This is what happens when you have psychopaths in your office

This is what happens when you have psychopaths in your officeThis is what happens when you have psychopaths in your officeA study of undergrad students conducted by Victoria University of Wellington and The University of Southampton in the United Kingdom attempts to better understand the effect psychopathic traits has on work culture and employee interaction.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and morePsychopaths and shared goalsThe researchers began by administering personality tests to participants in order to determine the extent of psychopathy expressed by each individual. The test was based on traits like lack of empathy, tendency to blame others and desire for power. Respondents that scored in the top 25% were deemed to be highly psychopathic.After analyzing the students results, they placed them into groups. Some groups had a disproportionate number of psychopaths, some groups were c omprised of 20% psychopaths, some groups had an equal number of non-psychopaths and psychopaths and one had no psychopaths at all.Each group was tasked with playing 50 rounds of a prisoners dilemma game, wherein members had to decide to work toward a shared goal or betray their teammates to help themselves.Psychopaths arent the best collaboratorsNot surprisingly the results proved groups with a higher concentration of psychopaths were less likely to effectively cooperate with each other although groups with no psychopaths and only a few psychopaths performed about the same. Associate professorof psychology at the University of Otago,Martin Sellbom said, I think, in corporations, they might engage in teamwork to the extent it furthers their careers, but will be less likely to co-operate, and probably back-stab others when necessary to further themselves.A study published in Journal of Research in Personalityback in 2010 proposed that psychopaths that succeed in the corporate worldfre quently exhibit qualities associated with dangerous psychopaths, callousness, dishonesty, arrogance, low remorse traits that dont exactly facilitate fruitful corporation.To ensure productivity while cohabiting in an office with a workplace, Psychology Today advises to stay calm, avoid acting intimated and avoid them to the best of your ability.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will double your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people