Sociopath. It is a word which strikes fear in all us. I mean, sociopaths are those people who we hear about on TV, the ones who have gone and committed unthinkable crimes, are they not? Yet sociopaths are more integrated amongst our society than we would like to think. Today I am going to tell you why most of our successful leaders are sociopaths. When we think of sociopaths, we think of people who are dangerous criminals, people who commit crimes, people who are to be avoided at all costs. Yet the Oxford Dictionary defines sociopath as “A person with a personality disorder manifesting itself in extreme antisocial attitudes and behaviour”, which really doesn’t sound that bad. Even knowing this, the word sociopath still brings to mind people like Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Osama Bin Laden, and other similar characters. You get the picture? But it …show more content…
Leadership offers them a protective shell, something which they can fall back on if things don’t go to plan. It also suits their ambitious nature, they are driven to achieve a single goal, and will stop at nothing to reach this. Ambition is an essential quality when it comes to becoming a successful leader, as it allows the person to look for better options and ways to do something. Ambitious people are also more driven, so look for more options, making them better known, which makes them more likely to become candidates for leadership roles. Sociopaths are successful in leadership because they lack the trait of human compassion, instead they see others as objects which can become possessions that are discarded at will. Doesn’t sound very friendly does it? They have the ability to put others interests to the side so as to make a decision which one would normally struggle to make. I mean could you make the tough decisions that revolve around our highest
1 in 25 people are sociopaths, and there are 12 million living in the United States right now. Are you one? Are your neighbors, siblings or co-workers sociopaths? You may never know. Sociopaths often seem normal and lead a life just like yours. So how can you tell if someone’s a sociopath? They could be totally charming, attractive, and spontaneous but they could be hiding something from you, or may not even know themselves. Even though sociopaths are often charming, they are usually lacking emotions and only care about themselves. Do you know anyone who is a very good liar and never shows emotion? General Zaroff, in "The Most Dangerous Game" appears to be a sociopath and shows many traits of one. However, in order to spot a sociopath, you have to know more about them and their characteristics.
We have all heard the terms psychopath and sociopath, but how closely have we examined these words? Does the lay person even know what the true meaning of these words? Let us delve into the meaning of these words for a minute.
Psychopaths and Sociopaths are common names we use to describe heartless, ruthless people and our exes. Both terms are known as antisocial personality disorders. They have a lot of similar characteristics like having little or no regard for feelings and needs of others, but they are also very different. “Psychopaths are born, sociopaths are made” (Natasha). Psychopaths are unable to experience emotions themselves.
What is a sociopath? According to R. (2012) “There are people in the world who don't care about love, and who feel no remorse, empathy or emotional attachment to others. They don't even know what these feeling are. These people are called sociopaths.” (It Wasn"t a Relationship – It Was a Robbery!!, 2013) explains, “The sociopath makes a career living off others. They feed off your energy, your wealth, your social life, your friends and family, your body, everything, and if you have material possessions, they will take those too.” According to Andersen (n.d.) “[Sic] Sociopathy is not a mental illness; it is a personality disorder. The condition is highly genetic.” These days most people find their mate on an online dating sites. Most of
According to Martha Stout, a sociopath is a person without a conscience. Stout explains that conscience is something we feel, it’s our “seventh sense” and is defined by a sense of obligation based in an emotional attachment to another living creature, or to a group of human beings, or even in some cases to humanity as a whole (Stout, p.25). As noted in The Sociopath next door, Stout explains the American Psychiatric Association uses a manual to define mental illnesses and it is as follows:
A common dictionary defines a sociopath to be a person with a personality disorder manifesting itself in extreme antisocial attitudes and behavior and a lack of conscience. This is merely one aspect of the subject Vasilisa Dolohov. The youngest of the Dolohov bloodline of 4, Lissa was never one to forget this. A part of her always knew that she was considered… Disparate in correlation to her siblings. Ridiculed beyond belief with horrendous names like the mistake or freak by her own blood, Lissa concealed in the shadowed sanctuary that was labeled to be her bedroom. The only form of company was when she was with herself, as she was often found conversing quietly and buried deep within a page-turning novel. When craving human interaction,
There is no remorse in a wild animal. A sociopath is defined as someone antisocial and with no moral conscience (Dictionary.com). Sociopaths are found commonly amongst politicians and businessmen. In the film "Window of Opportunity", we are introduced to Roger, a sociopath businessman. This paper will examine the character from the film, Roger, along with two other sociopaths, Marge Schott and Vince McMahon (Joeseph 2015).
