A psychopath is one who has a personality disorder known as psychopathic personality, which falls under the Antisocial Personality Disorder category in the fifth edition of the Diagnsitic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), and is characterized by lack of empathy, lack of remorse, and antisocial behavior. Hollywood loves to portray psychopathy as madness to ensure a box office hit, but in everyday life, that’s not necessarily true.
When it comes to the likelihood of having a psychopath in your life, the odds are not in your favor. According to Dr. Paul Babiak, 1 in every 100 people is likely to have psychopathic traits, and the probability is even higher the higher you go in the office food chain, where you’ll find 1 in every 25 among managers and executives. Ouch. The real reasons behind psychopathy are usually narrowed down to genetics factor. Yes, many criminals are psychopaths, but the majority of psychopaths are not involved in criminal acts at all. Your everyday psychopath could probably be that bad-a** guy that most girls would fall for.
1 – Lack of Empathy
A psychopath cannot just feel what everyone else feels. A psychopath does understand your feelings but does not feel them. If you’re crying your heart out over the death of a loved one, they will show compassion, but only to please you, not out of true emotional empathy.
2 – Manipulativeness
Always knowing the right strings to pull and the right buttons to push, psychopaths use deception to cheat others into thinking, believing, or acting in certain ways for personal gains with no concern whatsoever for the feelings of others.
3 – Irresponsibility
Impulsive behavior and irresponsibility is their life-style. A psychopath would never admit to their mistakes. In fact, they’d turn the tables against whoever accuses them of anything, so that the accuser would think again, and even feel guilty, about their complaints.
4- Narcissism
Psychopaths usually view themselves as smarter, more powerful, and of more worth than everyone else. They have an extravagant, almost theatrical, self-perception, thinking the world revolves around just one person: themselves!
5- Pathological Lying
Psychopaths tend to lie, lie, lie, and lie even more. Their lives are spider webs of lies. This ranges from moderate levels to high levels of lying.
6 – Superficial Charm
Smooth, charming, attractive! Psychopaths are not shy or afraid to do or say anything they like. That absence of embarrassment attracts others, as it could be misperceived as high self-confidence. Their hawk-eye glares are mistaken for sexual magnetism by women.
7- Lack of Remorse
Psychopaths do not feel guilty for the suffering and pain they inflicted on others, or for their actions in general.
8- Proneness to Boredom
Forever bored, psychopaths have an exaggerated need for adrenaline overdose, and so they are always looking for excitement and thrill.
9- Bullying
Psychopaths are usually abusive towards those who are not of much benefit to them. This could be subordinates, elderly people, children, or, in most cases, animals. They like to exercise their power over other fragile beings. This comes in the form of bullying, and they may shoot hurtful words at any time without warning.
10- “Sucker for Power”
They have an obsessive need to exercise power and control over others. In other words, control freaks. Everything must go the way they want it to.
So now that you know what a Psychopath is, it’s time to let the inner Conan the Detective get to work! Let’s look out for the signs, shall we?
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We also have a video on this topic here:
Edited by: Kim Rooney/Hamad Hussain
References:
Characteristics of Psychopaths. (2016). (1st ed.). Retrieved January 21, 2016, from http://www.dovechristiancounseling.com/Characteristics-Of-Psychopaths.html
PSYCHOPATHIC TRAITS. (2016). (1st ed.). Retrieved January 21, 2016, from http://www.sociopathicstyle.com/psychopathic-traits/
The Week,. (2011). Is your boss a psychopath?. Retrieved January 24, 2016, from http://theweek.com/articles/481590/boss-psychopath
[…] a psychopath can know and understand your feelings, they are unable to actually feel them for themselves. Typically, their feelings are quite shallow, especially when it comes to other people. No matter […]
Sporting a psychopath
Is not the problem. They don’t hide well if at all. The issue is getting people to stop going along with them and allowing them to rise to positions of power. The main cause of professional workplace turnover, for example, is the presence of a psychopath or two in the corner office, or quickly risking toward it.
Hey Merna,
In 2015, I discover myself as a psychopath…it was a great shock! Anyway, I agree with your list, I just have a few notes:
1- Why would a psychopath lie so much? I don’t! Everybody pains me since ever for speaking the truth even when it hurts. It’s simple lógic; if I don’t care enough, why would I bother to lie? Specially when I can win pretty much any argument if pleases me?
2- I found out I had the option to fell more or less empatic (the right word would be understanding). I easily get to a high focus flow, functioning like a robot. If I don’t take a deep breath and remember myself to change my pattern, to get more soft, I get in trouble in my personal relations.
I totally agree that it’s a Antisocial Personality Disorder. I quite like people, not all the time, but I rarely feel connected with then, it’s a one way relationship for then, I don’t do this on purpose, it just happens. I often wish I had more loved ones, but to love somebody, or been that open, it’s a struggle. Thank you for the article.
From my experience not being burden with said “feelings” is an asset. The lack of empathy in no way distorts the differences between right and wrong so I fail to see a problem with being void of that emotional flaw. I see people repeatedly base their decisions on emotions rather than logic and wonder why shit went wrong. How is that sane?