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Nelee -> RE: Psychopaths (Narcissists, Narcopaths, Sociopaths, and/or Cluster B Antisocial Personality Disorder): (4/3/2017 5:39:15 AM)
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Yikes, I understand that most low-empathy people are associated with their lack of a "morality limiter", but they are human (even if they don't see others that way) and not faceless monsters.
I could describe a number of people who also like listening to music, riding motorcycles, or smoking cigs (which wouldn't be likely if they're a psychopath who cares about their image), but that doesn't make them animals. Ironic how easily you can dehumanize a person who is feared by how easily they can dehumanize others.
The minds of psycho/sociopaths are relatively well documented (you could find studies all over the internet at this point, they're pretty popular is psychologist circles), so you could easily look into the probably causes yourself (which are still debated). It could be a mixture of nature and nurture, but at its core is usually the result of a difference in how a certain part of the brain (which controls dopamine, I believe) allows a person to connect with others socially. Low empathy doesn't mean you're a monster, you just don't have the innate understanding of the "language" of others. Similarly to how a dog's lowered ears and tail lets another dog know that it's fearful or attempting to be non-threatening. If the other dog is unable to determine what that means and process how they would feel in the same position, it can't react the way the fearful dog hopes it does, and that can be a problem in a tense or emotional situation.
They've also found that they tend to get "bored" easily, and seek ways to raise their dopamine levels to cure this feeling, which has been associated with risky and law-breaking behavior. It's a lot more socially crippling than it seems and I believe that is why so many adopt a mask. They may be self serving, but it's easy to justify that behavior when you don't get the same feelings from being a social person that other people do. Why does anyone do "good"? There is an emotional reward gained from it on a chemical level. Without that incentive, you're more likely to find that reward in ways that look more self serving to those viewing it from the outside (even though doing "good" for the "good feelings" we gain is self serving at its base level).
Bottom line, I've known 2 psychopaths and a sociopath in my life. Only one of them I can say was a person I would consider deplorable, but I'm still able to see where self-preservation and the need to nurture the self (by any means) motivated her actions. I'm also able to understand the sociopath, and the system that might motivate their behavior. The other psychopath is someone very close to me, and has (rarely) been a harm to me (personally; I can't answer for others). He is diagnosed ASPD (from my insistence) and doesn't have a problem with who he is (hard to envy or dislike your nature when its only other people who think that its wrong). I, personally, am very empathetic and I can't find it in me to judge people so totally.
But I get it. People are motivated by fear, and by the idea that this person could kill someone and not care at all. Still, it's a disservice to yourself to dehumanize someone so totally when you don't have the biological excuse. But my experiences with their ilk have been more pleasant than others. I know they can be murders, abusers, and generally dangerous.
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