Psychopaths And Sociopaths
"Imagine, if you can, not having a conscience, none at all, no feelings of guilt or remorse no matter what you do, no limiting sense of concern of the well-being of strangers, friends, or even family members. Imagine no struggles with shame, not a single one in your whole life, no matter what kind of selfish, lazy, harmful, or immoral action you had taken” (Thompson, Ramos, and Willett 486). Sociopathy is a personality disorder manifesting in antisocial behavioral tendencies and lack of conscience. Psychopaths and sociopaths alike have distinct behavior, traits, and psychological and biological roots usually leading to the disorder. As some may know, psychopaths and sociopaths often show dangerous, distinct, behavior. Among them, pathological
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lying is very common behavior shown throughout in their life. Psychopaths and sociopaths demonstrate lying in every aspect of their lives, even when it is not required. Their lies can range from something as substantial as hiding the type of person they are or something as microscopic as what they had for breakfast. In their minds, lying is all they know and it is the only way they know how to go about their lives. To psychopaths and sociopaths, lying is a normal thing in their life and they see no harm in what they are doing. With how often they lie to others and the large extent of their lives, psychopaths and sociopaths begin to believe their lies creating a larger problem within themselves. Lying gives psychopaths and sociopaths a chance to dictate a person’s opinion of them and in result giving them more power over others. With the inability to feel any remorse about the effects that come with lying, this is something that often comes easy to them. On numerous occasions, when confronted by others about their lying, psychopaths and sociopaths become infuriated and instantly try to find any attainable way to pin the blame upon anyone else (Vaishali 32). Dangerous behavior also includes the ability to commit crimes with ease, such as, but not limited to, murder. Elliot wrote an article discussing the murderer and psychopath, Colin Bouwer, who killed his own wife. In attempt to get an understanding of the type of person Bouwer was, Elliot asked around for opinions from people who knew Bouwer well and even those who did not. While asking around, Elliot quickly discovered that Bouwer was well liked by just about everyone and anyone who he came in contact with. However, there were odd incidents that occurred in Bouwer’s behavior towards the death of his wife. Eventually getting caught up in a web of lies, Bouwer was arrested for the murder of his wife. Shortly after this, all of Bouwer’s lies began to unroll. “Many people tell lies to protect themselves. Bouwer lied even when nothing was at stake. Still, there was a certain consistency to the lies. … They were usually self-serving, in that they aimed at generating admiration or sympathy. And they were often so fantastic that, at least from the outside, it is hard to imagine anyone believing them. Yet people did” (Elliot). In this article there is an example in which psychopaths and sociopaths lie, deceive, manipulate, and do just about anything they please despite the fact that they are hurting others in the process. Another crime often committed by psychopaths and sociopaths usually include sexual homicide. Biologically, those who perpetrate in sexual homicide also reveal high rates of psychopathy (Meloy 12). “Virtually all sexual homicide perpetrator evidence narcissistic and psychopathic personality traits” (Meloy 7). Psychopaths and sociopaths alike show massive signs of sexual sadism which greatly links to sexual homicide. Sexual sadism is the arousal through the torture or control of another (“Polymorphously”). Studies show that psychopaths who commit sexual homicide are severely compulsive in their sexual promiscuity (Meloy 16). Psychopaths and sociopaths find pleasure in being able to exploit their victims and will go to any extent to conquer them. Sexual homicide is a very obvious menacing trait that frequently is revealed through them. Psychopaths an sociopaths usually commit sexual homicide against those who are either strangers or casual acquaintances, rarely is this crime committed against those they already know more personally (Meloy 4). “Most victims of sexual homicide are female strangers or casual acquaintances, rather than consensual sexual intimates, of the perpetrator. They are usually the same race as the offender. In a recent series of sexual homicide cases we have gathered (N = 38), 86% of the victims were strangers or casual acquaintances, and the perpetrators’ relationships with the rest of the victims were unknown” (Meloy 4). “What is unusual about sexual homicide from a relational perspective is that it is similar to other paraphilias and dissimilar to other crimes of violence: some paraphilic individuals deliberately target strangers as their object choice … while most individuals who are nonsexually violent select victims well-known to, or intimately involved with them” (Meloy 5). In the culture today, people mistakenly assume that everyone has a conscience.
Within this assumption, psychopaths are absent-mindedly enabled to effortlessly deceive others without question. Lacking a conscience, psychopaths are given a false interpretation of how the world actually functions. Their way of interpreting the world is different than the average person when it regards emotion. They are often callous to emotion and have little to no intention of taking others’ feelings into consideration (Thompson et al. 486). The callous and remorseless act of using others is a major factor that is seen in psychopaths and sociopaths; this behavior is woven throughout childhood and adulthood according to the PCL-R. The PCL-R, or the Psychopathy Checklist Revised, which is the most commonly is used to measure psychopathy within adolescent children and adults as well (Burke, Loeber, and Lahey 3). The checklist acts as a minuscule survey with a score ranging from one to forty. The average person usually scores a three or a four, whereas the minimum score for a psychopath or sociopath would be at least thirty. “When used appropriately, by trained individuals, the PCL-R can consistently measure the degree of an individual’s psychopathic traits with high interrater reliability. This ability to reliably measure psychopathy in individuals has allowed research in this area of mental health to expand greatly in the past couple of decades” (Thompson et al. …show more content…
487). Psychopaths and sociopaths are often antisocial and obtain the inability to interact normally with those around them.
