My understanding is that someone who would be designated a sociopath is always intelligent, but lacking in empathy. How could anyone feel guilt if they don’t have empathy?
The study that I read long ago said that about one out of every one hundred people is a sociopath. They are bright enough to know that they are somehow different and many will search out answers by reading about sociopathology. They are intelligent enough to recognize themselves. However, I’ve known some people who thought they might be sociopaths who were definitely mistaken.
Does this mean you can’t appreciate any creative works? Even if it isn’t creating emotions in you, couldn’t you say for an example wow that was a well crafted novel.
This makes a clear distinction between a sociopath and psychopath but the article is derided in comments further down the page. Is a psychopath just a sociopath who turns to violence?
I know autistic people that know they are autistic, I know people who have panic attack, who know they are panic attacks and nothing more. Knowing doesn’t seem to help much, so I doubt knowing would help.
As for the question, I think they know they are different, but perhaps not why.
That article describes the use of the term “sociopath” as one particular behavioral geneticist used it, Dr. David Lykken. The problem with the term “sociopath” is that, unlike “psychopath,” it doesn’t have any one universally agreed upon definition, which is why it’s by and large disused in forensic psychology and psychiatry. If somebody uses the term “psychopath,” we know exactly what they mean; they’re referring to the personality construct identified by Dr. Hervey Cleckley and Dr. Robert Hare, describing a highly antisocial and narcissistic personality, lacking in conscience or empathy, callous, impulsive, manipulative, lying, sometimes violent, criminally versatile, and so on. A psychopath also has some different physiological reactions, such as lacking an appropriate startle response, not having palm sweat reactions to stress that the rest of us have, unusual brain activity when scanned by MRI, and so on. So if a professional says of somebody “this person is a psychopath,” we know pretty well what they’re talking about.
On the other hand, when somebody says “this person is a socipath,” we don’t necessarily know what the speaker means. Most commonly when a person says “sociopath” they’re using sociopath and psychopath interchangeably, as in Martha Stout’s book The Sociopath Next Door. Although Stout uses sociopath throughout the book, she’s pretty clearly talking about what Dr. Hare and Dr. Cleckley call a psychopath, and says as much. Others may use sociopath to refer to somebody who meets DSM IV-TR criteria for antisocial personality disorder, or AsPD. Somebody who meets criteria for AsPD displays antisocial and aggressive behavior, but may not necessarily be a full blown cold-blooded psychopath. Still others may be using sociopath idiosyncratically to refer to their own model of a certain type of antisocial personality, e.g. a model in which a person comes to behave antisocially primarily through upbringing and socialization rather than any inherent or inborn traits. It’s not a widely agreed upon term.
Interesting report. Do you feel anxiety, fear, terror, etc? What about boredom?
What pictures were they showing in art class that people expected you to have feelings for?
Have you ever felt empathy for anyone or anything? Have you ever felt shame? What emotions have you felt and how intense were they? Have you ever felt humor, joy, happiness? Or is it pretty much flat and emotionless across the board?
What do you have to lose that is so important that prevents you from committing crimes?
I don’t know if I can get a correct answer from this, but my understanding is sociopaths are pathological liars. do you engage in that behavior?
I think we have to be careful here not to confuse a socio-path with someone who has learned to ‘lock themselves down’. Perhaps some wanabees think sociopaths are rather Vulcan like in their emotions and find that aspect gives them a feeling of emotional invulnerablility.
In prisons, the incidence of social and personality disorders are remarkably high I can found quotes that put the numbers at well over 20 X a control population. It is a reasonable question as to whether this is learned in a prison environment or if their disorders are what brought them into prison.
They do lock down many emotions as a defence, and are capable of horrendous callousness, but it does not mean they are sociopaths. Those who seem to me to be sociopaths do have plenty of emotions, all those you might expect but find that they cannot bridge a gap to another person - I’d put them somewhere on the Autistic spectrum.
You will also find many prison staff also do this too, there is more than a hint of truth in the idea of the unfeeling institutional official, and of course some of them can’t leave this attitude inside the fence and take it home with them - which is why sex offender treatment counselling is such a difficult role and leads to staff burnout - these people have to construct some sort of personality defence. Some sex offenders play head games to try inflict their nasty little psyches on more victims and their counsellors are available - personally I would just burn the bastards without a second thought - just give me the flame thrower. Its merely a matter of waste disposal.
Does that put me on the sociopath personality scale? - nope I don’t think so, its a logical outlook, partly defensive perhaps but I would have no problem frying them and not lose a moments sleep. There are quite a few other criminals I would have no issue dealing with likewise, a psychopath would enjoy doing it, and a sociopath probably is completely neutral. I think this is not abnormal at all, given the push or the circumstances then many of us could do this, and return home loving and caring for others.
In other words we can be selective, we can find our own justifications.
John Douglas, the ex FBI profiler and author of Mind Hunter, remarked that true sociopaths were relatively easy to catch as they really didn’t understand what they were doing would bring the law down on them.
(It’s been a long time since I read his book and I might have sociopath and psychopath mixed up.)
Most people who truly are unable to care about others’ pain are giant messes.
Most people follow many rules mostly out of consideration for others. Think about it–why do you make an effort to show up to work on time every day? it’s not just because you want to avoid getting fired. It’s also because other people at work are depending on you. You don’t want to let them down. There are lots of rules we follow every day like this.
That’s because the terms** are** interchangeable. The diagnosis used to be called sociopathy. Later on the name changed to psychopathy. Later still they changed it to Anti-Social Personality Disorder. All three terms were supposed to describe exactly the same condition.
Confusion was introduced when Dr. Hare didn’t like the way the DSM described Anti-Social Personality Disorder and thought that it was too easy for people to be diagnosed with it. Where most people who disagree with the direction the industry standard for diagnosing psychiatric disorders work to get it changed, Hare started telling the world the true psychopaths are much worse than the standard definition and then sold materials to allow professionals to diagnose this condition. He essentially took the old term that had fallen into disfavor and marketed it as a different condition.