Saturday, June 29, 2013

Sociopaths: A Personal Study



Lately I've been studying sociopaths - an interest sparked by exposure to the weird life and escapades of Chris Nemelka. (http://chrisnemelka.com/).  He is one among a long list of others I've noticed who exhibit these same 'interesting' personality traits.  I thought it finally time that I delve into it and actually try to understand the behavior a little better.

Here's a little "study sheet" I'm working on:

Sociopath vs Psychopath: Antisocial Personality Disorder (APD) is the clinical term for the disorder associated with the traits of sociopaths. In popular culture, the term psychopath and sociopath are often loosely used as interchangeable. But there is a difference in the connotation each word carries, as each one describes the expression and degree of the same basic personality disorder, with psychopaths expressing in a more organized, planned, diabolical and aggressive way, and sociopaths being less intentional and behaving more haphazardly.  But, with any division between two things this is also a spectrum blend. https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/wicked-deeds/201401/how-tell-sociopath-psychopath

Females are said to suffer from this disorder to a lesser extent than males, but it may just be a case of how societal roles direct the expression of the disorder.  To date there is no reliable percentage of occurrence withing society, or between males and females, but it is evident that the disorder is expressed differently according to societal roles and gender identity. 
As with any human trait the traits of a sociopath/psychopath are a exhibited within a broad spectrum, with varying degrees of intensity.  In some respect, to some degree, normal people also display these traits (see #11). 

Before getting to the list of traits it is important to note and understand that the predominant trait of a sociopath is that they lack the capacity for empathy - and true remorse for hurting others.  Empathy is the ability to share, experience, and understand what others might be feeling from their perspective.  Because of this they are entirely motivated by their own self interests.  This lack of the ability for empathy underlies many of the traits of someone with APD.

All that said, following are the outstanding traits associated with Antisocial Personality Disorder:

1. Grandiose Sense of Self and Entitlement. This heightened ego will justify behaviors they may outwardly condemn, and may also inwardly recognize as wrong, but rationally allow due to their perceived special status. Once it is rationally allowed due to their special status it is no longer perceived inwardly as wrong.  This is somewhat a case of the Special Pleading fallacy.

2. General Lack of Conscience and Remorse for Harming Others. Sociopaths lack internal respect toward other people, all of whom they deem as inferiors, but they are masters of outward shows of respect, niceties and flattery. They are deceitfully nice and outwardly respectful as a way to manipulate others (for the most part). This point is related to points 1&3.  

3. A Manipulative Personality Covered by Superficial Charm. Friendships, alliances, and romantic partners are often sucked in and frequently disregarded and replaced when the relationship no longer suits their self-centered needs.  Cheating comes easy too. They have no problem conning, lying to, or taking advantage of other people, even people they profess to love.  Love is a very shallow concept, if even understood.  These people usually have a long line of former friends, lovers, and associates who now hate and despise them.

4. Chronic Lying. Chronic lying is a characteristic of nearly all sociopaths (i.e. 99.99%). Much power and importance is derived from this form of controlling and manipulating others via information. They do this with ease due to trait #2. Not all liars are sociopaths (we're all liars to some degree) but all sociopaths are liars, many to the extent of being pathological. They lie with straight faced ease, and their sophistication with lying often works best on family members and friends they've conned, thereby gaining admiration and devotion, and a blindness to the manipulation. They know how to manipulate the 'truth' to make themselves look good, and to gain trust and belief.  Over time the more charismatic and manipulative sociopaths can gather a following. The seek love and adoration, and the more people the better.  They have a 6th sense when it comes to reading people and knowing just what to say to ingratiate and promote themselves within the minds of their followers, and promote trust, confidence and compliance. (See #3)

5. Use People as Means. They use people as a means to getting what they want, and view other people in general as means not ends. Objectification of other people is their primary view and tact.  Their inability for empathy causes them to view other people as merely a means whereby they can achieve their own self interests, and to do so without regard for the interests or welfare of others.

6. Shifting of Blame. Considering the above it becomes easy to understand why they have very little sense of remorse or guilt. They will seldom if ever take blame for anything offensive or hurtful they've done to anyone, even if they're family or friend. They are very skilled at deflection and finding reasons why it is not their fault, and the fault of their opponent, or things outside their control.  They are very good at assigning blame on others and launching character assassinations against anyone who opposes them in any way.  They seldom if ever will say or admit anything about themselves, even mild slights or foibles, that may harm their reputation.  They seriously think and rationalize that they do no wrong.  They have a serious inability to apologize, but will feign apology if it advances their cause.


