The Joker

When I hear the word psychopath, I think of the Joker. For those of you who do not know who the Joker is, you’re clearly illiterate and describing him wouldn’t help. But, on the off chance that someone exists out there who is capable of reading, and has somehow managed to stay oblivious to the magic, mystery, and magnificence that is the Batman comic series, I’ll elucidate:

The Joker is batman’s arch nemesis. Since his introduction in Batman #1, he has cared about nothing else than the destruction of Batman and Gotham City. He wears a purple jacket, has dyed green hair, and a permanent smile drawn on his face in blood-red makeup.

He is INSANE. But, is he a psychopath? A new study by neuroscientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison suggests no.

In the study, prisoners of the Wisconsin Department of Corrections were analyzed using two methods: Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI), which depicts brain structural integrity, and fMRI scanning, which utilizes blood flow to measure neural activity. Half of the prisoners had been previously diagnosed as psychopaths, and the other half had been diagnosed as “normal.”

Compared to the “normal” prisoners, the brains of the psychopathic prisoners had significantly less neural communication (fMRI) and white matter connections (DTI) between the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, the brain area typically associated with empathy and guilt, and the amygdala, which is typically associated with fear and anxiety. As the author’s of the study put it “"Those two structures in the brain [ventromedial prefrontal cortex and amygdala], which are believed to regulate emotion and social behavior, seem to not be communicating as they should."

But this finding illustrates only part of the psychopathic mind. Lacking the ability to think and feel in a socially acceptable manner explains why psychopaths feel no remorse for their actions, but some neurological phenomenon must explain what motivates their criminal actions. That something is dopamine. Another recent study by the National Institute of Health found psychopathic brains to possess a hyperactive dopamine reward system which is thought to be the reason a psychopath will “keep seeking a reward at any cost…” no matter if that means indulging in “…violent crime, recidivism, and substance abuse.”

So, is the Joker a psychopath? My answer is no. The Joker only possesses half the ingredients. He’s impulsive and he’ll commit and recommit atrocities, regardless of the consequences; he clearly has a hyperactive dopamine reward system. The Joker is out to prove a point, however. With every crime he commits, he tries to turn the population of Gotham City on one another. The Joker needs to prove to Gotham City , the world, and himself, that all of human kind is as evil as he is. A psychopath commits a crime, and then doesn’t see what he/she did wrong or why he/she should feel guilty. The Joker knows he did something wrong, he just has an agenda. At the end of the day, when the Joker looks himself in the mirror, he feels guilty, but he knows what he did was necessary to prove his point.

The Joker is not a psychopath, he’s just a crazily determined murderer/robber/arsonist.