Draft #2 of Research Paper
Are psychopaths’ a result of bad
parenting or society molded them?
Psychology behind psychopaths.
Smile of Terror
Abstract
This
research paper is mostly about psychopaths which are define as cold headed
people with no consciousness or morality. They are often tag as serial killers,
monsters with no affections towards others. They are good at lying that makes
them hard to spot because they can make anyone feel comfortable next to them.
Psychopaths make around 1% of our population and are considered dangerous
because of their uncontrollable behavior. Also, they seem to just care about
themselves and what they seem as a motivation is power and a high prestige. If
we compare a woman psychopath and a male, the ratio is 3:1 with man having the
highest percentage of psychopathy. Sociopaths are often tag as psychopaths
which is very wrong because they both might have a mental disorder but
psychopaths are considered more dangerous because of their thoughtfully plans.
The reason for why they become psychopaths is yet unknown but most psychopaths
report being abused when they were kids yet suffering from child abuse doesn’t
make you a psychopath
Smile of Terror
"Fact: A psychopath is born every 47
seconds.” Kent A. Kiehl stated. One
might think that a psychopath is that one person that we see often in movies, the
villain who kill for joy, who use others in rotten ways, a person with no
reasoning. The truth about psychopath is
not even close to that image we have. Most psychopaths are close to normal
people with a normal life but with a mental disorder. A mental disorder that
yet haven't be found the reason for it. Most of the studies made by
professionals have come to one conclusion. The conclusion stated that psychopaths
are not easily identified, most of them had been abused when they were kids not
all but a big portion of them had been victims of child abuse. Also, some say
that is genetics combine with personal factors that’s cause psychopathy. Is
being said and proved that if a psychopath has a kid his kid is more likely to
become a psychopath because of its genes.
But what is a psychopath? A person suffering from chronic mental
disorder with abnormal or violent social behavior, an unstable and aggressive
person is considered a psychopath. Specialist define psychopaths as a person
with a psychopathic personality, which manifests (expressed) as amoral and
antisocial behavior, lack of ability to love or establish meaningful personal
relationships, extreme egocentricity, failure to learn from experience. A
psychopath can also be charming and chill, it can play to be a person just like
the others in order for him to succeed in his “mission”. They are coolheaded
people with very short control of their behavior, even though they are
considered dangerous people and are more likely to become criminals, statistics
show that psychopath are not a on the top list when in come to crime.
Psychopathy is a disorder that is very hard to examine and has been a big issue
to doctor because to find how is actually transmitted or produces is very
complex. Also, to diagnose a person with exactitude that suffers from this
disorder takes a lot of time plus is as hard as finding the reason for it. This
is due to the large amount of disorder that are related to psychopathy for
example, sociopaths. A sociopath is someone with a personality disorder who is
most likely to have antisocial tendencies that are attribute to social or
environmental factors. Most of the time both psychopaths and sociopaths are
seen as the same by the common eye certainly there are big difference between
them, for sure one of them is more
dangerous than the other. This leads to the question of why when we listened to
these terms "psychopath" and "sociopath "we only imagine men
not women? This is because women are less likely to be identify as psychopaths
or sociopaths. But how do we know who is or not a psychopath? This raised up
questions such as, are psychopath born like that or modeled by society or
environment? Why are women less likely to be detected with psychopathy?
Difference between sociopaths and psychopaths, which one is most dangerous?
There are thousands of tests that had to be taken in order for someone to be
diagnose with this disorder. Overall psychopaths are considered people with a
mental disorder that can be dangerous and with no empathy toward people, the
cause of psychopathic behavior has not yet been determined but it's being said
that is because of genes and their environment where they raised on.
Psychopaths are like machines with one mission
on their head “survival.” This term was use first in the 1983 and was define by
the “dictionary of social work & social care” by John Harris and Vicky
White. Some characteristics about psychopaths are good liars, the ability to
manipulate people to get what they want, and rage problems. (Cannot control
their emotions) Psychopaths are often
hard to define and understand, “Psychopathy is a construct highly associated
with immoral behavior, including manipulating and taking advantage of others,
pathological lying, living a parasitic lifestyle, and sometimes criminal
offending” (Hare, 2003) immoral behavior is one of the many characteristics
psychopaths have. Which means that they cannot identify between good and bad. We
can conclude from the quote that they are good at lying which make it easier
for them to manipulate and take advantage of others. Lying is very common in
everyone's life, children at "the age of 42 months onward, children become
increasingly capable of telling lies" which implies and gives reason to
why psychopaths are so good at lying. (Evans & Lee, 2013) Is because of their long experience and their immoral
behaviors. Psychopaths are human with no feelings towards other that just care
about themselves therefore they are considered dangerous.
