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The Wisdom of Psychopaths
In this engrossing journey into the lives of psychopaths and their infamously crafty behaviors, the renowned psychologist Kevin Dutton reveals that there is a...
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Editor's note: The following is an excerpt from Extreme Fear: The Science of Your Mind in Danger by Jeff Wise, published on December 8 by Palgrave Macmillan (Scientific American is a Macmillan publication). Extreme Fear explores the neural underpinnings of this powerful and primitive emotion by relating instances in which people were forced to act under duress and presenting the latest findings from cognitive science. In the following passage from the chapter
entitled "Superhuman" a seemingly ordinary man performs an extraordinary feat of strength to rescue a cyclist who has been run over by a car.
Here's how it is: one minute, you're going through your daily routine, only half paying attention. And the next you're sucked into a vivid, intense world, where time seems to move slower, colors are brighter, sounds more perceptible, as though the whole universe has suddenly come into focus.
It was about 8:30 P.M. on a warm summer evening in Tucson. Tom Boyle, Jr., was sitting in the passenger's seat of his pickup truck, his wife Elizabeth at the wheel, waiting to pull out into traffic from the shopping mall where they'd just had dinner. The Camaro ahead of them hit the gas, spun his wheels, and jerked out onto the avenue with a squeal of rubber. "Oh my God," Elizabeth said. "Do you see that?"
Boyle glanced up to see a shower of red sparks flying up from beneath the chassis of the Camaro. And something else: A bike, folded up from impact. The Camaro had hit a cyclist, and the rider was pinned underneath the car. Boyle threw open the door of the truck and started running after the car.
For a few gruesome seconds, the Camaro plunged on, dragging along the rider, 18-year-old Kyle Holtrust, with it. One of Holtrust's legs was pinned between chassis of the car and the frame of his bike, the other jammed between the bike and the asphalt. After 20 or 30 feet, the Camaro slowed and stopped. Holtrust screamed in agony, pounding on the side of the car with his free hand.
Without stopping to think, Boyle reached under the frame of the car and lifted. With a sound of groaning metal, the chassis eased upward a few inches. "Mister, mister, higher, higher," Holtrust screamed.
Boyle braced himself, took a deep breath, and heaved. The front end lifted a few more inches. "'OK, it's off me," they boy called out, his voice tight with pain. "But I can't move. Get me out!" The driver of the car, 40-year-old John Baggett, pulled Holtrust free. At last, about 45 seconds after he'd first heaved the car upward, Boyle set it back down.
The biker was badly hurt, in a lot of pain, and frightened. Blood was pouring out of his wounds. Boyle knelt down and wrapped the young man in his arms, comforting him until the police and fire department arrived.
The local media celebrated Boyle's feat of compassion. The YMCA gave him an award. Newspapers and TV stations interviewed him. The fanfare flattered him and he felt extremely proud of himself. Yet to this day there's something about that evening that he can't figure out. It's no mystery to him why he did what he did—"I would be such a horrible human being to watch someone suffer like that and not even try to help," he says—but he can't quite figure out how.
"There's no way I could lift that car right now," he says.
Boyle, it should be pointed out, is no pantywaist. He carries 280 pounds on a six-foot-four-inch frame. But think about this: The heaviest barbell that Boyle ever dead-lifted weighed 700 pounds. The world record is 1,008 pounds. A stock Camaro weighs 3,000 pounds. Even factoring leverage, something extraordinary was going on that night.
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30 Comments
Add CommentBefore making conclusions about the superhuman strength we should first take the actual weight of the auto at the point where it was lifted.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe analysis in this article is poor and sensational, NOT scientific.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisA stock Camaro weighs 3,000 lbs. He did not lift the entire car off the ground - so it was much less than 3,000 lbs.
Figure 60-40 front - rear weight distribution and that is 1,800 lbs for the front. If he did not list BOTH front wheels off the ground he was, maybe, lifting about 900 lbs (less for the rear) - well within the reach of a human.
