Summary Of 'The Psychopath Inside'

The Psychopath Inside by James Fallon successfully educates the common reader through an interesting and completely factual series of events. Although some may call this an autobiography, Fallon describes it as his mother’s, or rather a memoir to good parenting. As I was reading this story, I never had felt overwhelmed by the information or bored because of his excellent way of explaining even the most complicated topics, such as what his PET scan revealed, how the warrior gene (MAOA) affects the human brain, etc. Fallon’s book is not only a page turner, but educational. Fallon writes about himself, his family, and some of the people who assisted in his final diagnosis. All of these people had significant roles in the story, as they were

Another one of his main points refers to the nature-nurture issue. Fallon suggests that upbringing has a significant role in creating the perfect recipe for a psychopathic killer. Certain traumatic incidents have to happen during specific developmental stages in order to potentially raise a killer psychopath. Throughout the story he also explains and develops his Three-Legged Stool theory. This theory illustrates how three elements and how they interact create the basis of Fallon’s psychopathy theory.
“…the three legs are: (1) unusually low functioning of the orbital prefrontal cortex and anterior temporal lobe, including the amygdala, (2) the high-risk variants of several genes, the most
Running head: SUMMER READING ASSIGNMENT 3 famous being the warrior gene, and (3) early childhood emotional, physical, or sexual abuse,” (Fallon 106). One event in this book that stands out is when Fallon realizes that throughout his lineage there are multiple murderers on his father’s side. This event leads to the realization that this must be partially genetic, which points to the warrior gene. A significant quote in the book to me was,
“A key question becomes: How does one know if one lacks empathy? If you lack it, there’s