+
upworthy
Family

Want to get rich? Forget what Hollywood says; acting like a psychopath doesn't pay.

If you want to make it to the top, you've got to embrace your dark side, right? Turns out, maybe not.

If "American Psycho," "House of Cards," and "The Wolf of Wall Street" taught us anything, it's that the key to financial success is a mixture of callousness, manipulation, and a soupçon of narcissism. But while psychopaths make excellent television characters... 

[rebelmouse-image 19529790 dam="1" original_size="400x260" caption="GIF from "House of Cards"/Netflix." expand=1]GIF from "House of Cards"/Netflix.


...it turns out that in the real world, they're not as successful as one might think.

A new study of hedge fund managers found that, contrary to popular wisdom, psychopathic tendencies might actually make you suck at your job.

Leanne ten Brinke is a researcher at the University of Colorado and a former forensic psychologist who got interested in psychopaths after a conversation with a colleague. They couldn't agree about what makes someone a successful leader, so they decided to put certain personality traits to the test.

To figure this out, ten Brinke's team scrounged up 101 recorded interviews with hedge fund managers; rated each one with an eye for attributes that approached the "dark triad" of psychopathic, narcissistic, and Machiavellian tendencies; and compared the final results with assessments of each manager's career success.

The conventional thinking might be that more callous risk-takers would be the most successful, right? But the more psychopathic personalities actually ended up generating about 15% less money for their shareholders. And the more psychopath-like the managers got, the worse they did.

While this might go against what Hollywood tells us, these results lined up with previous research ten Brinke and her colleagues did on U.S. senators, which revealed that darker personalities attracted fewer co-sponsors for potential bills.

In general, psychopathic tendencies don't make for good leaders.

"They're not very good team players," said ten Brinke. "They tend to make their subordinates' lives kind of miserable. Which doesn't exactly bring out the best in people." While they can talk the talk, when it comes to actually producing results, things fall apart.

"They look really confident and like they're very capable, but when you actually look at the performance, it tends to be poor," ten Brinke said.

This has implications for anyone looking to promote an employee, elect a leader, or work under a new boss.

Television might make us think that a company's success relies on employing someone like Gordon Gekko, but as ten Brinke noted, "When we have the chance to choose our leaders, we should check our assumptions."

So what did make someone a better leader? There wasn't a single trait, but if you zoom out, ten Brinke said that her previous senator study suggested that good old fashioned virtues like courage, wisdom, and a sense of justice win out.

Score one for the good guys.

A pitbull stares at the window, looking for the mailman.


Dogs are naturally driven by a sense of purpose and a need for belonging, which are all part of their instinctual pack behavior. When a dog has a job to do, it taps into its needs for structure, purpose, and the feeling of contributing to its pack, which in a domestic setting translates to its human family.

But let’s be honest: In a traditional domestic setting, dogs have fewer chores they can do as they would on a farm or as part of a rescue unit. A doggy mom in Vancouver Island, Canada had fun with her dog’s purposeful uselessness by sharing the 5 “chores” her pitbull-Lab mix does around the house.

Keep ReadingShow less

A group of men look at paperwork.

The massive changes to the American workplace caused by the COVID-19 pandemic invited many to reconsider their professional lives. This reevaluation has led people to push for improved work-life balance, and many now are looking for work to provide a greater sense of meaning and purpose.

When the world returned to work after COVID, many believed they deserved to be treated better by their employers. This resulted in many taking a break from the workforce or changing professions altogether. It also helped usher in a more comfortable culture for calling out companies that don’t treat their employees respectfully.

Recently, a group of thousands came together on Reddit to expose the common mistruths that people often hear at the workplace. It all started when a Redditor named PretenstoKnow asked: "What's the most common lie employers tell their employees?" And over 2,600 people responded.

Keep ReadingShow less
Family

Mom calls out teacher who gave her son a 'zero' grade for not providing class with supplies

Her viral video sparked a debate as to whether or not providing school supplies should be mandatory for parents.

@shanittanicole/TikTok

A zero grade for not providing school supplies?

The debate as to whether or not parents should supply classroom supplies is not new. But as prices continue to rise, parents are growing more baffled as to how they can be expected by teachers to provide all the various glue sticks, colored pencils, rulers and other various items the incoming students might need.

What’s even more perplexing, however, is penalizing the children of parents who won’t (or can’t) provide them.

This was the case for Shanitta Nicole, who discovered her son received a zero grade in his new school for not bringing school supplies for the entire classroom.
Keep ReadingShow less
Photo Credit: William Fortunado via Canva

Amanda Seals breaks down history of DAP handshake

We've all seen people do it. Anywhere from basketball players on television to kids meeting up at the skating rink. Even former president Barack Obama when greeting a mixed group of men gave "DAP" to the Black men in the group, yet switched to a firm handshake when greeting the other men.

It was almost like watching the president code switch, but with body language, in a move that many Black Americans recognize as a gesture of acceptance and comradery. But did you know that there's an actual history behind the DAP that has nothing to do with looking cool? Social justice educator and actress, Amanda Seales, recently re-shared a clip from "The Real" where she was diving into the history of the handshake.

Seales, who has a master's degree in African American Studies from Columbia University, was also admittedly surprised when she learned there was a deeper meaning to the gesture.

Keep ReadingShow less
Health

Neuroscientist reveals perfect amount of time to spend on social media for your mental health

Over several weeks, the participants felt less loneliness, depression and anxiety.

@rachelle_summers/TikTok

Anyone can use this checklist.

There are pretty clear cut guidelines on how much screen time kids should have, but for adults…not so much. And perhaps it’s this lack of clarity that leaves people to go on full blown digital detoxes or get off social media entirely.

And while there is certainly a case to be made for that decision, for many of us, that isn’t quite feasible—especially in certain lines of work.

Luckily, according to neuroscientist Rachelle Summers, there is a way we can still be on social media, without being subjected to its negative side effects.
Keep ReadingShow less
Photo by Kats Weil on Unsplash

Ready for a refreshingly wholesome story?

The stereotypical image we get of bachelor parties is a booze-filled evening of depravity and bad choices. Followed of course by a massive hangover…and some regrets.

And granted, there are plenty of viral videos to show that this is sometimes the case. But there are also plenty of grooms who don’t see it as their “last night as a free man.” On the contrary, they see it as an opportunity to simply celebrate the next chapter with close friends.

Case and point: a husband-to-be named Luke, who apparently couldn’t stop “gushing” about his bride, Sam. This, according to a woman also named Sam, who happened to be at the bar Luke was having his bachelor party at.
Keep ReadingShow less