So they want people with high psychopathic and paranoid tendencies to be at the central offices? I thought the armed forces screened those guys out, why would they want to actively promote those kinds of people as civil servants in the VA?
P.S. Sorry to derail the thread.
Psychopath, no, sociopath, depends if they are effective or not.
Not openly (except for police/Office of Security and Preparedness where it is a selection factor that the candidate be somewhat hot-blooded), but we have found that without the ability to depersonalize matters, people with a normal psychological profile (complete church going blank) will become paralyzed by indecision. For IT types though, I do think ability goes hand in hand with introversion to a certain level. That said, it's not a selection against problem, it's something that you do so that you can get treatment for the potentially 'harmful' issues for neuroses. But having OCD in pharmacy is probably an occupational plus. VA has the same tendencies as the DoD that their upper management exhibit 'leadership' and 'decisiveness', and when you're making decisions about human lives...
But yeah, having a high Pa score keeps me vigilant to conspiracies. I see more of them than what is actually in reality, but I have thought through how to counter even some imaginary ones. As well, my high Si keeps me from accidental disclosure. Perfect for some areas of the DC Beltway. It's that sort of neurosis in small amounts that make for more effective personnel, but too much becomes harmful to everyone. When it looks like it could cross the line (stress), that is what psychiatry is for, to manage neurosis effectively for both personal and societal reasons.
In the military, that's the reason for stress testing, they want to know what personnel will do when deprived of their social and emotional support. We have our own methods for Central Office which are very comparable psychologically to the military physical stress. What do you think FACHE really means in hospital management?
Running with that analysis, Ramsay Bolton is not an effective sociopath as everything thinks he is one. Littlefinger could be an effective sociopath if he did not value his personal agenda so much. Varys is an effective sociopath, because no one thinks he is one, and he does not have any personal agendas that cause him to make stupid mistakes.
And when I say effective sociopathy, I mean what happens when they are removed from the picture. Ramsay dies, his entire matters fall apart, ineffective in the end. Littlefinger is removed, the chaos he caused is not for anything as all of his agendas are personal and selfish, so not effective beyond what he can get right now. But, even if Varys gets killed, he still wins as a strong kingdom does not necessarily require his survival (though living wouldn't hurt). Who do you think the Beltway staff cheer for in GoT? We would love to go around being Ramsay as who wouldn't like
Whom The Gods Would Destroy kind of week, we would like to be Varys in the end as there is a lasting legacy, but we really act like Littlefinger and think we're too clever for everyone else while our personal agendas get in the way of the real work.
The begged question maybe for you all to me is whether I am one (or trying to be one). I lack the sincere belief that I could convince you otherwise, which should give you all the answers you need in my case.
