Understanding the Psychology of Predators in Positions of Power from a Forensic Psychologist - Intentionally Disturbing

Summary6 min read

Podcast Summary: Intentionally Disturbing

Host: Dr. Leslie Dobson
Episode: Understanding the Psychology of Predators in Positions of Power from a Forensic Psychologist
Date: May 14, 2026

Episode Overview

In this episode, Dr. Leslie Dobson cuts through social illusions around power and trust, exposing why predators are so often found in positions of authority. Drawing on her extensive experience as a forensic psychologist, Dr. Leslie employs her signature blend of sarcasm, candor, and “zero bullshit” to disrupt common misconceptions about what makes someone dangerous. She arms listeners with psychological insights and practical advice for recognizing, avoiding, and resisting manipulative behavior from those wielding power—whether they’re teachers, doctors, religious leaders, executives, or celebrities.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Prevalence and Strategy of Predators in Power

Dr. Leslie opens by affirming the common observation that predators often seek roles that grant them authority and access to potential victims ([01:02]).
- Quote: “It’s not a comfortable conversation, but it’s happening every fucking day... They are not in these positions accidentally. It’s strategic. It’s a power play.” [02:10]
Positions in teaching, coaching, healthcare, law enforcement, religious leadership, entertainment, and politics are especially targeted.
- Not just churches but also corporations, school districts, and cult-like organizations.
Power provides:
- Access to victims
- Credibility and protection
- The ability to force silence on victims

2. Why Society Fails to Catch Red Flags

Dr. Leslie challenges cultural shocks that follow every new media scandal, noting that society consistently acts surprised despite ample precedent ([04:01]).
- Quote: “Every time one is exposed, we all act so shocked. Well, I’m here to tell you, let’s stop being shocked.” [04:05]
Many predators look “normal” or even exceptionally trustworthy and charismatic. Danger rarely looks how people expect.
- “Danger also looks very normal. Dangerous people can look charming, helpful, successful, protective, respected… That’s part of their strategy.” [06:40]
Social conditioning discourages questioning authority and those with status or credentials ([15:22]).
Institutional betrayal: Systems and communities often protect the predator, leaving the victim isolated and unsupported.

3. Psychology and Motivation of Predators

Not all people in power are predators, but those with predatory tendencies are disproportionately drawn to such environments ([08:01]).
- Motivations extend beyond sex or money to domination, control, entitlement, and immunity from consequences.
Quote: “Many predators are not just motivated by sex—or even violence, or just money. They’re motivated by total domination, control, entitlement, access, and getting away with it. No consequences.” [08:45]
Power structures enable predators to build layers of protection through grooming, social manipulation, and leveraging their reputation ([17:00]).

4. Mechanics of Coercion and Grooming

Grooming and boundary testing are gradual, strategic, and often go unnoticed.
- “It doesn't look dramatic… it’s slow and intentional.” [21:12]
Incremental boundary pushing: inappropriate jokes, touching, favoritism, isolation, emotional dependency, and eventually intimidation and threats ([22:45]).
- By the time manipulation is evident, the victim is already ensnared in a web of control.

5. Understanding Trauma Responses

The episode addresses myths around victim behavior, especially questioning why someone “didn’t just leave.”
- “Trauma does not create a fighting person… Trauma creates someone who is frozen.” [27:48]
Trauma fosters insecurity, compliance, confusion, and patterns of returning to the abuser for fleeting validation ([28:10]).
Evaluating trauma through logic misses the overwhelming power of trauma’s effects on the nervous system.

6. The Role of Media and Social Perception

Dr. Leslie calls out how media exacerbates the problem: visibility and follower counts are conflated with credibility ([33:01]).
- “Visibility creates credibility… We think people are credible just because they have a lot of followers… they know how important image is.” [34:40]
Predators are often masters at image management, controlling how others perceive them.

7. Personal Discernment and Empowerment

Listeners are encouraged to use discernment, pay attention to intuition, and normalize setting boundaries—even if it means appearing impolite or difficult.
- “It’s okay to question things. It’s okay to leave situations. It’s okay to change your mind. It’s okay to look rude.” [42:12]
Discomfort, intuition, and “heebie jeebies” are valid data points for self-protection ([43:30]).
- “That discomfort... that’s your data. And what is data used for? Research, science, evidence, court cases.” [44:05]
Challenging “don’t make anyone uncomfortable” as a social rule, advocating instead for asserting boundaries and prioritizing safety.

