James H. Fallon is a well-known name. He is an American neuroscientist. He was the first person to discover himself as a psychopath.
Psychopathy is mainly a mental disorder in which a person shows amoral and antisocial behavior, lacks the ability to love or establish meaningful personal relationships, shows emotional deficits such as the absence of guilt and empathy, expresses extreme egocentricity, appears as a bold and narcissistic personality and also fails to learn from the experience and other behaviors associated with the condition. It is a kind of developmental disorder. Development of these symptoms results from a combination of genetic and environmental factors.
James H. Fallon (born on October 18, 1947) is a renowned professor of psychiatry and human behavior and emeritus professor of anatomy and neurobiology at the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine. His research focus includes adult stem cells, chemical neuroanatomy and circuitry, higher brain functions and brain imaging. He was the first person who discovered his own traits of psychopathy.
Discovery of the fact:
It was October 2005, neuroscientist James Fallon was going through thousands of PET scans of serial killers, as part of a research project at UC Irvine, to identify anatomical patterns in the brain that are related to psychopathic tendencies in the real world.
While looking at scans of murderers along with schizophrenics, depressed and other normal brains, he was also conducting research on Alzheimer’s and for that, he had brain scans of his and his entire family. Sifting through the scans, he found an obviously pathological scan which showed low activity in certain areas of the frontal and temporal lobes known to be linked to empathy, morality and self-control. As it might be his or other family members, Fallon checked his lab’s PET machine for an error (but it was working absolutely fine) and so he firmly decided to find out whose scan it was. The discovery was mind-shattering. It was of no one else but James Fallon, his own scan declaring him to be a psychopath.
He had no criminal records of murders or rapes and like that. That made Fallon doubt his own hypothesis. He tried to find the possibilities of these areas of the brain not to be reflective of psychopathic behavior.
But, another shock was awaiting him. His genetic tests showed the presence of all the high-risk alleles responsible for aggressive, violent and low empathetic nature. Further neurological and behavioral research into psychopathy convinced him he was truly a psychopath but relatively of good kind which is termed as “pro-social psychopath,” someone who has difficulty being truly empathetic for others but still keeps his behavior roughly within socially-acceptable bounds.
Acceptance and boldness towards it:
Getting this type of shocking news, almost all of us would try to hide it to avoid social embarrassment. But, maybe as boldness and disinhibition are psychopathic tendencies, Fallon confronted the world and prominently featured in the BBC production “Are You Good or Evil?” where he revealed that he’d discovered himself having the neurological and genetic traits of psychopathy. He also appeared in a TED Talk, an NPR interview and also published a book named “The Psychopath Inside”. In this book, he portrayed how despite having the same anatomical patterns as the serial killers, he was still a happily married family man.
He admitted having an obnoxious level of competitiveness which made him act like a jerk at times. He often behaved rudely to his grandchildren over mere games and did things which pissed off others. But even when his aggression took over, it was easily sublimated. He said he would prefer to beat someone in an argument rather than beating them up.
This kind of attitude supports his revelation as a pro-social psychopath.
Why was he different?
In spite of being a person with the genes and brain of a psychopath, Fallon ended up as a non-violent, stable and successful scientist. This made him sort out his thoughts.
Why had he been able to control his behavior while others with similar genetics and brain turn hostile and become serial killers? His once determined belief on genetics had changed. He then realized that his childhood helped prevent him from heading down a scarier path.
Family background and its impact on him:
James Fallon was born in an Italian American family. He also has English and Irish ancestry as a descendant of New York colonial settlers, the Cornell family. His family line has seven alleged murderers, including Lizzie Borden, notoriously accused of killing her own father and stepmother in 1892. And for this, he was not much surprised about his discovery.
But then again, he said that he was affectionately loved and protected by his family from his childhood. Partly due to a series of miscarriages before his birth, Fallon received special attention and care from his parents and according to him, it played a significant role in the build-up of his non-violent character. He believed that his positive experiences in childhood negated all those potential genetic vulnerabilities to violence, anger and emotional issues.
His attitude towards life:
Other than genetics and environment, James believed another key factor is free will. According to him, since finding all this out and looking into it, he had always put an effort to change his behavior. He had been more consciously trying to do the things considered as ‘the right thing to do,’ and thinking more about other people’s feelings.’
But he also admitted that he was not doing this because he was suddenly nice. Actually, he was doing all these because of pride, to show everyone and himself that he could pull it off.
James’ discovery and facing the truth with bravery is really miraculous. Though he showed some psychopathic qualities, he hadn’t gone down the scarier path all thanks to his family’s love and right nurturing. It clearly indicates the significance of a healthy environment for a child to grow up well and also portrays the power of will to help one stick to the right path.
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Writer,
Nowrose Sharmin Mou
Intern, Content Writing department
YSSE