Kevin Dutton (born 1967) is a British

psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and explanation, interpretatio ...

and writer, specialising in the study of

psychopathy Psychopathy, or psychopathic personality, is a personality construct characterized by impaired empathy and remorse, along with bold, disinhibited, and egocentric traits. These traits are often masked by superficial charm and immunity ...

Work

He is a

postdoctoral A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). Postdocs most commonly, but not always, have a temporary acade ...

researcher at the Department of Experimental Psychology,

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

, and a member of the Oxford Centre for Emotions and Affective Neuroscience (OCEAN) research group, and says "I divide my time between lab-based research and popular writing." Before this post he was a

research fellow A research fellow is an academic research position at a university or a similar research institution, usually for academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under the supervision of a p ...

at the Faraday Institute, St Edmund's College,

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

, and

Visiting Professor In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting scientist, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic fo ...

for the Public Engagement with Psychological Science at the

University of Essex The University of Essex is a public university, public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, it is one of the original plate glass university, plate glass universities. The university comprises three camp ...

. He gained his Ph.D. from the University of Essex in 2000 with the thesis title ''Minorities as symbols of uniqueness : a break from the norm''. He heads a research group on "The Role of Personality Traits and Emotion Regulation Skills in Various Occupational Domains.", and his research looks at the role of various "personality traits and emotion regulation skills" in different occupations such as "politics, investment banking, surgery, and the military", and whether action can be taken to enhance these characteristics "to improve job performance and decision making in these occupations." He has written several popular books on psychopathy, and a review stated that "his analysis tends to reinforce the idea that the chemistry of megalomania which characterises the psychopathic criminal mind is a close cousin to the set of traits often best rewarded by capitalism". He has said that he wrote ''The Wisdom of Psychopaths'' "as an attempt to figure out his dad"; his father worked on a market stall and was "ruthless, fearless and also extremely charming". In his 2011 ''Great British Psychopath Survey'' he concluded that the ten professions that have the highest proportion of psychopaths are:Dutton K The Wisdom of Psychopaths: What Saints, Spies, and Serial Killers Can Teach Us About Success'' (2012) All of these careers require a strong degree of professional detachment. In the same year he featured in

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

's "Psychopath Night", and launched a survey to which 700,000 viewers responded. Among the conclusions: "those with the least psychopathic traits preferred cats or kittens to many other pets while the most psychopathic individuals preferred pet fish." In October 2014 he appeared on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

's '' The Museum of Curiosity''. His hypothetical donation to this fictional museum was "a smile".

Selected publications

*''Black and White Thinking: The burden of a binary brain in a complex world'' (2020, Random House, ) * *'' The Good Psychopath's Guide to Success'' by Kevin Dutton and

Andy McNab Steven Billy Mitchell (born 28 December 1959), usually known by the pseudonym and pen-name of Andy McNab, is a novelist and former Special Air Service soldier. He came into public prominence in 1993 when he published a book entitled ''Bravo T ...

, with cartoons by Rob Murray (2014, Bantam Press, ) *''The Wisdom of Psychopaths: What Saints, Spies, and Serial Killers Can Teach Us about Success'' (2012, Heinemann, ) *''Flipnosis: The Art of Split-Second Persuasion'' (2008, Heinemann, )

References

External links

''Dr Kevin Dutton'' personal site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dutton, Kevin 1967 births Living people Alumni of the University of Essex British psychologists Academics of the University of Oxford Psychopathy writers

Work

Selected publications

See also

References

External links