The crimes that these people commit are often unspeakable and unfathomable. There are crimes that are committed that aren’t always homicide either. There are many different cases of sociopaths who have raped and held their victims captive as well. As a human being with a brain that functions alongside today’s societal norms, one may be brought to the conclusion that these people are monsters. The unfortunate truth is that they simply are given the ability to not be controlled by the things that we consider right and wrong. Desire for Power Although not all sociopaths are violent, they do tend to be born with a thirst for power that can lead to violence and impulsive behavior. (Stout, 2015)Everyone has the ability to manipulate their peers Sociopaths will lie and act as though they have mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety so that the people around them will feel sorry for them. (Stout, 2005) By doing this, it tugs at the heart strings of someone who feels the moral duty to take care of the less fortunate. Humans who don’t lack a conscience will immediately feel the need to do whatever they can to help the person and a sociopath will take advantage of it whether it be by receiving donated money or being welcomed into the home without having to put any real effort into anything.(Stout, 2014) This can not only make a sociopath realize that they can get what they want by just making up a sob story, but it also can create a danger for those who are associated with them if they don’t get what they want and they have a tendency to be violent. Many people don’t even realize that they are being used and when it comes down to it they can be stripped of almost everything, but then there are also those who absolutely despise the people who aren’t considerate. They often reprimand the sociopath and often times will get on the bad side of the sociopath which can end not very pleasantly. (Stout, 2014) Tommy Sells is a good example of this. By making it seem like he was helpless, an ignorant family tried to help him out and in return he murdered their daughter. (Carson,
There are many sociopaths that are famous for just being a sociopath. But not too many people know about them. Most people know people like John Wayne Gacy. Gacy was one of the most unexpected people to turn out to be such a disgusting person. Everyone in town loved Gacy. He performed at children’s birthday parties as “Pogo the Clown”. He was very well known. What people did not know was that he was a sociopath because he hid it so skillfully, and he just so happens to be one of the most famous sociopaths to every walk the earth. In the 1970’s he killed and raped over thirty young men and boys. He hid most of them in the crawl space under his house. Ted Bundy is another notorious serial killer. He was an attractive, charming, intelligent young man who lived in Seattle in the 70’s. He would lure women in using his charm, and then he would rape then beat them to death. He was also known as a necrophiliac. He admitted to slaying 36 women, but experts believe that the final count was around one hundred. There is also Jeffrey Dahmer who is also very well known. There have been many books and movies about him and based off the story. Dahmer murdered seventeen males between 1978 and 1991. Over the course of more than thirteen years, Dahmer sought out men at bars, malls, etc. and then lured them home with promises of money or sex, and gave them alcohol laced with drugs before strangling them to death. He would then engage in sex acts with the bodies before dismembering them, disposing of them, and sometimes eating them. He often keeped their skulls or genitals as souvenirs. He frequently took photos of his victims at various stages of the murder process, so he could recollect each act afterward and relive the experience. Dahmer was captured in 1991 after one of his potential victims
Psychopaths all have something in common, and that's luring unexpected people in their traps. Its part of human nature to wonder and question the unknown. Psychopaths are a clear example of the unknown with their personalities and behaviors that are far from the norm on a continuum. We wonder what makes them do some of the unimaginable and horrific things to people and/or animals. How could be prevent psychopaths from taking advantage and lessening the harm on the people that they can hurt. Not surprisingly, psychologists are trying to find pinpoints that can protect the psychopath and public from them.
...not function without an element of ruthlessness and a need to win. Could any capitalist be called a sociopath? In my opinion I believe that while this non-fiction novel does enlighten us to some degree on the nature and behaviors of sociopaths, it is not a myopic and in depth study worth putting any faith-based investments into. Also, it fails to answer a major and simple question: what does the future hold for these ‘monsters’? Will the population of sociopaths increase exponentially, until it is they who must destroy us for being the minority? Or are their numbers diminishing due to social awareness about this condition? Is sociopathy purely biological in nature or does this personality disorder also stem from personal experience or otherwise? In short, this book raises more questions that in answers, resulting in a disappointing and unfulfilled search for truth.
They are able to do things without thinking about it, therefore they can be irrational at times. In “10 ways to spot a sociopath” it says “Sociopaths tend to do bizarre, sometimes erratic things that most regular people wouldn’t do...their behavior often seems irrational or extremely risky.” Not only are they unpredictable, they can be dangerous to be around because of their carefree attitude. They can manipulate you into doing things you would never do.
