I was talking to him today and he essentially admitted to being a sociopath. That was interesting. We’ve talked before about things like compassion and how he was bothered that he didn’t feel much, but I didn’t know how sociopathic he was. I was talking to him today and I asked him ‘would you feel bad if your brother was sent to a concentration camp’ and he thought about it and after about 10 seconds said ‘no, not really’. I asked him if he’d feel bad if he personally put someone in a concentration camp and he said no. I read alot of darwinian natural selection so I know altruism as a concept isn’t really all its cracked up to be, but even sociopaths go beyond that conditional, self centered altruism given to us by natural selection.
Alright. Time to hide all my money and all my private stuff. I can’t trust the guy now. I’m not really afraid of him, just a bit bothered by it all and my realization that my wants and feeling mean nothing to him. He does tend to embarass me in public a bit, and I always figured it was just his personality. Perhaps he just can’t empathize with other people enough to understand things like embarassment.
My ex-husband also diagnosed himself as a sociopath. On the bright side, I read that sociopaths grow out of it around the age of thirty and start to have feelings like normal people.
It’s not “altruism” that is the deal, it’s “empathy”. However, it sounds like your roomie has neither. I’ve met a few people like that, and I would definitely hide my shit from them too.
Or maybe he’s just a selfish twit.
Sociopaths are usually more pro-active. Ask him if he’s ever killed or physically injured anyone or anything for his own amusement.
If his answer is yes, move.
Not always. My husband works in a prison full of them.
Empathy is something that’s taught in early childhood. (You see it among nearly all social animals.) It’s not innate, by any means. Some people miss out on this developmental stage through abuse, neglect or dysfunctional family life.
Some people sincerely can not understand why they should care that their actions hurt others. It’s almost impossible to “re-train” the mind in this area as an adult. It could possibly be done through intensive therapy, but most people don’t seek help for it. Inmates in prison receive some counselling, but not enough to really do any good.
Even emotion and empathy have rational foundings. Simply, it’s better for the world and thus best for yourself.
For the guys who go about killing people, “without remorse,” meh. Maybe they really have no feelings, I’m not sure I believe that though. If they had no feelings, they wouldn’t care enough to do it, nor would they do something that is just going to be a big hastle for themselves.
Whether you need to worry about your roommate, no idea, but there is every chance that he is equally moral as anyone else. It just depends on how much work he has put into it.
I would suggest that the drive toward violent acts is more of an innate quality of human animals; while conceiving of the consequences, or empathising with your victim’s pain, is a bit more sophisticated. I don’t think you need to ‘care’ about much to lash out in a rage.
I’m a little stuck on you being “meh” about psychopath serial killers. That kind screams apathy, if such a thing were possible. Or is that kind of like not being sure if you’re ambivalent about something?
That was a “meh” towards the believability that they are actually mindless robots, not apathy towards their actions.
I am fairly meh towards them as individuals, I will admit, but that’s because I don’t see much to get worked up over. They killed someone, we catch them, jail them and so it goes. Not much to be gained by being impressed nor horrified. You figure out what makes them tick, and work towards a world that doesn’t create more. Certainly something to be dedicated to, but that’s still just common sense.
