One afternoon in October 2005, neuroscientist James Fallon was looking at brain scans of serial killers. As part of a research project at UC Irvine, he was sifting through thousands of PET scans to find anatomical patterns in the brain that correlated with psychopathic tendencies in the real world.

“I got to the bottom of the stack, and saw this scan that was obviously pathological,” he says, noting that it showed low activity in certain areas of the frontal and temporal lobes linked to empathy, morality and self-control.

When he looked up the code, he was greeted by an unsettling revelation: the psychopathic brain pictured in the scan was his own.

One of the hallmarks of psychopathy, however, is boldness and lack of fear having to do with an abnormal amygdala, so instead of quietly destroying the scan, James Fallon went the opposite direction, leveraging it into a book, an NPR interview and a TED Talk.

Eventually, based on further neurological and behavioral research into psychopathy, he decided he was indeed a psychopath — just a relatively good kind, someone who has difficulty feeling true empathy for others but still keeps his behavior roughly within socially-acceptable bounds.

It wasn’t entirely a shock to Fallon, as he’d always been aware that he was someone especially motivated by power and manipulating others, he says. Additionally, his family line included seven alleged murderers, including Lizzie Borden, infamously accused of killing her father and stepmother in 1892.

Why has Fallon been able to temper his behavior, while other people with similar genetics and brain turn violent and end up in prison?

“I’m obnoxiously competitive. I won’t let my grandchildren win games. I’m kind of an asshole, and I do jerky things that piss people off,” he says. “But while I’m aggressive, but my aggression is sublimated. I’d rather beat someone in an argument than beat them up.”

Photo of James Fallon via reason.tv.
Color photo of PET and EEG scans via ZotZine.
Via Smithsonian for the fascinating full story.