Psychopaths have been around since the dawn of man we just never really knew what to label these certain individuals. But now with the rise of technology we have begun to understand psychopathic behavior and what traits you need to have to be labeled a “Psychopath”. It all started with the founding father of modern psychiatry Philippe Pinel. In 1801 Pinel had a group of patients in which he believed had “insanity without delirium”. He then went on to believe that these individuals who had no known intellectual issues but rather antisocial defects as well as very cruel type behavior. It is very important to note that psychosis and psychopathy are alike in a sense but different. As to where psychosis is someone who has no contact with reality, these individuals suffer from hallucinations, and very disordered thoughts. On the other hand psychopathy is more like a mental disorder in which a person will have many antisocial behavior problems, as well as the lack of being able to establish any real relationship with anyone. In this group of individuals was the absence of very psychotic characteristics that originally divided the people with psychopathy from other patient groups. Evidence for psychopathy has been found in literary, historical, political and religious texts. It has also been found cross-culturally. Another known fact about psychopathy, in 1941 Hervey Cleckley became the first to catalogue psychopathys specific traits. In 1988 the term psychopath was coined by German psychiatrist, J.L.A Koch. Koch saw psychopathy as it arising from a flaw in a persons constitution at birth. Then Constitutional psychopathy became very big in the United States, in the litature of the early nintheen hundreths. In 1909, there was an i... ... middle of paper ... ...perform their criminal activities. Now that so much time has passed by and technology has advance so much we are able to give psychopaths forms and options of rehabilitation so that they can value themselves as individuals and see if they can live in a regular society. Through out time and history there have been many theories of what truly defines a criminal psychopath. Some have evolved and progressed more than others. Form the first study conducted through now we have a better understanding of the characteristics that make up a psychopath. Although there are a variety of different psychopath categories there are those main characteristics that everyone should be aware of. These include : Lacl of remorse, Lack of empathy, Lack of realistic or long term goals, poor judgment, having a manipulating personality, superficial charm, and above average intelligence.
Psychopaths are strict when committing a crime. They plan there crime before they do it. Because they think there crimes through, they are hardly found about. In the article, “Psychopath vs sociopath” it says “tendency to participate in schemes and take calculated risks to minimize evidence or exposure.” People portray them to be very violent people but it is rare for them to do violent crimes. They tend to do smaller crimes but they can be serial killers. As they feel no guilt when doing the crime, although, when they do a big crime they can be undetected for a long
A psychopath is “calculating and measured in their actions” which makes is harder for one to be identified ("Characteristics of a Sociopath."). Although there is no clinical diagnosis for a psychopath one can be determined through their characteristics and actions for one is more “likely to construct a complex scheme or plan and to carry it out” if they suffer from this mental disorder ("Characteristics of a Sociopath."). They are the most dangerous personalities in society as they have the capacity for extreme violence and the intelligence to blend into a community as an average citizen. It is the personality Iago from Othello that could be diagnosed as a psychopath as he is cold, calculating, manipulative, and is elaborate in his plans. Iago
Psychopaths are different than their common criminal counterparts because they live a parasitic lifestyle, are often charming, apathetic, and may have average to above average intelligence. Psychopaths, or predators, usually impress others as friendly, outgoing, likeable, and alert. They appear to be well educated and knowledgeable. Predators can be verbally skillful and can talk themselves out of trouble. Psychopaths exhibit arrogance and are selfish, self-centered, and self-motivated to secure their own self-interests (DeLisi, 2009). Psychopaths, like life-course persistent offenders, start offending at a young age as persistent and versatile
Notably, the media parades psychopaths to be violent and erratic. Although these traits may be true in some cases, many people overlook the fact that there are many other characteristics that attribute to the term psychopath. A few examples of a psychopath
The definition of a psychopath is a person suffering from chronic mental disorder with abnormal or violent social behavior. The label “psychopath” cannot be placed on a child who is developing emotionally, mentally, or physically. A child’s brain is finished developing way past their teenage years. Most of the time when a child would be considered a psychopath is parents did not teach their children proper respect and they lacked parenting skills. The child just repeated what they saw and knew and continued to do wrong things throughout their life because they didn’t know until it was too late.
A psychopath is one who tests above 30 on the Psychopathy Checklist- Revised (PCL-R). This test contains 20 components, each question is assigned a 1 to 3 rating on personality traits such as: superficial charm, pathological lying, cunning/manipulative behavior, lack of remorse, lack of empathy, criminal versatility, etc. In an environment, where the majority of society adopts a strategy of cooperation, it is easy to see how an individual with the previously mentioned traits could employ them to one’s advantage. These advantages have been widely examined, from evolutionary perspectives to business environments, and will be summarized in the following reviews. The basics will start it off: evolution.
...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.
