Be very wary of people who make ‘the hair stand up on the back of your neck’, such as when you are in the presence of a mad dog or a predator. Avoid them if possible. Psychopathy is considered “the most important forensic concept of the early 21st century.” (John Monahan, comments on cover jacket of Handbook of Psychopathy, ed. Christopher J. Patrick (New York, NY: Guilford Press, 2006))
A clinical assessment of psychopathy is based on the person having the full cluster of psychopathic traits – as described in the table below at least to some degree – based on a pattern of lifetime behaviors. There are two clusters of factors within the overall traits. Factor 1 has been correlated with narcissistic personality disorder, low anxiety, low empathy, low stress reaction, and low suicide risk but high scores on scales of achievement and social potency. They may or may not be violent, but they are dangerous. In practice, mental health professionals rarely treat psychopathic personality disorders as they are considered un-treatable and no interventions have proved to be effective.
Psychopathy Checklist-Revised: Factors, Facets, and Items
| Factor 1 |
Factor 2 |
Other items |
|
Facet 1: Interpersonal
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
|
- Many short-term marital relationships
- Promiscuous sexual behavior
|
The manipulative skills of some psychopaths are valued for providing audacious leadership.[42] It is argued psychopathy is adaptive in a highly competitive environment, because it gets results for both the individual and the corporations[43][44][45] or, often small political sects they represent.[46] However, these individuals will often cause long-term harm, both to their co-workers and the organization as a whole, due to their manipulative, deceitful, abusive, and fraudulent behaviour.[47]
Many psychopaths exhibit a profound lack of remorse for their aggressive actions, both violent and nonviolent, along with a corresponding lack of empathy for their victims. This central psychopathic concept enables them to act in a cold-blooded manner, using those around them as pawns to achieve goals and satisfy needs and desires, whether sexual, financial, physical, or emotional. Most psychopaths are grandiose, selfish sensation seekers who lack a moral compass – a conscience – and go through life taking what they want. They do not accept responsibility for their actions and find a way to shift the blame to someone or something else.
Psychopaths can be adept at imitating emotions that they believe will mitigate their punishment. In general, psychopaths are glib and charming, and they use these attributes to manipulate others into trusting and believing in them. This may lead to people giving them money, voting them into office, or, possibly, being murdered by them.
Victims
The reactions of psychopaths to the damage they inflict most likely will be cool indifference and a sense of power, pleasure, or smug satisfaction, rather than regret or concern. Most people closely associated with a psychopath may know something is wrong with that person, but have no idea as to the depth of the pathology. Victims frequently will blame themselves for all of the problems they have had with a psychopath, whether at work, in a relationship, or within a family. After interacting with psychopaths, most people are stunned by these individuals’ ruthlessness, callousness, and denial or minimization of the damage they have caused.
Hare has described psychopaths as ‘social predators’,[48] ‘remorseless predators’,[49] or in some cases ‘lethal predators’,[50] and has stated that ‘Psychopathic depredations affect people in all races, cultures, and ethnic groups, and at all levels of income and social status’.[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hare_Psychopathy_Checklist
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