I don’t really know what possessed me to ask this question, but I just thought about it for a while and realized that I’m pretty different from basically everybody that I know, and not in that teen-angst-nobody-understands-me type of way. I went through that, and I can recognize it when I see it. So umm… I figured you guys n gals could ask me some salient questions and help me figure out if I’m just special or if I should make sure that people don’t keep small children around me.
If you were a pipecleaner, what shape would you bend yourself into?
A woman is at her mother’s funeral. At the funeral, she meets a young man, and they get to chatting during the reception, and hit it off. Despite the circumstance, they have a wonderful time, and they agree to meet up. Unfortunately, she forgets to ask for his phone number.
A week later, she kills her sister.
Why?
If someone cuts you off in traffic, would you attempt to get even(try to cut them off)? Would you honk your horn? Would you swear at them out the window? Or would you just shrug it off?
I’d hazard a guess and say; I doubt a sociopath would even bother to ask such a question if it even occurred to them in the first place.
and do answer matt’s question…
Trigonal Planar: What?
matt_mcl: She doesn’t need a reason.
HPL: If I do anything, I cut em off. But I don’t always cut em off.
The_Stranger: Good point. That makes me feel better.
matt, so she can meet up with the guy at the sister’s funeral.
just kidding… really… come on… where are you guys going?
I dunno where this is going, it just seemed like an interesting question to ask. And as far as matt’s question… seriously, she doesn’t need a reason. I mean, at best it would be a justification, and justifications generally aren’t worth the breath wasted to utter them. So… she kills her sister because she can. Isn’t that why most people do anything?
No, she kills her sister for some reason. What is it?
I don’t personally see the need for a reason, myself, for the reasons listed above. Is there some sort of answer that sociopaths give?
I’m going to sleep now though, so I think I’ll find out tomorrow.
Here’s one:
You have a magic talisman that allows you to wish people dead, from a distance, with no backlash or repercussions. In what situations would you use it?
If you are truly sociopathic, you’ll use it whenever you think it will benefit you… the more trivial the benefit, the more sociopathic you are. For example, if you use it to silence those kids two rows back who talk through the whole film, you’re pretty sociopathic.
Isn’t 5-HT’s answer the right answer to matt’s question?
She kills the sister to see if the guy shows up at the funeral.
Snopes says yes, but it probably doesn’t mean as much as you think it means.
Okay here’s the question:
Are you a sociopath?
If you answer “no”, then you obviously are a sociopath who is trying to conceal your condition from society for your own benefit.
If you answer “yes”, then you obviously are a sociopath who has realized that answering “no” would give you away.
If you answer “I don’t know.” or other similar non-committed answers, then you are obviously a sociopath who is trying to lead society into a digression to draw attention away from your sociopathy.
The only proper answer to the question is “HELLO! MY BRAIN HURTS! WHERE IS THE CHEMIST? OOH!”
Okay here’s the question:
Are you a sociopath?
If you answer “no”, then you obviously are a sociopath who is trying to conceal your condition from society for your own benefit.
If you answer “yes”, then you obviously are a sociopath who has realized that answering “no” would give you away.
If you answer “I don’t know.” or other similar non-committed answers, then you are obviously a sociopath who is trying to lead society into a digression to draw attention away from your sociopathy.
The only proper answer to the question is “HELLO! MY BRAIN HURTS! WHERE IS THE CHEMIST? OOH!”
I say, “Call the police.”
“Sociopath” is a term which has been retired, or should be. It has two distinct meanings, so use of it gets confusing.
In its first and original meaning it means the same thing as “psychopath”. That is, one who feels absolutely no empathy or rapport with other human beings, or anything, really.
The second meaning indicated an individual who held no loyalty to society at large, or empathy with society’s members. But they did have loyalty to and empathy with their own subgroup and its members, such as their particular gang. Very different from the other definition.
So I guess you should be asking if you’re a psychopath.
QtM, MD
Probably 20% of my patients are psychopaths! 
Can one be a psychopath without necessarily being “crazy”/insane?
Yes. Lack of empathy is not the same as insanity.
Essentially psychopaths have no conscience, nor any true remorse for their actions. Fear of external consequences is what prevents them from acting on their desires.
Trouble arises when you have a sadistic psychopath, who gets pleasure from inflicting pain. A garden-variety psychopath will not go out of their way to inflict pain, unless they gain something from it, as it would place themselves at risk. Sadistic ones will look for opportunities to inflict pain (can be either emotional or physical) and will be deterred only if they believe they can’t get away with it.
Insane psychopaths are really scary.
Even ordinary psychopaths are pretty scary, because while they have no empathy, they sure have learned how to fake it!