Lying as naturally as they breathe

Dealing with the office psycho: The three main traits usually ascribed to psychopathic/sociopathic personality types are they are very egocentric, they have no empathy for others and they are incapable of feeling remorse or guilt. ... One of the common strategies a workplace psycho will use is to isolate you. ... one of the most important things you can do ... is to recognise them for what they are. Most of us are basically decent people and we tend to assume other people are as well. Psychopaths and sociopaths use that to their advantage. What we regard as a conscience, they regard as a weakness to be exploited. ... These people are not just jerks ... One way to tell if a troublesome person is actually a psychopath is their propensity for lying.

One does wonder how such people get promoted and keep positions of power. I have a nagging suspicion that the corporation as such encourages sociopathic behavior, and attracts psychopaths. Whereas in older times they would be killed in self-defense or in a duel, the modern world has given them a safe haven to manipulate and persecute decent people, while lying with every breath they take.

Fast Company has a very detailed article: But how can we recognize psychopathic types? Hare has revised his Psychopathy Checklist (known as the PCL-R, or simply "the Hare") to make it easier to identify so-called subcriminal or corporate psychopaths. He has broken down the 20 personality characteristics into two subsets, or "factors." Corporate psychopaths score high on Factor 1, the "selfish, callous, and remorseless use of others" category. It includes eight traits: glibness and superficial charm; grandiose sense of self-worth; pathological lying; conning and manipulativeness; lack of remorse or guilt; shallow affect (i.e., a coldness covered up by dramatic emotional displays that are actually playacting); callousness and lack of empathy; and the failure to accept responsibility for one's own actions. I wonder how one would detect these traits during an interview.