8. Pattern Recognition Over Individual Recognition

Dr. Leslie promotes learning to recognize patterns of manipulation and coercion, rather than waiting to identify individual bad actors ([46:30]).
- “You have to recognize the pattern before you recognize the person.” [47:03]
Awareness of one’s own emotional baselines and noticing disruptions are crucial for personal safety.

Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

“I'm really fucking sick of people manipulating systems for their own fucking gain.” [07:40]
“Dangerous people can look charming, they can look helpful, successful, protective, respected... That’s a part of their strategy. That’s the perfect psychopathic strategy.” [06:50]
“Power gives people access. Power gives people credibility. Power gives people... protection. And power forces silence on victims. And that’s the part people don’t want to talk about.” [05:20]
“Evil doesn’t always look dramatic. We’re not in a Marvel movie.” [20:20]
“Trauma makes you feel worthless so that you go back to the abuser… Even if it's 10% of the time, they give you worth and they give you value, and that's why they do it.” [28:22]
“Visibility creates credibility… They know how important image is, and so they’re also doing that.” [34:40]
“One of the most dangerous things anyone has ever told me is ‘don’t make anyone uncomfortable.’ I’m sorry, we’re not living by that standard anymore.” [44:59]
“You have to recognize the pattern before you recognize the person.” [47:03]

Important Timestamps

00:00–02:00 – Episode introduction, intent, and Dr. Leslie’s background
02:10–06:50 – Why predators strategically seek power; examples in various sectors
08:01–11:00 – Not all in power are predators, but many predators seek power; deeper psychological motivations
15:22–17:30 – Social conditioning and institutional betrayal
19:50–25:00 – Grooming, incremental boundary testing, and how manipulation works gradually
27:48–29:00 – Trauma responses, victim-blaming myths, and dangers of logical hindsight
33:01–35:00 – Media influence and conflation of visibility with credibility
42:12–44:59 – Intuition, boundaries, and the importance of discomfort as “data”
46:30–48:00 – Recognizing manipulation patterns versus waiting for individual identification
Final minutes – Teasers for upcoming content and affirmation of Dr. Leslie’s forensic education focus

Summary Takeaways

Positions of power are fertile ground for predators; their presence is not surprising, but an intentional strategy to facilitate abuse and minimize scrutiny.
Society is conditioned to trust authority and minimize suspicion, which aids in the perpetuation of abuse and institutional betrayal.
Grooming is incremental, subtle, and often not recognized until significant psychological control has been established.
Trauma impacts behavior in ways that defy rational, “just leave” assumptions—victims are often trapped by patterns of coercion and emotional manipulation.
Image management and social perception are both tools predators use and vulnerabilities society must be aware of.
Personal safety hinges on discernment, listening to intuition, normalizing boundary-setting, and recognizing behavioral patterns rather than relying solely on individual identification.

For further exploration:
Dr. Leslie encourages listeners to be proactive about learning predator psychology and invites feedback for future topics on forensic and clinical psychology, legal issues, and the behavioral science of monsters.

Next week: More on pattern recognition, case studies, and specialized insights from Dr. Leslie’s two decades “in the trenches” with forensic psychology’s most disturbing cases. Keep those questions coming.