Mr. Boyle deserves congratulations and it was a great action, but not superhuman.
Reading the whole article, the author is quite clear that people don't suddenly get "superhuman" strength, but that the fear response can add 20-30% to an individual's strength.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAre people getting caught up by the fact that he didn't do that math to determine the exact weight that was lifted? He states several times on the 2nd page of the article that you aren't going to become superhuman - only that the fear response can help you surpass your conscious, non-fear limits.
It was not fear, but a drug, obtained from the mushroom, amanita muscaria, what former Gallia and Siberia inhabitants used when entering combats, as it increases both musce tone and aggresivity. The magic potion well known to the french comic character Asterix readers was probably this. Besides its very narrow margin between desired effect and lethal toxicity, as it hits directly the heart pacing system, and also produces blurred vision, the habitude didn't last very long, even when some days people drunk urine from those being given the drug to have the effect of the drug remnants in urine. The current placement of garlands in the Xmas trees is somehow of a rememberance of times when people put the guts of intended trespassers in front of their territory, hanging on a tree, trying to dissuade others from entering their land. Is this the reason why trees were so important in the old cultures?. Really those were very hard times!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMr.Boyle is certainly a strong man and what he did is not only amazing but very worthy of applause and congratulation. Enormous satisfaction derives from being able to help someone in distress. The article is a little sensationalist but does not miss the point all together. In situations of extreme urgency and danger the body reaches levels we were not previously aware of.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisEvery rock climber has experienced this adrenaline rush, and is, in fact, one reason people climb.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt usually kicks in after a moment of intense panic when you've wandered into a nontrivial situation, and suddenly you become calm, everything needed to be done becomes clear, colors become intensely vivid, and any injuries you might incur go unnoticed.
It would be interesting to know how the absolute strength of a human is determined. Zatsiorsky has apparently come up with a calculation, but is it correct? I have no basis at all for saying it may not be, but apparently he has never found someone who has exceeded absolute...Perhaps its because what ever extraordinary feat someone performs is absolute. But is it? Suppose someone has occasion to perform 3 such feats in their lifetime. Will their absolute remain steady? Will strength always reach the need of the situation? Obviously the second question is false since there are limits to our physical world. But I wonder if it is possible that the extra ordinary feat someone performs one day might be exceeded the following day if needed. So it begs the question, how do we determine absolute? Perhaps the term superhuman isn't quite accurate, since clearly people who perform these feats are human. But they are certainly extra ordinary.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this'Fear' is not the right term for the situations described in the article. It is the frenzy which makes a person super-human like character. Fear most often paralyzes the body.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"'Fear' is not the right term for the situations described in the article. It is the frenzy which makes a person super-human like character. Fear most often paralyzes the body."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisTrue...Until the adrenaline kicks in, overriding the paralyzing effects of fear.
I personally feel this article fell flat far from scientific though entertaining I am 6'4 260 and 30 I lifted weights played football basketball and more in highschool There were times when I could only bench 280 and there were times when I was hype when I could lift 340 my max Ive gotten in the zone many times and I know if my life was threatened im sure I could lift more I have lifted a ford escort on the passenger side to where the tires came off the ground when my dad was under it and the jack slipped only for a couple seconds but I know that limit isnt real when you stop believing you have a limit you can for a second do some amazing things
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI read a story some years ago about an incident that occurred during the Italian campaign in WW2. Four U.S. soldiers were riding along a narrow mountain trail in a jeep when they started taking mortar rounds. The road was too narrow to turn around so they hopped out of the jeep, each one grabbed a corner of the jeep, turned it around, hopped back in and took off. When they got back to their company, they were telling their buddies about their experience and got laughed at when they told about picking up the jeep. They proceeded to show how they did it and, lo and behold, they couldn't pick it up. It's amazing what an incentive getting shot at can be.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThere are dimensions of our being that transcend the human and the limitations of the mind. Heroic abilities can be unleashed when the mind and its limited perceptions of self can be superseded either through disciplined training or, as in this case; the focus is shifted away from the self to the self of another in peril. A higher dimension of our being is enabled and thus the greater clarity, calm and strength. It has nothing to do with the physical stature or sex of the individual.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis is not a fear, or "fight or flight" reaction, nor is it an adrenaline rush. An example of disciplined training to overcome the limitations of mind (the mind is not the brain), is in the martial arts. A so-called ordinary individual can train the mind to not accept physical barriers and limitations. What appears as the physical breaking of bricks is the higher energies dispersing the molecules of material substance.