It’s not a big surprise that knowing how to identify psychopaths and what they’re capable of can greatly benefit authoritative figures that deal with them on a daily basis. For example if authorities understand behavioral traits psychopaths generally possess it will be easier to design “interviewing and interrogation strategies” that have a better chance of success (Bonn, 2015). Without special training it would be highly difficult for law enforcement officers to obtain much needed information as a result of a psychopaths devious behaviors. Professionals belonging to the criminal justice system will undoubtedly encounter psychopathic individuals in their line of work which further demonstrates the necessity behind understanding and evaluating psychopathy. For the first time in the DSM-5, or diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, the APA recognized psychopathy as a “specifier of antisocial personality disorder” (Bonn, 2015). An incredible accomplishment due to the fact that psychopathy is not an “officially accepted clinical diagnosis”, and the DSM-5 is a universal authority for the diagnosis of psychiatric disorders (Bonn,
What causes psychopathy? This has been a major concern for many researchers. Research on psychopathy has sparked a debate that has been existent for years, which is the nature versus nurture debate. The proponents of both sides have each put forward credible evidences to support their positions. Proponents of the nature theory believe that psychopathy is innate. They hold the belief that psychopaths are born with the disorder. Hence, psychopathy is influenced by biological and hereditary factors. In contrast, opponents of the nature theory believe that a person’s personal experiences are the reasons for his or her exhibition of psychopathic characteristics. That is, a person with a defective childhood has a very high probability of displaying
The term was introduced in attempt to operationalize psychopathy which was used in the 19th century. According to the National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health, National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, British Psychological Society, and Royal College of Psychiatrists (2010), Emil Kraepelin a German psychiatrist created the classification for personality disorders in 1905. In 1923, Kurt Schneider classified psychopathy as a personality disorder. In these times individuals with psychopathic personalities were those who had abnormalities and suffered from them (National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health et al., 2010). It wasn’t until 1939 that the foundation of the term antisocial personality disorder was defined by David Henderson a Scottish psychiatrist. National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health et al (2010) states that he defined it as “individuals with ‘psychopathic states’ as those who conform to a certain intellectual standard but who throughout their lives exhibit disorders of conduct of an antisocial or a social nature” (P. 15). The DSM-I classified this disorder as sociopathy but was then termed antisocial personality disorder in the DSM- II from 1968 and
Not all psychopaths are killers, despite how they are portrayed in popular culture. There are numerous successful qualities that can be found in psychopaths. For example, charm and courage as well as confidence are often considered useful traits to have in the workplace. Also, psychopaths have the ability to be decisive and keep calm under pressure. ("Harness Inner Psychopath"). Politicians tend to have qualities similar to that of a psychopath. Both have charisma and are bold. There are careers besides politicians that are also perfectly suited for psychopaths like spies, Special Forces, police officers, physicians and lawyers. Some of the most influential workers in society have the same tendencies as the most destructive citizens. It 's
Throughout the course of the semester, we can talked about whether or not criminals should be punished. There are different ways to go about answering this question, but it could get rather complicated when certain circumstances are given. In this essay, I will be using Jeffrie Murphy’s reading and will be arguing that psychopaths should be punished. Punishing a psychopath allows them to accept responsibility for the actions. Even though they can’t fully understand the moral wrongdoings, punishment could still benefit by allowing time to reflect on their actions. Finally, punishment would satisfy the victim and society as a whole.
What is a psychopath? What type of person can be characterized by this and how do they come to be? But first before we can answer these questions we must first know what a psychopath is. Psychopaths are people suffering from chronic mental disorder with abnormal or violent social behaviors; clinically it is a person who has a lack of what we would consider a conscience. Psychopaths are seen to suffer from a lack of empathy because of psychological, genetic and environmental factors. Scientists have many theories concerning psychopaths. Scientist do not have a definite clear cut answer on what is the cause for psychopathy but they have many ideas; nature and the nurture of the person. Nature is the genes that the person carries. The nurture of the person when they were a child is simply means how they were treated when they were growing up and/or how they were raised. Some scientists even consider it a possibility that it could be a mixture of the two.
Some argue that they shouldn’t due to their lack of emotions and empathy. Others argue that they should for the reason that there are set laws regarding how people should behave in a society, such as not killing. Once again, the purpose of this paper is not to determine which opinion is the correct opinion, but perhaps to shed a light on the perspective of a psychopath. A suitable example of how people can have such different perspectives from each other is found when regarding ethics or morals. Morals tend to be determined by culture, although they can differ slightly among the individuals. “Some philosophers have argued that psychopaths’ deficits in empathy cause them to have difficulties with the acquisition of moral concepts, and that these difficulties, in turn, entail that they lack moral responsibility for their actions” (Levy, 351). As of current, there is no way to verify that psychopaths don’t understand ethics or morals, they just might understand them in a different manner from the majority of the culture. Psychopaths most likely follow ethics that happen to be considered obscene to the majority of society, such as types of ethical hedonism. The general idea behind hedonism is the idea that pleasure should be sought after. Dana Kay Nelkin said, “When we think about psychopaths’ actions, and the pleasure they sometimes take
Portion: Research the behaviors that constitute psychopathy. Discuss in detail the specific behaviors demonstrated by the offender that align with behaviors indicative of a psychopathic individual. A psychopath can be someone who is unable to feel guilt, remorse or consideration for any actions that he or she commits. Psychopaths can be very cunning, manipulative, and may possibly know the difference between things that are considered right and wrong. Psychopaths don’t display emotions.