Chapther 4: The Psychopath Test

In this chapter, Jon Ronson is introduced to the psychopath test and learned what it was. He met Bob Hare who diagnosed patients with psychopathy by inflicting painful shocks on them. Ronson attented a conference, hosted by Hare himself, where he learned all about the psychopath test. Bob Hare, at the conference attempted and succeeded to pursuade the other psychologists that the psychopath test is really a reliable test for diagnosing psychopaths. Ronson is given a checklist that contains cues that one should look for when diagnosing a psychopath. With this Ronson is inspired to examine certain people in his life to uncover their psychopath ways.

This chapter was an interesting one because the methods these psychologists used, for example Bob Hare, are ones that I could never imagine myself using to diagnose a person with psychopathy. I thought this was one of the most important chapters in the book because it introduced the famous psychopath test.

Chapter 5 made me think about the ways in which psychopaths like to manipulate others and made me wonder how someone could even think of such things. Toto is my favorite character in the book so far because he misleads the reader to thinking that he might not actually be a psychopath but changes their mind in an instant. I thought this chapter was was very interesting.

Psychopaths Dream in Black-And-White

Ronson introduces a new character in this chapter. He receives a lot of information about Oak Ridge hospital from psychiatrist, Elliott Barker. Oak Ridge, a place for psychopaths and schizophrenics, houses certain psychotherapy that Elliott describes to Ronson. Ronson learns that patients would stay in a room naked for days to fasten the healing process. Later on Elliott steps down and another psychiatrist, Gary Maier takes his spot. However, Gary’s method in healing these patients becomes too much and it turns out to be a complete disaster, which results in Gary getting fired. Later on, the Oak Ridge program is terminated.

I thought this chapter was very odd and because the therapy that was used did not make sense to me at all. I found the idea of physical nakedness terminated emotional nakedness to be a little strange. I thought it was crazy these patients were forced to sit naked in a room for at least 24 hours and stare at each other's genitals. I thought this was definitely one of the most interesting chapters so far and it's making me wonder what else is gonna happen in the upcoming chapters.

First Blog Ever

HEYY this is my first blog ever! I've never blogged before. This is pretty cool.