Does Trump Fit the Evolutionary Role of Narcissistic Sociopath?

Does Trump Fit the Evolutionary Role of Narcissistic Sociopath? Nathan H. Lents and Robert Trivers There is no shortage of published psychological profiles of Donald J. Trump that attempt to diagnose him, from a distance, as either a psychopath or a narcissistic sociopath. These profiles, of course, are fatally hindered by the lack of access to Mr. Trump for personal examination and completion of personality inventories. However, exploration of the evolutionary features of these very peculiar personality types may provide insight into this important question. Psychopaths are indeed an evolutionary conundrum because their particular behaviors are not an obvious path toward evolutionary success. For example, the majority of serial killers are childless when they are killed or apprehended. Narcissistic sociopaths, however, invariably [typically] have families and children whom they support energetically, and many of the traits specific to this phenotype can fairly be called adaptive. This raises the important issue of the evolutionary niche of a narcissistic sociopath within the societies in which they exist. The psychological profile of narcissistic sociopathy is generally agreed upon and shares many features with psychopaths including above average intelligence, considerable social savvy, adaptability, likeability, and natural skills in the manipulation of others. They are charming, outgoing, and often feign interest in people and subjects and can convincingly fake both sympathy and conscience. If they engage in charitable acts at all, they are only in pursuit of ancillary selfish benefits. They learn well from past experiences, and show no dedication to a set of moral values, religious beliefs, truth, transparency. If they admire anyone, it is other sociopaths that they wish to emulate. Finally, they are effective liars and show a chilling unconcern for the welfare of others. There is one particular skill that is common to both psychopaths and narcissistic sociopaths and absolutely essential to their nature: cognitive empathy. Emotional empathy, sometimes called emotional contagion, is regarded as the ability and tendency to closely identify with the emotional experience of others, even “catching” their emotions to a degree. Cognitive empathy is quite different. This is a mental skill involving the close observation and interpretation of the actions and emotions of others in order to understand and predict their behavior. It is morally neutral and common in high-functioning individuals across the moral and ethical spectrum. While social workers and therapists use cognitive empathy to help individuals improve their lives, psychopaths and sociopaths use this skill to manipulate, coerce, and deceive others in order to achieve their own ends. While emotional empathy is an innate cognitive feature we share with most social mammals, cognitive empathy is a skill that can be developed and refined and doing so is key to the behavioral patterns of both psychopaths and sociopaths. HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_033323