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Transcript1 lines

[00:00]
A
Welcome back to intentionally disturbing. I know I have not been around lately. I have been so busy with court cases. But what I want to do is start dropping weekly episodes, probably Wednesday night. You guys can listen Thursday morning. And we're going to start going back into the psychology of predators, using that forensic mindset to keep ourselves safe and empower ourselves. So today I want to talk about why predators seek power, why dangerous people want to be in positions of authority. And it's not a comfortable conversation, but it's happening every fucking day. And we need to really clearly understand psychologically why they are in these positions so that we can arm ourselves and defend ourselves and not be prey to these people. So, as you know, or if you don't know, I'm a forensic psychologist. I've been doing this for 20 years. I've worked in jails, in prisons, state hospitals, for three little letters agencies, as a consultant. But I've testified in court a lot. And I've worked in criminal and civil litigation. And I have known psychopaths on the inside that were locked up, But I've known a lot of psychopaths on the outside that are not locked up, that are still running massive corporations, they're running massive churches, Maybe they're Catholic churches, Jehovah's Witness cults, I don't know. And also people who are teachers and running school districts and in politics. So I think the biggest thing for me is that I have this forensic analysis mindset that I can't turn off. And I'm always analyzing everyone and trying to understand why they're doing what they're doing. And also how can I help survivors of these predators? But mostly, how can I prevent harm to people? So let me just ask you this. Have you ever noticed how predators seem to be in a position of authority, Authority and trust? Teachers, coaches, doctors, police officers, religious leaders, Hollywood executives, politicians, even therapists. What really confuses me, though, is that every time one is exposed, we all act so shocked. Well, I'm here to tell you, let's stop being shocked. Don't go into any appointment with a male doctor, even a female doctor, without somebody with you. Especially if it's gynecology. Don't let your children go to activities. Activities. Unless you know everyone. And even if you know everyone, you should still go. I don't believe in sleepovers. I don't believe in summer camp. Most predators are in your inner circle already. And the highest percentage of men to harm children are biological parents. Think about trafficking. How did all those kids get to Epstein Island? They're a lot of the time their parents sold them or took them or trusted the people on the island saying they would be models or famous or some stupid that they fed people these lies. So you might be shocked every time so you might be shocked every time you see it hit the news. But I'm sure as not. And it's also because a lot of dangerous people, well, they're not in positions of power accidentally. It's strategic. It's a power play. Like we say in hockey that's full of predators that just added one to the Vegas team. And if they win, I might just. I'm going to go crazy. Carter. That's for another day. Yeah, I was born in Canada, so yeah, there's a hockey thing. Yeah. But anyways, even hockey players are the people who run the NHL who refuse to stop allowing people who are sexually assaulting other people into the NHL with these massive contracts. So let me just break this down to you non hockey related. Power gives people access. Power gives people credibility. Power gives people no. Power gives people protection. And power forces silence on victims. And that's the part people don't want to talk about. So today what I want to talk about is the psychology behind why some predators intentionally pursue positions of authority. And why so many intelligent people miss the warning signs, miss the red flags, minimize the severity of what they're seeing right in front of their faces. Not gonna lie, it's happened to me before too. I'm really fucking sick of people manipulating systems for their own fucking gain. I'm also really sick of people thinking that people are only dangero because they look dangerous. That is not true. And you need to wake up and know that danger also looks very normal. Dangerous people can look charming, they can look helpful, successful, protective, respected and honestly. That's a part of their strategy. That's the perfect psychopathic strategy. But let me be clear before like the Internet loses its mind. Because people seem to just take things I say and run with it without any fucking context. Not everyone in power is a predator. Actually most are not. Not. But predators are disproportionately drawn towards these environments because it allows them ample access to the victims that they want. Access, control, admiration and a reduction in potential scrutiny of what the they are doing. That's incredibly important psychologically. Because many predators are not just motivated by sex, not even violence, not even just money. They're motivated by total domination, control, entitlement, access and getting away with doing all of these things. No consequences. Sound familiar to what's happening in our current Culture. So yes, positions of authority are perfect if that's your type of personality and that's what you want. I want you to think about coaches and how much alone time they have with children. Water polo, the kids are in Speedos, they're in locker rooms, they're showering, they're stretching. How vulnerable you are as a patient when you are with a doctor, especially a doctor looking at your bathing suit body parts. Think about all those careers where executives are really, really controlling. If you promote and you will just say yes to so much, or you will minimize and just ignore so much disgusting behavior because you need the job, you've got to pay the rent, you've got your kids, what are you going to do? You, you don't have another opportunity and they're the ones who writing you a letter of recommendation. So you're stuck. And there is an institutional betrayal