The Pros And Cons Of Psychopaths

Philippe Pinel once described psychopathy as “insanity without delirium.” Meanwhile, other psychologists refer to them as “morally insane, which is considered by many pure evil” (Jones 2011). Psychopaths are psychologically classified as having a lack of remorse or shame, being pathological liars, failing to follow a life plan, relatively unresponsive in general interpersonal relations, insincere, and fail to learn from experiences (Hirstein, 2013). For years psychologists chose to push off the idea of psychopathy, as they believed it was an incurable condition that could only be worsened by therapy. Tests and studies are run often to discover the genetic trait in a psychopaths mind in an attempt to discover where it comes from and how to control it, appropriately.

Robert Hare created the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) to accurately classify the “common” psychopath (Hare, 1991). This test consists of questions hat spot out less obvious signs of psychopathy. The checklist divides individuals in to two groups, Factor 1 and Factor 2. Participants who find themselves in the Facto 1 group tend to be more interpersonal, they have a superficial charm, are cunning or manipulative, and are described as glib. The Factor 2 group has a need for stimulation, more prone to becoming bored, and tends to be impulsive (Blair 2001).

With the a better understanding of the condition psychologists are wanting to know if its genetic. Prior testing has put emphasis on the amygdala. The amygdala is a part of the brain that controls fear, distress, sadness and other major emotions. (Blair 2001). Psychologists believe the impairment of the amygdala is a direct cause of psychopathy as it affects their sense of emotion. With use of volumetr...

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...sychopaths. Likely, their childhood was not interrupted by any major incidents that would have varied over and affected their brain function or increased their psychopathic traits.

Psychopathy continues to bring about new studies and challenges for researchers. From the PCL-R by Hare to the MRI’s conducted in labs psychiatrists continue to learn more about the brain and its effects on psychopathy. A damaged amygdala is a large part of the lack of emotion but does not seem to be an inheritable deficiency. The under aroused amygdala continues to raise questions for researchers but is a start to learning more about psychopathy in the brain. Some individuals manage to live with this condition and still maintain simple, non-criminalistics lives, though they still lack a sense of remorse. It is a genetic mishap, but a manageable lifestyle with proper maturation.