Any Sociopathic Tendencies?

With the recent blanket coverage in the UK a pair of horrific child abuse cases warrant, a recent book called The Sociopath Next Door (by Martha Stout) has received a fair amount of analytical airtime.  One particular tenet is that you cannot spot a sociopath because they appear so normal whilst the ice running through their veins hides such an alienatingly different value system.

Reading said analysis, I’ve realised that there is one trait of a sociopath that appears remarkably similar to the best cold-callers I’ve known.

It is that any slight, criticism or abuse simply bounces straight off them.  They are oblivious to any derogatory actions of others aimed in their direction.

Such mentality is utterly essential to cold-call success.  People that rise to the top never take ‘no’ personally.  They have a unflinching ability to blank out any knock-back within seconds of it derailing them.  No hurdle is permitted to distract them from where they are determined to go.

Having identified this, it now makes me feel that my future recruitment of telephone terriers will be made easier if I can cunningly reveal whether this singular trait exists.

Whilst this trait is only one of many such a person may exhibit, there are a couple of questions on this checklist that you may feel could open a window into the trait I’m talking about isolating here.  And judging by the other questions, you could well save yourself a bit of trouble if the other sociopathic traits are evident.