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 interpretation of how indi ...
and writer, specialising in the study of
psychopathy.
Work
He is a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Experimental Psychology,
University of Oxford, 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 at the
Faraday Institute,
St Edmund's College,
University of Cambridge, and Visiting Professor for the Public Engagement with Psychological Science at the
University of Essex.
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
Megalomania is an obsession with power and wealth, and a passion for grand schemes.
Megalomania or megalomaniac may also refer to:
Psychology
* Narcissistic personality disorder
* Grandiose delusions
* Omnipotence (psychoanalysis), a stage of ...
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
Charming may refer to:
Fiction
* ''Charming'' (film), a computer-animated musical comedy film
* Charming (''Sons of Anarchy''), a fictional town where the television series '' Sons of Anarchy'' is set
* Prince Charming (disambiguation), a stock ...
".
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'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's ''
The Museum of Curiosity''. His hypothetical donation to this fictional museum was "a smile".
Selected publications
*
*''
The Good Psychopath's Guide to Success'' by Kevin Dutton and
Andy McNab, with cartoons by
Rob Murray
Robert Allan Murray (born April 4, 1967) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He is the head coach of the Tulsa Oilers of the ECHL. Murray played much of his career as captain of the American Hockey League's Springfield Fal ...
(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, )
See also
*
Psychopathy in the workplace
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