an all or nothing affair: you either are a psychopath or
you aren't. If that were the case, saying that 10% of people on Wall Street are psychopaths
could actually be somewhat comforting, since it implies that the remaining 90% are not and so
shouldn't cause us any concern.‖
 ―That yes-or-no approach dangerously ignores the fact that psychopathic behavior exists on a
continuum. A great deal of damage can be done by individuals who fall in between folks who
are "normal" and true psychopaths. These are individuals who would never be diagnosed as a
psychopath, but whose behavior to varying degrees can be just as deceptive, dangerous, and
remorseless as that of a full-blown psychopath. These individuals are sub-clinical
psychopaths, what my colleague James Silver and I refer to as "almost psychopaths" in our
upcoming book, Almost a Psychopath.‖
 ―Two things should be noted about the claimed estimate that 10% of people in the financial
services industry are psychopaths. First, it is just that — an estimate — and not based on a
scientific study. Second, it is likely an overestimate of true psychopaths in the industry, but an
underestimate of those who fall into the "almost" category. Formal studies indicate that as
much as 15% of the general population can be characterized as almost psychopaths. And if
we consider that the financial services industry may select for people with characteristics of
psychopathy, it is fair to say that the number of people in the industry who fall into the "almost"
range is at least that high. As such, individuals predisposed to fraud, deceit, manipulation, and
insider trading may be far more numerous than the 10% estimate that has attracted so much
attention.‖
Ronald Schouten, MD, JD | 3:54 PM March 14, 2012, Harvard Business Review blog
(http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/03/psychopaths_on_wall_street.html)

5. SCREENING
 Temperament Character Inventory/ Temperament Character
Inventory Revised by R. Cloninger. (Italian version available)
 Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R), developed by Robert
Hare and colleagues. People who are "normal" invariably score
a few points on such scales. True psychopaths score in the top
25%. (training needed)(Italian version available)
 Psychopathic Personality Inventory - Revised (PPI-
R), developed by Scott Lilienfeld and colleaugues. Rather than
focusing exclusively on antisocial or criminal behaviors, the PPI-
R measures the continuum of psychopathic personality traits
present in a range of individuals and can be used in both clinical
(e.g. forensic) and non-clinical (e.g. student, community)
settings. Time-saving and cost-effective. (Italian version
available)

6. PREVENTION AND CARE
OF DAMAGE
 Sensitization of normal population and professional
people, financial firms and big corporations management about
the damage inflicted by psychopathic behaviors by mean of
 Sharing knowledge about psychopathy (books, web, SN)
 Implementing effective strategies in detecting, insulate and punish
psychopaths by legal ways
 Implementing effective supportive treatment for the victims (often
deceived, shamed and burdened by sense of guilt) (group and
individual settings)

7. Essential Bibliography
 Babiak P, Neumann CS, Hare RD.: Corporate psychopathy: Talking the walk.
Behav Sci Law. 2010 Mar-Apr;28(2):174-93
 Boddy CR: The Corporate Psychopaths Theory of the Global Financial
Crisis. Journal of Business Ethics 102:255–259, 2011.
 Duntley JD, Shackelford TK: Evolutionary Forensic Psychology. Oxford
University Press, 2008.
 Ferguson N: The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World. The
Penguin Press, New York, 2008.
 Hare, R. D., & Neumann, C. S.: Psychopathy as a clinical and empirical
construct. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 4, 217-246; 2008
 Hare, R.D.: Without conscience: The disturbing world of the psychopaths
among us . New York: Guilford Press, 1999.
 Hasker K, Tahmilci A: The Rise of Money: An Evolutionary Analysis of the
Origins of Money.Economics Department, Bilkent
University, Ankara, Turkey, 2008
 Malterer, M. B., Lilienfeld, S. O., Neumann, C. S., & Newman, J. P. (2010).
Concurrent validity of the psychopathic personality inventory with offender
and community samples. Assessment, 17(1), 3-15, 2010.
 Schouten, R; Silver, JD: Almost a Psychopath. Hazelden, Harvard Health
Publication, 2012.