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The Psychopath Test
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How to spot a sociopath (aka psychopath)
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Kelly
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Jan 14, 2017 03:31AM
With Psychopaths it is not just psychological but neurological as well. With number 3, in a psychopath they have an underdeveloped amydala which is associated with fear. This can be seen on a brain scan. In a sociopath the amydala is normal sized. You can detect a psychopath from a very young age. A person can become a sociopath at any age as it usually starts with trauma and abuse ----> revenge. After that the evil continues much like narcissism.
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Kelly wrote: "With Psychopaths it is not just psychological but neurological as well. With number 3, in a psychopath they have an underdeveloped amydala which is associated with fear. This can be seen on a brain scan. In a sociopath the amydala is normal sized. You can detect a psychopath from a very young age. A person can become a sociopath at any age as it usually starts with trauma and abuse ----> revenge. After that the evil continues much like narcissism. ..."You mean the amygdala, I assume?
I'm not sure neuroscience is so advanced in its study of sociopaths just yet that it can definitively pick up these things in a brain scan of a child to say with 100% certainty that they'll grow up to be a sociopath. For example, what about if a child has been brain-damaged? How would that injury be differentiated? Then again, I guess brain damage can and sometimes does lead to the sociopathic condition.
Also, can we conclusively say most instances of sociopaths begins with being abused as a child? I would've thought for every one extreme psychopath like Ted Bundy there are 100 or 1000 ones who are not murderers but just subtly do destructive things in society or are cold and ruthless. In other words, most would not even have a criminal record and therefore wouldn't ever be studied. Some lawyers and politicians would fit in this category.
Tricky stuff, but I agree brain scans will be one way to tackle this problem in future. Will be a fantastic day for humanity when science can evolve to the point that sociopaths can be detected early on, then treated. Right now we got a situation where only 5-10% of the population are wrecking the world and undermining the masses who are mostly good people.
When saying the amygdala is underdeveloped, it means in terms of size and the actual ability to function properly. Although extremely similar, sociopaths and psychopaths are not the same thing. The word 'psychopath' is very overused in the media, and usually the people they refer to as psychopaths are actually sociopaths. Psychopaths are hardwired to be the way they are due to neuro abnormalities of their brain. Generally at around 5-7 years old, psychopaths will torture small animals or insects or kill them in a cruel way. Then move onto bigger as they get older. No it does not make any of what they do right, but that is how they were born. Ivan Milat liked watching and inflicting pain, and used the severed heads of his victims as target practice. Sociopaths do it for revenge, sexual pleasure, beliefs (like white supremacists or ISIS terrorists), the attention and fear it causes etc. Sociopaths figure well their life is ruined why not ruin someone else's as well.It can be very hard to differentiate the two since they have so many similarities. Especially when they don't even physically torture a person. They might inflict financial, sexual or emotional torture. That can make it harder.
Okay, cheers for the clarification. Ivan Milat sure was a piece of work and a half, he was always smiling whenever outside court for his latest murder sentence I recall...I keep getting mixed messages in books, documentaries and the media on whether there is a difference between sociopath and psychopath. My understanding, which could be wrong, is these terms are not actually strict psychiatric terms with hard science supporting them, but rather pop-psychology terms for the masses. If that's true, then that may explain why there's no universal differentiation between the two terms and why they are often used interchangeably by the media and so forth.
Fay wrote: "Interesting!All I can think of write now is BBC's Sherlock Holmes. "I'm not a psychopath, Anderson. I'm a high-functioning sociopath. Do your research!""
Isn't psychopath the word for high-functioning sociopath? Maybe not. At least calling your book/movie "Socio" or "American Sociopath" would make it less ambiguous whether the character suffers from hallucinations or dopamine withdrawal.
As far as I know, psychosis is incompatible with psychopathy because the one requires your brain to produce too much dopamine and the other makes it produce too little..