Often people get confused with two terms that
are alike, sociopaths and psychopaths. As we all know psychopaths have no
interest in others and are not good when it comes to feelings. But what about a
sociopath, what difference him from a psychopath? A sociopath is extremely
anti-social and has little consciousness compare to psychopaths. It’s being
quoted (Lykken, 1996) "Unlike the ordinary sociopath, the primary
psychopath has failed to develop conscience and empathic feelings, not because
of a lack of socializing experience but, rather, because of some inherent
psychological peculiarity that makes him especially difficult to
socialize." (pg. 30) Which means that sociopaths are capable of having
empathy towards others which means that they can feel others pain and can
relate to it. They don’t decide to be anti-social but is extremely difficult to
socialize because of a psychological peculiarity (disorder). In the other hand
we have a psychopaths who are unable to feel others feeling or to have feelings
toward them. One more difference is that sociopaths are conscious of their
doing will psychopaths are not, and that make a giant difference between them The
picture
Oconor, E. (2014, February 21). Iago’s motivation [Photograph].
by Evelyn Oconor gives a point in how most of the people don’t know the
differences between a psychopath and a sociopath and includes some humor when
it says “do.your research” because this is a research about that.
According
to some research done by Kara Mayer Robinson in 2014 there are plenty of
difference that can tell which one is most dangerous. One of the pieces of
evidence that she uses is L. Michael Tompkins, EdD. He's a psychologist at the
Sacramento County Mental Health Treatment Center. Which stated (Robinson cited Tomkins,
2014)
A
key difference between a psychopath and a sociopath is whether he has a
conscience, the little voice inside that lets us know when we’re doing something wrong, a
psychopath doesn’t have a conscience. If he lies to you so he can steal your
money, he won’t feel any moral qualms, though he may pretend to. He may observe
others and then act the way they do so he’s not “found out,” [...] some experts
see sociopaths as “hot-headed.” They act without thinking how others will be
affected. Psychopaths are more “cold-hearted” and calculating. They carefully
plot their moves, and use aggression in a planned-out way to get what they
want. If they’re after more money or status in the office, for example, they’ll
make a plan to take out any barriers that stand in the way, even if it’s
another person’s job or reputation (pg.1).
Tompkins is telling us that psychopaths as
compare to sociopath have no conscience and give us an example that proved how
psychopaths have no morality which is dangerous in anyway. The skill to
identify between wrong and right is not part of psychopaths. In the research
that Kara studied we can infer by using Tompkins words that psychopaths are
able to think more and plan everything carefully which helps them with the
getaway and destroy anything that stand on their way. As for sociopaths who act without thinking,
which can be pretty dangerous too but we can clearly conclude that both are dangerous
but for obvious reason psychopaths should be considered as threats to society
duo to their thoughtful plans, immorality and unconsciousness.
After
all this shocking facts about psychopaths’ people still have misconception
about them. For example, they are often
seen as lovers of blood. Which is most likely wrong, in the book tittle “Without
Conscience The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us” by Robert D. Hare
he uses these words to describe the misconception we have on psychopaths (Hare,
1999) “Individuals with this personality disorder are fully aware of the
consequences of their actions and know the difference between right and wrong
[...].”(Abs) Which simple means that
psychopaths do know right from wrong and for sure know what they are doing but
they can control themselves. For this type of people must be hard to feel that
you are incapable of feeling other emotions or to think that you are being
blame for being a psychopath when it was not your fault to be that way. Through
this research certain illustrations were found of how to deal with psychopaths
this being one of them in which we tread psychopaths as serial killers ( lovers
of blood) we can see this through the word “psychopath”
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How to deal with a psychopath [Photograph]. (2013, August
31)
which is in red that
can stand for blood. We put tags on their forehead without releasing that they
are also human. Also, the fact that we view them as dangerous without
consciousness but we don’t think that they have a mental disability that the
reason for that disability has not yet be found, nor the cure. .
One important factor to have in mind
will researching about psychopaths is what motivates them and what goals they
have. Psychopaths and their hidden motivation have been very complex to
identify not only because they are cold are heart (no feeling) but also, they
have no interest in others. (Gleen, Efferson, Iyer, & Graham, 2017) said
Overall,
psychopathy was related to both pleasure-seeking and a desire for relative
social positioning [...]Individuals scoring higher
in psychopathy placed more value on seeking power […] psychopathy would be
positively associated with self-enhancement values, especially power, which
involves obtaining social status and prestige, and exerting control over others
(pg. 110).
According
to these studies we found some motivation goals and seeking that psychopaths
have. One was that they only seek for pleasure something that will excite them
that will make them feel alive. Individuals that have a high level of
psychopathy seek for power. Some of their motivations are to obtain prestige
and to have control over others. Psychopaths also have some sort of motivations
and goals which make them just like all of us.
Most
of the time people seem to know someone that has no feelings, with little
empathy and greedy, which they might confuse him with a sociopath or a
psychopath. Some people belief they are psychopaths themselves because they
read certain symptoms that relate to them, but how do we know if we are or not
psychopaths. One test which helps to identify if someone is a psychopath and
most widely used is the psychological tests of PPD (Psychopathy or psychopathic
personality disorder) is the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised, or PCL-R
(Hare, 1991, 2003). “The PCL-R is a 20-item symptom construct rating scale for
use in forensic settings. Each item reflects a specific feature of PPD. The
lifetime presence and severity of each feature is rated on a 3-point scale (0
absent, 1 partially present, 2 present) [based on] of all available clinical
data.” (Storey & Hart, 2015) (pg.136) The scores from this test are brought up to
yield or form a total score. If the total scores is 30 and higher, out of maximum
possible 40 points, are generally considered diagnostic of PPD which is
psychopathic behavior. For this type of test a lot of time is required, is long
procced of carful studies. So if you read a form and you are willing to know if
you are a psychopath or not, don’t test yourself in a google web site by typing
“psychopathic test” because for common person to self-identify as a psychopath
is not the smartest way.
