[IntronExon]

On the other hand, gut reactions to sociopaths and psychopaths are a thing. Too often though people take your view of it, and try to rationalize that feeling away. I’d rather trust my gut and ignore the pretty mediocre studies about unconscious bias that seem hard to replicate, thanks.

[Momquist]

Gut reactions to psychopaths tend to be the opposite: they are charming, and charismatic. Theres's a very good chance that you will like them, from the first impression. That's one of the traits/signs of a psychopath. That's why you shouldn't trust your gut, at least not in this case.

And the experiences of the victims in the article reinforce this point, at least in the first encounters: a courtly gentleman, he was very respectful.

[Joe-Z]

>...a courtly gentleman, he was very respectful.

Actually that's the thing that threw me off. I mean why would a successful, well-adjusted "gentleman" even be in a situation where the best option for him is to live in a shared apartment with a woman considerably younger than him? Sure he gave her a reason, but well, he has to come up with _something_ doesn't he?

To me it seems much more likely that she agreed to him as her new room-mate out of desperate need for another person paying half of the rent.

I find the dismissal of "gut feeling" in these answers a bit ridiculous (when it comes to non-professional arrangements). Sure, you might be biased, but if you're not feeling comfortable living with someone don't move in with them!

[Momquist]

> I mean why would a successful, well-adjusted "gentleman" even be in a situation where the best option for him is to live in a shared apartment with a woman considerably younger than him? Sure he gave her a reason, but well, he has to come up with _something_ doesn't he?

But isn't this your logic/rational mind kicking in? I think you're making my point that trusting gut feelings (a well-adjusted gentleman) isn't reliable, and taking some time to calmly and rationally assess the situation (the quick background check the victim's mother did for example) is a much better alternative.

You're right that being in a desperate need for a roommate, for financial reasons, may have been a major factor here. But again, psychopaths are manipulative and able to choose their victims and spot their weaknesses. Bachman may well have sensed this was a great opportunity, and pushed the right buttons (immediately writing a check).

[adrianmsmith]

I'm not sure I necessarily agree with this.

When I was 35 I was getting divorced, and for simplicity, I moved into a shared apartment with a bunch of students (as I had to pay for the apartment with my wife, I didn't want to pay rent for two full apartments at the same time). I was a professional software Java developer at the time.

I appreciate 35 isn't 55, and I appreciate Java software developer isn't successful lawyer, but I can still see it happening even if I was older and in an even more lucrative profession. I mean people do have strange times in their lives, and not everyone is rich just because they're successful (e.g. divorce, health issues, downturn in the job market, bad decisions, etc.)

[Joe-Z]

Your situation seems considerably less weird too me though. Another important difference is you moved in with „a bunch“ of people whereas the woman in the article was alone. I‘d sure as hell not want to be on my own if it turns out my new 35-year-old Java-developer roommate is a lunatic after all :D

[oceanghost]

No. It's in the eyes. If you know what you look for, psychopaths eyes are different. I can't explain it in physical terms, but when I look into a psychopaths eyes, there's nothing there.

Also, psychopaths don't have a startle reflex (but sociopaths do). So, drop a dish and see if they jump.

[IntronExon]

That’s a common myth. In fact the reaction tends to be highly negative, but subsequent charming behavior leads people to ignore their initial reaction.

http://drreidmeloy.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/2002_Auton...

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/criminal-minds/201301/d...

In other words, a gut reaction isn’t proof of anything, and neither is a lack of a gut reaction, BUT... when it happens, and when it’s a high risk situation, listen to your gut.

[tacon]

The Gift of Fear is all about listening to your "gut". We have a very highly evolved ability to take in the high bandwidth data from our environment and decide "danger", but living in large anonymous social groups can lead us to suppress this feeling.

The Gift of Fear and Other Survival Signals that Protect Us From Violence

https://www.amazon.com/Other-Survival-Signals-Protect-Violen...

[jessaustin]

Yes in this instance false negatives are very bad. It's better to reject ten perfectly acceptable roommates than to accept one crazy ax-murderer roommate.

[mrunkel]

not for those ten potential roommates it's not. :)

Is it really rational to reject those 10 roommates for no good reason to avoid the 1 in a million hellish roommates?

[dmurray]

You'd have to reject 9 of them anyway, assuming you only have one room to let. It's not a big deal to reject all 10.

[snvzz]

>not for those ten potential roommates it's not. :)

But you're doing what makes sense for yourself. Why would you consider a random stranger above yourself in such a situation?