The Psychopath Next Door :: James Fallon | Big Think
The Psychopath Next Door
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Every day you’re likely to meet a psychopath. Dr. James Fallon of UC Irvine explains what a psychopath is, how they work, and what they want from you — and he ought to know (but you’ll have to watch to find out why).
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JAMES FALLON:
James Fallon teaches neuroscience at the University of California Irvine, and through research explores the way genetic and in-utero environmental factors affect the way the brain gets built — and then how individuals’ experience further shapes its development. He lectures and writes on creativity, consciousness and culture, and has made key contributions to our understanding of schizophrenia, Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease.
Only lately has Fallon turned his research toward the subject of psychopaths — particularly those who kill. With PET scans and EEGs, he’s beginning to uncover the deep, underlying traits that make people violent and murderous.
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TRANSCRIPT:
James Fallon: Go to a party with fifty people in it, thereās a psychopath, a full-blown psychopath there. Thereās probably five borderline psychopaths there. Theyāre not going to kill you, rape you, or maybe even take your money, but theyāre going to manipulate the situation, make you look bad, or use you in some way. Something bad is going to happen.
And if you sense thatā¦ people have a sense that something is wrong with somebody, you walk away,you donāt fight these guys, because theyāre masters at manipulation. The psychopath, in its simplest form, is an intraspecies predator, is a predator on other humans. It is hard to look at the actual behavior of a psychopath and say that thing is psychopathic or not, because psychopaths will come to the rescue of people. āCan I help you up, maāam?ā They, they can see the outward behaviors, and they just can mimic it to get along. But fundamentally, they donāt feel it.
You know, some psychopathic traits and what goes along with it can be very advantageous. First of all youāre fearless. You walk into a room, you own everybody, and you look like you own everybody, and they let you own them because you have that aura around you, that charisma, that light. Thatās why elect people president, because they have that light around them. Another thing is youāre not very susceptible to pain. Pain doesnāt bother me, and also when youāre caught doing something, you have no tells. You could be caught red handed, you know, having an affair with somebody, and you could say, āno thatās not meā, itās like, are you going to believe me or your lying eyes. And so itās this ability to lie, without any tells, because in fact it doesnāt cause any anxiety.
Two main areas of the brain of a psychopath that are not regulated correctly: orbital cortex and the amygdala. Orbital cortex is involved in inhibiting your behavior. Now, the amygdala, on the other hand, really causes behavior. And normally theyāre in balance. They inhibit each other. Now, in a psychopath, theyāre both turned off, so they donāt inhibit each other, and they donāt regulate it. So the normal balance of animal drives and your social interactions, your morality, are not right. Itās never right. I mean, thereās a time for aggression. Thereās a time for killing, even. Thereās a time for sex. And part of it is how the rest of the brain is able to tell your orbital cortex the social context is correct now. Psychopaths donāt have that.
Theyāre doing things completely out of context, out of social context, and thatās the problem. Usually the question is, what percent do you think is due to genetics, and what percent is due to environment? And it turns out not to be the great question to ask. Because it looks like the answer is, if you are born with the biological markers for psychopathy, for example, that is the genetics and the altered brain pattern, early on. If you are a susceptible kid, then environment means everything. It means a lot. Maybe eighty percent. Because those kids can be really thrown off track, and they can be helped by a good environment too. Back in the early 90s, some of my colleagues were studying these killers, real bad guys, some serial killers, nasty guys. And they asked me to come in to look at the brains. So I put myself and some other people in as normal. And I got to the last scan, and I looked at it, and it was like completely pathological…….
To read the transcript, please go to https://bigthink.com/videos/james-fallon-on-the-psychopath-next-door
@denisenoe3702
October 31, 2025 at 10:49 am
Dr. James Fallon is himself a psychopath. We have a psychopath warning us against his fellow psychopaths.
@goldbrick2563
October 31, 2025 at 10:49 am
Why does he have chalk on his jacket?
@platoscavealum902
October 31, 2025 at 10:49 am
š¤„ Jordan Peterson thinks that most politicians are just there to help people ā not lie to them! J.P. is so wrong on this specific point.
@UnlimitlesslyFunnyDude
October 31, 2025 at 10:49 am
master of manipulation —-> psychopath
@sallylemon5835
October 31, 2025 at 10:49 am
Yep but there will always be someone who will outrun a psychopath. Psychopaths get their constant supply from being allowed in their confidence and dominance by the people around them. But there will always be 1 person who f*ed that up and this person isn't a psychopath. Speaking of big time.
@RoverEins
October 31, 2025 at 10:49 am
Not very susceptible to pain and also not very susceptible to joy. You won't hear a phsycopath laugh unless it's related to their supply.
@Spoeism
October 31, 2025 at 10:49 am
current governments are full of them.
@kariann3198
October 31, 2025 at 10:49 am
You are a really bad guy
@anaibarangan4908
October 31, 2025 at 10:49 am
Whatever could be harmful effects on my life, gets cleared out next door to me. Of course I was seeing or finding out about it.
@Suite_annamite
October 31, 2025 at 10:49 am
Consistently failing to see a psychopath or an otherwise "bad" person is in itself a mental illness :
borderline personality disorder.
@brendanpaoletti2691
October 31, 2025 at 10:49 am
I wish I was one if I was one i wouldn't know
@M4R5-C4V14R
October 31, 2025 at 10:49 am
Psychopaths make for great poker players
@starlight8302
October 31, 2025 at 10:49 am
This pic for this video is literally what they look like. No joke.