How to Spot a Sociopath (with Pictures) - wikiHow http://www.wikihow.com/Spot-a-SociopathKey Points
Look for the following characteristics:
A lack of shame
Constant lying, manipulation, or attempts at isolation
Ability to remain calm, even in extreme circumstances
Charm, intelligence, huge ego, and immaturity
Uncalled for violent behavior
Micro expressions of anger
Easily offended
Narcissistic tendencies
Use of intense contact to manipulate
I am particularly struck by videos (on YouTube) by Dr Stephen Greer where he mentions sociopaths in governments. They are so dangerous because they can whip up paranoia in the population. How much conflict is started off by people without a conscience?
John wrote: "They are so dangerous because they can whip up paranoia in the population. ..."Paranoia?
What on Earth are you talking about, John?
Our leaders never exaggerate threats to "national security".
(Ignore the Fear of Communists, Fear of Jews, Fear of Muslims, Fear of the VietCong etc, etc, that launched a million other wars and just keep trusting our honorable leaders!)
Maybe I am a bit ignorant, but I have never read a really good book on the psychology and sociology of sociopaths. (The Hitler stuff never turned me on much.) The fascinating thing is they always seem to do so well in government (no other mental disorder gains such prominence). I guess one valid response is "Write the bloody book yourself!"
Oh, politics is a dream come true for sociopaths. Everything comes natural to them.
I saw somewhere that somewhere between 5 -10% of top corporate leaders were psychopaths. (It seems that psychopath and sociopath are roughly interchangeable because they seem to have the same symptoms.) If true, you can see it is a waste of time expecting them to be amenable to doing their social duty and not avoiding taxes.
Psychopaths are just highly functional sociopaths. Sociopaths are not at all easy to find or spot. You probably will never be in close contact with one. If you do, prepare for your life to turn to chaos.
Ian, I totally agree it's a waste of time appealing to their better natures or to talk about the greater good of certain acts.I've heard estimates that 90% of those in office in politics are sociopathic.
If that estimate is at all true, then how do the masses deal with that?
For example, might there be a way in future to scientifically test for sociopaths and then have a register of those who are?
James, the idea of having politicians undergo medical/psychological testing prior to elections has an attractive ring to it, but since they make the rules, I am not holding my breath for this to come into being.
Ian I just pictured a comedic scenario where they test politicians and discover most are clinically insane! :)
James, I suspect you might be closer to accuracy than you think :-)
James writes, "might there be a way in future to scientifically test for sociopaths and then have a register of those who are?"Firstly, there would have to be a widespread recognition that the hallmarks defining sociopaths comprises their lack of empathy with others, their amorality in obtaining their private objectives and their aggregate harmfulness to others and society as a whole. Once this has been identified and affirmed as a socially harmful disposition (akin to, say, domestic violence) changing doxa might occur as a matter of course.
In our time domestic violence and paedophilia (now registered) have been identified as widespread and socially harmful, whilst homosexuality has been decriminalised and affirmed as constituting a harmless 10%. Such conceptualising belongs to what Foucault calls an episteme -- accepted knowledge within a given epoch. Along with sociopathy, I would like to see greed classified as a mental disorder. Maybe this would eventually affect the composition of power-wielding executive bodies? Who knows?
You will end up registering everyone for something or other if you do that.
That depends on the variable descriptors - see DSM. Have you been beating up your wife? (Just joking.)
Isn't the term sociopath, and it's interchangeable term psychopath, really just a pop-psychology term anyway ?Or am I wrong?
Is there a way to scientifically prove someone is actually a sociopath? Does it conclusively show in brain scans?
I am not an expert on this, and I may be corrected, but I think the terms are just classification terms, and the person is a sociopath if he demonstrates the set of "qualifying actions" sufficiently for a psychologist or psychiatrist to so diagnose. I suspect there are a lot of people around the fuzzy edges, who may or may not be. I don't think there is a "standard discrete test".
Okay, well then those fuzzy areas could create the dangerous situation you refer to in that people who are borderline cases could be forced to go on the register of sociopaths...And civil liberty issues could be breached.