7. Instability. They are unstable in their own lives.  They usually have a long string of failed relationships and jobs, and do not stay in one place for very  long (geographically, housing, or work).  They are parasitic in nature and usually will live off other people if given the opportunity.  In this sense they love to oversee and manage work, rather than do work.  Physical manual labor is beneath their superior skill set.  They typically have a long string of sexual partners, and may seek out multiple sexual partners, thinking that just one person is not enough for a person of their caliber. (Polygamy with its inherent male dominion is very attractive to male sociopaths, Sex as a weapon, power, or form of manipulation is popular with females.  Prostitutes may also be sociopaths).

8. Aggressive Retribution on Slights. They can be dangerous when challenged, slighted, or if they perceive they've been cheated by a person or life circumstances (usually blamed on others, see #6), or if they feel they have not garnered the respect and attention they deserve. They are especially vindictive and dangerous when they feel they have been wronged in some way.  Because of points 1 & 2 they have a heightened sense of retribution when wronged.  They typically pay back in multiples of the original wrong.

After the ones who succeed via 'approved' social pathways, the next most dangerous sociopaths can be the ones who fail to some degree in their desires - sociopathic underachievers.  These are they which resort to violence and mass murder, or serial killing. This may seem an inverted ranking but consider how many people a sociopath in power can harm or have killed.

9. Seek Positions of Power and Influence. Because of the above charming and manipulative traits the more intelligent and charming sociopaths find it easy to gather a following, and rise to the top of social groups and societies. They seek positions of influence, power, management, and rule.  Historically, and most likely presently, there are many world leaders and public figures who could be classified as sociopaths. Power and popularity can bring latent sociopathic tendencies to the foreground, and cause them to blossom. 

Here’s a list of jobs with the highest rates of sociopathy, in no particular ranking:

    1. CEO
    2. Lawyer
    3. Media (Television/Radio)
    4. Salesperson
    5. Surgeon
    6. Journalist
    7. Police Officer
    8. Clergy person
    9. Chef
   10. Civil Servant (Politics)

Again we should be careful to say that not all people in these positions are sociopaths, but these are the typical positions sociopaths gravitate toward.

10. Narcissistic. This disorder is closely related to Narcissistic Personality Disorder, with overlapping manifestations.

11. Degrees of Sociopathy. This is not a trait but rather a category to reinforce again the concept of nuance and a spectrum of degrees.  When considering this disorder it is important to employ analog over digital thinking – degrees not compartments. These are traits common to every human being to varying degrees, with sociopaths taking them much farther, and psychopaths utilizing them to the nth degree.  It is very easy to see these behaviors in people we dislike and instantly jump to the assessment of sociopath.  Not all liars are sociopaths, but all sociopaths are liars.  Not all sociopaths are sociopaths to the same degree.  There is such thing as a mild sociopath.  I have always believed that a trait seen and observed in others must also be simultaneously recognized in oneself, and admitted to the degree it exists. These traits are all the not so pretty realizations of being human.  Being aware of them can protect you from being the victim of them, either self inflicted or inflicted by others, and maybe a call to work on your empathy skills.

In my "research" I found this response to a blog article on sociopaths particularly interesting:

Helen 6/13/2013 - I found out today that my dad is a sociopath. Half the people he has dealt with hate him and half just love him.

This resonated strongly with a statement made by a religious leader concerning himself*, that in essence half the world would hate him and half the world would love him.  In my study of the man I assess him to have been a sociopath, maybe operating under the self delusion of good intentions, but a sociopath nonetheless.  This behavior especially came to the foreground and exploded in his later years when he became the head of a thriving theocracy.

* This statement was made as a prophecy Joseph Smith said was communicated to him by an angel in 1823, yet it was recorded in 1838, at a time when people were doing just as described (hating him, acting against him, others defending him). It was a heavenly message to explain why so many people hated him currently...esp judging the time he first recalled this supposedly earlier angelic prophesy (1838) was a time of turmoil for him, and the angel's 1823 visit and prophecy was fulfilled by the time it was first recorded in 1838 during the Kirtland Crisis, where many high ranking and prominent members of the church, and others, were leaving in droves, citing dishonest dealings and actions of the "prophet" as the reason why they had left.  They were of course slandered and libeled, by the prophet JS and other still faithful church leaders, as liars, sinners, and apostates.  This revelation is a clear example of backdating to make the present situation true.

If this article offends you, or you find yourself described in some of these descriptors... yet rationalizing "why" it's OK or justified in your particular situation - You just might be a Sociopath.

The following link on sociopaths is one of the best I came across during my exploration, even though it's from the oft disparaged wikipedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychopathy#Sociopathy

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