Psychopath Vs. The Average Sociopath

1361 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Ted bundy: the mind of a killer

The Average Psychopath vs. The Average Sociopath In our American society, things are more often than not exaggerated to make things more interesting; leave us ignorant with fantasy of crime, horror, romance, action, and adventure. Psychopaths and sociopaths are more often to be combined together, to the point where most people don’t know the difference between the two. In the entertainment business, psychopaths and sociopaths are made out be ruthless, violent murderers, rapists ect. While socio/psychopaths can be all of these things, we all know the media and entertainment business makes things seem bigger than they really are. By definition, a sociopath is a person who has a lack of empathy, but a psychopath is someone who has a complete …show more content…

Unlike psychopaths, sociopaths are more likely to bursting out into fits of rage, which would lead them to act out violently and mindlessly. Most sociopaths, unlike psychopaths, usually are dropouts and aren’t very educated. They live on the fringes of society and never really fit in, unlike how a psychopath can fake normality and be “apart” of a positive social group. Their crimes, violent or not, are usually sloppy and are to be found out and caught by the police far faster than compared to a psychopath. Psychopaths and sociopaths have different origins. Every person is different, most of the time. Yet, they all share similarities of their upbringings. There is a common theory residing for both sociopaths and psychopaths, and it is called nurture versus nature. These things imply that one was due to society that changed them, forming into the empathy lacking humans they …show more content…

That’s not the case at all. It’s just more likely that psychopaths come from nature, and sociopaths from nurture. Ted Bundy came from a very disturbing, secretive family. A drunk grandfather (who might even be his father) a mother who neglected him and a severely depressed abusive grandmother. That in itself is a combination for madness, and also because of the fact that his grandfather was a role model to him in his childhood. So, one of America’s most notorious psychopaths might not even be brought up by nature, rather

Show More
Related

  • Without Conscience Chapter Summary

    1626 Words  | 4 Pages

    The psychopath know the reasons behind acting a certain way and just don't think about the consequences. Even in the DSM-IV clear definitions of a psychopath doe not exist but the closes to diagnose is anti-social personality disorder. Dr. Hare instead developed the Psychopathy Checklist for people to diagnose psychopathy. The first part of the Psychopathy Checklist looks at the emotional and interpersonal traits of the disorder(Hare, 1993). Some of the emotional qualities that the clinician would look for is as followed: glib/superficial, egocentric/grandiose and lack of empathy.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Psychopath And Sociopath

    1131 Words  | 3 Pages

    Psychopath and Sociopath are so closely related that many don’t know they are different illness. Both psychopath and sociopath have similar illness but their factors are completely different. Study’s shows this may be a product of nature vs nurture. Secondly, Psychopath behavior is shown to be controlled while sociopath is shown to have uncontrollable behavior. Thirdly, there violence outburst is different, psychopath usually plan out their crimes while sociopaths are erratic and careless with their crimes. Fourthly, Psychopaths don’t feel any type emotion towards others but they can be in relationships when it comes beneficial to them. Sociopaths often don’t have relationships, they don’t become attached to others. Lastly, Psychopath are actually

    Read More

  • How Is Iago A Sociopath

    668 Words  | 2 Pages

    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'"

    Read More

  • Montresor A Sociopath

    1499 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Psychopaths: Thomas Hobbes

    1694 Words  | 4 Pages

    The statement “ the psychopaths is not mentally ill” made me realize that I didn’t truly understand what it meant to be mentally ill was, however I thought that a good starting place would be to firstly understand what it meant to be “healthy”. The first place I looked at was what it meant to be ‘mentally healthy’. according to the United States Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, being mentally ‘healthy’ is a “state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully” producing an interesting idea that being ‘healthy’ implying a deep connection with firstly acting sociable and secondly rationally. Mental illness on the other hand was as expected, the complete opposite to being ‘healthy’. It is described to be “health conditions that are characterized by alterations in thinking, mood, or behaviour (or some combination thereof) associated with distress and/or impaired functioning” inferring that to be mentally unwell is to gain an issue with you mind that causes changes to you personality relative to how you were perceived while ‘healthy’, therefore causing changes in your rational and also you sociability, the information also dictated that mental illness are a developing factor, that derive from social or environmental stressor at any time and to anyone.

    Read More

  • Nature vs Nuture: Are People Born to Kill?

    1338 Words  | 3 Pages

    The case of whether serial killers are born with the lust to kill or if they are truly victims of their environment has been a hot debated question by both psychologists and the FBI today. A serial killer is traditionally defined as one that kills 3 or more people at different times with “cooling off” periods in between kills. Both psychological abuse as a child and psychological disorders are to blame for the making of a killer. The nature vs. nurture debate is best applied to the mysterious behaviors and cases of serial killers and their upbringing and environment. Nature is the genetic and biological connections a person has, personality traits, and how genetic make-up all relates to a killer. Nurture is examining the upbringing and environment that a person is around that affects what a person becomes. In some cases however, the effects of only upbringing or only biological problems were the reasons certain serial killers committed crimes. Although there is no definitive answer to what plays the bigger role: nature or nurture, they both are contributing factors that make a serial killer. These deviants of society are afflicted with problems in either their upbringing or have psychological disorders, and are able to blend into our everyday lives with no apparent differences, yet they wreck havoc through their unremorseful killings.

