Psychopaths: Labels That Bind Just the word psychopath has a judgement and a stigma attached to it. Movies prey upon the fears of what a psychopath is, creating an inappropriate association for what a psychopath really is. There are people who use the labels interchangeably between psychopath, sociopath and Anti Personality Disorder (APD). The overlapping symptomology and the misuse of the term psychopath have given a misrepresentation of the prevalence of psychopaths committing violent crimes. Exploring the differences between similar conditions, non-violent or non-criminal psychopaths and non-psychopaths perceive this labelling will be explored. What makes them a criminal and how does that pertain to how they should be treated in the legal …show more content…
Even those who have some idea as to what a psychopath is due to education can be misled by these labels and misunderstandings. Sociopath, Anti Personality Disorder (APD) and psychopath are used interchangeably when they are not the same (Pozzulo, Bennell & Forth, 2015). Each one is a separate in features and how they manifest. Media, movies and television shows are using these labels synonymously or making the villain a so called psychopath. Overemphasizing symptoms and using rare extraordinary cases allows for the lasting impression of the generalization of labelling these criminal mastermind serial killers as psychopaths. Overlapping symptoms, labeling stigma and even generalizing that all psychopathic traits are the same leads people into believing that they are same …show more content…
Not all psychopathic traits lead to criminal or aggressive acts. Most of the research of psychopaths has been done in prisons; there has been little research that has been done outside that setting. This research becomes important when determining how psychopaths can live a life without crime and what makes them different than their criminal counterparts. Using informant from various psychology and law professionals, they reveal that some of the features of a psychopath can make them successful (Mullins-Sweatt, Glover, Derefinko, Miller & Widiger, 2010). These traits allow them to achieve more and thrive in certain situations or professions. Without the fear of making mistakes, the lack of stress from pressures at work and not becoming emotionally involved sounds like a professional individual. Recently, adaptive features have been added to psychopathy (Mullins-Sweatt et al., 2010). Some high powered professionals may not have developed these skills, they could be psychopathic traits. It is how they use these talents in a more effective way. One report and one study make references to adaptive traits of psychopaths leading to the ability of being successful psychopaths (Mullins-Sweatt et al., 2010; Stevens, Deuling & Armenakis, 2012). Some of these adaptive traits allow them to elude detection such as their wily charms, their ability to lie and to do whatever it takes to get the job done. Many people overlook the
Are psychopaths like Alice, “mad or bad?” (page 21). The question whether psychopaths are mentally ill or just a bad seed has caused much debate. Dr. Hare explains that the problem is not only labeling them mad or bad, but who deals with them. “Does the treatment or control of the psychopath rightly fall to mental health professionals or to the correctional system?” (page 21). Not only are professionals confused on how to classify psychopaths, but the media also creates confusion. Psychopath means mental illness and the media uses the word to classify someone as, “insane or crazy”, (page 22). Dr. Hare explains that even though psychopaths, “cannot be understood in terms of traditional views of mental illness”, they, “are not disoriented or out of touch with reality, nor do they experience the delusions, hallucinations, or intense subjective distress that characterize most other mental disorders…psychopaths are rational and aware of what they are doing and why.” (page 22). Most professionals use the term psychopath and sociopath as one in the same. Since DSM-III, antisocial personality disorder has been used in place of psychopath and sociopath. Philippe Pinel was the first psychiatrist describe a psychopath and Harvey Cleckley was one of the first successful publish a book describing a psychopath to the general public . Pinel used the term, “insanity without delirium”, (page 25). Cleckley wrote The Mask of Sanity, which influenced researchers in North America. Dr. Robert Hare explained that WWII was the first time clinicians felt a need to diagnosis people with psychopathy. Due to the draft, there was a need to weed out the people could disrupt or harm the military structure. Dr. Robert Hare realized how hard it was to identify a true psychopaths from rule breakers and developed the Psychopathy Checklist. This checklist is used world wide to help clinicians identify true
The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry is a book by Jon Ronson, where he investigates the idea of psychopathy and the many individuals involved. Psychopathy is defined as “a person who is mentally ill, who does not care about other people, and who is usually dangerous or violent.” Ronson visited mental health professionals and psychopaths in order to determine the right way to control the diagnosis of mental health disorders. Throughout the novel, Ronson focuses on three main themes, which are the definition of madness, unnecessary mental diagnoses and the problem with confirmation bias.
Identifying the mystery of the psychopath can prove to help the them and the general public. Early awareness of the common psychopaths among us will reduce the impact on society. Further research is still needed to better help the psychopath and the general population.
Robert Hare is the author of “Without Conscious: The disturbing World of the Psychopaths among us.”This book is about knowing what a psychopath is and understanding what it is about so that people will not be caught off guard when they ran into someone with the disorder. This book focuses on confronting psychopaths, the behavior that these people exhibit and how these behaviors ultimately affect other people. These people have no remorse for the things that they do and how it ends up affecting other people because all they care about is themselves and getting what they want to get without hesitation and remorse for the other people that will be hurt in the process.