It stems from an underlying sense of rage. Sociopaths feel deeply angry and resentful underneath their often-charming exterior, and this rage fuels their sense that they have the right to act out in whichever way they happen to choose at the time. Everything is up for grabs with sociopaths and nothing is off limits. Meyers - "The 'Meyers'"
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines a sociopath as someone who behaves in a dangerous or violent way towards other people and does not feel guilty about such behavior. Sociopaths lack a conscience that allows people to decipher between right and wrong. In A Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allen Poe, the narrator, Montresor, is believed to be a sociopath by many. He kills his friend, Fortunado, after he literally adds insult to a thousand of injuries. Though what the insult was and the previous injuries were never revealed to the reader, it could be assumed that Montresor probably overreacted to the Fortunado’s insult. But in order to answer this question the evaluation upon his motivation, strategy, and Montresor’s feeling and emotion towards
Psychopaths come in big and small packages with many different forms of personalities. Most of the time these psychopaths pop up in the middle of the darkness when people are least expecting it, like at Columbine. There are many types like Eric and Dylan, who hide their emotions. Then, there are people who are open to their craziness and enjoy their lives as a psychopath, like Hannibal Lector or Norman Bates. Always remember, never judge a book by its
...res of the psychopaths and gives the reader various examples of these individuals playing out these characteristics in everyday life. A widely used checklist is provided so the reader can get a wide spanning view of what is accounted for when scoring a psychopath. This form of research is very important within the deceitfulness of this population; it allows the professional to ignore their words and examine their actions. Hare made it clear that it is not uncommon for there to be an emotional and verbal disconnect from their actions. With virtually no emotional functioning psychopaths feel no remorse for the offenses that they commit and it is very important that we work towards using the opportunities we have to study and assist these populations; not only for them but for ourselves.
What is a psychopath? What type of person can be characterized by this and how do they come to be? But first before we can answer these questions we must first know what a psychopath is. Psychopaths are people suffering from chronic mental disorder with abnormal or violent social behaviors; clinically it is a person who has a lack of what we would consider a conscience. Psychopaths are seen to suffer from a lack of empathy because of psychological, genetic and environmental factors. Scientists have many theories concerning psychopaths. Scientist do not have a definite clear cut answer on what is the cause for psychopathy but they have many ideas; nature and the nurture of the person. Nature is the genes that the person carries. The nurture of the person when they were a child is simply means how they were treated when they were growing up and/or how they were raised. Some scientists even consider it a possibility that it could be a mixture of the two.
Sociopaths are prevalent among society, and some researchers, like Martha Stout, claim that one out of every twenty-five people is a sociopath. However, this statistic is incorrect. This statistic is based on the assumption that sociopaths and psychopaths are the same people—which is untrue. While the sociopathic and psychopathic traits overlap, sociopaths differ in that they are obviously nervous and agitated, unable to create the illusions that psychopaths are so proud of. They live on the fringes of society, uneducated and unable to keep a steady job. Psychopaths, unlike sociopaths, are suave and able to maintain an illusion of conformity and maintain relationships on a superficial level. Both, however, are dominantly male, tend to disregard the rights and social mores of others, and have a tendency display violent and disruptive outbursts without remorse. Unlike psychopaths, who completely lack remorse and the ability to love, sociopaths may attach themselves to certain people, though they still remain contemptuous of the rest of humanity (7).
Depictions of psychopaths today have become exaggerated based off of what you see in movies and films. The psychopaths in movies are believed to be dangerous or have an anti-social personality disorder. Not all psychopaths can be defined in that manner. Psychopaths are identified as people who are emotionally unstable. They are ultimately suffering from a chronic mental disorder with abnormal or violent social behavior. There have been studies ultimately wondering if a psychopath is born, or is it raised? Genetics and environment combine to produce conditions that create psychopathology. By paying attention to environmental variables we can potentially reduce the amount of people who become dangerous psychopaths.
The media most often showcases psychopaths as individuals who are inherently evil and dangerous towards themselves and others. Yet, this concept of psychopathy goes far beyond this idea of pure evil and instead necessitates a needed psychological understanding. These individuals, psychopaths, are generally characterized by a lack of empathy and conscience. Indeed, psychopath’s indifference to the repercussions of their actions combined with other characteristics such as hostility and aggression make for a potentially dangerous personality (Lyken, 1996, p.30). In order to identify a psychopath’s recidivism, it is important to differentiate them from sociopaths who, instead of having a psychological impairment that makes it difficult for them to socialize, have been systematically under socialized (Lyken, 1996, p.30). In accordance. psychologists have developed the methods such as the Psychopathy Checklist- Revised (PCL-R) to help identify those with psychopathic tendencies (Walters, 2012, p.409). That is why predictions of recidivism among psychopaths is most efficient when done
It is very rare these days to turn on the news and not hear about a crime or a murder. Crime is a common occurrence yet many times it is difficult to understand how someone could bring themselves to do these things. It does seem to make any sense why a young handsome man from a good family would want to kill someone and then be able to go through with it. This leads one to wonder if the brains of people who behave in socially unacceptable ways are different from everyone else's brains. There is a substantial amount of evidence that suggests some criminals do have differences in their brains that most likely contribute to their behavior. Many of these individuals have Antisocial Personality Disorder and some are considered sociopaths.
Anyone with a TV has heard about large criminal cases in which a man or women has attacked a group of people. We are informed of the victims, the violence, and the amount of deaths. Any channel at a certain point is talking about the crime, it then becomes the only thing people are talking about. Cases such as Casey Anthony, George Zimmerman, James Holmes, and Ariel Castro are cases that have been talked about on the news, talk shows, and late night. In this list not all have a mental illness but because of what they have done society has grouped them together, they are evil people who deserve to rot in hell. People no matter the reason should be punished for what they did. The way we as a society see it is that these monsters should go to jail a place where they can be beaten and treated bad.
...e to murder over a period of time frequently show sociopath tendencies. Serial killer's have little self-esteem and a sociopath's inability to feel other people's pain or sorrow for any wrongful acts that they have committed (Casey, p. 80).