Another example is the spiritual training of a mystic whether of the Eastern or Western traditions. The mystic knows that he is not his body but that he transcends his body. He disciplines himself to maintain contact with the true nature of his being in spirit. We are spiritual beings (souls) temporarily housed in physical bodies.
There are four dimensions of the physical realm with four corresponding bodies. As St Paul said; there are bodies celestial and bodies terrestrial. The etheric (fire) body is closest to the spiritual dimensions. It is our memory body where the records of all of our experiences are recorded. The mental (air) body is the cognitive body that we call our mind (it is our lower mind or carnal mind). The emotional body (water) is the body of desire which should reflect the desires of God but which has become polluted with base desires. The physical (earth) body is the one we most associate with as being "us".
The etheric body has organs just as the physical does. They are called chakras (wheels): whirling energy vortices that act as step down transformers for the energy of God from Spirit. Within our Heart of hearts, the Secret Chamber of the Heart chakra, God has placed a replica of Himself as an Unfed Threefold Flame of Power (blue, Father), Wisdom (yellow, Son), and Love (pink, Holy Spirit). This flame is our "portal" to the kingdom of God that Jesus said was within us. A Crystal Cord (Silver Stream, River of Life) connects us to our Higher Mind, the Christ Mind that St Paul admonished us to "put on", and to the Presence of God individualized for us.
http://carltonnewman.blogspot.com
A simpler explanation sans all the religious mumbo jumbo would be that martial arts experts and others who train themselves to overcome what most of us see as physical and mental barriers, are merely teaching themselves how to tap into the adrenaline/flight/fight states at will.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI had an MGB fall on me while I was working on the suspension in my garage.. In my panic I lifted it off of myself and slid out from under it. I weighed all of 160 when it happened.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis guy was extremely strong already. A 700 # deadlift for a tall guy 6'4" Is a huge feat. Why is he using this example anyway? What about the hiker who hoisted a #400 pound rock off himself with one arm. That's definitely more then his hypothisized 30% strength increase.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisi can trap into the adrenaline at will i learned this over many years be accident lol i didnt even know it was adrenaline till like 2 years ago but overall its pretty cool if you could summon it at will
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSome news articles at the time (November 2006) state that he lifted the car from the side. Not disagreeing, just adding a little information.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAlso, the best information I could find said that Kyle Holtrust was expected to make a full recovery from his injuries.
WHAT? in gods name are you talking about?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYou really took the time to bash Obama over an article about the Science of Fear? YOU scare the hell out of me. What is wrong with you? Have you been diagnosed yet?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisgorpet: He gave the numbers. Do the math.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thiscandide: The magazine is Scientific American - hence the dumbed down content so you can understand it. If it wasn't targeted to Americans it would undoubtedly be more precise but "Truthiness" is the American way.
jgrosay: Lay off the drugs or get help. A paragraph is supposed to have 1 topic not three or more. Try being coherent for a change. The article is about the impact of the fear response, not about promoting drug abuse.
There are many stimulants that increase short term physical performance. It isn't limited to mushrooms. I would give you a list but I'm already concerned about your current mental health.
Quinn the Eskimo: The article was about the impact of fear on physical performance. It was not about the fact that you are disgruntled that the Republicans couldn't find an actual Republican to run for president so they lost as they deserved.
All you are doing is making a joke out of yourself and the politics you support.