Berit Brogaard, D.M.Sci., Ph.D., is a Professor of Philosophy and the Director of the Brogaard Lab for Multisensory Research at the University of Miami. She earned a medical degree in neuroscience and a doctorate in philosophy. This article explained the traits of a psychopath, such as their callous, manipulative, and cunning behavior, along with the differentiating between psychopaths and psychotics. This article helped me by providing a good background on psychopathology and useful examples.
A well-known personality disorder is psychopathy. Psychopathy’s shortened term “psycho” is often used as a slang term to mean crazy. Psychopathy is a real issue caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. Psychopathic people have traits “common to some serial murderers, including sensation seeking, a lack of remorse or guilt, impulsivity, the need for control, and predatory behavior. These traits and behaviors are consistent with the psychopathic personality disorder” (Morton). Psychopathic tendencies are most common among killers. Although, “serial killers suffer from a variety of personality disorders, including psychopathy, anti-social personality, and others” (Morton). With psychopathy in a serial killer they feel they have a valid and justifiable reason for killing three or more people. With psychopathic killers feel their motives make their killing okay. Serial killers have “many other motivations for serial murders including anger, thrill, financial gain, and attention seeking” (Morton). A common motive for serial killers is revenge. They feel that someone did them wrong, much like a person who was abused as a child. They feel they have a valid excuse for murdering the person that abused them or substitutes if they find that object of their rage unreachable. Another common motive is simply anger. With anger it is more often than not that they do not have a target. They are just angry and are willing to kill anybody to cope with it. Antisocial personality disorder is often in people who show “a lack of remorse and/or guilt, shallow affect, a lack of empathy, and failure to accept responsibility” (Morton). Antisocial personality disorder is similar to psychopathic personality disorder yet, it remains different. The Behavior Analysis Unit at the Federal Bureau of Investigation stated, “Psychopathy is a personality disorder
The responsibility of psychopaths is a highly debated topic in the legal, philosophical, and neuroscientific fields. In the US, a person is responsible if they “have sufficient rational capacity” and “they are not acting under coercion” (Glenn & Raine 2014). The majority of the academic community believes that psychopaths’ responsibility is mitigated because of the profound cognitive and emotional deficits that lead to a reduced rational capacity. However, the public’s instinct is to hold psychopaths responsible for their crimes. What is it that gives us this instinctive reaction?
...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.
Robert Hare once claims, “Psychopaths must have stimulation and are prone to boredom” (Hare). Psychopaths need to have a social life; they need be able to communicate with others. If they do not have this access, they tend to, as many sociologists believe, “burst” and resort to violence just like Mrs. Wright.
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
New studies reveal that psychopaths not only understand right from wrong, but can justify their morally inappropriate actions regardless of the consequences. Psychology experts Maaike Cima, Marc Hauser and Franca Tonnaer devised a hypothesis that could potentially render previous preconceptions about psychopathy moot:
Empirical studies have proven the motivative of psychopath will either involve power and control or sadistic gratification and state they lost control (Bonn, 2016). However, practices involving psychopathology is different from other setting than in the criminal justice setting. In criminal justice system inmates are more than likely receiving intense therapeutic services depending on the crime they committed. For example, a psychopath that is a serial killer will receive mental health services in prison and be provided with various interventions to protect other inmates in the facility. They will also provide rehabilitative services to inmates with mental illness to help adjust their adaptive skills and prepare them for reintegration.
A psychopath is someone who is unable to live harmoniously in society due to their profound lack of compassion, empathy, conscience, and remorse (Hare, 1993). Many psychopathic symptoms have been proposed to result from cognitive and emotional processing impairments. The concept of a psychopath is often of a ruthless and dangerous criminal, an image commonly depicted in the media and film. Though psychopaths do make up an estimated 40% of dangerous offenders in Canada, it is the non-violent manipulators and cheaters, like white-collar criminals and unethical business people, who can have the most impact on the general population (Bonta & Motiuk; 1996, Hare, 1993). Therefore, understanding the cognitive bases and development of psychopathy can allow exploration into possible interventions and treatments, as well as identifying measures for use in diagnosing psychopathy in childhood and adolescence. Additionally, the deciphering of abnormal processes can give insight into normal functioning, thus helping to expand current knowledge. This paper reviews conclusions that processing of
Contrary to the movie industry’s portrayal of psychopaths, rarely do psychopaths come out in the open and kill their victims with chainsaws or wear disturbing masks. Nor do they act menacing or evil out in public. Rather, most psychopaths attempt to blend into society. A psychopath can be defined as one who uses superficial charm and manipulation to achieve his or her goals, even if it involves committing crimes. They can act quickly and feel neither remorse for committing the crime nor empathy for their unsuspecting victim. As much as they attempt to blend in, psychopaths are unable to fully function in society because they lack some qualities of a “normal” person. In the medical field, psychopathy is not recognized as a disorder. In fact, Taber’s Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary defines psychopathy as an “obsolete term” (Venes and Taber 1372). In an effort to define psychopathy, multiple psychiatrists attempted to describe i...