I apologize for starting this discussion, but it is quite interesting.

I feel i must add my anecdotal testimony. I've gotten the opportunity to teach high school for a few years, my mom was a grade school teacher her entire career, and my grandparents owned a preschool when i was a kid. So I have gotten to know a lot of teachers from every level of education. I also spent far too many years earning my degree while transferring amongst 3 different schools.

I can't say that i have encountered a single teacher that really concerns me of being a psychopath. I am not a psychologist, and I'm sure it can be well hidden. But in my experience, teachers only become teachers because they really care and want to help other people.

Regardless, this discussion is purely hypothetical. Unless we want to start a national registry for psychopaths/sociopaths.

Did you even read my comment before posting 9 paragraphs? I didn’t say it was batshit insane to claim that there are sociopathic teachers. I said it was batshit insane to compare the rates of sociopathy in teachers to the rates among politicians, ceo’s, and police. Which it is.

You've clearly not read any of mine.

This is now the third time that I've explained why people are "lumped in" on that list. And that is that everyone on that list exerts control, or strong influence over other people. (Cops and politicians, the general public. CEO's their employees, and the public that interacts with their company or is impacted by it, Teachers... their students.)

That is the thread which lumps them together. Having that authority over others is possibly what attracts psychopaths/sociopaths/NPD types to jobs like being a cop, being a politician, or pastor or CEO. Or, possibly, yes, being a teacher.

You'll also notice, that that list of careers only really includes the sorts of jobs that are- or have historically been- viewed in a positive light. As honorable, or 'pillars of the community'. I'm guessing you would generally describe teachers as "selfless" and "caring", maybe even "highly empathic"; but, uhm. not to put too fine a point on it, before his arrest Dennis Rader would have been described exactly as that. he was a Church President, a Boy Scout Leader, and an AF vet. Of the people that knew him, it was almost impossible to believe that Dennis Rader was the BTK killer.

So yes. I would be very interested to see a study that looks at teachers and how many are psychopaths; as well as everyone else on that list. I'm going to assume teachers fall somewhere above a baseline of the rest of the population; and somewhere below the other professions on the list. I suggested Librarians as a sort of control group, because they also happen to be a career path that people look at as largely positive or honorable; but lacks any real authority over others.