What Is The Difference Between a Psychopath And a Sociopath?

Psychopath and sociopath are often labels tossed around to describe an ‘evil’ person. And they are often used interchangeably. However, there are real differences between a psychopath and a sociopath.

First let's look at some of the similarities:
A disregard for laws and social norms
A disregard for the rights of others
A failure to feel remorse or guilt
A tendency to display violent behaviour

Today, psychopathy is more seen as an innate neurological disorder, with distinct brain changes.

This brain scan show that the activity in the lower frontal lobe is reduced in a psychopath.

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The scan is from James Fallon, a famous researcher on psychopathy, that found out that he himself is a psychopath.
He tracked his pedigree, and there where lot of murderers in his family!

He looks like a classic psychopath with superficial charm, very dominant and lack of anxiety.

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Many psychopaths are very successful individuals because many of the psychopathic traits are very valuable in society that most people do not possess. Psychopaths are extroverted, natural leaders, very dominant individuals, always calm under pressure (they do not have anxiety) and excellent orators. They often have a high IQ and are very rational persons. Psychopaths are often very optimistic individual that ‘own’ their environment.

Psychopaths are unable to form emotional attachments or feel real empathy with others.

Probably the most important trait of a psychopath is fearless dominance.

Psychopaths are generally believed to lack a soul, they do not really care, and do not have any personality that need external validation that normal people have.

They are optimistic, funny and live in the presents (mindfulness) and with emotional detachment.

Psychopaths are to the outside often very likeable and popular individuals and they can easily hide they darker sides from their family.

All psychopaths are very good at reading other people and pick up on vulnerabilities. One unnamed psychopath said: “I can sense a needy person as a pig can smell a truffle."

Psychopaths also seem to be overrepresented in prestige professions, such as CEOs, lawyers, financial traders, surgeons and TV personalities. Presidents also mostly score very high on psychopathic traits.

Many people in jail are also psychopaths, so it seem that the environment (and probably IQ) is crucial for if the person become successful in society or a felon.

When committing crimes, psychopaths carefully plan out every detail in advance and often have contingency plans in place. Their crimes, whether violent or non-violent, will be highly organized and generally offer few clues for authorities to pursue

Robert D. Hare is a very known researcher in criminal psychology and have invented a checklist for psychopathy.

Hares psychopathy checklist:
• glib and superficial charm
• grandiose (exaggeratedly high) estimation of self
• need for stimulation
• pathological lying
• cunning and manipulativeness
• lack of remorse or guilt
• shallow affect (superficial emotional responsiveness)
• callousness and lack of empathy
• parasitic lifestyle
• poor behavioral controls
• sexual promiscuity
• early behavior problems
• lack of realistic long-term goals
• impulsivity
• irresponsibility
• failure to accept responsibility for own actions
• many short-term marital relationships
• juvenile delinquency
• revocation of conditional release
• criminal versatility

A sociopath on the other hand is not an innate condition. It is believed to be more a result of unfavourable environment and upbringing. There may of course be some predisposing (genetic) factors.

It is difficult but not impossible for sociopaths to form attachments with others. Many sociopaths are able to form an attachment to a particular individual or group, although they have no regard for society in general or its rules.

A sociopath shares most of the traits with the psychopath, but they are really never in control. They might be very anxious individuals. They may be more introverted, sensitive and seek external validation like everyone else.
They lack impulse control much more than the psychopath, and their action are much more reckless and they often look strange and outlandish to normal people. Any crimes committed by a sociopath, will tend to be haphazard, disorganized and spontaneous rather than planned.

Sociopaths are not that good at keeping their mask on to society, and they almost always fail and live on the fringes of society.

I believe that many sociopaths can have underlying personality disorders or autistic tendencies, and a sociopath is more a social victim, whereas a psychopath is the social bully.

Can you spot a psychopath?

I believe you can. If you know a lot about psychopathy you are often able to mentally ‘dissect’ an individual. Look for superficial charm, lack of anxiety and extreme dominance. They often have an extremely strong gaze.
These are traits normal people seldom possess. Most people are very gullible and naive. So normal people will seldom be able to spot a psychopath unless they know what to look for.

Do psychopaths know they are psychopaths?

Yes, I believe they do most of the time.

Does a psychopath know that you figured him out?

Yes, most of the time. They are very clever and love to manipulate people around them. They notice that you do not buy into their agenda.

Why do we have psychopaths?

This is an extremely interesting question, and I do not know the answer for sure. Psychopaths are very seductive and often ladies men. As a group they have a much higher number of sexual partners than average. Women often seem to love their psychopath.
So, even all the complaints about how psychopaths are ‘evil’ and not human at all, they are naturally sexual selected by females.

Like it or not, a psychopath with a high IQ is the closest thing you can come to a ‘superhuman’. I dislike the disdain psychopaths have and for bullying other people, stray on they partner, manipulate and lie all the time. But psychopaths really really do not care.
Nature has no moral and neither have psychopaths.

Afterword:

I borrowed the pictures of Jim Fallon from an article in Vice. Later I read the article and it is a superb read from the mind of a real psychopath! He also offers some deep understanding of some controversial subjects.

Thank you for your time and attention. Steem on!