Because of their callousness and lack of conscience, psychopaths and sociopaths tend to detach themselves from their family and avoid making any other type of relationships. Meloy, in his article, established nine different entities that are the foundation for explaining the reasoning behind their antisocial trait. One of nine entities listed in the article include the inability of bonding with other people. It is virtually impossible for psychopaths and sociopaths to obtain feelings and emotionally connect with others. “… reasons for this lack of bonding may be psychobiologically acquired, inherited, or both…” (“Polymorphously" 278-279). To psychopaths and sociopaths, they are mentally and emotionally incapable of connecting with others around them. They portray themselves much more differently than anyone else that it is virtually impossible for them to even begin to fathom relationships with others. The way the brain is wired is a very complex thing, one misplacement of anything can result in a major disorder affecting one’s life forever; psychopathy and sociopathy is a mental disorder and “normal” to them is far different than the average persons’ “normal”. Psychopaths and sociopaths have a different mentality than the average person and simple tasks such as conversing with others is a whole other world of difficulty for them. When people think of psychopaths
and sociopaths, they often think of physically aggressive people, while this is true, they could also hurt others mentally. In USA Today Magazine, Vaishali briefly describes another friend of his who has been heartbroken by a sociopath. The story briefly depicts the deceptive nature of a sociopath and how they not only physically hurt people, but mentally as well. The story is typical: the sociopath was married yet claimed he was not. The sociopath falsely maintained he had cancer, so he could travel with impunity between the people he strung along. He was charming; he ingratiated himself to the entire family and their circle of friends. If anyone questioned his behavior or came close to connecting the dots of his rampant deceit, the sociopath would become outraged and shift blame onto his intended victim. He spouted poisonous lies every time he opened his mouth — and, of course, it is a given that the sociopath had no remorse for the trail of human destruction he left in his wake, and, in fact, actually enjoyed knowing his activities were twisting a knife that would leave permanent scars. (Vaishali 32)
Sociopaths, and psychopaths alike, know how to deceive people in order to get what they want. This story perfectly conveys how intelligent and charming they are; they know how to get inside the minds of others and charm their way to accomplish their end goal with their victim, no matter how that would affect anyone else around them.
lying is very common behavior shown throughout in their life. Psychopaths and sociopaths demonstrate lying in every aspect of their lives, even when it is not required. Their lies can range from something as substantial as hiding the type of person they are or something as microscopic as what they had for breakfast. In their minds, lying is all they know and it is the only way they know how to go about their lives. To psychopaths and sociopaths, lying is a normal thing in their life and they see no harm in what they are doing. With how often they lie to others and the large extent of their lives, psychopaths and sociopaths begin to believe their lies creating a larger problem within themselves. Lying gives psychopaths and sociopaths a chance to dictate a person’s opinion of them and in result giving them more power over others. With the inability to feel any remorse about the effects that come with lying, this is something that often comes easy to them. On numerous occasions, when confronted by others about their lying, psychopaths and sociopaths become infuriated and instantly try to find any attainable way to pin the blame upon anyone else (Vaishali 32). Dangerous behavior also includes the ability to commit crimes with ease, such as, but not limited to, murder. Elliot wrote an article discussing the murderer and psychopath, Colin Bouwer, who killed his own wife. In attempt to get an understanding of the type of person Bouwer was, Elliot asked around for opinions from people who knew Bouwer well and even those who did not. While asking around, Elliot quickly discovered that Bouwer was well liked by just about everyone and anyone who he came in contact with. However, there were odd incidents that occurred in Bouwer’s behavior towards the death of his wife. Eventually getting caught up in a web of lies, Bouwer was arrested for the murder of his wife. Shortly after this, all of Bouwer’s lies began to unroll. “Many people tell lies to protect themselves. Bouwer lied even when nothing was at stake. Still, there was a certain consistency to the lies. … They were usually self-serving, in that they aimed at generating admiration or sympathy. And they were often so fantastic that, at least from the outside, it is hard to imagine anyone believing them. Yet people did” (Elliot). In this article there is an example in which psychopaths and sociopaths lie, deceive, manipulate, and do just about anything they please despite the fact that they are hurting others in the process. Another crime often committed by psychopaths and sociopaths usually include sexual homicide. Biologically, those who perpetrate in sexual homicide also reveal high rates of psychopathy (Meloy 12). “Virtually all sexual homicide perpetrator evidence narcissistic and psychopathic personality traits” (Meloy 7). Psychopaths and sociopaths alike show massive signs of sexual sadism which greatly links to sexual homicide. Sexual sadism is the arousal through the