Just a side note - don't blame me, I voted for Ron Paul.
carltonn22: What a large number of words to use to be a spam troll. You could simply have said "I have a website. Visit it so I can make money off of you". Then you wouldn't waste so much space.
Also, if there are no limits to human performance then go climb Everest naked. That will convince me. Until then I remain skeptical.
Shinson: Thanks for the update on Kyle!
I have experienced these moments. I did not feel afraid. I was however highly motivated to survive. Or, in one situation to get to my children in an earthquake. And, the description of vivid colors, intensely clear vision, and time dilation are all quite correct. How this happened I haven't a clue. Was I "superhuman"? I don't think so. I did feel intensely alive afterwards, not tired or depressed. It's very primal.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thiscarltonn22: What a large number of words to use to be a spam troll. You could simply have said "I have a website. Visit it so I can make money off of you". Then you wouldn't waste so much space.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIf you had taken the time to read my blog instead of accusing me you would know that it is not about me but about empowering you (or maybe not you but those who are the children of God who have been denied the knowledge of who they are). For far too long, the fallen angels and their counterfeit creation that Jesus called the "tares among the wheat" have been running amok on the earth. They are "intellectuals" who do not have access to the Mind of Christ but a computerized intellect devoid of spirit and the Common Sense of the Christ Mind that is the birthright of every soul of God's Creation.
There is a Science of the Spirit that is accessible through contact with the Higher (Christ) Mind via the Unfed Threefold Flame of God within the Heart of hearts of the children of God. This knowledge and the awareness that it exists outrages the fallen angels and tares who have done everything in their limited power to keep it suppressed. They use ridicule, name calling, denial, criticism, condemnation and judgment, and outlandish statements and charges; whatever they can to obfuscate the TRUTH. Why? Because the TRUTH shall make us free of their tyranny. It is not for nothing that they are called "the accusers of the brethren".
Yes there are Google ads on my blog (not a website), which I do not endorse and some of which actually contradict what I have to offer, in the hope that it makes my blog more accessible in the ranking systems that are used (which frankly I do not understand). I would hope the reading public uses discernment. What I have said there on my blog is far beyond any price. I did not spend over 37 years of my life gaining this knowledge to make merchandise of it. I have links that will help the reader further their knowledge if they wish to pursue it; I have no financial interest in any of them. My intent is to help free the children of God from the tyranny of ignorance imposed upon them.
I welcome questions and an open debate. That is what I feel this forum should be for. When I read supposed "authorities" make uninformed statements based on limited knowledge I will make clarifying comments. You can agree or disagree but hopefully make some kind of intelligent statement about your reasoning. Resorting to childish accusations and name calling speaks more about you than it does anything else.
Bucketofsquid (you call yourself that, not me) regarding this statement: "Also, if there are no limits to human performance then go climb Everest naked. That will convince me. Until then I remain skeptical."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSatan challenged Jesus to "prove" himself by casting himself over a cliff saying that God would save Him. I say what Jesus said: "Get thee behind me Satan". The fearful and unbelieving, the deniers of God and of His Christ ever seek for "proof" when they do not have the capacity to understand or acknowledge that proof. Over the centuries the Saints of God have demonstrated the "siddhis", the powers and spiritual phenomena of the Christ.
They did not accept or acknowledge the works of God through Jesus Christ or of his disciples. There have been many saints of east and west who have performed deeds which the superstitious call "miracles". The great yogi Milarepa sat in a cave in the Himalayas for years naked and subsisting on a mere sesame seed a day. He became known as the flying yogi as many witnessed him levitating himself through the air from place to place. In our time Padre Pio was able to bilocate and appear in far distant locations at the same time. Allied bombers of WWII sent to bomb his village saw him in the air pleading with them not to drop their bombs and so they returned to their bases without a single bomb having been dropped. These things are recorded in military archives. Padre Pio had the stigmata, the wounds of Christ from which he periodically bled. When he finally died they found not a drop of blood in his body. There are many, many examples. It is not to "prove" anything to anyone but God's will that these things were done.
