Psychopathy is defined by three domains they are an interpersonal style characterized by arrogance, manipulation, and deceit; a behavioral style characterized by impulsivity and irresponsibility; and an affective experience characterized by shallow emotions and a lack of empathy (Sadhu, 2015). Neumann, Hare, and Newman (2007) suggest that psychopathy involves a four factor model which are an interpersonal factor that includes superficial charm, grandiosity, pathological lying and manipulation; an affective factor that includes callousness, lack of remorse, shallowness and failure to accept responsibility; an impulsive lifestyle factor that comprises impulsivity, sensation seeking and irresponsibility; and an antisocial factor that involves…
Psychopath’s brains biologically do not function the same way as everyone else’s, specifically in response to threats and emotional stimuli. A study carried out by in a 1994 prison population measured the cardiac, facial muscle, and electrodermal reactions of psychopathic and non psychopathic individuals in response to and found that subjects with low-psychopathy had more significantly higher responses to fearful imagery than the psychopathic subjects (Patrick 1994). More recent studies utilize electroencephalograms (EEGS) in order to monitor brain activity. Electroencephalograms (EEGs) done on certified psychopaths and non-psychopaths show certain areas of the brain do not physically react the same to emotional or physical stimuli. The standard human brain “tends to respond automatically, even reflexively, when processing oddball or salient target stimuli” (Kiehl, 92), but the psychopath’s brain has abnormal responses, typically not as strong.…
What is a psychopath? How would we describe a psychopath? Although people may have a different opinion of the description of a psychopath, there are some aspects that most people will agree on. From our understanding, psychopaths are impulsive, ego-centric, and sometimes violent individuals, who lie and manipulate others for their own personal gain. At the same time, psychopaths can be charming which explains how they manage to easily manipulate others. The most intriguing characteristic, however, is the lack of conscience within a psychopath. We can all agree, it seems as if psychopaths feel no remorse or guilt after exhibiting their…
Approximately 840 students at Harvard University may be psychopathic; a shocking suggestion, but one that is tackled by psychologist and former Harvard professor Martha Stout in her book The Sociopath Next Door. Stout suggests that up to 4% of the population meets the diagnostic criteria of ‘sociopath.’ Colloquially, the term ‘psycho’ is often used, but its actual meaning includes several specific traits: a failure to conform to social norms, impulsivity and indifference to name a few. In the simplest of terms, psychopaths lack conscience. It is generally agreed that psychopathy and sociopathy are synonymous terms and are referred to in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) as Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD).…
High Risk: Children Without a Conscience , by Dr. Ken Magid and Carole A. McKelvey is a cry out for change, aiming towards the decrease of rearing psychopathic individuals in America's future. Their goal to implement this is through awareness that is best prevention and treatment during the childhood. Answering the questions to why child molesters, to abusers, to crook entrepreneurs to murders are who they are, explaining bonding as critical stage of development. When a psychopathic misses this period Antisocial Personality Disorder (APD) is developed. They believe that this is why individuals embark on a serious of events of deception, destruction, and murder. Without prevention psychopaths are extremely difficult to treat and if missed prematurely are untreatable.…
This research article discusses psychopathy as a personality disorder that has certain elements that the offender must meet before being clarified as psychopathic. This further helps to define and understand the role in which psychopathy plays within criminal profiling. This article coincides with other articles to further back up the findings from them as well.…
Modern society has many standards that people follow and accept: shake hands when meeting someone, do not pick nose in public, and bathe on a regular basis. Norms are just a few of the many different social needs in the world today. Abnormalities throw people through a loophole, cause confusion amongst each other, and contrast uniformity. Psychopaths lead to the death of individuals that conform to the standard and have no remorse for the action. They disrupt the flow of progress and end the life of another with no penalty of law. Psychopaths work to change how society thinks as a norm, such as a psychopath in “Cask of Amontillado,” “The Lottery,” and “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been.”…
Human fascination with the dark and twisted minds of criminals is not a new concept. For years, humans have tried to understand what draws people to commit terrible acts. When looking at crime as a whole, each case is vastly different in motivation, execution, and the effects they have on the culprit. The one unifying factor that does exist between crimes ranging from shoplifting to murder is the overwhelming presence of personality disorders that can motivate criminal behavior or justify it for those responsible.While personality disorders impact the behaviors and mindsets of all victims, those with paranoid, narcissistic, and antisocial personality disorders share the closest connection to delinquency. The mental toll each disorder takes…
Martens, W. H. (2000). Antisocial and psychopathic Personality Disorders: Causes, Course, and Remission- A Review Artical. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminolgy , 44(4), 406-430.…
Sociopaths and their relationship to the rest of society is the topic I would like to study. I want to explore the history of what we know about sociopaths, major past sociopaths and their behavior. Though sociopaths can exist in any type of environment, I want to specifically focus on sociopaths in the criminal work. I would like to take on a clinical and social approach to sociopathy, and see if there is any science behind the marked disorder.…
Tests have shown that the nervous systems of psychopaths encounter less fear and anxiety than normal people. Tests have proven that low arousal levels have caused these individuals to project impulsive thrill-seeking behavior. Proven by one experiment, a group of healthy individuals and a group of serial killers were given the task of finding which lever out of four turned on a green light. One of the levers gave the subject an electric shock. Though both groups made the same number of mistakes the sociopaths took much longer in learning to stay away from the lever with the electric shock. This higher need for stimulation leads these individuals to seek dangerous situations. In fact most serial killers have a desire to become cops, the intensity of the job makes it exciting and desirable to them. The famous serial killer John Wyane Gacy, responsible for the rape and murder of 33 teenage boys and young men, told…
Hare, R.D. (1980). A research scale for the assessment of psychopathy in criminal populations. Personality and Individual Differences, 1,111-119.…
Psychopathy is a personality disorder, mainly characterized by a lack of remorse or empathy, and is highly associated with antisocial behavior alongside other symptoms (Pozzulo, 301). Research shows that psychopathy can develop during childhood and adolescence (Pozzulo, 314). Psychologists are able to present to court the most probable criminal behavior of an young offender, as well as how specific models of psychopathy should be addressed, and how the offender should be punished including specific aspect of the sentence. However, psychologists’ expert testimonies labeling an offender as psychopath can lead to biased jurors’ sentences. Moreover, psychology is far from a perfect science and therefore contains many contradictions on psychopathy…
A psychopath is defined as “a person with a psychopathic personality, which manifests as amoral and antisocial behavior, lack of ability to love or…
They often hear voices, see visions, and have trouble differentiating fiction from reality. The second group, the psychopaths, consists of those that are sane and know right from wrong but do not care. They kill because they want to and they like it and feel no guilt or remorse (Simons, 2001). It is in this group of serial killers that the most amount of individuals with ASPD are found. Approximately two thirds of all serial killers are diagnosed with a personality disorder found in the DSM-5’s Cluster B. Studies have shown that patients who are released from psychiatric hospitals who have ASPD are four times more likely to be violent after being discharged and 3.7 times more likely to have a reconviction for attempted and completed murder…