James Fallon is a Neuroscientist at the UC Irvine School of Medicine, he first began studying the brains of murderers, rapists, and other criminals in the mid-1990s, when his university first had access to a PET brain-imaging machine. However Fallon did not start focusing on the area of psychopathology research until around 10 years ago, when he discovered something that made him re-think his entire career focus.

In 2005, Fallon started to notice a pattern in the scans of some criminals who were thought to be psychopaths, which led him to develop this theory: All of the suspected psychopaths appeared to have low levels of activity in a region of the brain located towards its centre at the base of the frontal and temporal lobes. Scientists believe that this region, called the orbital cortex, is involved in regulating our emotions and impulses and also plays an important role in morality and aggression.

One day, Fallon's attention was brought to a section of brain scans from a completely unrelated Alzheimer's study. As he was going through the scans of healthy participants, they all looked normal and nothing came up as worrying or unexpected until he came across on which as indeed showing low activity levels in the orbital cortex. Just like the scan of criminal he had previously analysed.

The identity of the brains in the scans had deliberately been masked so as not to create biased results. But Fallon couldn't leave it alone. He recalled later in an interview, "I said, we've got to check the (source) of that scan,"

Un-expectantly, the scan was not just a random unknown participant it was in fact a scan of his own brain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When Fallon saw that his own scan fit the pattern of brain activity he had found in the psychopaths, he started to question his theory and the rest of his previous research. He thought to himself, "I'm okay, I'm not a bad guy."

However what was probably most surprising of all was the reaction from his friends and family. His wife was relatively calm and Fallon recalled in a later interview that she states “It wasn't that surprising”

But it wasn't just his wife who reacted this way. Friends and colleagues suggested the same ideas, that he was "kind of not there emotionally," Fallon recalls. Even his daughter agreed, as a young child, she painted her dad as a "dark figure." Fallon's psychiatrist friends described things he had done in the past that they said showed a profound lack of empathy (one of the tell-tale signs of psychopathic tendencies), like skipping a friend's funeral because he thought it might be boring. His friends and family agreed. "I realized people had been telling me something for years, I just didn't put it together," Fallon said.

It's important to be aware that scientists are still researching psychopathology and they don't have all the conclusions yet, nevertheless it is clear the people like Fallon have a connection with the world that's very different from most others.  Therefore, Fallon started looking to his genetics for answers. It turns out he has a gene that's been linked, in several studies, with an increased risk of violent and aggressive behaviour – the Warrior gene.

 

Psychopaths are often described as having a lack of empathy. They may understand when others are in need or in pain, but they don't feel empathy the way most people do. Fallon can identify with that. "I don't get the interpersonal warm and fuzzies," he expressed in an interview.

But simply having the MAOA-L gene isn't enough to make someone a psychopath. The environment someone is exposed to is likely very important too. Fallon thinks that the reason he turned out to be a relatively normal, nonviolent person, despite having this gene, is that he had a good upbringing and childhood. But growing up in a harsher and perhaps more violent environment could have tipped him towards a darker path activating psychopathic tendencies "If the brain sees a hostile world, the only way to survive is to be hostile," Fallon said, whereas "if it sees a normal world, it will be normal."

Even though Fallon realized he shared some of the same genes, brain activity, and behaviours observed in other psychopaths, he decided to do some experimenting in his own life by reflecting on his previous behaviour. He began acting more conscientious and sympathetic, even though it didn’t come natural. For example, he started doing little things like opening doors for people, and attending events like weddings and funerals, which he had never bothered to do before. Fallon reflected "Maybe if I just acted the part, even if I don't feel it at an emotional level ... it would be a good place to start, just to be a good companion and a good friend…And so, that's where I am now."

Fallon found that one side effect of acting nice is that it slowed down his ability to think and talk quickly, because he's constantly asking himself what a good guy would do. He also finds life much more tiring, he said.

Still, the fact Fallon's even making these efforts in spite of himself suggests that maybe he's a better person than he gives himself credit for.

 

And some research supports this idea. A 2002 study followed a large group of male children from birth to adulthood who were abused or maltreated during childhood. The study found that boys who had a particular version of the MAOA gene grew up to be more antisocial, compared with those who had a different version of the gene.

 

These are some of the factors in childhood which are possibly responsible for psychopathic tendencies:

• Sexual abuse/ Physical abuse

• Emotional abuse

• Being bullied

• Neglect

Emotional or behavioural factors that might play a part include:

• Truanting or Bullying others

• Deliberate self-harm

• Prolonged periods of misery such as depression

• Running away from home

• Being expelled/suspended

 

At around the same time that Fallon was uncovering his own genetic code he also learned that his great-grandfather, Ezra Cornell, had allegedly murdered his mother in 1673. That same side of the family also produced over half a dozen other alleged murderers, including the infamous Lizzie Borden, a young woman who was tried for the brutal axe murders of her father and stepmother in 1892.