occurring. Think about religious leaders and they control your morality through biblical scriptures, through their manipulation and propaganda of false readings and teachings. It's a cult, right? We can have healthy religion and then we can have healthy unhealthy cult like religion. And that's when it's those monsters, those predators, those psychopaths who are in those power positions because. Because they want to turn it from a healthy religion or spirituality into a cult so that they can dominate. Also think about celebrities. Think about people that are famous. Think about what they are enabling. I am asking for people to just step back in life and use discernment. Think about what the fuck is going on. And if you have red flags coming up, listen to them. Because you're not just dealing with one person anymore in this world. You're dealing with a massive power structure. You're dealing with layers and layers of people who have been groomed and gaslit to ignore and accept bad behavior. But we miss these signs and it's okay. It happens to all of us. And you can't look back at something with the brain and the mind and the experience you have now and think you should have known then what you know now. It doesn't happen that way, but we can learn from it. We can educate ourselves and those around us and we can model listening to our intuition for our children. And we can also sue people who with us back in the day and figure out ways to do it. That might be more civil lawsuit, but hey, you can do it. It's America. We're sue happy. So when people ask how did no one know? How did no one know that the water polo player, that the water polo Coach was abusing 50 players over, I don't know, 30 years. Well, I'm here to tell you that psychologically, there are a lot of reasons that people actually do miss dangerous behavior. We are very much socially conditioned to not question things. And that is why everyone wanted to just unalive me with the shopping cart video. Because I was saying, hey, let's question a social norm. If someone has status or credentials or money or their fame or they have a massive institutional backing, we're told to lower our suspicion. We're told not to question them. I think this is kind of changing over time, and I'm really hoping it continues to change. But as a woman who's just over 40, my whole life I have been told not to question the masses or push against the grain. But also it's because the predators in power and individual predators are also grooming the culture. They're grooming the neighborhoods, the societies, the institutions. So it's working from that direction, too. They're. They're making it happen because they are so diabolical and they're strategizing. They build these reputations intentionally. They become the nice guy, they become the generous guy, they become the mentor. It's sickening to me when they become the protector. Like in Catholic church, you're supposed to be able to trust the religious figure. I've worked thousands of cases where you certainly, certainly cannot. And I think the biggest part that we miss is that manipulation happens gradually through coercive control and different things. But basically, the predator is going to get his fingers into your brain and move your thoughts and emotions like you're a fucking puppet. And they're going to do it slowly. They're going to build that comfort zone. We call it grooming. It can be called a lot of different things, but it doesn't look dramatic. It's not fast. It's slow and intentional. And if they don't think they can get you where they want you, then they'll move on. Or they'll push more, but they'll push more subtly and more nuanced. So you won't see that. It's always okay to question how somebody came into your inner circle and you're not quite sure why they're there or how they got there. We have to really remember that evil. Oh, evil is dramatic, but evil doesn't always look dramatic. We're not in a Marvel's movie. A lot of real world predators, let's just call it incremental boundary testing. It's like they're looking at, like centimeters centimeter by centimeter. How can I push this person? Rather than like a yardstick? They might start with inappropriate jokes or inappropriate touching, lingering touching. They may show favoritism towards you and see how you respond. They may isolate. They're definitely going to try and isolate you over time. They're going to hope that you become emotionally dependent on them. And then you don't want to talk to your parents or talk to the people that you usually have in your inner circle and would talk to. And then they are going to slowly turn that into intimidation and eventually into threats. So then they've caught you now, and if you tell anyone, they're going to out you some kind of triangulation. They've. They've twisted your brain up so much that you don't even think that you can speak. So by the time you really realize something is wrong, the manipulation structure has already been put in place. For me, this is another thing that I think our society really misunderstands. I can't tell you how many men I have heard say, and women too, but I mean, especially during the Sean Combs, the Diddy trial, you know, why didn't they leave? Why didn't Cassie leave? Why didn't they report it immediately? Why did they keep going back? Because trauma does not create a fighting person. And I think that's what people don't understand. Trauma creates somebody who's frozen. Trauma creates insecurity, security. Trauma creates patterns and habits of compliance and appeasement and confusion in what you're doing, why you're doing it, when you're doing it, how you're doing it. Trauma makes you feel worthless so that you go back to the abuser. Because at some time, Even if it's 10% of the time, they give you worth and they give you value, and that's why they do it, so that you come back to them. Please do not evaluate trauma responses through the lens of what did you think? Were you calmly thinking? Why didn't you use discernment when you could have, when it was actually happening? No, it doesn't work that way. We have to know before we have to be educated. Because when we're in the throes of it, it's really, really hard to