Sociopath: Robert John Maudsley (1953)

“Ask a psychopath what love is and he’ll go on and on, but he has never felt it himself…If you catch him lying, he’ll just shift gears and go on as though nothing had happened” (Goleman). Ted Bundy was one of the most famous psychopaths in the history of the country (Nordheimer). People say he was the perfect killer- handsome, intelligent, witty, and charming (Boynton 25). Bundy was the complete opposite of what people thought a serial killer looked like, so his victims did not fear him (“Ted Bundy”). Robert Keppel, an expert on serial killers, stated, “He taught us that a serial killer can appear to be absolutely normal, the guy next door (“Serial Killers and Mass Murderers”). At one point he was working for a suicide hotline; a friend

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

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”).

According to studies led by King’s College researchers, it has been confirmed that “psychopathy is a distinct subgroup of antisocial personality disorder (ASPD)” (Gregory et. al n.p) and similarly to psychopathy, the more severe ASPD behavioral patterns are, the symptoms can be referred to as sociopathic or psychopathic. Furthermore, according to Nigel Blackwood, Ma, MD.MRCPsych, “MRI scans...found that psychopaths had structural brain abnormalities in key areas of their ‘social brains’” (Gregory et. al n.p). The areas of the brain, in which are deficient in psychopaths, are important when comprehending an individual emotions’, intentions, and moral

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

Eventually, he ended his rampage in a third floor lecture hall where he shot and wounded several more people before ending his own life. Suicide notes found on him revealed that his motives were based on his hatred for feminists, stating that they have “ruined his life”. It also revealed a hit list containing 15 public figures, probably found through news media sources, but stated that he was unable to act upon it. Instead, all his victims turned out to be strangers that were unfortunate enough to be caught in the killing spree (Maser, 1987).

Our conscience is the indicator into what we think and the actions that follow our thinking process. It acts as a guide into different paths of behaviors, such as wrong and right. Sociopaths lack a conscience, have a personality disorder, and act uncontrollably in extreme, and violent behaviors when in encountered in unappealing situations. As “4% of people are sociopaths-1 in 25 people.”(10) Many sociopaths have the tendency to murder and harm others without feeling remorse for their actions. Martha Stout, the author of The Sociopath Next Door, really digs deep into the conscience of sociopaths and their cycle of thinking through many studies.

4. Serial killers also show signs of a psychopath though this is not always the case. Psychopaths lack empathy and guilt, are egocentric and impulsive and don’t conform to social, moral, or legal norms. Psychopaths have a distinct set of rules for themselves. They appear normal and are often very charming and charismatic.

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

Introduction The purpose of this study is to compare and contrast the constructs of psychopathy and antisocial personality disorder. The aim is to highlight whether the terms psychopathy and antisocial personality disorder reflect the same construct or whether they differ. Furthermore, recommendations for treatment of criminal behavior will be explored. For the purposes of this evaluation some definitions need to be highlighted: Criminal offence is an act that breaks a law, which relates how to behave in society. The harm caused by the act is seen to be against society as a whole, not just a specific person. Sometimes it refers to the specific law that was broken (Herring, 2009). Crime is the breach of rules or law for which some authority

The concept of psychopathy originated in the 1800s to describe individuals that consistently failed to conform to societal norms and exhibited antisocial behavior that did not fit the concept of mental illness of the time period. While, psychopathy was a common term used to describe individuals suffering from this disorder other descriptions were coined such as “Pinel’s term “manie sans delvie” meaning mania without delirium in the 1700s, to describe patents whose ‘affective faculties were disordered’” or Pritchard’s term “moral insanity” (Ogloff 520). In the 1930’s Partridge argued that psychopathy was a social rather than a mental disorder and proposed that the concept of sociopathy be introduced as a more accurate description. The American Psychological Association adopted Partridge’s term for their Diagnostic and Statistical Manuel in 1952. However, in 1968 the American Psychological Association changed the diagnostic label from sociopath to “personality disorder, antisocial” for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manuel – II that continued through to the DSM - III in 1980 and the DSM - III-R in 1987 and the DSM - IV in 1994. Today the Diagnostic and Statistical Manuel categorizes antisocial personality disorder as a personality disorder and it is named as such. Unfortunately, not much research has been conducted

Albert DeSalvo, more commonly known as The Boston Strangler, was born on September 3, 1931 and died on November 25, 1973 due to a tragic stabbing while in prison. The reasoning behind DeSalvo’s placement in prison were the heinous acts he had conducted in which he raped over 300 women (The Boston Strangler, (n.d)). However, this was not DeSalvo’s first run-around in prison. Years prior to the imprisonment of DeSalvo, he had been imprisoned for breaking and entering into a house During his second imprisonment, DeSalvo admitted to committing a series of 13 murders called “The Silk Stock Murders.”(insert citation) These murders consisted of the killing of 13 women, ages ranging from 19 to 85, in the Boston area. Due to the extent and absurdity of DeSalvo’s crimes, an investigation was lead into his health to determine if something there was something psychologically altered about DeSalvo. It was later found that DeSalvo was a paranoid schizophrenic. However, in order to trigger these behaviors, something must have psychologically deepened his urge to kill.

Antisocial personality disorders are immense, and psychopaths and sociopaths are just two of the various personality disorders. An antisocial personality disorders is defined as, “a type of chronic mental condition in which a person's ways of thinking, perceiving situations and relating to others are dysfunctional — and destructive.” (Mayo Clinic Staff). Sociopaths are a direct correlation to antisocial personality

In “Natural Born Celebrities: Serial Killers in American Culture,” serial killers are defined as clean cut, normal, All-American people. Some interviewees shared in chapter five state that the reason why it takes so long for the culprits to be apprehended is attributed to the ability to carry on with a normal life. One even offered that in one instance, his victim actually thought he was joking when he kidnapped her to eventually murder her. In “Mr. Brooks,” Earl again is a very successful person. He is an ordinary, suit wearing, clean shaven, clean cut, successful Portland, Oregon businessman. I imagine that his killing addiction would shock even his closest, everyday coworkers. Hannibal Lecter is a former psychiatrist. I can’t even begin to imagine the amount of schooling that he endured and numerous certifications, both federal and state, that he must have attained. Yet, he did not like arrogant and obnoxious people, therefore, he murdered them.

“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