Charecteristics Of Psychopaths

In fact,because psychopaths are not able to feel empathy involuntarily, they are able to turn the feeling on. It is very common for psychopaths to have “ a false belief in their own superiority, a sense of entitlement and a complete disregard for social norms” (Paula, year). Psychopathy had recently been changed into ‘antisocial personality disorder’ in the updated version of the FBI’s mental health book, DSM-III. It was changed for the reason of the personality not always being reliable, as well as psychopathy symptoms crossing over antisocial personality disorder symptoms. Another reason for the change was because it is believed that focusing on behavior instead of the why helped identify the disorder easier. The new research was highly and widely discussed among many physicians because some felt unsure of the change, but they were also for the change with consideration of the evidence that was found. The usual psychopath is not found to be violent. If they are violent, they are considered more dangerous than others and will most likely reoffend sooner and worse than the first time. Between psychopaths and non psychopaths, psychopaths have a longer criminal history which varies in crimes. Their patterns are unique when compared to a non psychopath, but due to their inability to have emotion, they are able to be more observant on their next chosen

“Psychopathy is a personality disorder characterized by an inability to form human attachment, aggressive narcissism, and antisocial behavior defined by a constellation of affective, interpersonal and behavioral characteristics, most of which society views as pejorative” [1]. Some of these characteristics include irresponsibility, grandiosity, cunning, deceitfulness, selective impulsivity, sexual promiscuity, lack of empathy, etc. People who are psychopathic display not only antisocial behavior but also emotional impairment such as the lack of guilt. They are able to prey on others using their charm, deceit, violence or any other methods that allow them to get what they want. A strong feature of most of the behavior

Psychopaths are typically devoid of emotion, and have an inherent sense of superiority that drives them to take actions that society considers

There are many individuals who often are violent, but that doesn’t mean that those people are psychopaths. According to Merriam Webster, a psychopath is “an individual who is mentally ill, who is affected with antisocial personality disorders”. Psychopaths are inconsiderate about getting what they want. They don’t care about the rights and feelings of others. In the film House of Games, Mike who is a con man, tricks a psychologist, Margret Ford into giving him her cash. This shows a psychopath trait, but that’s doesn’t mean he is a psychopath. Throughout the film, Mike tricks Ford multiple times to get her cash. To find out if Mike is a psychopath, Bob Hare’s PCL-R checklist from the book The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson will conclude if

Psychopath is a disorder that can be seemed as a normal social behaviour. A primary psychopath is charming, intelligent, and socially well behavior. However, underneath a psychopath’s personality show a difference compared to others. Psychopaths tend to have a lack of emotion, and responsibility. They do not feel fear or regret of a murder.

One problem with these arguments provided by Kennett, McGeer, and Nichols, is that none explicitly address why psychopaths are deemed amoral versus immoral. The term “rational amoralist” is used by Nichols, but is not differentiated between what it means to be an immoralist. Amorality is conceptualized as the inability to differentiate between right and wrong, whereas immorality is conceptualized as knowing what is right versus wrong, but not being motivated to act accordingly. Psychopaths, as described in each of the sources, seem to fit the idea of being immoral rather than amoral in this way. They are capable of understanding the motivations and emotions of others, but do not care to engage with others in such a way that is motivated by their well-being. It may be the case that I have an incorrect interpretation of these ideas.

4. Serial killers also show signs of a psychopath though this is not always the case. Psychopaths lack empathy and guilt, are egocentric and impulsive and don’t conform to social, moral, or legal norms. Psychopaths have a distinct set of rules for themselves. They appear normal and are often very charming and charismatic.

Psychopathy; a term used to describe an individual with the ability to differentiate between right and wrong and acknowledge the rules of society, but are impervious to the moral foundation of these rules. Unlike other mental disorders such as sociopathy and schizophrenia, psychopathic individuals are able to understand actions that violate the law or go against social norms (Glenn 1). Although, they may be able to accurately judge moral and/or legal violations, one major factor that they lack is – emotional capacity. It is estimated that about 1% of the general population is made up of psychopaths, which is a considerable risk when it comes to crimes (Parry n.p). Therefore, the way in which the law responses to psychopathic individuals is an important moral and empirical issue. With that being said, should psychopaths be held criminally responsible for their behavior? Due to psychopathic individuals failure to meet criteria necessary for moral responsibility, such as the lack of understanding of the human race, predetermined biological structures of the brain and the fact that psychopathy is

