Neuroscientist Reveals Whether Sherlock Holmes Is a Sociopath or Psychopath

A recent Sherlock special dropped on January 1st, and kind of set the show's kingdom of subscribers ablaze in widespread fits of puzzled fascination, when policeman Philip Anderson somewhat contemptuously calls Sherlock a psychopath.

Hold the phone, what now? Quick on his feet as ever, Sherlock responded:

"I'm not a psychopath, I'm a high-functioning sociopath. Do your research"

Um. Okay.

The folks at Business Insider acted quick on this unanticipated vaguely alarming revelation and asked James Fallon, a neuroscientist at the UC Irvine School of Medicine who specializes in studying psychopaths. Fallon then passed along the question to his close associate, Michael Felong, a doctor who specializes in internal medicine out of Temecula, California, who claims a great interest in Sherlock Holmes to boot. Well the word coming from these guys is that the character of Sherlock, as penned by Doyle, is indeed a psychopath.

Why is Sherlock a psychopath?

Though he's a man who has a god-like intellect, unparalleled brilliance, Sherlock Holmes also continually displays a complete and utter lack of emotion for other people's feelings; and in spite of this, he tends to win over the affection of those around him (Dr. Watson being a prime example), which portrays charismatic psychopathic traits.