One of my favorite TED Talks is by Jon Ronson, a journalist, that wrote The Psychopath Test a book that touches on the true threshold of sanity. He opens the talk by discussing his experience reading the DSM, which apparently labeled him with almost 12 different mental disorders. I like this because it immediately gets viewers to question the legitimacy of the book and field of psychology as a whole. At first glance he meets the criteria for what most consider a stable person so to hear that the book classifies 12 different illnesses that he can identify with is seems unlikely. Next, Ronson describes the meeting he had with a patient in a mental institute that had faked being insane so well, no one believes him and he is not released. He quotes the man with the statement. “It is easier to convince people you are crazy than sane.” This makes me wonder how those with actual mental illness must feel ostracized by society, since it is hard for others to see them as just another person. It is later revealed that the man was kept in the institution because he was found to be a psychopath. This leads to the my favorite part of the talk which involves the study of psychopaths being more common in groups of business man and CEOs. Ronson relates this the competitive nature of capitalism, and how those that are ruthless and able to make the less than morally favorable decisions, are able to excel. 1 in 100 people are psychopaths, but this rises 4% when looking at CEOs and moguls. I find it very interesting how they are able to express these traits in such a way that diverges from the violent nature most associate psychopaths with. At the end of the day it is abut doing what they believe it takes to achieve their goals. Some considered Kobe Bryant a psycho for his impregnable competitive drive. This leads me to one idea for my research paper which is the shift in what is seen as acceptable business practices and the regulations on things like monopolies and pollution. another idea is the shift in what society deems acceptable in popular music in terms of explicit content.
4 thoughts on “TED Talk/paradigm ideas”
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This looks like such an intriguing TED talk. I never knew that there are more psychopaths in high positions, but in some ways, I see how that makes total sense. I think it would be interesting to see the shift in business practices, since there were many initial issues during the Industrial Revolution that hopefully were figured out.
I think that a paper on the shift in acceptable business practices would be really cool and very relevant in our capitalist society!
I think exploring the shift in what is seen as acceptable or moral business practices with their regulations will be a very interesting topic to research! The past 100 years, even 20 years, has looked very different for business practices.
I like the connections you make between the concept of the TED talk and potential ideas for your paradigm shift research paper. I have never heard of Kobe Bryant being called a psychopath, but I guess when you broaden the scope, it sort of makes sense.