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What makes a psychopath a psychopath?
Under construction still!!! HIDDEN!
Nature v nurture Kids Early Behavior Problems: By the age of 10 or 12, most psychopaths exhibit serious behavioral problems. For example: persistent lying, cheating, theft, fire setting, truancy, class disruption, substance abuse, vandalism, violence, bullying, running away, precocious sexuality, cruelty to animals. One psychopath smiled when he reminisced about tying puppies to a rail to use their heads for baseball-batting practice. They are also often cruel to other children, including siblings. (Hare, 66-67) Madoff etc Psychopaths have what it takes to defraud and bilk others: They are fast-talking, charming, self-assured, at ease in social situations, cool under pressure, unfazed by the possibility of being found out, and totally ruthless.” (Hare 121) Nicked - reword: Essential psychopathy ranges from barely noticeable (“subclinical psychopathy”) to recognizably diagnosable by professionals (“full clinical manifestation”). The former play the greatest role in macrosocial phenomena, while the latter (about whom Cleckley wrote his book The Mask of Sanity, and of which Charlie Carewe in Mary Astor's novel The Incredible Charlie Carewe is an example) do not manage to avoid frequent periods in prisons or mental institutions, often rotating between the two. Those who manage to keep their masks of sanity more consistent in their quest for power, and who are thus more successful in their endeavours, are dealt with in Paul Babiak and Robert Hare’s Snakes in Suits. Stimulus transformation deficit: Just as the normal world of color is incomprehensible to a color-blind man (i.e. there is a deficit in sensory stimulus transformation), the normal world of human instinctive reactions (e.g. emotional-bonding, pro-social responses), concepts, feelings, and values strike essential psychopaths as incomprehensible and with no obvious justification. These are viewed as foreign conventions invented by some external power. Ted Bundy called guilt “an illusion… a kind of social-control mechanism.” They are incapable of treating other humans as thinking, feeling beings Genetic nature: The presence in psychopathy in a much larger percentage of men than women suggests an X-chromosome-linked heredity. The scope of essential psychopathy ranges from barely noticeable (even to experienced observers) to obviously pathological. Special knowledge: Essential psychopaths possess an ability to recognize each other in a crowd. They are conscious of being different and view normal people as ‘other’. A camouflage-like ‘mask of sanity’ accompanies this knowledge. Mask of sanity: As essential psychopaths are physiologically incapable of incorporating a normal person’s world-view, they can only copy or ape normal human behavior. Normal humans, unaware of the psychological differences between psychopaths and themselves, assume that these displays of emotion are evidence of the actual emotion. Cleckley hypothesizes that psychopaths cannot distinguish between their pseudo-intentions, -feelings, -remorse, and their normal human counterparts. Instead of thinking that normal humans have something that psychopaths do not (i.e. conscience), they perceive normal humans’ reactions as strange and childish reactions. They are like a color-blind man who thinks everyone else is crazy for responding differently to so many shades of the same color. Their pathological egotism prohibits them from finding fault in themselves, thus projecting all blame to an external cause. The American Psychiatric Association equates antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) with psychopathy. However, ASPD refers specifically to a cluster of antisocial behaviors. As such, many criminals are labeled as ASPD who are not, in fact, psychopaths. Conversely, many psychopaths are never labeled as ASPD (Hare, 24-5). Bad Childhoods: While many believe psychopaths become the way they are from abusive childhood experiences, there is no evidence to suggest this is true. Most children who suffer abusive childhoods do not become psychopaths, and many psychopaths grow up in healthy families. Some attachment difficulties in infancy are a symptom of psychopathy, not a cause. (Hare, 170, 172, 175) “He can change!”: Psychopaths cannot change, nor do they want to. One violent offender was forced to take group therapy. While he dominated the group, the therapist eventually said he saw improvement and regret in the subject. Later, when interviewed by one of Hare’s staff, the patient revealed, “I can’t believe those guys. Who gave them a license to practice? I wouldn’t let them psychoanalyze my dog! He’d shit all over them just like I did!” (Hare, 197) On the subject of mandatory prison therapy, one psychopath said, “These programs are like finishing school. They teach you how to put the squeeze on people.” (Hare, 199) Serial Killers: A negligible number of psychopaths are also serial killers. While there are perhaps only 100 serial killers in America, Hare calculates that for every psychopathic serial killer, there are 20 to 30 thousand psychopaths who do not commit serial murder. His estimate of the total number of psychopaths in America (2 to 3 million) is a conservative projection. (Hare, 74) Lobaczewski: Psychopaths have little to no real choice in how they act as they cannot empathize or sympathize; they cannot view other humans as anything other but objects to be used for their advantage – they “lack the hardware,” so to speak. We should offer token sympathy, because they literally have no choice in the matter. Their very genetic code predisposes them toward predatory behavior. They are, as Robert Hare terms them, an intraspecies predator. When a hysterical environment stops differentiating the opinions of limited, not-quite-normal people from those of normal, reasonable persons, this opens the door for activation of the pathological factors of a various nature to enter in.” (Lobaczewski, 177) This hysteroidal phase is often followed by a period of war, revolution, genocide, and the fall of empires: pathocracy. HARE: Speaking of successful psychopaths like Vaknin, he says, "If you're very bright, know how to dress well; you have, say, the gift of the gab; you're raised in an affluent family background; [then] you don't go in the bank and rob it, you get in the bank and become a director..." JIM KOURI What doesn't go unnoticed is the fact that some of the character traits exhibited by serial killers or criminals may be observed in many within the political arena. While not exhibiting physical violence, many political leaders display varying degrees of anger, feigned outrage and other behaviors. They also lack what most consider a "shame" mechanism. Quite simply, most serial killers and many professional politicians must mimic what they believe, are appropriate responses to situations they face such as sadness, empathy, sympathy, and other human responses to outside stimuli. Continue reading on Examiner.com Serial killers and politicians share traits - National Law Enforcement | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/law-enforcement-in-national/serial-killers-and-politicians-share-traits#ixzz1rGEI7KDU Harrison Koehli: If anything is to change, and if we are ever to end this ridiculous 'war' against an abstract noun, two things are needed. First, we need to take steps towards removing political psychopaths from office, making it impossible for psychopaths to achieve any position of political, corporate, or economic power. Giving psychopaths power and influence and expecting them to be adequate leaders is like expecting a blind man to drive a bus. Psychopaths are color blind when it comes to issues having to do with the well being of humanity. Second, we must come to grips with our true history, and what is really behind the spin of the current 'war on terror'. We are arresting, torturing, and murdering innocent people along with patsies whose controllers get away with everything because they operate behind the scenes. Without ponerology, things will only get worse. Definition and checklist Future interventions Numbers In Britain one person in 200 is likely to be an extreme or clinical psychopath. Despite this relatively low figure psychopaths are responsible for over half half of all reported crimes and to make up around 20% of the prison population... Hare's findings Table vs rape Handling for confession Recidivism vs rehab Failure to recognise or appreciate (society and experts) Recent research Socialization Adolescence and children |