torture or control of another (“Polymorphously”). Studies show that psychopaths who commit sexual homicide are severely compulsive in their sexual promiscuity (Meloy 16). Psychopaths and sociopaths find pleasure in being able to exploit their victims and will go to any extent to conquer them. Sexual homicide is a very obvious menacing trait that frequently is revealed through them. Psychopaths an sociopaths usually commit sexual homicide against those who are either strangers or casual acquaintances, rarely is this crime committed against those they already know more personally (Meloy 4). “Most victims of sexual homicide are female strangers or casual acquaintances, rather than consensual sexual intimates, of the perpetrator. They are usually the same race as the offender. In a recent series of sexual homicide cases we have gathered (N = 38), 86% of the victims were strangers or casual acquaintances, and the perpetrators’ relationships with the rest of the victims were unknown” (Meloy 4). “What is unusual about sexual homicide from a relational perspective is that it is similar to other paraphilias and dissimilar to other crimes of violence: some paraphilic individuals deliberately target strangers as their object choice … while most individuals who are nonsexually violent select victims well-known to, or intimately involved with them” (Meloy 5). In the culture today, people mistakenly assume that everyone has a conscience.
Within this assumption, psychopaths are absent-mindedly enabled to effortlessly deceive others without question. Lacking a conscience, psychopaths are given a false interpretation of how the world actually functions. Their way of interpreting the world is different than the average person when it regards emotion. They are often callous to emotion and have little to no intention of taking others’ feelings into consideration (Thompson et al. 486). The callous and remorseless act of using others is a major factor that is seen in psychopaths and sociopaths; this behavior is woven throughout childhood and adulthood according to the PCL-R. The PCL-R, or the Psychopathy Checklist Revised, which is the most commonly is used to measure psychopathy within adolescent children and adults as well (Burke, Loeber, and Lahey 3). The checklist acts as a minuscule survey with a score ranging from one to forty. The average person usually scores a three or a four, whereas the minimum score for a psychopath or sociopath would be at least thirty. “When used appropriately, by trained individuals, the PCL-R can consistently measure the degree of an individual’s psychopathic traits with high interrater reliability. This ability to reliably measure psychopathy in individuals has allowed research in this area of mental health to expand greatly in the past couple of decades” (Thompson et al. …show more content…
487). Psychopaths and sociopaths are often antisocial and obtain the inability to interact normally with those around them.
Because of their callousness and lack of conscience, psychopaths and sociopaths tend to detach themselves from their family and avoid making any other type of relationships. Meloy, in his article, established nine different entities that are the foundation for explaining the reasoning behind their antisocial trait. One of nine entities listed in the article include the inability of bonding with other people. It is virtually impossible for psychopaths and sociopaths to obtain feelings and emotionally connect with others. “… reasons for this lack of bonding may be psychobiologically acquired, inherited, or both…” (“Polymorphously" 278-279). To psychopaths and sociopaths, they are mentally and emotionally incapable of connecting with others around them. They portray themselves much more differently than anyone else that it is virtually impossible for them to even begin to fathom relationships with others. The way the brain is wired is a very complex thing, one misplacement of anything can result in a major disorder affecting one’s life forever; psychopathy and sociopathy is a mental disorder and “normal” to them is far different than the average persons’ “normal”. Psychopaths and sociopaths have a different mentality than the average person and simple tasks such as conversing with others is a whole other world of difficulty for them. When people think of psychopaths
and sociopaths, they often think of physically aggressive people, while this is true, they could also hurt others mentally. In USA Today Magazine, Vaishali briefly describes another friend of his who has been heartbroken by a sociopath. The story briefly depicts the deceptive nature of a sociopath and how they not only physically hurt people, but mentally as well. The story is typical: the sociopath was married yet claimed he was not. The sociopath falsely maintained he had cancer, so he could travel with impunity between the people he strung along. He was charming; he ingratiated himself to the entire family and their circle of friends. If anyone questioned his behavior or came close to connecting the dots of his rampant deceit, the sociopath would become outraged and shift blame onto his intended victim. He spouted poisonous lies every time he opened his mouth — and, of course, it is a given that the sociopath had no remorse for the trail of human destruction he left in his wake, and, in fact, actually enjoyed knowing his activities were twisting a knife that would leave permanent scars. (Vaishali 32)
Sociopaths, and psychopaths alike, know how to deceive people in order to get what they want. This story perfectly conveys how intelligent and charming they are; they know how to get inside the minds of others and charm their way to accomplish their end goal with their victim, no matter how that would affect anyone else around them.