Fri 23 Sep 2005
Listening To: Disposal : Lab Animals
Current Horn Factor :
Reuters, London: (Monday, Septemtber 19th) Patrick Bateman, successful Wallstreet broker and serial-killing protagonist of Brett Easton Ellis’ controversial 1991 novel American Psycho may have some real-life counterparts according to a new U.S. study jointly conducted by researchers from Stanford, Carnegie Mellon, and Iowa Universities.
Using a simple investment ‘game’, the researchers tested a group of 41 subjects with average IQ’s, 15 of whom had suffered lesions to areas of the brain associated with controlling emotions. The study found that the emotionally impaired are more willing to gamble for high stakes and that people with brain damage are more likely to make good financial decisions.
In the words of Antione Bechara, one of the scientists from Iowa University, the most successful financial brokers might conceivably be called “functional psychopaths”. Baba Shiv, one of the studies co-authors from the Stanford Graduate School of Business goes further, and claims many high-level executives and top attorneys might share the same emotionally-impared psyches.
In most people, our emotions can lead us to avoid risks, even when the potential benefits far outweigh the losses. According to Shiv however, “there are circumstances in which a naturally occurring emotional response must be inhibited, so that a deliberate and potentially wiser decision can be made”. It’s in these cases that the aformentioned “functional psychopaths” excel – and the high paced world of the financial markets is a perfect example of such a set of circumstances.
It’s not too much of a stretch then to imagine how a “functional psychopath” with inhibited emotional responses such as those identified in the study, might go that one step further and become a fully-fledged killing machine a-lá Pat Bateman.
So girls – next time you’re out on a date with a guy in a nice suit who works at PWC, be careful. If you end up back at his place, excuse yourself and on the way to the bathroom give his fridge the quick once-over for human body parts. Should you find any, you know what to do – run ! Just don’t forget to email him the next day for his take on that hot share tip your friend from HSBC gave you 
