The term “psychopath” is often associated with “sociopath” and “antisocial personality disorder”. Due to the confusion over the definitions of these terms, psychologists have had a hard time finding common ground on diagnosing and treating these illnesses. The consensus for a psychopath is that it is someone who is antisocial, lacks empathy, and engages in bold conduct (Cullen, 241). Studies show that 80% of psychopaths are male. While professionals do not know why this is, they do believe that psychopaths are born with a powerful predisposition to being psychopathic. This predisposition can grow as time moves on, but in most cases, there is no abuse or neglect in the home. Of the many characteristics of psychopaths, two stand out: a disregard for others and an ability to disguise it (240) Psychopaths enjoy manipulating others and are extremely proud of this trait. They see themselves as superior to those around them. Psychopaths do not use morals because morals hinder their ability to get what they consider to be their needs. They have no remorse or empathy. A psychopath is generally presented as a person without a conscience (Langman, Why). Psychopaths struggle to feel most emotions. The emotions they have the most trouble feeling are fear and anguish. While they learn to mimic these extremely well, they do not truly feel or understand them. Because psychopaths struggle in this, they often seek risky or adventurous thrills to feel emotions like fear and excitement – roller-coasters, sky-diving, ect. The emotions psychopaths do feel are very strong. The strongest ones felt are often anger, frustration, and rage (Cullen, 240). To better understand the mind and emotions of a psychopath, Dr. Robert Hare developed EEG scans showi... ... middle of paper ... ... Therapy only makes it worse, as it presents psychopaths with an opportunity to further develop their manipulation skills (Chan, Amanda L.). While there is no treatment, psychologists are starting to help psychopaths adapt and develop. By convincing psychopaths it is in their best interest, a self-management strategy can help reduce the quantity and extent of violence and cruelty (Cullen, 246). Works Cited Chan, Amanda L. “Psychopaths’ Lack of Empathy Has Neurological Basis, Study Shows.” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 24 Sept. 2013. Web. 13 May 2014. Cullen, David. “Psychopath.” Columbine. New York: Twelve, 2009. 239-46. Print. Langman, Peter. “Rampage School Shooters: A Typology.” The Lee Salk Center for Research, 2001. Web. 7 May 2014. Langman, Peter. Why Kids Kill: Inside the Minds of School Shooters. New York: Palgrove Macmillan, 2009. Print.
The psychopath know the reasons behind acting a certain way and just don't think about the consequences. Even in the DSM-IV clear definitions of a psychopath doe not exist but the closes to diagnose is anti-social personality disorder. Dr. Hare instead developed the Psychopathy Checklist for people to diagnose psychopathy. The first part of the Psychopathy Checklist looks at the emotional and interpersonal traits of the disorder(Hare, 1993). Some of the emotional qualities that the clinician would look for is as followed: glib/superficial, egocentric/grandiose and lack of empathy.
Psychopath and Sociopath are so closely related that many don’t know they are different illness. Both psychopath and sociopath have similar illness but their factors are completely different. Study’s shows this may be a product of nature vs nurture. Secondly, Psychopath behavior is shown to be controlled while sociopath is shown to have uncontrollable behavior. Thirdly, there violence outburst is different, psychopath usually plan out their crimes while sociopaths are erratic and careless with their crimes. Fourthly, Psychopaths don’t feel any type emotion towards others but they can be in relationships when it comes beneficial to them. Sociopaths often don’t have relationships, they don’t become attached to others. Lastly, Psychopath are actually
Kiehl, Kent A., Robert D. Hare, John J. McDonald, and Johann Brink. “Semantic and affective processing in psychopaths: An event related potential (ERP) study.” Psychophysiology Volume 36 (1999): 765-774. PDF.
School shootings are some of the most horrific incidents that can take a community by storm. It can be hard to fathom how children can be capable of such horrible acts, such as killing their fellow classmates. Many people have tried to come up with explanations on how these terrible acts have occurred. These explanations have ranged to biological factors to how the way our society views violence. In this essay I will explain how some theories could explain these events and how they can help deter it from happening again.
The United States will not soon forget the rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut that came just two weeks before Christmas last year. This tragic event resulted in the death of twenty students and eight adults. Although the event shocked the nation, rampage shootings are nothing new. Over the years, many families have lost loved ones to these horrific events. As a result, these mass shootings such as the one that occurred at Sandy Hook Elementary caught public attention leading to a push to find the cause of these events. Out of this research a variety of possible causes came to light consisting of arguments stating that high school bullying, availability of guns, mental illness, violent movies and video games are the cause of mass shootings. However, these researchers and debaters tend to ignore the role of massive media coverage in the increase of copycat shootings in the United States.
