the heart oF darkness Professor Beth visser stuDies the AntisociAL siDe of humAn nAture By Jaclyn Bucik
Photo credit: Rebekah Littlejohn
ever wonder what kind of person is sitting next to you? Just ask Dr. Beth Visser. a psychology professor and researcher in Lakehead orillia’s Interdisciplinary Studies department, Dr. Visser investigates cognitive abilities, multiple intelligences (like musical intelligence and mathematical intelligence), sexualization, and dark personalities. her fascination with the human mind began while studying psychology at the University of Waterloo. “I had this great professor who brought enthusiasm and passion to every class, and I absolutely loved it,” she says. after finishing her bachelor’s degree, Dr. Visser did a master’s and PhD at Brock University specializing in social/personality psychology. It was while at Brock that she would meet psychology professor Dr. angela Book. Dr. Book would become a mentor and frequent collaborator who shares in Dr. Visser’s passion for understanding the dark personality traits – psychopathy, narcissism, Machiavellianism, and sadism. Dr. Visser wanted to know how human beings could be so bad. “as someone who often gets emotional watching a sappy commercial on
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television, it’s hard to grasp how someone else can’t care,” she says. She and Dr. Book are currently looking at psychopathy and victim selection to determine if people with psychopathic tendencies are better at identifying vulnerable members of society. “We’re going to be examining psychopathic prisoners versus non-psychopathic prisoners – as well as everyday people with psychopathic traits – to understand how some people exploit others.”
“i remember watching the first season of the television show survivor, and thinking, ‘at what point did we start admiring the manipulator, the exploiter?’” While many of her colleagues have focused their research on criminal psychopathy, Dr. Visser wants insight into the general population: “What do people who are really manipulative, exploitive, and deceptive look like in the community?” she asks. She recalls her first job at 15 years of age when she was hired to sell newspaper subscriptions using high-pressure phone sales tactics. “I couldn’t
even do that – so, how do scammers convince elderly people to hand over their life savings?” according to Dr. Visser, antisocial personality traits exist in normal population samples to a certain degree. these are individuals who may lack genuine emotion and empathy or who are more likely to lie on their income tax, feel entitled to more than their fair share, and exploit situations to get ahead in life. Some may have felt they had to hide those tendencies, but Dr. Visser believes that many are openly antisocial. “I remember watching the first season of the television show Survivor, and thinking, ‘at what point did we start admiring the manipulator, the exploiter?’ there was a permissive attitude that because it was within the context of a reality television game show, the characters’ behaviour was oK and acceptable.” these behaviours seem to have leaked out into our larger society and Dr. Visser thinks we need to unravel the reasons behind this trend. Understanding why some people treat others with cruelty is essential if we want to live in a world that embraces kindness.