Entering: Are monsters born or made?

Chapter 1 ◆ What is a Psychopath?
The PCL-R: A Psychopath Diagnostic Tool That's Not Perfect | Am I Really a Psychopath?

Chapter 2 ◆ Ominous Signs of Growth
A Teenager with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder | The Beginning of Panic Attacks | The Monster Seen in Others' Eyes

Chapter 3 ◆ There's a monster living in my head
What the Left and Right Brain Concepts Don't Tell You | The Psychopath's Brain | Finally Discovered

Chapter 4 ◆ My Ancestors Were Murderers
The Secret Behind 95 Percent of Mystery | The Complex Labyrinth of Psychopathy Genetics | A Genetic Phonebook Full of Codes

Chapter 5 ◆ Conditions of a Psychopath
The Interplay of Environment and Genetics: Epigenetics | How Psychopathy Develops | Indigo and Orchid Children | Three Factors That Make You a Psychopathy

Chapter 6 ◆ The Monster Finally Reveals Itself to the World
The World Is Taking Notice of My Brain | What's Different About My Brain? | Smooth vs. Difficult Interaction Between Circuits | Even Torture Porn Experts Might Not Be Psychopaths

Chapter 7: Can Psychopaths Love?
There's Something About Weight | Empathy and Mirror Neurons | Even Psychopaths Can Love | A Life-Risking Adventure | Bill Clinton is a Psychopath | Saints and Hypocrisy | I Gained Enlightenment from an Intense Dream

Chapter 8 ◆ The Abyss of Monsters
Suspecting Bipolar Disorder | The Link Between Depression and Bipolar Disorder | Falling into a Black Hole

Chapter 9: Can Psychopaths Change?
Me as Seen Through Others' Eyes | Two Heartbreaking Letters | Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay | Can I Change? | I Will Keep Trying

Chapter 10: Psychopaths Exist in Every Society
2% of any group is psychopathic | Psychopaths perpetuate humanity | Proper parenting is essential

★A true story that shook the world★
"James Fallon's surprising conclusion overturns our thinking about what is normal." _Nature

A shocking confession from a world-renowned scientist
“My ancestors were murderers, and I am a psychopath.”

James Fallon, a successful neuroscientist and medical school professor, one day discovers the characteristics of a psychopath in a picture of his own brain.
He half-believes and half-doubts as he examines his family tree, and he also discovers that many of his ancestors are murderers.
Thomas Cornell, the perpetrator of the first matricide in the American colonies, Alvin Cornell, who murdered his wife by beating her with an iron spade, and even going back further, King John Lackland, known for being one of the most brutal men in British history, are all notorious and suspected psychopaths.
Moreover, genetic analysis reveals that he and his family members carry a variant of the MAOA gene, also known as the warrior gene, which is linked to aggressive behavior.
There's no doubt that James Fallon was born a psychopath.

However, Fallon grew up in a warm home, is the father of three children, and is a sociable person with many friends.
In 2000, he discovered the first evidence of the possibility of using adult stem cells to treat various neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson's disease and stroke, and his company, NeuroRepair, achieved great success both academically and commercially, including being selected by the National Biotechnology Association.
How can this caring father, who has no violent record and is externally successful, be a psychopath?

Not all psychopaths become criminals?
The "Conditions of a Psychopath" Revealed by Neuroscientists

In early 2020, the Nth Room and Doctor Room incidents were in the news every day.
People were shocked by the brutality of the crime, but they were also shocked by the fact that the perpetrators were seemingly ordinary men in their 20s.
They were all men I would never think of again even if I passed them on the street.
James Fallon says even the most dangerous psychopaths can sometimes appear cheerful, carefree, and sociable.
It was also believed that even if a person is born a psychopath, psychopathy will not develop unless all three of the following factors are present.
First, unusual hypofunction of the anterior temporal lobe, including the orbitofrontal cortex and amygdala.
Second, several high-risk mutant genes represented by transcription factors.
Third, emotional, physical, and sexual abuse in early childhood.

(Analyzing PET scans of psychopathic killers over a decade) found that the killers' brains commonly had impaired function in certain parts of the frontal and temporal lobes, areas of the brain often associated with self-control and empathy.
I understand that it is a brain that commits inhumane violence.
This is because low activity in these brain regions suggests a lack of normal moral reasoning and impulse control.
Entering, from “Are Monsters Born or Made?”