It is not for me to "prove" anything but for you to prove it yourself. What man has done, man can do. Jesus said that these things I do you shall do and greater things.... when... you have "put on" that mind that was also in Christ Jesus as St Paul admonished us to do. Of course, this is not a possibility for the "tares" as they are not of God, have no connection to God, and continually deny the existence of God and the authority of His Christs. My comments are for the children of God who have been held captive through the impositions of ignorant babbling and prognostications of fallen angels and "tares", especially of those who have set themselves up as authorities in science and religion. Science and true religion are intended to be twin pillars in the temple of God and not antagonists.
Fear has different ways to affect different people, most will just paralize there, some others will do what needs to be done and some else will just follow whomever tells them what to do.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI remember seeing a competition where two guys lifted the rear end of a mini truck, moved it like a wheelbarrow to another point and let it down there, and on your average rioting, there are cars rolled over by a bunch of people, so lifting a car (partially) isn't that way above a human, say one eighth (as you need something like 10 rioters to turn over a car), if yo are just lifting one half of it you need less people, since it is a class two lever (the wheels carry one part of the vehicle), and if you are only separating it from the ground, you'll need even less strength, since the suspension on that side will work with you (I love bouncing a car to move it!)
Fear has different ways to affect different people, most will just paralize there, some others will do what needs to be done and some else will just follow whomever tells them what to do.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI remember seeing a competition where two guys lifted the rear end of a mini truck, moved it like a wheelbarrow to another point and let it down there, and on your average rioting, there are cars rolled over by a bunch of people, so lifting a car (partially) isn't that way above a human, say one eighth (as you need something like 10 rioters to turn over a car), if yo are just lifting one half of it you need less people, since it is a class two lever (the wheels carry one part of the vehicle), and if you are only separating it from the ground, you'll need even less strength, since the suspension on that side will work with you (I love bouncing a car to move it!)
Well i can't say i had superhuman strength, but i did get left alone, lost in the bush, drunk, and afraid of the dark. And that fear made me scale a 7 foot tall cyclone fence in 6 inch heels and a mini skirt. I somehow ripped my leg open on it, but all I remember is knowing i was hurting myself somehow somewhere but i barely noticed due to my desperation to get over the fence and to a house with a light. I fell into a swimming pool fully dressed and managed to get out without drowning, and then got a heavy wooden chair up a flight of stairs to try to break a window. I didn't manage to break it so definetly no superhuman strength, but normally i have no pain threshold, though that night, pain was the last thing from my mind. Fear is a very very powerful emotion, and combined with the strength of human kindness, as in Boyle's case, I definetly believe what he was able to do to save that cyclist.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhat the inability of an individual to efficaciously adapt to fear and the event which provoked the same is a psychiatric state referred to as an acute "Panic" reaction. The physiological cause of the same is the result of adrenergic compounds (epinephrine and norepinephrine) circulating through the body as a result of the perception of danger and/or physical and/or emotional stress. The fear of death and/or humiliation and/or other severe emotional and/or physical stresses may result in an acute "Panic" reaction. Some of the signs and symptoms of the same are tachycardia ( a fast hear rate), tachypnea (fast breathing), sweating, a confused state of mind, nausea, vomiting, extreme anxiety, and extreme restlessness. All of the aforementioned may disable an individual from reacting efficaciously to the provoking event.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDifferent circumstances may provoke a "Panic" reaction in different individuals at different times.
Anger will give the same effect
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI would be interested to know whether the rescuer described had any "hangover" effects - torn ligaments, sore joints, aching muscles. After a heavy workout I find I ache, especially when using those parts I worked hardest. I would expect that herculean efforts work the same way.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI would be interested to know whether the rescuer in this case felt any subsequent effects: sore muscles, torn ligaments or the like. I can believe in people being able to exert superhuman efforts under very special conditions, but I would expect the body to pay the price.
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