Being ascribed a serious mental disorder is a bit like baptism - it is a ceremony performed by psychiatrists. It is notoriously difficult to be "un-baptised" and the whole thing is governed by DSM - a 500-page manual approved by the APA. What is the most common reason for such a ceremony? -- smashing a television (!)
James wrote: "Isn't the term sociopath, and it's interchangeable term psychopath, really just a pop-psychology term anyway ?Or am I wrong?
Is there a way to scientifically prove someone is actually a sociopath?..."
Interestingly, it is also difficult to decide when a person is "crazy", the most common method is whether a person can distinguish between their imagination and reality (plenty of scope in there). My demand to include greed was a bit draconian. But it would be interesting to see greed subject to increasing social disapproval, semi-medicalised in a similar manner as, say, kleptomania.
Yeah, I agree with the overdiagnosed society fears.Not really sure greed can be classified as a mental disorder...
Maybe it's more of a human failing than a mental illness?
If you diagnose greed as a mental disorder, big Pharma will bring out a pill to treat it, pass go, and make billions while refusing to take its own pills.
Hmm. What have I started? There are many "borderline" cases of what counts as a mental disorder (no joke intended) and it much depends on the culture and epoch one lives in. Foucault has expounded on this very well.Doubtless, there is a borderline greed.
If greed could be discredited (and not championed by writers like Ayn Rand) people would start to question it more. One thing is, it is never satisfied, and hence an addiction, perhaps akin to obsessive/compulsive disorders.
And what is "the belief" of greed? That one will be satisfied when one wont?
This is a weird discussion. A lot depends on what we mean by disease and mental disorder, anyway. Psychiatrists have been trying, for decades, to reduce mental disorders to brain functions. That would put it all within the realm of the scientific. Very neat.But ascribing mental disorder is also decided upon according to social norms. Are all Norwegians depressives? Are dancing Masai tribesmen borderline? (Or me, for that matter, when I laugh without apparent reason in a public place?)
Ronnie Laing (deceased existential psychiatrist) once said, on an assignment in a mental hospital, that he could not find anything wrong with some of his patients. Probably, because he had no problems with entering their subjectivity as "common ground".
Okay, but what about greed? It is obsessive. And - I will argue - it is socially harmful and therefore to be emarginated and contained, where possible. In a society where greed is considered socially harmful, greedy people will start a lot more self-questioning, like, for example, asking oneself, these days, if one is addicted to caffeine.
(Damn! That water still hasn't boiled yet!)
Thomas Sheridan is one of the the main writers on sociopaths today...Puzzling People: The Labyrinth of the Psychopath
Defeated Demons: Freedom from Consciousness Parasites in Psychopathic Society
Anyone who has been to school should be able to spot psychopaths!
John wrote: "Anyone who has been to school should be able to spot psychopaths!"Not so sure, mate.
Ted Bundy, who I seemed to recall killed hundreds, was trusted by many and reported by quite a few associates as being "a very nice guy". A fairly big percentage of those in power, including some of the most beloved politicians, are probably psychopaths/sociopaths, but hard to tell which ones. And I don't mean to offend anyone working in criminal law, but that field is said to be a wet dream for sociopaths...and yet there are also some lawyers in that field who really want to protect innocent people...Again, hard to tell which.
Not all killers or abusers are obvious psychos...
It's interesting that religious and political affiliation are two things that seem to have absolutely nothing to do with who is a sociopath and who isn't - it's a phenomenon that I think I've seen cutting across all those categories people fall into. And some of the individuals I've noticed the biggest problems with, when it comes to their contact with reality or capacity for compassion, were those who really had a great deal in common with me when it comes to religious or political opinions, or interest in off the beaten path scientific things.
9 Clues That You May Be Dealing With a Psychopath https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/bl...The neuroscience of psychopathy reports some intriguing findings.
