Psychopathy

Melissajane1983

Hi Guys,

I start a degree in Neuropsychology in September but am really interested in the inner workings of Psychopaths and was wondering if anyone had any information on how to go about this interest and if you can specialise in this further down the line etc...

Any advice or info would be highly appreciated

Many thanks

Melissa :smile:

Reply 1

iammichealjackson

18

Original post by Melissajane1983

Hi Guys,

I start a degree in Neuropsychology in September but am really interested in the inner workings of Psychopaths and was wondering if anyone had any information on how to go about this interest and if you can specialise in this further down the line etc...

Any advice or info would be highly appreciated

Many thanks

Melissa :smile:

Even if you did a general psychology degree it may be unlikely that you'd get to study this directly (although it isn't uncommon). I came across psychopathy in my developmental psychology module, but not in criminology surprisingly. you wouldn't be able to do a whole module on psychopaths, but there's a chance you'll be able to write an essay on it...

Its probably worth just reading on the topic of psychopaths even if you cant do it at undergrad. The main way you'd specialise in that topic is if you could do a long essay or dissertation in it at undergrad, or you could study it at masters/phd level.

At the moment though its probably best just to keep interested in the topic even if you're not going to study it at uni. For now, i'd just read some books on criminology/psychopaths, when you get to uni you'll find loads of academic papers on it.

I havent read these but these are meant to be good (by a cambridge professor): http://www.amazon.co.uk/Zero-Degrees-Empathy-Simon-Baron-Cohen/dp/0141017961/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1430850790&sr=8-3&keywords=simon+baron+cohen http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Science-Evil-Empathy-Origins/dp/0465031420/ref=pd_sim_b_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=05N80KQW39VZK97Q7P5Q

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 2

Melissajane1983

OP

4

Thank you

I had a feeling I wouldn't be able to study it at Undergrad level which is why I went for Neuropsychology instead. However I was kind of hoping there may be something specific on it when I got to Masters or PHd.

I have been reading loads of books on it - Thank you for the recommendations. I have a very keen interest and will hopefully one day find a way into the field.

It is very specific and I think I was kind of hoping someone may have gone down that route themselves but I suppose being such a niche subject not many people do.

Thanks again :smile:

x

Original post by iammichealjackson

Even if you did a general psychology degree it may be unlikely that you'd get to study this directly (although it isn't uncommon). I came across psychopathy in my developmental psychology module, but not in criminology surprisingly. you wouldn't be able to do a whole module on psychopaths, but there's a chance you'll be able to write an essay on it...

Its probably worth just reading on the topic of psychopaths even if you cant do it at undergrad. The main way you'd specialise in that topic is if you could do a long essay or dissertation in it at undergrad, or you could study it at masters/phd level.

At the moment though its probably best just to keep interested in the topic even if you're not going to study it at uni. For now, i'd just read some books on criminology/psychopaths, when you get to uni you'll find loads of academic papers on it.

I havent read these but these are meant to be good (by a cambridge professor): http://www.amazon.co.uk/Zero-Degrees-Empathy-Simon-Baron-Cohen/dp/0141017961/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1430850790&sr=8-3&keywords=simon+baron+cohen http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Science-Evil-Empathy-Origins/dp/0465031420/ref=pd_sim_b_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=05N80KQW39VZK97Q7P5Q

Reply 3

iammichealjackson

18

Original post by Melissajane1983

Thank you

I had a feeling I wouldn't be able to study it at Undergrad level which is why I went for Neuropsychology instead. However I was kind of hoping there may be something specific on it when I got to Masters or PHd.

I have been reading loads of books on it - Thank you for the recommendations. I have a very keen interest and will hopefully one day find a way into the field.

It is very specific and I think I was kind of hoping someone may have gone down that route themselves but I suppose being such a niche subject not many people do.

Thanks again :smile:

x

For a masters, you can choose a taught or a research course (or some mix of both). You could easily to a masters/PhD in psychopathy by looking where there are academics in that field and email them about doing a masters project with them. Generally, most academics would like masters students since they are cheap labour to help them to their studies. Given that your starting uni now, its really worth making contacts by seeing if you can do an unpaid internship in a lab that studies psychopathy over the summer, doing stuff like recruiting participants, running experiments. You might not be able to find a perfect internship on the exact project you want, but any experience is better than nothing. You may want to broaden your search into criminology or child development though, and look into doing research into these related fields. Getting your hands on actual convicted criminals will be very difficult, but people research callous-psychopathic traits in children too !

Reply 4

iodo345

20

Original post by Melissajane1983

Hi Guys,

I start a degree in Neuropsychology in September but am really interested in the inner workings of Psychopaths and was wondering if anyone had any information on how to go about this interest and if you can specialise in this further down the line etc...

Any advice or info would be highly appreciated

Many thanks

Melissa :smile:

This is such an interesting topic as I do this for my EPQ on whether they are morally responsible or not and all the differences in brain structure that results in them being the way they are. There are hundreds of research papers online from psychologists who have done experiments etc.

Psychopathy

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