What kind of person chooses to harm others. Sure, psychopaths do. People with anger issues, yep. But who would have guessed this one?
“Various studies have suggested that a certain kind of psychological profile gravitates toward the fast-paced, high-pressure environment of the trading floor — and that this profile probably has more than a little in common with psychopathic personality, a clinical condition marked by gregariousness, impulsiveness, dishonesty and lack of empathy.
“A recent study from the University of St. Gallen, in Switzerland, goes one step further. The research, led by forensics expert Pascal Scherrer and prison administrator Thomas Noll, finds that professional stock traders actually outperform diagnosed psychopaths when it comes to competitive and risk-taking behavior.
“According to Der Spiegel, Scherrer and Noll had a group of 28 stockbrokers participate in various simulations and intelligence tests, and then compared their results to a group of psychopaths.
“They found that the traders showed a higher degree of competitiveness than the psychopaths — and that the traders were surprisingly willing to cause harm to their competitors if they thought it would bring them an advantage.” -Huffington Post
Writing Prompt: Write about a character who is not evil, but chooses to harm another person. What are the circumstances and emotions involved?
Journaling Prompt: Write about a time you made a choice knowing that it would hurt another person.
Art Prompt: Stock broker
Nonfiction / Speech Writing Prompt: Write about the effect of competitive jobs on people’s ethics.
Photo Credit: artemuestra on Flickr
Prompt #116 Choosing to Harm was written by Liz Andra Shaw and was originally published at The Writing Reader.