Psychopaths: Can They Make Us Evil?

Psychopaths are typically devoid of emotion, and have an inherent sense of superiority that drives them to take actions that society considers

When most people hear the word psychopath their mind forms a picture of a wild-eyed, rambling, lunatic who is often restrained in a straitjacket. The media has helped this belief along the way with slasher horror films and grisly CSI episodes depict these strange humans. However, the average psychopath is much harder to spot than most people believe. In fact, most of them are extremely difficult to distinguish from ordinary humans. They outwardly appear normal and many do not find it difficult to blend into common society. They can interact with others, hold successful jobs, and effectively keep themselves out of trouble. Most are not the sadistic killers many people think they are. Psychopaths are people born with problems (Bartol 105) or

Psychopathy; a term used to describe an individual with the ability to differentiate between right and wrong and acknowledge the rules of society, but are impervious to the moral foundation of these rules. Unlike other mental disorders such as sociopathy and schizophrenia, psychopathic individuals are able to understand actions that violate the law or go against social norms (Glenn 1). Although, they may be able to accurately judge moral and/or legal violations, one major factor that they lack is – emotional capacity. It is estimated that about 1% of the general population is made up of psychopaths, which is a considerable risk when it comes to crimes (Parry n.p). Therefore, the way in which the law responses to psychopathic individuals is an important moral and empirical issue. With that being said, should psychopaths be held criminally responsible for their behavior? Due to psychopathic individuals failure to meet criteria necessary for moral responsibility, such as the lack of understanding of the human race, predetermined biological structures of the brain and the fact that psychopathy is

By definition, evil is an act or feeling that is “profoundly immoral and malevolent”. The problem is that evil is a subjective term. Each person sees evil differently.

A psychopath has always existed, for many, many years. They have existed in many forms and fashion so most people would never know who is a psychopath, until he or she has encountered one. Although there are four different types of psychopaths, they lack empathy for others and are incapable of feeling remorse for anything or anyone. Psychopaths view the world by, being selfish and not showing any concerns for the safety or welfare of others, they do not care about anyone even friends are family.

Psychopathy is a personality disorder; a psychopath is a person with this personality disorder. The one aspect of psychopathy that continues to amaze me is that people think of these individuals almost like unicorns. They think they will be able to spot them because of their physical appearance. And of course this is not so. Psychopathic individuals look just like me and they look like you. Terms like “monster” or “evil” have no behavioral meaning, and their implication is that the psychopath is not a human being. Psychopaths are human beings, but they are human beings with a callous lack of guilt for their actions and a stunning lack of empathy for their

Definition of psychopath is someone who with a sociopathic personality; a person with an antisocial personality disorder.

Psychopathy and Sociopathy have become interchangeable, even though the diction of each can greatly affect a sense of concern to a person. The word psychopath is normally pared with the word killer, making it seem more serious than sociopath.The definition of sociopath is “a person with a personality disorder manifesting itself in extreme antisocial attitudes and behavior and a lack of conscience.’ where the definition of a psychopath is a person with a psychopathic personality, which manifests as a moral and antisocial behavior, lack of ability to love or establish meaningful personal relationships, extreme egocentricity, failure to learn from experience, etc.” These kinds of people are normally viewed as extremely violent and are mostly in prison, but “Roughly one in 25 Americans is a sociopath,” according to Harvard psychologist Dr. Martha Stout, author of The Sociopath Next Door. The thought that someone you see every single day, could be a sociopath is staggering, and once learning more about it, and why it is caused, you can them know how to react in an appropriate manner.

a person with a psychopathic personality, which manifests as amoral and antisocial behavior, lack of ability to love or establish meaningful personal relationships, extreme egocentricity, failure to learn from experience, etc. (dictionary.com)

The reason that we even have an experience of a perceived evil is because for the soul to experience itself as any particular thing, the exact opposite of that thing must come into the realm of existence. In other words, in this relative existence, hot cannot be hot without cold, darkness cannot be without light, and you cannot be you without that which is not you. So I believe that what we call evil is just the opposite end of the spectrum of good, not something separate.

Psychopath: a person suffering from chronic mental disorder with abnormal or violent social behavior. This defines 20-year-old Adam Lanza who shot his way through the locked front entrance of Sandy Hook Elementary School with a Bushmaster AR-15 on the morning of Dec. 14, 2012 (Los Angeles Times). The results of this horrific massacre took the lives of 20 children and six adult staff members. This shooting changed the way society controls security, mental health and overall personal awareness towards these events.

A person suffering from chronic mental disorder with abnormal or violent social behavior; this is the Google definition of a "psychopath". In the book, The Psychopath Inside, James Fallon is a neuroscientist who recently discovered that his brain scan matches the one of psychopaths that he had been studying. When he found this out he looked into his family history and discovered a handful of other murders and psychopaths throughout his family line. Throughout the book James explains how he did not have that many signs growing up as a kid of violent or behaviors that were out of the ordinary to make people think that something was wrong, or that he was a psychopath. There were a few things like getting into trouble, but most were things that

What is evil? Are you born with evil in you? Do you become evil? The Joker, one of the most maniacal villains to ever touch the big screen, summarized evil into one phrase: "Madness, as you know, is like gravity, all it takes is a little push" (The Dark Knight). Evil is madness.

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.

People can either be born evil or choose to be evil. There are people who are brought into this world who have evil goals, but on the other hand there are people who have a good heart but choose to make evil decisions.