In contrast, psychopaths are “unable to form emotional attachments or feel real empathy with others” according to Bonn. Emotions are foreign to them. They know they should be feeling something, but they don’t feel anything. In his 1941 book called The Mask of Sanity, a psychiatrist named Hervey Cleckley provided some insight into the mind of the psychopath when he wrote that “Beauty and ugliness, except in a very superficial sense, goodness, evil, love, horror, and humor have no actual meaning, no power to move him.” This makes psychopaths capable of hurting others without any guilt or remorse. Bonn states that psychopathy is the “most dangerous of all antisocial behaviors” because psychopaths can “dissociate emotionally from their actions, regardless of how terrible those actions may be.” Psychopaths try to compensate for this impairment by being what a WebMD article calls “skilled actors.” They are charming and persuasive, and they are capable of faking emotions they can’t feel.
Notorious cult leader Jim Jones revealed his psychopathic mission to play whatever role was necessary to win trust and manipulate others when he said, “What you need to believe in is what you can see . . . If you see me as your friend, I’ll be your friend. If you see me as your father, I’ll be your father, for those of you that don’t have a father . . . If you see me as your savior, I’ll be your savior. If you see me as your God, I’ll be your God.”
A skilled orator, Jones combined idealistic rhetoric and overt and subtle coercion to condition his followers to commit suicide by drinking a Kool-Aid type drink laced with cyanide and Valium upon his command according to biography.com. Another way psychopaths attempt to relate to others is to create a veneer of social respectability to hide their dark side and any sinister behavior resulting from it. This is an especially common strategy of psychopathic serial killers like John Wayne Gacy. A summary of his court case noted his “double life”: “Evidence showed that the defendant led a double life, engaging in charitable and political activities at the same time he was committing a series of sadistic torture murders. He enticed many young men to his home for homosexual liaisons, tying or handcuffing his partners then strangling or choking them. Gacy was a successful contractor, was active in the community, and often dressed up as a clown for parties . . .”
Bonn states that different factors cause people to become sociopaths and psychopaths.
Some researchers think that sociopathy arises from childhood abuse and trauma. It is a “learned” behavior arising from circumstance. This is why sociopaths still maintain some moral conscience, some empathy, and some ability to form emotional attachments, although they are all weak. However, research suggests that psychopathy has a largely genetic component to it. Bonn notes that psychopathy “is related to a physiological defect that results in the underdevelopment of the part of the brain responsible for impulse control and emotions.” Another report states that “brain scans of people with APD have shown low activity in areas related to empathy, morality, and self-control.” According to a Psychologia, sociopaths make up 4% of the general population, while psychopaths make up about 1%. However, these percentages are equivalent to millions of people, so it is quite possible that you might meet a sociopath or psychopath one day.
Have you ever met a sociopath or psychopath? What was this person like? Let us know in the comments!
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