I agree that psychopaths can exhibit learned knowledge of morality; however, I believe that their moral indifference can be attributed to the brain abnormalities and behavioral deficits. Because these deficits are uncontrollable with respect to the individual, pulling from Levy’s (2008) argument, psychopaths are not responsible for their lack of motivation regarding morality. Additionally, their diminished attention span and inability to gage consequences also play a role in their moral indifference. A psychopath may logically understand that their actions are wrong, but because of a shortened attention span they cannot focus on the many long-term consequences of their actions (Maibom 2005). Thus, they are not responsible for their actions because of a plethora of abnormal brain and behavioral
School shootings seemed like a new phenomenon, but they occurred for the majority of American history. The first school shooting occurred On July 26, 1764, when a Lenape Indian shot and killed nine children and the school master of the Greencastle, Pennsylvania school (Galvin): as noted in Appendix A. Since 1764, the number of school shootings rose exponentially. In the 1990’s, eighty-six school shootings occurred and between 2000 and 2014, 110 shootings transpired since 2000 (Killam,2008). The development of semiautomatic weapons lead to an increase in deaths. A study conducted in 1990 found through the years of 1986 to 1990; 71 people died, 201 wounded, and 242 people held hostage by school shooters(Galvin). While the area a school serves as one factor in the number of violent acts committed per year, school shootings have not been connected to this. The schools in Chicago dealt with more violent acts, but Sandy Hook Elementary, a small city school had relatively few violent acts committed by students.
Psychopaths literally feel nothing when it comes to violence or fear. Levy studies show that the emotional sectors of the brain are damaged. This makes them dangerous. They can not see that something is hurting or they are hurting someone.
It is a sad time in American history when one can easily recount recent school shootings in their own area. This ease stems from a sharp increase in the number of firearms brought into elementary and middle schools across the country, with an intense focus on the issue beginning after the shooting of 20 children from Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut. Most school shooters are male, white, and often upper middle class. They are also more, often than not, under some type of mental stress that is causing them to create this type of violence in our communities. In fact, many school shooters are never suspected of doing any harm to their peers and teachers until it is much too late.
Psychopathy has fascinated the public for years due to the gruesome and evil portrayal it has received in the media. Psychopathy is defined in the DSM-III as a personality disorder characterized by enduring antisocial behavior, diminished empathy and remorse, and disinhibited or bold behavior (Patrick, Christopher, Fowles, Krueger, Rober, 2009). Psychopathy represents a cluster of different dimensions of personality found amongst the general population to varying degrees (Patrick et al, 2009). The diagnostic definition is meant to be applied to adults, however psychopathology can occur in children. Controversy surrounds the topic of childhood mental illness because the brain is not fully developed until the age of 18; thus allowing the possibility that symptoms are the result of growing up and will change. The triarchic model, formulated by Christopher J. Patrick, is the most commonly used model in diagnosing adult and childhood psychopathy. This model suggests that different conceptions of psychopathy emphasize three observable characteristics to varying degrees; boldness, disinhibition and meanness (Patrick, et al, 2009). Boldness is the first observable characteristic and is comprised of low fear including stress-tolerance, toleration of unfamiliarity and danger, and high self-confidence and social assertiveness. Disinhibition; characterized by poor impulse control including problems with planning and foresight, lacking affect and urge control, demand for immediate gratification, and poor behavioral restraints. Meanness is defined as lacking empathy and close attachments with others, disdain of close attachments, use of cruelty to gain empowerment, exploitative tendencies, defiance of authority, and destructive excitement seek...
One area of research in psychopathy focuses on the set of structures in the brain known as the limbic system, but more specifically on a structure known as the amygdala. According to neuropsychology class slides, the amygdala is involved in emotions and storage of emotions in memory as well as the fear response when encountering threatening environmental stimuli. Osumi and colleagues (2012) note that the affective and interpersonal facets of psychopathy, such as cold-heartedness and lack of empathy, which are thought to be the core features of psychopathy, are associated with reduced activity in the amygdala. This is coupled with the fact that a less functional amygdala is associated with a psychopathic individual’s exhibition of antisocial behaviors, at least in part because he will not perceive the threat of punishment as a consequence of his actions. So whether it be the acts against other people or the acts of justice that may be carried out against the perpetrator, the psychopath will perceive both as less significant, as compared to a non-psychopathic individual. (Osumi et al., 2012)
The introduction of the book introduces Dr. Robert Hare’s research on psychopaths. He and two graduate students wrote a paper detailing an experiment they preformed on a group of random adult males. They recorded the brain waves of the group doing a simple language activity.
...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.
Scientists consider nature as a reason for psychopathy because the way their brains are set up. One theory suggests that the one region located in the brain that is less active in psychopaths is the amygdala which is normally linked with fear. In “The Wisdom of Psychopaths” Dutton explains that studies have been done and have proven that the brain has a dysfunction. Dutton also explains a case study that he has done with the thought of killing one person over killing five. Psychopaths have no problem killing that one person. There is no dilemma in their brain; the thought of someone dying does not affect them emotionally. Other brain studies measuring different aspects of the integration of emotions with other human experiences have shown the same abnormalities when it come...
School shootings are becoming a common tragedy in our nation and even around the world. It seems every day on our televisions or newspapers we learn of a new shooting. People often wonder why someone would do such a thing or even what leads to these tragedies. The fact of the matter is that there are a wide variety of reasons to answer these questions. In order to stop these unnecessary shooting sprees, we need to break them down to their roots; finding what lead up to it, and how we can prevent another one from taking place. Amazingly enough, some people blame guns as the problem; but in reality the primary reasons of this present horror is bullying, childhood distress, and psychological disorders. However,