Psychological profile of a psychopath, in 12 unmistakable traits.
We explain the typical psychological characteristics of people with a high degree of psychopathy.
The term "psychopathy is unclear to most people because multiple meanings are attributed to it. In fact, even within psychology this word is used to designate very different realities, the most questioned criterion being the relationship between psychopathy and criminality.
Authors such as Hervey Cleckley and Robert Hare have tried to delimit the psychological profile of psychopaths. to delimit the psychological profile of psychopaths, describing personality traits and patternsThey have described personality traits and behavioral patterns characteristic of those to whom such a label is applied. Let's see what conceptualizations exist around psychopathy and what is the classic profile of this alteration.
What is psychopathy?
Psychopathy is a personality disorder not recognized by the major diagnostic classifications. It is characterized by a lack of empathy and feelings of guilt, as well as egocentrism, impulsivity and a tendency to lie and manipulate.as well as egocentricity, impulsivity and a tendency to lie and manipulate. In contrast, sociopathy is more closely associated with antisocial personality disorder.
In popular parlance, this term is often associated with criminal behavior, especially serial murder; however, the truth is that psychopaths do not always commit crimes and can be perfectly adapted to society. to society. In fact, authors such as Kevin Dutton (2013) have vindicated the virtues of the psychopathic personality in the current context.
The current conception of psychopathy is largely based on the works of Hervey Cleckley and Robert Hare.. In their book The Mask of Sanity (1941) Cleckley made the most influential description of psychopathy to date, while Hare built on this work to create the well-known PCL scale (1991), which assesses psychopathic traits.
According to the triarchic model of Patrick et al. (2009), psychopathy is composed of three main traits: boldness, disinhibition and meanness. Psychopaths are known to are known to be less fearful than other peopleThey have more difficulty controlling their impulses and their lack of empathy leads them to use others to their advantage.
Garrido (2000) divides psychopathy into two dimensions: the emotional and interpersonal area and the lifestyle. The former includes signs such as egocentrism, tendency to manipulation and lack of guilt, while behavioral factors include the need for stimulation, impulsivity and criminal behavior.
Psychological profile of psychopaths
In this section we will summarize the personality traits of psychopaths according to the classifications made by Cleckley and Hare.
The presence of these characteristics, therefore, indicates the similarity of a given person with the concept of psychopathy handled by the experts.
Lack of empathy
Psychopathy has been linked to a deficit of empathy, i.e., the ability to understand the mental state of other people or to put oneself in their place. However, studies suggest that psychopaths have the capacity to empathize, but "activate" it at will; this would explain both the coldness and the social skills that characterize them.
Simon Baron-Cohen, who popularized the concept of "theory of mind," claimed that psychopaths have cognitive empathy but no emotional empathy, and therefore they do not feel discomfort from the suffering of others.. These deficits have been associated with reduced activation in the fusiform and extrastriate cortex, which are related to face recognition.
2. Egocentrism and narcissism
Egocentrism, or the inability to assume points of view other than one's own, is closely related to a lack of empathy. Very often psychopaths are also narcissistic; this means that they tend to think that they are superior to others. they tend to think that they are superior to others and more important than others.
3. Superficial charm
The typical profile of a psychopath is that of a a charming and sociable personwith good social skills. An extreme example is the case of the murderer Ted Bundy, who seduced his victims to gain their trust and received multiple love letters and marriage proposals after being sentenced to death.
4. Emotional poverty
The brain alterations inherent to psychopathy mean that the range of emotions felt by these people is limited. Specifically, in addition to emotional coldness, psychopaths are characterized by feel fewer negative emotions, especially fearwhile it is believed that they feel positive emotions in a normal way.
5. Antisocial and criminal behavior
Psychopathy test scores correlate with substance abuse, incarceration, gender-based violence, rape and pederasty. Economic and war crimes, as well as involvement in organized crime, are also more frequent in psychopaths than in the general population.
Like antisocial disorder, the predisposition to psychopathy may manifest itself in childhood in behaviors such as theft, frequent lying, vandalism and violence towards people and animals; these signs are classified as "dissocial personality disorder".
6. Difficulty learning from experience
According to research, psychopaths' problems in learning from experience are due to alterations in the connection between the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala. These structures are related to executive functions and emotional learning, respectively.
It seems that psychopaths have more difficulty than the general population in associating the punishments they receive with the behaviors that provoked them. Another Biological explanation is the presence of reduced cortisol and serotonin levels, related to aversive conditioning and behavioral inhibition..
7. Impulsivity and lack of planning
Impulsivity in psychopaths may be caused by decreased activation in the frontal cortex, combined with increased testosterone levels and reduced serotonin levels. This may reduce self-controlfacilitating impulsive behaviors such as drug abuse or physical aggression.
This is also related to a lack of long-term planning. There is often an absence of life goals; behavior is guided to a greater extent by momentary impulses.
8. Insincerity and manipulation
The insincerity and tendency to manipulation typical of psychopaths may be manifested with greater or lesser subtlety, but they are two very frequent characteristics in people with moderate levels of psychopathy who may not manifest many of the other traits we have seen.
9. Predisposition to boredom
The biological alterations of psychopaths lead to a continuous need for lead to a need for continuous stimulation. This makes it easy for them to become bored, a trait shared by very extroverted people (who have a low level of brain activation at rest) and by others with disorders affecting the brain, such as ADHD.
10. Parasitic lifestyle
The manipulation and self-centeredness of psychopaths means that they tend to take advantage of others. take advantage of others to satisfy their basic needs. Thus, they often live on other people's money, such as their parents or partners.
11. Absence of remorse
Even when they carry out behaviors that harm other people, such as some of those mentioned in the previous sections, psychopaths do not usually feel guilt for their actionsTheir lack of emotional empathy allows them to commit crimes or manipulate others without remorse.
12. Sexual promiscuity
Psychopaths often have many different have many different relationships that last only a short time. Moreover, given their interpersonal and commitment difficulties, they are superficially involved in them and are primarily concerned with sex and the practical benefits they can derive from their partners.
(Updated at Apr 13 / 2024)