What Would a Psychopath Do In The Trolley Problem Scenario?

How does a psychopath perceive the world?
Let’s use the trolley problem, but we’ll give it an obvious ethical answer...Show more

On one track there is a violent child m*****er, and on the other track are 5 young children. Coincidentally, these children are also the victims of the child m*****er. The trolley is hurtling down the track towards the 5 young children, and pulling the lever will change the course of the trolley and divert it to the track with the violent child m*****er, the monster who committed the assault. The only catch in this hypothetical is that nobody will ever know which decision you decide to make. Except for the m*****er. The m*****er is the ONLY ONE who will know if you decide to save the children, and will immediately die if you do.

It’s a no-brainer right? A normal person would just pull the lever. The 5 young children are innocent victims and deserve to live. Pulling the lever would not only save them, but justice will be served as their assailant will be immediately executed. The violent child m*****er is evil and the world would be better off without him.

A psychopath’s decision, however, will vary in outcome depending on who they are as an individual. For instance, if there is no personal benefit to pulling the lever, why should they? Nobody will know that they saved the children and killed a monster, so they can’t even reap the benefits of societal approval. On the other hand, the m*****er will be aware that they chose not to intervene, and they could spin that around and say that they CHOSE to save his life. In doing so, the psychopath also has dirt on the m*****er and can threaten to report him to the authorities unless he complies with their demands. They can literally blackmail him into doing pretty much anything they want, they OWN him now. That’s pretty useful, a lot more useful than one good deed that nobody will ever hear about.

Now most people will say that this would be a pretty messed up choice to make- anybody who would choose to have a m*****er over saving the lives of 5 innocent children is an evil person. Which is correct, it’s objectively evil from the perspective of a human being. But is it the “wrong” choice?

For a normal person with basic human morals, yes. Not pulling the lever is the wrong choice. But “why” is it the wrong choice? Because it’s “evil”? What’s wrong with being evil though, especially if you can benefit from it and get away with it? You don’t know those kids, and you never will. If you choose to save them, you gain nothing and lose nothing. If you choose to kill them, you gain something and lose nothing. If you remove morality and strictly apply logic, choosing to save the children is technically the WRONG choice.

While a normal person sees 5 innocent young lives and 1 evil monster, a psychopath will see 5 empty spaces and 1 infinite bag of resources. A normal person would make the decision to save the children in the interest of preventing loss, not to personally gain. The psychopath is only interested in personal gain, and will not see the loss of 5 innocent lives as a loss to themselves. Therefore, if they were to pull the lever, they would NOT be saving 5 children. They would be destroying something of potential value. Can you honestly tell me you would still pull the lever if the picture looked like this to you too?

Do NOT be fooled by antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) advocates who speak out against the stigma. At the end of the day, this is who they are deep down. While their decisions in this thought experiment may vary in outcome, one thing remains consistent: their choice will NEVER be about saving the children. It will always revolve around the same question they base their entire lives off:

"What can I gain from this?"