@yoontiddies2292
October 31, 2025 at 10:49 am
3:16 I donāt know how many of you watch this in 2020, but definetly red is the impostor. Red is always the impostor
@jacobbailey5498
October 31, 2025 at 10:49 am
I'm 100% convinced Trump is a psychopath, he fits this so well. 1 in 50?! 5 borderline?! THAT I didn't know.
@fredwinslow744
October 31, 2025 at 10:49 am
So Bill Clinton and bill bye are featured as experts on big think and described in this video !! Just wow
@platoscavealum902
October 31, 2025 at 10:49 am
ššš
@janetlieb2507
October 31, 2025 at 10:49 am
Interesting . But these are inhuman demons or reptilisns
@gujuriddler9513
October 31, 2025 at 10:49 am
Wow IM one
@MonirulIslam-fc5lv
October 31, 2025 at 10:49 am
Anxiety fear no social life..i feel like i need to manipulate ppl into hvng relationship with me but i fail all the time..sucks but glad im nt psychopath
@lucykerslake5423
October 31, 2025 at 10:49 am
I hate the assumption that becaue psychopaths fake emotional connection, that it is inherently dangerous… I wouldn't give two shits if my best friend's mum died, but I'd still be there for her, because i know it's the right thing to do, and she'd want someone to be there for her. Just because I have no emotional attachment, or empathy, doesn't mean I don't care, or don't recognize that someone needs support during a diffucult time for them. I think in the mental health field, especially professionals, come into contact with mostly criminalistic psychopathic personalities, with no moral compass, who commit datic and violent crimes. I don't feel shit towards other people, and never have, but I always try to make sure that they are okay, because I know that that's what they need,and therefore what i need to express in order to be able to have healthy, stable relationships with them. I don't feel bad if I do something 'wrong' around them, but I'll always undertand why they feel that way, and try t adjust my behaviour so I don't make the same mistake again. If only so I don't feel scrutinized by others. THere are assholes and decent people even on the psychopathy spectrum, it's a bia of research that has lead people into thinking they are all serial killers and abolutely toxic personalities. I may have self-absorbed reasons for acting the way I do in my interpersonal relationships, but at least I try, and don't go out of my way to hurt people.
I know I'm draining for people once they've spent a lot of time with me, after the initial 'honeymoon period' of my friendships, and many people wouldn't want to get to know me after saying all of this, thinking I'm toxic, and you'd be right to some extent. I just wrote this to say that not everyone who has these traits is malicious, or out to get you. It may be an unfortunate conequence of our personalities, but for me at least, I just want to have a good time and enjoy myself. Manipulating others doesn't carry much weight in my mind, at least consciously.
@ayounglivelysoulinanoldtir3512
October 31, 2025 at 10:49 am
if you lived next door to him, then he would be the psychopath next door!!!
@sidilicious11
October 31, 2025 at 10:49 am
I picked up that he might be a psychopath before he said he was. I wish there were a fail safe method of detection that all political leaders would have to go through before serving. Psychopaths should not be allowed to govern.
@kalidesu
October 31, 2025 at 10:49 am
Biology was spoken about, social environment was spoken about. What wasn't spoken about was his philosophy or ethics.
You're not your biology, ideas are most intrinsic to our nature as humans. Humans can conceptualize and act on our thoughts through our ethical systems.
@Willa4420
October 31, 2025 at 10:49 am
He talks very lively for a psychopath . Most psychopaths actually talk very emotionless .
@tarotempress1925
October 31, 2025 at 10:49 am
I know when my psychopath or sociopath ex lies all the time I know it I've caught him so many times lieing!!!
@EventHorizon1208
October 31, 2025 at 10:49 am
So that's why the other kids didn't want to play with me.
@ericvelazquez4663
October 31, 2025 at 10:49 am
Do psychos take their clothes to the cleaners ?
@fakenoose8978
October 31, 2025 at 10:49 am
the only healthy way to deal with a sociopath, psychopath, or narcissist is: don't.
@chewsyslee55
October 31, 2025 at 10:49 am
Pictures are shown Pyscopaths as being dark and sinister. I think that sort of propaganda perpetual ly promotes racism.
In midieval times Wood cuts and paintings allways showed the devil
as a black figure.
@MNJGaGa
October 31, 2025 at 10:49 am
I'm a freaking Psychopath. Imma manipulate you š”
@michaelhorne4742
October 31, 2025 at 10:49 am
Wonder why its called a disorder when your considered a predator if you have traits, predators are top of the food chain so its more of an advantage to be able to manipulate thos around you for your benefit however unpleasant it may be for the recipients.
@cinderheartmeow6032
October 31, 2025 at 10:49 am
if someone creepily looks out their window at you for more that twenty minutes a day, you might want to get an alarm system set up.
@lolitaalmostgrown
October 31, 2025 at 10:49 am
Iām only a 3/4 blown psychopath, as opposed to full blown, but, so is he. So… basically, he is talking about us as all manipulative all the time, so, why should anyone listen to this… because it isnāt entirely accurate. Sorry brother.
@thelastofthebrohicans
October 31, 2025 at 10:49 am
Iām not a neurologist. But Iāve been researching personality disorders for quite awhile. Isnāt it safe to say that the amount of psychopathic traits in an individual, rest along a spectrum? Couldnāt the amygdala be deadened a bit, instead of remaining fully inactive.
Even if thatās not possible, with each interaction Iāve had socially. Empathy levels fluctuate within each individual. Be it nature, or by nurture.
@FirstName-qb5mv
October 31, 2025 at 10:49 am
I need talk to him asp
@Lutf_fitness
October 31, 2025 at 10:49 am
He's a psychopath he does joker lip licking thing
Comments are closed.