Kevin Beaver and colleagues at Florida State University found that men with the warrior gene were more likely to join gangs.
They were more violent and twice as likely to use weapons in fights compared to their gang mates.
(…) transcription factors have also been linked to changes in brain structure.
A study by Andreas Mayer-Lindenberg and colleagues at the National Institutes of Health found that the transcription factor reduced the volume of the amygdala, anterior cingulate cortex, and orbital cortex—all regions associated with antisocial behavior and psychopathy—by 8 percent.
Chapter 4, from “My Ancestors Were Murderers”

Several studies have shown that many incarcerated psychopaths have suffered physical, emotional, or sexual abuse in childhood.
A survey of 35 juvenile psychopathic offenders found that 70 percent reported experiencing severe abuse throughout their childhood.
(…) I deduced that if we add the psychopaths who protect the abusers to this, the percentage of psychopaths who were abused in childhood could be close to 99 percent.
Chapter 5, from “The Condition of a Psychopath”

If you don't fit any of these criteria, you're more likely to not become a psychopath, even if you were born with one.
In fact, James Fallon did not experience any of these three factors: "childhood abuse."
So, even though I was born a psychopath, I was able to grow up to be a self-proclaimed 'pro-social psychopath'.

This 'three-legged stool' theory, espoused by James Fallon, raises a classic question:
'What determines a human being, genes or environment?' Originally, James Fallon believed that genes determine about 80 percent and environment only determines 20 percent.
But after seeing his own brain scan, he realizes that humans are far more complex than he thought.
“Humans are not evil if they are not good, wrong if they are not right, cruel if they are not kind, and dangerous if they are not harmless.
It is not simply a product of biology, and science tells us only part of the story.”
In this way, “Psychopathic Neuroscientist” is a book in which a world-renowned neuroscientist presents a new theory of psychopathy, using himself as evidence.
Furthermore, it is also a memoir in which he bends his insistence on genetic determinism and accepts the complexity of human beings.

Why There Are 2 Percent Psychopaths in Every Population
"Every society needs psychopaths like me."

James Fallon scientifically demonstrates that psychopaths don't necessarily become notorious criminals.
On the one hand, it is said that there are people around us who are suspected of being psychopaths even if they are not criminals.
Examples include Bill Clinton, who repeatedly performed high-level acting and appeared to lack empathy, and Bernie Madoff, known as the poster child for Ponzi schemes.
I believe there are many psychopaths, especially in the financial and economic world. Isn't there a reason why psychopaths persist and remain at a certain rate?

The fact that psychopathy exists in about 2 percent of all cultures suggests that psychopathy, or at least the alleles associated with the traits found in psychopaths, are somehow 'desirable' in humanity.
Otherwise, psychopathy should have been eliminated during evolution, or at least its numbers should have decreased long ago.
(…) Perhaps the gene itself or the psychopathic traits associated with the gene provide some survival advantage.
Chapter 10, from “Psychopaths Exist in Every Society”

James Fallon believes that psychopathy, which involves lying, feeling less anxious, and appearing more attractive to the opposite sex, may have been evolutionarily advantageous for survival.
Furthermore, he argues that humanity survives thanks to psychopaths.
For example, people with the warrior gene are good at making decisions even in urgent situations, and it is thought that some of the decisions made by leaders with that gene may have advanced civilization.
Additionally, because psychopaths are good at separating their emotions and actions, they are more likely to survive combat and suffer less from post-traumatic stress disorder, which is likely why they led large-scale wars to victory and created turning points in history.
In other words, historically, psychopathy has benefited society in many ways, including military, political, and economic.

When James Fallon's story first came to light, it was incredibly fascinating to people interested in psychopathy and criminology.
It's a collection of elements that anyone can find interesting, including the fact that it's a true story, the conditions of a psychopath, and the positive effects of psychopathy.
On the one hand, it sparked a debate about 'what is a human being?'
A heated debate ensued, ranging from common sense about psychopaths to questions like, "Which influences humans more, genes or the environment?" and "What exactly is the human condition?"
I hope that through this book, Korean readers will once again experience the charm of the story and gain a new perspective.