Psychopaths — who are they?

As soon as they have difficult life situations and events do not develop as they would like, or when their desires are not satisfied, they immediately show their irritation, completely disregarding the reaction of others.

Nothing stops them. In a state of rage, they can turn to direct aggression. This behavior, ignoring social norms, is called psychopathic.

Antisocial psychopaths

There are a lot of so-called asocial psychopaths among the criminals. Fortunately for all of us, psychopathy does not exempt from criminal liability, because it is not a mental illness, but a developmental feature of the personality. What is the difference between normal people and psychopaths in general, and antisocial psychopaths in particular?

Normal people have very strong deterrent mechanisms — their social motives. This is such an internal need not just to comply with the accepted norms of behavior, but to comply with them with all its essence, to be a good person in one’s own eyes.

Thanks to these motives, we experience empathy, we can put ourselves in the place of another. And for an emotional breakdown, for cruelty towards another, we pay, first of all, with the loss of love and respect for ourselves.

Social motives are formed in the process of education. In the very early childhood, the child adopts them from those who surround him, those who love him, whom he loves and whom he wants to be like.

And this is the fundamental difference between man and animals. Animals within the same species have innate, biologically determined social instincts that automatically prevent mutual extermination. When one of the fighting wolves feels defeated, he obediently offers his neck to the winner. And the winner, no matter how excited he is by the battle, does not bite into his neck with his teeth and does not kill the opponent. This is not nobility. This is the operation of the social instinct.

A person is not born with such instincts, and if he has not developed social motives, then he can be much more dangerous to others than a wild beast. Only the fear of punishment keeps him from committing a crime. But he has no power over antisocial psychopaths either. Why?

Because their lack of social motives is combined with the peculiarities of temperament and thinking: they are impulsive and unable to assess the possible consequences of their behavior. And this leads to a violation of self-control.

Fortunately, the personality traits of antisocial psychopaths are often striking and can serve as a warning to others. This makes antisocial psychopathy in some sense less dangerous than social psychopathy.

Social psychopaths

Finding them is much more difficult. At first glance, they make a good impression and seem to show interest and attention to others. Their behavior is ordered, they do not have uncontrollable emotional outbursts… And suddenly it turns out that this person is capable of committing any vile thing behind your back — if only it remains a secret.

I knew a woman who was very successful in leading a large academic program at a university. She seemed to be a benevolent and sympathetic person, she helped those who got into a difficult situation, she was tolerant — especially towards the weak.

And suddenly I learn from a random witness about the conversation of this woman with the vice-rector of the university. She made it very clear that she was recommending the dismissal of an employee of her program — not just one of the best teachers at the university, but a woman who at that moment was in a very difficult life situation.

The head of the project decided to fire her «by someone else’s hands», knowing that this teacher annoys the vice-rector with bureaucratic psychology with a natural sense of dignity and independence.

And then, comparing a few more facts, I realized that she also evokes such a feeling of irritation in the head of the program herself — she always supported not just the unfortunate and offended by fate, but only those next to whom she felt her superiority.

And around those who had reasons for self-respect, she did not feel comfortable and had a strong desire to put them under attack. But preferably discreetly — after all, she knew very well that it was not customary to behave like that, and she knew how to calculate her moves.

This is the behavior of social psychopaths. Like antisocial psychopaths, they lack social motives. If they feel jealousy and envy towards someone, and this happens very often, no moral norms can stop them.

But they have control over their behavior. They are not impulsive, their actions are ordered and prudent. They know well how to behave in order not to cause condemnation. At the same time, social psychopaths can commit monstrous crimes against people who do not cause them personal hostility. The main thing is that nothing threatens them themselves.

Monsters emerged from their ranks, torturing and killing completely defenseless people in concentration camps. In the difficult conditions of wars, it turns out that there are much more people without social motives than we could have imagined. They sincerely consider their readiness to carry out immoral orders as conscientious performance of duty, and the order itself as an excuse for any behavior.

Moreover, what they do does not cause any internal conflict in their soul! In particular, during the trial of the head of the Gestapo department, Adolf Eichmann, it turned out that this boring and orderly official carried out mass genocide quite calmly, although his victims did not cause him personal hostility. Eichmann is a typical representative of social psychopaths.

What can we oppose to psychopathy? Parents need to remember that social motives begin to form from early childhood if children feel a warm attitude towards them and if they are expected to receive warmth from them.

A close emotional connection with those to whom children are attached — with parents, grandparents — and the desire that these close people love them, and not just take care of them, contribute to the development of social motives. If the child’s need to please someone and empathy for others is constantly supported and approved by loved ones, the chances of developing psychopathy are minimized.