Similarities Between Psychopath And Sociopath

“Psychopath” and “sociopath”, words that are thrown around easily by people who don’t know what they mean and if they do, they misunderstand it. These two types of people have many similarities, such as being manipulative and unfeeling, but they are extremely different. Although the differences are barely noticeable, it’s important to know them so that you don’t mix up the two. Maybe even prevent yourself from being brutally murdered. Differences include how they interact or build relationships, how they think or feel in a certain situation, and how they even became the way they are.

Psychopaths and sociopaths will still interact with others even if their motives are most likely negative and to use them for their own benefits. Although both types manipulate others,

sociopaths a bit less, there is one major difference. Psychopaths tend to make many shallow relationships while sociopaths can form strong attachments to a few people. The people psychopaths get close to are based on what they want from them and how he or she wants to use the person. They will mimic people and pretend to be loving or caring and will not feel guilty if they hurt people ‘close’ to them. In contrast, a sociopath won’t have many relationships, close ones anyway. They will only become close to people who are similar to themselves. He or she will feel extremely protective over their close ones and can feel guilty if he or she did something to hurt them. Just because sociopaths can feel empathy and guilt doesn’t mean they won’t suddenly become impulsive and hurt someone and this goes for psychopaths as well. Except they won’t feel guilty afterwards and psychopaths are usually more cruel.
Sociopaths and psychopaths are popular among crime shows and books and most of them show these people as cold-blooded and deranged people. In reality, psychopaths may not be that different from the shows and sociopaths are usually normal people who grew up in a bad environment. It has been proven that when in a dangerous situation, psychopaths are able to to think calmly and are unable to feel fear or empathy for other people’s pain. This is one of the main reason for why psychopaths are dangerous, they won’t even flinch at the sight of blood and are usually intelligent, cruel, and cunning. On the other hand, sociopaths would become impulsive, violent, and sometimes even overreact. They will move before planning and in most cases use violence to solve whatever problem they have. Facing all these facts, these two “paths” may sound inhumane and dangerous but there is always a story as to why or how they became that way.
When we see or hear about a psychopath or sociopath, we think about how scary and different they are and forget that they are also human.

As humans, we grow up and the environment we grow up in usually builds us into what we are today. There are also mental illnesses such as Autism and ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder) that change the way a person acts,reacts, and thinks. This is what psychopathy is. Psychotic people are unable to feel empathy due to the activity of their brain’s emotional region to be lower than normal people, this is why they act so cold-blooded. Their brains are unable to perceive pain and fear like normal people do so they can’t feel sympathetic towards the people who they inflict it upon. Sociopaths however, aren’t mentally ill. They just grew up that way. The main reasons for sociopathy are physical abuse, emotional abuse, or childhood trauma; these things can cause the person to lose the ability to trust and feel bad for someone because of their own painful past. So instead of fearing upon these types of people, try to understand why they are the way they are and maybe help get them some help, and don’t forget that psychopaths are different from

sociopaths.
Psychopaths and sociopaths are mistaken to be the same thing and misunderstood to be evil and deranged. That’s not true. From the way their interactions, thoughts, and growth go, you can tell the difference between the two. Opposite from psychopathic people, sociopathic people tend to care about relationships more, have some sort of empathy for others, are not mentally ill, and usually are traumatized by their past which made them who they are. Look around the class, there may be a sociopath or a psychopath amongst your peers who don’t even know it themself.