A Nobel-prize Winner’s Opinion about Psychopathy Causation

While researching theories of psychopathy for my book, Born to Destroy, I connected with Professor Eric Kandel, Nobel-prize winning neuroscientist from Columbia University to discuss possible causes of this character disorder.  I was especially interested in his opinion about research suggesting that there were anatomic correlations with psychopathic characteristics in the brain’s frontal cortex and paralimbic system.  He thought that was certainly possible, as recent fMRI data have suggested. However, when questioned about the likely causes of these anatomic differences, he demurred, stopping short of suggesting they were innate.  When asked: “Is it likely that these anatomical correlates are inborn, developed in utero, or changes in structure that develop over time, perhaps through disuse?,” he responded simply: “No one knows.”For more information … see Born to Destroy at www.winisbooks.com