Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go to Work by Robert D. Hare, Paul Babiak Page A

and characteristics from our private self that we want others to see.
    Sometimes we may exaggerate a few of our positives just to make an impression or to exert influence on others. Occasionally, material from our private, dark side slips into the public view without our being aware; at other times, we may be aware of traits that slip through, and we feel embarrassed or guilty. Finally, our reputation is the “personality” by which others come to know us. Ideally, our reputations 72
    S N A K E S I N S U I T S
    accurately reflect the psychological traits we want to show, but, in fact, observers filter what we present through their personal biases, prejudices, and preconceptions. This may cause them to form an in-correct impression of our personality.
    Using What You Have
    If they happen to be intelligent, “well bred,” and physically attractive, psychopaths can have a devastating impact on the people they meet.
    For example, Caroline is a very attractive and intelligent thirty-year-old British woman. Her father was a barrister and her mother a successful stage actress. Caroline went to several of the best schools but seldom stayed at any one of them for very long. She got into some minor difficulties on occasion—for example, she was unable to account for some missing money during her volunteer work for a charitable organization—but was always bailed out by her parents. She moved in fashionable circles, where she had many brief affairs.
    For several years, Caroline was involved with a pseudo-religious cult, and her “direct line to the saints” helped her to manipulate elderly people into “buying their own little piece of heaven.” Later, she met an international smuggler and this led to her first prison term, a three-year sentence for diamond smuggling. She is a delightful conversationalist, exuding an engaging charm and wit that keeps you captivated for hours. Her description of her current circumstances and the events that led up to it has an almost romantic quality. Caroline likes the fast life and loves excitement. For the past four years, she has been combining those interests as a diamond smuggler, making regular runs between Johannesburg, New York, Tel Aviv, and Amsterdam, and packing thousands of dollars’ worth of diamonds on each trip.
    Caroline’s unusual occupation—simply the latest in a long string of successful scams and cons—rewarded her in two ways: it provided her with a substantial income to support her lavish Psychopathic Manipulation
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    lifestyle, and simultaneously was a constant source of excitement. Caroline stated that walking through an airport with thousands of dollars’ worth of smuggled diamonds was a tremendous thrill, “an incomparable rush.” When she was first caught, by a married customs agent, she was able to convince him not to turn her in and ended up having a brief affair with him. She later turned him in as part of a plea bargain when she was caught a second time. Although he lost his family, his job, and his reputation, she was unmoved: “He had a good time; now the party’s over.”
    Her only regret was that her days as a runner were probably over now that Interpol knew about her. She had vague plans to become a stockbroker or a real estate agent. Meanwhile, she was working on a scheme to be deported, in hopes that it will lead to a reduced sentence. In a letter to a British official about this matter, Caroline suggested that his wife or girlfriend might like a “little sparkling something on her finger,” and that she could easily arrange this for him.
    Your reputation may not coincide with the public self you are trying to project, or the internal personality you personally experience. In an ideal world, all three views of the personality would line up. We would be happy with our private self, feel comfortable revealing it through our persona, and feel safe in the knowledge that those with whom we interact come to know us for who we truly are. But the world