    Read More

  • Nature or Nurture for Determining Psychopathy

    834 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...hile some say it is nature and others say it is nurture, I believe it to be a little of both. Even though there are the few cases such as Rhoda who had the so called perfect but yet in the end turned into a cold hearted killer. Yet again you have children such as Beth who was raised in such a horrible environment and lost the sense of remorse and feeling and turned into psychopath. With all this said it comes down to nature and nurture to form a dangerous psychopath. Although there are some occasions where nature was the only factor and sometimes nurture is the only factor, when it comes to the end you have to take both aspects into consideration. Even with all the research we have we still do not know the definite reason why someone turns into this ruthless monster. Even though we think it has to do with nature and nurture, the world may never know the real reason.

    Read More

  • The Zodiac Killer

    831 Words  | 2 Pages

    The way a child is raised can affect their mental state as adults proven by Nannie Doss’s history. Since we never caught the Zodiac Killer we can’t compare their childhoods, but in the Zodiac Killer’s psychological profile he grew up in an abusive home. A person can also become a psychopath/ serial killer due to traumatic brain injury. As you can see, a serial killer can be born or raised a cold blooded

    Read More

  • The Noble Savage Turned Ignoble

    1108 Words  | 3 Pages

    Look around the room. In one lifetime, the average person has met at least two or three sociopaths. Look around the room again. It could be someone in the same room, watching for signs of threat. In the study of psychosocial personality disorders, the origin of the sociopath has historically been the most mysterious. It has been a constant debate, and researchers have looked into both nature and nurture. In the end, however, sociopaths are most definitely the product of nurture, especially the adverse conditions of early childhood trauma.

    Read More

  • Serial Killers: Is Pure Evil Born or Made?

    1552 Words  | 4 Pages

    By 1978, roughly thirty women were dead and mutilated by the same man with little explanation as to why. Ted Bundy, one of the most infamous serial killers in history brutally took the lives of numerous women for seemingly no reason at all. His justification for these murders was simply that he felt like committing them. A serial killer is defined as someone who has killed more than three people over a period of a month or more for seemingly no reason at all. Most serial killers have no real motive for killing; for them it is an urge that they must satisfy. Was Ted Bundy and others like him always a violent psychopath or did certain events cause him to behave this way? One common belief is that abusive childhoods and other environmental factors are the main reason serial killers develop the way they do. The other belief is that serial killers are born with an innate desire to kill. The answer to this question lies within both arguments and there is no secret serial killer formula. Serial Killers are neither born nor made; instead many factors, both biological and psychological, contribute to the making of these destructive monsters.

    Read More

  • Misconceptions Of Aggression: Violence And Crime

    751 Words  | 2 Pages

    A lot of psychopaths exams ask for empathy in this tests and since they have been habituated already: A lot of the anti-social personality disorders. There is a misconception between violent acts and psychopaths. Not all criminals are psychopaths.

    Read More

  • Serial Killers

    2361 Words  | 5 Pages

    So what makes a serial killer? Levin points out that contrary to popular belief, serial killers don't just 'snap'; or 'go crazy'; (Douglas, p. 137). Many of the serial killers have been the victims of childhood abuse. Jack Levin stated 'Research shows many serial killers suffered abuse, incest or neglect as children and develop poor self images'; (Douglas, p. 137). Serial killers often have a childhood marked by the absence of any nurturing relationship. 'They often come from families where the parents were absent or ineffective, where authority was not defined, and where they could engage in destructive behavior undeterred-violent play, cruelty to animals, and incidents of arson being some of the childhood behavior patterns noted among many serial killers'; (Clark, p. 206).

    Read More

  • Describe The Characteristics Of A Sociopath

    193 Words  | 1 Pages

    Sociopaths are people with a major personality disorder and they possess sociopathic characteristics of being tremendously antisocial and they have no conscience. They react on impulses and they usually fail to plan ahead. Sometimes a sociopath often believes that they are doing nothing wrong or when they are do terrible things they believe that they’re doing something that’s good or acceptable. This definition may fall a bit short because of the simple fact that one will truly never understand what a sociopath really is, or what they think, unless you’re one yourself. This is because of the many characteristics that a sociopath have. Not all sociopaths are good people, but the same thing could be said that, not all sociopaths are bad people.

    Read More

  • Cleckley: What Is A Psychopath?

    743 Words  | 2 Pages

    A Psychopath is usually defined as a person suffering from chronic mental disorder with abnormal or violent social behavior. According to Psychology.com; “The term “psychopath” was first applied to these people around 1900. The term was changed to “sociopath” in the 1930s to emphasize the damage they do to society.” Being a psychopath goes back more into the fact that most of them tend to be very uncaring, have shallow emotions, be irresponsible, and overconfident. Also, the simple fact that they usually go through much more from their childhood towards abuse, and neglect from parents or other sources that could have contributed to their mental hysteria. To the best of our knowledge, there’s no cure for psychopathy. There is no vaccine

    Read More

  • Advantages And Disadvantages Of Psychopenders

    638 Words  | 2 Pages

    According to the website Cassiopaea, “psychopaths cannot be understood in terms of antisocial rearing or development. They are simply morally depraved individuals who represent the "monsters" in our society. They are unstoppable and untreatable predators whose violence is planned, purposeful and emotionless. Their emotionlessness reflects a detached, fearless, and possibly dissociated state, revealing a low-state autonomic nervous system and lack of anxiety. It's difficult to say what motivates them, and or control them since their life history will usually show no long-standing bonds with others” (Cassiopaea.org, 2014). With this being said we can get a small understanding as to why we have psychopaths today.

    Read More

More about Psychopath Vs. The Average Sociopath

Open Document