On Psychopathy
So I've been reading 'How We Decide' which is a pretty great book, and after reading some of the On Morality part, an interesting realization occurs:
The way I've played Shadow Man in the past has been an accurate portrayal of a psychopath, while most violent, evil characters are sadists, not psychopaths.
To explain: We often think of morality as part of the rational domain, but actually the evidence from neuroscience and psychology is entirely the opposite. Moral decisions are made entirely emotionally, and justified rationally after the fact (an important distinction to make here - moral decisions are made in real-time about a specific situation at hand. Guiding moral frameworks, which influence what we see as right and wrong, are something different and probably more subject to rational examination and refinement).
In fiction, we like our most despicable of villains to enjoy inflicting pain and suffering. It gives him an emotional rush. In the real world, the worst monsters who most offend our moral sensibilities aren't sadists but psychopaths, like John Wayne Gacy.
A psychopath doesn't enjoy inflicting pain and suffering. Actually, a psychopath's emotional response to the pain of others is absent - a normal person sees a fearful expression and relates it to the feeling of fear, sees others suffer and relates it to what suffering feels like. A psychopath doesn't make that connection. The psychopath doesn't enjoy inflicting pain and suffering on others, but also isn't emotionally offended by it. It just doesn't register.
Without that emotionally guided moral instict, the rational brain is left to justify whatever we want to do, which it's very good at. Psychopaths don't enjoy killing, but in the course of getting whatever they want - sex, money, power, or in Shadow Man's case, achieving Dr. Wily's objectives - murder is not particularly more objectionable to the psyche than walking down the street. Gemma once described the way Shadow Man kills as 'like a shark' - without pleasure, remorse, or forced detachment, but as a natural instinct in the course of achieving another goal. I find it strangely gratifying to learn that this take is actually quite accurate to the thought process of real killers, if not as narratively entertaining as grinning sadists.
Probably my favorite factoid from the chapter: Those criminals who are psychopaths, the most violent minority, actually experience a /decrease/ in blood pressure and pulse rate when they become violent. They are also immune to lie detector tests because lying doesn't feel wrong (nothing does) and therefor doesn't cause a physiological response.
The way I've played Shadow Man in the past has been an accurate portrayal of a psychopath, while most violent, evil characters are sadists, not psychopaths.
To explain: We often think of morality as part of the rational domain, but actually the evidence from neuroscience and psychology is entirely the opposite. Moral decisions are made entirely emotionally, and justified rationally after the fact (an important distinction to make here - moral decisions are made in real-time about a specific situation at hand. Guiding moral frameworks, which influence what we see as right and wrong, are something different and probably more subject to rational examination and refinement).
In fiction, we like our most despicable of villains to enjoy inflicting pain and suffering. It gives him an emotional rush. In the real world, the worst monsters who most offend our moral sensibilities aren't sadists but psychopaths, like John Wayne Gacy.
A psychopath doesn't enjoy inflicting pain and suffering. Actually, a psychopath's emotional response to the pain of others is absent - a normal person sees a fearful expression and relates it to the feeling of fear, sees others suffer and relates it to what suffering feels like. A psychopath doesn't make that connection. The psychopath doesn't enjoy inflicting pain and suffering on others, but also isn't emotionally offended by it. It just doesn't register.
Without that emotionally guided moral instict, the rational brain is left to justify whatever we want to do, which it's very good at. Psychopaths don't enjoy killing, but in the course of getting whatever they want - sex, money, power, or in Shadow Man's case, achieving Dr. Wily's objectives - murder is not particularly more objectionable to the psyche than walking down the street. Gemma once described the way Shadow Man kills as 'like a shark' - without pleasure, remorse, or forced detachment, but as a natural instinct in the course of achieving another goal. I find it strangely gratifying to learn that this take is actually quite accurate to the thought process of real killers, if not as narratively entertaining as grinning sadists.
Probably my favorite factoid from the chapter: Those criminals who are psychopaths, the most violent minority, actually experience a /decrease/ in blood pressure and pulse rate when they become violent. They are also immune to lie detector tests because lying doesn't feel wrong (nothing does) and therefor doesn't cause a physiological response.