The first step in diagnosing someone as a sociopath is to create a standard of sociopathic behavior. Formally, sociopathy is referred to as Antisocial Personality Disorder or ASPD. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders defines ASPD as “A mental health condition in which a person has a long-term pattern of manipulating, exploiting, or violating the rights of others"(Sociopathic Traits 1) and lists seven identifying traits. It is important to understand that ASPD is a condition of varying degrees. To be considered a sociopath, one does not have to display all seven traits. In fact, there is much debate about what level of sociopathic behavior deserves a diagnosis of ASPD. Possibly the most widely accepted scale is the Hare PCL-R, which ranks sociopathic tendencies. Even though Hare is the most commonly accepted standard, it is still somewhat disputed. The professional agreement, it seems, is that ASPD can vary in intensity. Therefore, even though he does not display the
Of all the psychiatric disorders, none are more chilling to the world then the psychopaths and sociopaths. These two disorders, categorized as antisocial personality disorders, bring about the absolute worse people and killers that the world has ever known. The infamous serial killers, the people who do the unimaginable, were all psychopaths. The ability of these people to do what they do and know that what they are doing is wrong, is perhaps one of the most chilling and shocking characteristic of these people. Psychopaths and sociopaths are very often thought by most to be the same disorder, yet they are different when classified by many psychiatric researchers. The people classified as psychopaths and sociopaths are separated by one main difference, and that is if they were born with a lack of the ability to empathize or if they were affected as children in a traumatic environment. Although both of these horrible disorders derive from a different area, the reality is that they are unpredictable, undetectable and most importantly, they can be very dangerous.
“Psychopathy is a personality disorder characterized by an inability to form human attachment, aggressive narcissism, and antisocial behavior defined by a constellation of affective, interpersonal and behavioral characteristics, most of which society views as pejorative” [1]. Some of these characteristics include irresponsibility, grandiosity, cunning, deceitfulness, selective impulsivity, sexual promiscuity, lack of empathy, etc. People who are psychopathic display not only antisocial behavior but also emotional impairment such as the lack of guilt. They are able to prey on others using their charm, deceit, violence or any other methods that allow them to get what they want. A strong feature of most of the behavior
A psychopath is traditionally defined as someone with a personality disorder characterized by persistent antisocial behavior, impaired empathy and remorse, and bold, disinhibited, egotistical traits. In society, psychopaths display specific characteristics such as lack of empathy, which may identify and explain how they respond in certain situations.
Psychopath means someone suffering from an antisocial personality disorder that makes them completely non-empathetic guilt and remorse free. They are uncaring and have very little regard for the society, morals and other people. Psychopaths are scary enough as it is and to make it worst there are different types of psychopaths out there.
They’re distinctive traits include living a parasitic lifestyle, lack of responsibility for their actions, glibness, and a lack of realistic long term goals (“Psychopathic”). They do not learn from their experiences and cannot form meaningful relationships. They continuously engage in antisocial behavior, punishment does not have an affect on their behavior, and they are emotionally immature (Hare, Psychopathy 9). They find it hard to control their impulses and commonly hold many short-term relationships, often engaging in promiscuous sexual behavior. (“Psychopathic”). Frequently, they fail to plan ahead, have a low frustration acceptance, and have no problem lying blatantly to someone’s face. Psychopaths don’t feel remorseful if they mistreat or hurt someone, in fact, the person’s safety, as well as their own, is disregarded in order for the psychopath to get what they want (Hare, “Psychopath vs. Antisocial”). An easy way to describe a psychopath is a human who lives a predatory lifestyle (“Psychopathic”).
Everyone is living with sociopaths, and is surrounded by them. "Sociopathy" is a personality disorder affecting one 's thoughts and actions towards others ("Personality Disorder"), but many sociopaths are hidden from the average citizen (Thomas, 52). Sociopathic behavior originates from social causes, has a large impact on society, and has no cure.
My sociopath that I choose to do my research on is Edmund Kemper III aka “ The Co-Ed Killer”. Edmund Kemper was born on December 18, 1948, in Burbank, California by Clarnell Stage and Edmund Kemper Jr .Kemper was a very intelligent person with an IQ of 136 but choose a darker side of life and became a psychopathic serial killer and necrophile who killed 10 people including his mother, and his grandparents. Edmund childhood wasn 't the greatest with his violent alcoholic parents who separated at the age of nine. Ed was then forced to live with his mother because his father wouldn 't accept him as his son. Kemper mother who suffered from Borderline Personality Disorder would constantly disrespect,humiliate, and