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The Psychopath Test
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April BOTM - The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson
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I am loving it! It's fascinating and I like the voice with which Jon Robson writes. I don't think it's going to take me long to read this!
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Same! I actually finished it in just a few days, which rarely happens!
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Tanya, Founder & Moderator
(last edited Apr 11, 2020 10:05AM)
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rated it 5 stars
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**I just wanted to include a bit of a disclaimer here: as this book revolves around Mental Health diagnosis (and possibly other triggers), there may be things that some people may find upsetting - if so, please do not feel obligated to read this book! Put yourself first! ♥ **
Here are a few discussion questions to get us going!:-
Ronson reunites us with our good old friends, the Scientologists! (from our very first BOTM, Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology by Leah Remini). Brian eventually introduces Jon to Tony, who was at the time being kept at Broadmoore Psychiatric Hospital. What were your thoughts on Tony? Would you have asked him anything different? (view spoiler)
Ronson explores the idea that many corporate and governmental leaders are psychopaths whose actions to others can only be explained by taking that fact into account, and he privately uses the Hare test to determine if he can discern any truth to it. How did you feel about this? Do you think Jon should have been able to attend the Course despite not having any prior training in Psychology?
The Book has been criticised for it’s lack of depth in investigating psychopathy - would you agree?
As always, don’t forget to add to your Tally Thread if you have earns any points towards your BOTM Challenge!! :D
Mod
My question here is, if he was a little punk-ass teenager when he was admitted to Broadmoore, then why did he have a pinstriped suit?? Did he get it after being admitted? Did the Scientologists get him the suit? I wouldn’t have thought that they would be able to just have suits if they wanted. Or maybe he just had the suit for special occasions and the meeting with Jon was a special occasion?? Also, why on earth was there a Ted Bundy Biography in the Library?!?
I’m not sure if I would have asked Tony anything different because I think I would be too scared! Then again, I could ask him about that suit! (view spoiler)
As the book progressed, I could sense Jon starting to go a bit “power-mad” (which he later admitted to) with his new found knowledge & checklist, I think I would have been the same! I do think that it would be important to have at least some training in Psychology as a pre-requisite for entering the course (or maybe there was, but Jon was allowed in for the sake of the book/research?).
I enjoyed reading about his time with Albert Dunlap and seeing how he just flipped any Psychopath terminology into a positive term (Manipulative/Leadership skills). He reminded me very much of Jordan Belford (The wolf of Wall Street) - I bet he definitely ticks a few boxes!
I can see how the book can be criticised for it’s lack of research in psychopathy, which I would have enjoyed learninig more about, but to be fair, I don’t think the book is advertised as a Study on Psychopaths. For me, it’s simply Jon’s journey on how he “fell” into the world of Psychopaths (That puzzle!!!) to how he almost started wondering if he himself was one as well!
On another note, there is a TED Talk that Jon did a few years ago which was well made, if anybody is interested. He doesn’t say anything that isn’t in the book already, but it’s interesting to see how he executes it!
Well to answer the questions, let me start first with Tony, our infamous faked-psychopath! It must have been the way that Jon Ronson wrote about Tony, but I actually found myself thinking he was quite harmless and sure, he was charming, but I pretty much believed (or wanted to believe?) that he was safe enough to be out in society and it was just unfortunate that he was stuck in Broadmoor because of the psychopathy parameters. I could see the point of view that once you're "mad", you're always mad. As discussed later on in the book, that guy did a study where he had people say they heard voices and then they got stuck in institutions for ages, unable to get out by behaving normally. It seems like people are kept inside "just in case" because the alternative might be them going out and committing murders if they were able to get out too easily. I don't think I would have asked him anything different, but I did feel fairly sympathetic towards him. That Brian though, he could jog on! (view spoiler)I actually found Ronson's treatment of the Bob Hare psychopath checklist quite humorous. It made him relatable - I'm sure lots of people could see themselves getting a bit obsessed with psychopath-spotting! He acknowledged that it may have made him a little power-mad, but he was not saying that he was going to go out and condemn people off his own back of being psychopaths. I think it really added to his being able to understand psychopathy and aided his research. I didn't mind that he attended the course without prior psychiatric training - besides, nobody was looking to him to make decisions on people's mental health.
As for the criticisms about Ronson's book not going into enough depth regarding psychopathy, that's just it - he never professes to be a scientist or psychologist or psychiatrist or any authority figure on the topic. It's something that really interests him and he takes the opportunity to learn more, meet different and interesting people, and presents his findings in a humorous and candid way. I think it could have gone into too much depth if he had really drilled down into the science behind it, but I think that would have gone over most people's heads and started sounding like a textbook. I liked that it was accessible.
Mod
Jemma wrote: "I think it really added to his being able to understand psychopathy and aided his research." I agree, well said :)
Jemma wrote: "I think it could have gone into too much depth if he had really drilled down into the science behind it, but I think that would have gone over most people's heads and started sounding like a textbook. I liked that it was accessible." Yes, I think that's what I enjoyed the most about the book, that it didn't feel at all like a textbook, I just felt like I was following Jon around on this crazy journey!
Are you thinking of reading any more of his books or have you already? I think I will!
I would read more by Ronson but I haven't looked into his other writing yet. I enjoyed his podcast The Butterfly Effect and its spin-off, The Last Days of August.
Mod
Oohh I didn't realise he had a podcast, but I knew they made a movie out of one of his books - I'll check them out!
In these crazy times, I think digging into a good book is more important than ever! And thank you again to all who voted for the second quarter, I really appreciate it!
Here is the discussion thread for April’s BOTM, discussion questions to follow! :)