68 Psychopathy
Dictionary.com Definition of Psychopath: “a mental disorder in which an individual manifests amoral and antisocial behavior, lack of ability to love or establish meaningful personal relationships, extreme egocentricity, failure to learn from experience, etc.”
Introduction to Psychopaths
Psychopaths are utterly fascinating to both scientists and non-scientists alike. The discovery of the existence of psychopaths has led to the creation of a vast number of books, TV shows, and movies. Some examples of these are the book and TV series Dexter, and the book and film The Silence of the Lambs. The more accurate versions of these entertainment sources (e.g., the novel and film American Psycho) depict psychopaths for what they really are: individuals that never feel genuine guilt or concern for others; cold, inhuman beings that lack the ability to empathize and whose main focus is always on themselves.
Psychopathy is a term that was created by Hervey Cleckley in 1941. This word was initially used to discuss individuals that possessed artificial charisma and intellect, and that were non-empathetic, deceitful in nature, careless, incapable of guilt or real concern for people, and fearless (Larsen & Buss, 2010). Psychopaths feel no compassion for other humans, which is why they frequently abuse (emotionally and/or physically), murder, manipulate, deceive, con, and abandon other people. They are able to do this because they are often masterful manipulators and actors, often times being able to keep up the appearance of being completely normal. Many of them are observant, charming, human chameleons that can easily blend in with their social environment (Hare, 1993). From an evolutionary standpoint, this makes plenty of sense. Humans that blatantly show zero concern for fellow humans, through such actions as murder and abandonment, are going to stick out in a negative manner. Of course, not all psychopaths avoid behaving in violent or conning ways that can get them put into prison. Certain serial killers that are currently incarcerated or were incarcerated prior to their death are prime examples of this. Prison is where many people assume that most psychopaths are located, but this is an inaccurate and dangerous belie (Hare, 1993).
The incarcerated psychopaths, however, are what a great deal of the available research on psychopathy has been conducted on. It can be very difficult to successfully identify psychopaths, even the ones that are in prison for violent crimes. This is so because the majority of them are exquisite liars, and a lot of them are smart enough to know what researchers are looking for on psychological tests and in one-on-one interviews. In fact, there are inmates that obtain books dealing with psychological testing and various other areas in the field of psychology. These inmates study the material and then, in return for payment, instruct fellow inmates how to answer psychological tests in a manner that will make them look good