understand and get out. We're talking about a nervous system that is working under fear, coercion, dependency, and this extreme power imbalance. You're not just gonna feel normal like you just did yoga. And I hate to say this because I'm on social media, right? Media has made this so much worse as well, as offered very nice educational videos. But it has really made it so much worse because now it's like visibility creates credibility. Like we think people are credible just because they have a lot of followers, you know, because they're regurgitating information when they're not. They. You don't know. Right. Again, you need to use discernment. You don't just trust people because they have big platforms and they're telling you to trust them. Followers on social media trust people. When things go viral, people tend to be seen as authority figures. Unless it's about the shopping cart and me. Because then you just all wanted to like end my life. Get ready for my book coming out because we're coming full circle, guys. I'm very excited for that anyways. Yeah, so just because somebody's famous or there's an image of them, it doesn't mean that it's like evidence of them being a credible person. But I also want to tell you again, the mind of a predator, they understand how important image is and so they're also doing that. They're putting themselves in this, I like to call it stimulus value. They're controlling how you see them. They know their stimulus value to somebody else and so they're going to control that in order to manipulate you. You're not going to question anything and they're going to keep drawing you in. Now what's really important for you is to know your own stimulus value. How do predators see you? I think that is hella important. And I have to tell you, some of the most dangerous people I've ever studied or had cases with, they weren't impulsive monsters. They were slow, creepy, narcissistic, antisocial. But they were strategic and they were very patient. They were very aware of their image and they were very socially intelligent. Think of Charles Manson who only had a third grade reading level and what he was able to to do. Manipulate people, propaganda, confuse people, get even. Like what a school teacher to do these horrible things. So here's my main takeaway for this video. This is really important to me. I don't think people should walk around terrified. I don't want you to walk around scared. I want you to walk around with stronger discernment. I want you to be aware. I want you to take time to look around and fucking think. That in itself is empowering. That in itself will deter predators because that is not something they want to deal with. That's not going to help them on their, on their little power, get their rocks off. I don't Know pathway. But I'm especially talking to you women. I'm talking to young people. I'm talking to parents who are raising young kids, teenagers, even boys and men. I'm talking to you all, anyone who could potentially be vulnerable. I'm especially talking to people who were taught to prioritize politeness over listening to their intuition. Think about that for a minute. It's okay to question things. It's okay to leave situations. What do they call it, an Irish accent? It's okay to say no. It's okay to change your mind. It's okay to look rude. It's okay to create boundaries. It's okay to trust discomfort in your body, even if you don't have words for it. It's okay to trust that something's making you uncomfortable and you need to move yourself out of the situation. I'm telling you guys, that discomfort, that intu. That heebie jeebie, the hair standing up on the back of your neck, whatever you want to call it, that's your data. And what is data used for? Research, science, evidence, court cases. Right. It all starts with data. The data is your body because your body keeps score. And if you haven't read that book, you really need to. One of the most dangerous things anyone has ever told me is don't make anyone uncomfortable. I'm sorry, we're not living by that standard anymore. When monsters walk amongst us, lead us, us, run our country. No, no, no. Predators rely on that. And they know who is sticking to that script. So I think we need a massive shift culturally. And like I said, it feels like maybe it is kind of happening. So keep pushing, keep spreading the message. But what we need to do is we need to teach people not just to be liked. We need to teach people how to identify manipulation, how to identify coercion, how to identify dangerous behavior early on, when it's subtle and nuanced, because I hate to say it, predators rarely announce when they're entering into your circle and starting their plan to abuse you. You have to recognize the pattern before you recognize the person. And that's going to be a big part of the book I'm working on. Pattern recognition is huge for safety, and largely I'm talking about emotional and behavioral pattern recognition in predators, in monsters, but also in yourself. You have to understand the patterns of how you feel. You need to know your baseline and when you lift off it and why. So I'm Dr. Leslie, and we're gonna really get back to the basics of psychology, predator psychology. And that's what I'm gonna be really focusing in on my YouTube for the next couple months is we need to grow educationally. We need to grow awareness. And I'll happily sit here and teach you about all the fucking monsters I've sat with with and what they wanted to do to me. They told me why. They told me how they would do it. Some even assaulted me and I sat down and asked them why they did it. Afterwards, I got some twisted stories, but it gives you insights into the mind of monsters. Catch you next week for the next Drop Dr. Leslie show. Intentionally disturbing? Not quite sure. We'll figure it out. Leave me comments for things you'd like me to cover from the forensic psychology, serious mental illness, criminal civil law, legal area. Because that's my realm and we're gonna dive deep into it. And of course, psychopaths and child predators and narcissists and antisocials. Anything that's so extreme we wanna talk about it, we wanna learn about it. I've met it and I'll happily share.