"This American Life" Response

The episode of "This American Life" that I chose to listen to was episode 436: The Psychopath Test, which originally aired on May 27, 2011. The overall theme of this episode was mental health. Each of the acts of this episode connects back to the idea of mental health and how it relates to the use of the "Psychopath Test," also known as the PCL-R (Psychopathy Check List Revised).

This episode has three "acts" in addition to the prologue. The prologue introduces the listener to the Psychopath Test and tells the listener that the staff of "This American Life" decided to take the test for fun. Act One features NPR Science Correspondent Alix Spiegel. Spiegel tells the story of Robert Dixon, a convict who is held in a maximum security prison for a crime he committed when he was much younger. He was found guilty of acting as an accomplice to murder and also had a history of criminal activity. Dixon appears to be a changed man and desires to get out of prison and turn his life around, but because of his score on the PCL-R, he is unlikely to ever get parole. This serves as one example of how the PCL-R is used in the justice system. Spiegel then switches gears and talks about the creation of the PCL-R. Bob Hare is the creator of the test and Spiegel outlines how the idea came about and Hare's fears of how the PCL-R might be misused in the criminal justice system. In Act Two, which is an excerpt from Jon Ronson's book The Psychopath Test, Ronson studies whether or not successful corporate leaders can be psychopaths. He does this by visiting the CEO of Sunbeam, Al Dunlap. He gives Dunlap a quick version of the test and finds the results to be a bit disturbing. In Act Three, the psychologist who administered the PCL-R to the staff of "This American Life" reveals the results of the test for everyone.

The segment of this episode that I found to be the most intriguing was Act Two, when Ronson tells the story of how he interviewed Dunlap and the results of his findings about corporate leaders being psychopaths. The story was incredibly engaging, especially for listeners who are interested in psychology and personality studies. The central conflict was mostly Ronson vs. Dunlap. Ronson was very nervous when proposing to Dunlap the idea that he might possibly be a psychopath. He was nervous to ask Dunlap about the personality traits that the PCL-R outlines because he was afraid that he might upset or offend Dunlap. The characters in this segment were interesting because Ronson really lets the listener inside his head. Listeners get a feel for all the different emotions that Ronson was experiencing during this very nervewracking interview. Hearing about the emotions and reactions helps the listener relate to Ronson because it portrays him as a normal human being. Dunlap is also an interesting character because the background information that is given about how he constantly fired tons of people makes him seem brutal and emotionless. This causes the listener to want to find out whether or not Dunlap is, in fact, a psychopath. We find out that Dunlap tells Ronson "funny" stories about how he has fired people with clever one-liners and such. When Ronson asks Dunlap about the character traits outlined in the PCL-R, we find that Dunlap turned most of the psychopathic traits around into things that he considered to be positive leadership traits. Dunlap's general outlook on life, based on the way he interacted with Ronson, is just so different from the average person's outlook that it is intriguing. Of course, this outlook is what makes him successful, and what could make him a psychopath. To keep the listeners engaged, this story is told in a conversational tone with inflection and emotion attached to it. Music is also used to break it up so the listener does not get bored. Overall, this podcast was very interesting and engaging.