The twenty traits assessed by the PCL-R score are: • glib and superficial charm
• grandiose (exaggeratedly high) estimation of self
• need for stimulation
• pathological lying
• cunning and manipulativeness
• lack of remorse or guilt
• shallow affect (superficial emotional responsiveness)
• callousness and lack of empathy
•parasitic lifestyle
• poor behavioral controls
• sexual promiscuity
• early behavior problems
• lack of realistic long-term goals
•impulsivity
• irresponsibility
• failure to accept responsibility for own actions
• many short-term marital relationships
• juvenile delinquency
• revocation of conditional release
• criminal versatility
Perhaps a loss of contact with reality is not a symptom of this but a lack of empathy would be, right? Although I see the two symptoms working together a lot of the time. For example I'm fascinated by the evidence that points toward the existence of some worldwide civilization getting wiped out by a cataclysm in prehistoric times, so an author by the name of Laird Scranton became a facebook friend of mine. That didn't last long because he's written a few books about the Dogon culture, and he blocked me on facebook because I was criticizing the Dogon habit of female genital mutilation. He flatly denied the Dogon ever did this and when I pointed out that all sources of info about them said otherwise so he blocked me. That was after he was failing to argue against another friend of his who was actually defending the practice. So perhaps not everyone defines these words the same way exactly but I do feel like i know a psychopath when I see one. Even if they have a great deal of other things in common with me.
It can definitely be hard to detect a psychopath, from my experience. My father's caregiver for a few years was a con artist. The amazing thing is, she could actually manipulate her own aura to be sweet pink to match her behavior. And she could see auras with absolute accuracy and detail, not a trait I would have expected of a psychopath, but certainly a highly useful one.
A necklace of severed ears is typically a good giveaway.
Rob wrote: "That didn't last long because he's written a few books about the Dogon culture, and he blocked me on facebook because I was criticizing the Dogon habit of female genital mutilation. He flatly denied the Dogon ever did this and when I pointed out that all sources of info about them said otherwise so he blocked me. ..."Are you sure that those aren't Dogon who either became Muslim, or else had been influenced by Islam, Rob?
Is there proof for example that historically some Africans, including the Dogons, were doing female circumcisions before the arrival of Muslims?
Islam seems to have become the main vehicle for spreading that practice around the world in more recent times but it is not an exclusively Islamic thing. The answer to your question is yes, I am sure, partly because of the thorough analysis of Dogon traditions found in Robert Temple's book The Sirius Mystery. I've seen some sources saying that FGM was originally started by the ancient Egyptians, some sources say otherwise, but in any case I can't be departing from reality to the extent of someone who says FGM never existed among the Dogon, or someone who apparently doesn't see anything wrong with doing it. Equality Now is an organization doing very good work on this issue.
How Society Gaslights Survivors of Narcissists, Sociopaths, and Psychopaths (A Guide for Therapists, Law Enforcement and Loved Ones) https://blogs.psychcentral.com/recove...“There is a class of individuals who have been around forever and who are found in every race, culture, society and walk of life. Everybody has met these people, been deceived and manipulated by them, and forced to live with or repair the damage they have wrought. These often charming—but always deadly—individuals have a clinical name: psychopaths. Their hallmark is a stunning lack of conscience; their game is self-gratification at the other person’s expense. Many spend time in prison, but many do not. All take far more than they give.” – Dr. Robert Hare, The Charming Psychopath
I saw somewhere that a surprisingly (or maybe not so surprising when you think about it) large number of CEOs are psychopaths. Apparently in the last ten years the top 15% gained about $21 trillion, while the bottom 50 % lost a little under a trillion.
There's probably 1 or 2 sociopaths in the world's political class too, Ian...Actually, make that 1 or 2 million!
Underground Knowledge — A discussion group
Books mentioned in this topic
Dodging Energy Vampires: An Empath’s Guide to Evading Relationships That Drain You and Restoring Your Health and Power (other topics)Puzzling People: The Labyrinth of the Psychopath (other topics)
Defeated Demons: Freedom from Consciousness Parasites in Psychopathic Society (other topics)
Defeated Demons: Freedom from Consciousness Parasites in Psychopathic Society (other topics)
The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Thomas Sheridan (other topics)Philip G. Zimbardo (other topics)
Jon Ronson (other topics)
M.E. Thomas (other topics)
