Psychopathy – The Third and Final Stages of Insanity
Psychopathy as a personality disorder is characterized by enduring antisocial behavior, Lack of Empathy and remorse, and disinhibited or bold behavior. Behaviorialists suggest that different conceptions of psychopathy emphasize three main observable characteristics to varying degrees:
1. Boldness. Low fear including stress-tolerance, toleration of unfamiliarity and danger, and high self-confidence and social (alpha) assertiveness. Fearless dominance. May correspond to differences in the amygdala and other neurological systems associated with fear responses.
2. Disinhibition: Poor impulse control including problems with planning and foresight, lacking affect and urge control, demand for immediate gratification, and poor behavioral restraints. Impulsive antisociality. May correspond to impairments in frontal lobe systems that are involved in such control.
3. Meanness: Lacking empathy and close attachments with others, disdain of close attachments, use of cruelty to gain empowerment, exploitative tendencies, defiance of authority, and destructive excitement seeking. Coldheartedness (black hearted) and meanness may possibly be caused by either high boldness or high disinhibition (a lack of restraint) combined with an adverse environment.
Psychopathy Checklist; Factors, Facets, and Items
Facet 1: Interpersonal
Glibness/superficial charm
Grandiose sense of self-worth
Pathological lying
Cunning/manipulative
Facet 2: Affective
Lack of remorse or guilt
Emotionally shallow
Callous/lack of empathy
Failure to accept responsibility for own actions
Facet 3: Lifestyle
Need for stimulation/proneness to boredom
Parasitic lifestyle
Lack of realistic, long-term goals
Impulsivity
Irresponsibility
Facet 4: Antisocial
Poor behavioral controls
Early behavioral problems
Juvenile delinquency
Revocation of conditional release
Criminal versatility
Many short-term marital relationships
Promiscuous sexual behavior
A Clinical Profile of Psychopathic Behaviors:In his book The Mask of Sanity, Hervey Cleckley described 16 "common qualities" he thought were characteristic of the individuals he termed psychopaths:
Superficial charm and good "intelligence"
Mental rigidity or thought addiction to rational thinking
Absence of "nervousness" or psychoneurotic manifestations
Unreliability
Untruthfulness and insincerity
Lack of remorse and shame
Inadequately motivated antisocial behavior
Poor judgment and failure to learn by experience
Pathologic egocentricity and incapacity for love
General poverty in major affective reactions (low responses to outward emotions or feelings)
Specific loss of insight
Unresponsiveness in general interpersonal relations
Fantastic and uninviting behavior with drink and sometimes without
Suicide threats, sometimes used as control over others and rarely carried out
Sex life impersonal, trivial, and poorly integrated
Failure to follow any life plan.
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