Of all the psychiatric disorders, none are more chilling to the world then the psychopaths and sociopaths. These two disorders, categorized as antisocial personality disorders, bring about the absolute worse people and killers that the world has ever known. The infamous serial killers, the people who do the unimaginable, were all psychopaths. The ability of these people to do what they do and know that what they are doing is wrong, is perhaps one of the most chilling and shocking characteristic of these people. Psychopaths and sociopaths are very often thought by most to be the same disorder, yet they are different when classified by many psychiatric researchers. The people classified as psychopaths and sociopaths are separated by one main difference, and that is if they were born with a lack of the ability to empathize or if they were affected as children in a traumatic environment. Although both of these horrible disorders derive from a different area, the reality is that they are unpredictable, undetectable and most importantly, they can be very dangerous.

According to my first source, a psychopath is someone who is “utterly selfish, egoistical, vain, idle, callous often to the point of brutality, devoid of normally affectionate feelings or remorse” (McCallum, 1). When Joy was walking home from school one day, as a seventeen year old girl, Old Nick pretended that his dog was sick, tricking Joy into getting into the car with him. He then took her back to his home, and held her captive in a shed in his backyard. He approached the kidnapping with a sense of normalcy. Old Nick smooth talked Joy in a manipulative way, and in the state of mind to kidnap, impregnate, and hold hostage an innocent human.

In the book Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us by Robert D Hare, the author described how those diagnosed with this have little capacity for seeing the consequences of their behavior (Hare 77). Psychopaths exhibit extreme emotions or none at all, and their function processing is slower than that of a person with little to no psychopathic tendencies.

Psychopaths are identified as people who are emotionally lacking in psychological terms. They lack empathy based upon emotions with their victims. Although they have verbal abilities, they lack complete understanding, which is a capacity to appreciate moral rules responding to their choice of actions. These people are not serialized criminals, as their offenses are usually not significant and are rather considered to be social than legal. A psychopath is one who can get away with illegal behavior in his own interest. A psychopath suffers from an antisocial personality disorder.

Psychopathy and Sociopathy have become interchangeable, even though the diction of each can greatly affect a sense of concern to a person. The word psychopath is normally pared with the word killer, making it seem more serious than sociopath.The definition of sociopath is “a person with a personality disorder manifesting itself in extreme antisocial attitudes and behavior and a lack of conscience.’ where the definition of a psychopath is a person with a psychopathic personality, which manifests as a moral and antisocial behavior, lack of ability to love or establish meaningful personal relationships, extreme egocentricity, failure to learn from experience, etc.” These kinds of people are normally viewed as extremely violent and are mostly in prison, but “Roughly one in 25 Americans is a sociopath,” according to Harvard psychologist Dr. Martha Stout, author of The Sociopath Next Door. The thought that someone you see every single day, could be a sociopath is staggering, and once learning more about it, and why it is caused, you can them know how to react in an appropriate manner.

They’re distinctive traits include living a parasitic lifestyle, lack of responsibility for their actions, glibness, and a lack of realistic long term goals (“Psychopathic”). They do not learn from their experiences and cannot form meaningful relationships. They continuously engage in antisocial behavior, punishment does not have an affect on their behavior, and they are emotionally immature (Hare, Psychopathy 9). They find it hard to control their impulses and commonly hold many short-term relationships, often engaging in promiscuous sexual behavior. (“Psychopathic”). Frequently, they fail to plan ahead, have a low frustration acceptance, and have no problem lying blatantly to someone’s face. Psychopaths don’t feel remorseful if they mistreat or hurt someone, in fact, the person’s safety, as well as their own, is disregarded in order for the psychopath to get what they want (Hare, “Psychopath vs. Antisocial”). An easy way to describe a psychopath is a human who lives a predatory lifestyle (“Psychopathic”).

Psychopathy is a disease of the mind, in which the psychological state of someone has emotional or behavioral problems serious enough to require psychiatric evaluation. Psychopaths have no concern for the feelings of others and a complete disregard of any sense of social obligation. Psychopaths are characterized by lack of empathy, poor impulse control and manipulative behaviors. They use charm, manipulation, intimidation, and the use of severe to mild violence to satisfy their own needs.