Sociopaths: The Power Of Manipulation

The story is typical: the sociopath was married yet claimed he was not. The sociopath falsely maintained he had cancer, so he could travel with impunity between the people he strung along. He was charming; he ingratiated himself to the entire family and their circle of friends. If anyone questioned his behavior or came close to connecting the dots of his rampant deceit, the sociopath would become outraged and shift blame onto his intended victim. He spouted poisonous lies every time he opened his mouth — and, of course, it is a given that the sociopath had no remorse for the trail of human destruction he left in his wake, and, in fact, actually enjoyed knowing his activities were twisting a knife that would leave

Dangerously enough, they are quite exceptional at analyzing others and take this ability to a threatening level. Manipulation helps psychopaths and sociopaths with their deceitful charm and makes it easier to lie to their victim. They can manipulate others by pinpointing their weaknesses and use it to their advantage (Thompson et al. 487). “Their powers of manipulation, deceit and skillful lying make psychopaths highly destructive to society whether they violate laws or violate societal norms causing loss of money, time, or personal pain and anguish” (Thompson et al. 487). Psychopaths and sociopaths find any and every way in which they can take a person and use them. They habitually see others as tools rather than a normal human being. This is another example as to how the mind of psychopaths and sociopaths are inherently defective. Using their exceptional manipulative skills, they get into the minds of others and use this information to take advantage of their intended victim or even just benefit themselves in any way. Psychopaths and sociopaths can undoubtedly be depicted or characterized as opportunists, those who take advantage of others for their own personal

They have no regards for others and never take anyone else into consideration before making faulty decisions. In their mind they do not think twice about their actions, whereas the people they hurt think only about that emotional pain caused within them (Vaishali 32-33). To psychopaths and sociopaths, people are just there to help satisfy their needs, this is why sexual homicide occurs so often. The reasoning behind manipulating and using others is because of their antisocial personality, another disorder commonly seen in psychopaths and sociopaths. “Antisocial personality disorder is defined by a pattern of socially irresponsible, exploitative, and guiltless behaviour. Symptoms include failure to conform to law, failure to sustain consistent employment, manipulation of others for personal gain, deception of others, and failure to develop stable interpersonal relationships” (Black 309). Because of their antisocial personality, they see no other way of communicating with others without using manipulation or lying. Most traits of psychopaths and sociopaths can be directly linked to their inability to see the world as the average person would. Without being capable to effortlessly live their life as the average person, they turn to what seems right to them, which is often manipulation, deceit, and portraying physical