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Source: Aleshyn_Andrei/Shutterstock, 2013
The
photograph shown a woman who clearly seems like any other woman this leaves the
point that woman is less likely to be consider as a psychopath as compare with
man. Who could imagine that a girls like the one in the photograph will be
psychopath? BPD (Borderline Personality
Disorder) is also a disorder like psychopathy but if we compare the ration
between man and woman in APD (Antisocial Personality Disorder) and BPD, for APD
is 3:1 man having a highest and for BPD is 1:3 woman having the highest. Which
give us a point in which we can state that BPD is more feminine therefore less
woman is diagnose with APD. (Pemment, 2015) We see how woman are less likely to
be diagnose with psychopathic issue but also that there is a separation between
who can be a psychopath and who cannot.
After
looking a certain definitions, comparison and ways to now if someone is a
psychopath we finally arrive to the main question of all. What causes
psychopathy, very hard question that yet as not been answer. Even until today
the origin of psychopathy as not been found, but some experts due argue some
points. (Kolla et al, 2013) “[...] found that prison inmates with APD and
psychopathy reported higher levels of physical abuse than inmates with APD
without psychopathy” which can give us a connection between psychopathy and
child abuse. Also, psychopaths seem to be abusive parents which can impact
their kids and later own they can also be psychopaths as their father. Is being
prove by (De Bellis et al, 1999) that when a child is abuse it develops
post-traumatic stress disorder which is found in psychopath. Through research
it has been proved that Genes and alleles have little to nothing to do with
psychopathy, as for now is the only reason that can cause psychopathy is child
abuse and the way it was raised but even if a child has been abused id doesn’t
mean he will be a psychopath therefore is still unconcluded of what causes
psychopathy.
Psychopath are humans with no feelings and
little to nothing consciousness, they are often seen as serial killers and
people that will do anything that they can to achieve their goals. But isn’t
the same as all the people, greedy to get want the want, people that want power
and when they have it the turn to be worse than criminal. Psychopaths is said
that are the only once to be happy because they don’t have to worry about love
hate something that must of us human need. But when we love someone don’t we
become greedy and don’t want to share it. Even people that are not considered
psychopaths commit brutal crimes like mass murder or rape, yet they are
considered normal people just like anyone. Psychopaths are label and treated
like monster yet we spec them to be nice to us. We don’t know what made him a
psychopath or what he has been through to become one but still we judge the
actions without being in their feet.
Work
cited pages
Glenn, A., Efferson, L., Iyer, R., &
Graham, J. (2017). Values, Goals, and Motivations
Associated with Psychopathy. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 36(2), 108-125.http://onesearch.cuny.edu/primo-
Storey, J., Hart, S., Cooke, D., & Michie,
C. (2015). Psychometric Properties of the Hare
Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) in a
Representative Sample of Canadian Federal Offenders. Law and Human
Behavior,Law and Human Behavior, 2015.
Lykken, D. (1996). Psychopathy, sociopathy, and
crime. Society, 34(1), 29-38
Evans, A., Lee, K., & Eccles, Jacquelynne.
(2013). Emergence of Lying in Very Young
Children. Developmental Psychology, 49(10),
1958-1963. from http://onesearch.cuny.edu/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=TN_apa_articles10.1037%2Fa0031409&context=PC&vid=jj&lang=en_US&search_scope=everything&adaptor=primo_central_multiple_fe&tab=default_tab&query=any,contains,Emergence%20of%20Lying%20in%20Very%20Young%20Children,AND&sortby=rank&mode=advanced&offset=0
Pemment,
J. (2015). The reappearing psychopath: Psychopathy's stain on future
generations.
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and Violent Behavior, 25, 237. From http://onesearch.cuny.edu/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=TN_proquest1764349241&context=PC&vid=jj&lang=en_US&search_scope=everything&adaptor=primo_central_multiple_fe&tab=default_tab&query=any,contains,The%20Reappearing%20Psychopath:%20Psychopathy%27s%20Stain%20on%20Future%20Generations.%E2%80%9D%20Aggression%20and%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20Violent%20Behavior,AND&sortby=rank&mode=advanced&offset=0
Without
Conscience: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us. (n.d.). Retrieved
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19, 2017, from https://www.guilford.com/books/Without-Conscience/Robert-Hare/9781572304512
Robinson,
K. (2014, August 24). Sociopath vs. Psychopath: What's the Difference?
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Gilbert,
K. (2015, August 10). Your Field Guide to the Female Psychopath. Retrieved
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