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1 " No one is born a psychopath. "
― Essi Viding , Psychopathy: A Very Short Introduction
2 " Psychopaths do not have the same capacity for human feeling as the rest of us, they do not appear moved by the things that usually deeply affect others, such as seeing fellow human beings suffer or in distress. And this is perhaps why they do not experience genuine remorse for the hurt and misfortune that they inflict. "
3 " A number of studies of adult psychopaths have shown that although they are able to make appropriate moral judgements (deciding that an action is wrong), they use different brain areas to make these decisions than typical adults or other incarcerated inmates who do not have psychopathy. "
4 " Perhaps one of the reasons that psychopaths find it difficult to resonate with other people’s distress is that distress emotions are relatively alien to them. If you do not feel something yourself, it is difficult to fully orient to and empathize with that feeling in others. For example, if you are not regularly distressed yourself, why would you be able to automatically resonate with other people’s distress? This also means that you may not automatically project the consequences of your behaviour in a way that evokes feelings of guilt. In this situation, what is there to hold you back if you want to look after ‘number one’? "
5 " The primary problem for individuals on the autism spectrum is not the inability to feel for others, but the profound difficulty in reading other people’s minds and consequently behaving in a socially appropriate manner. This means that individuals on the autism spectrum can come across as if they lack empathy, but in fact many of them report that they feel deeply for other people’s and animals’ misfortune. "
6 " We now understand psychopathy as a personality disorder characterized by lack of empathy and guilt, manipulation of other people, a tendency to make bafflingly destructive life choices, and, in the case of criminal psychopathy, capacity for premeditated violent behaviour. "
7 " It is not antisocial behaviour and violence in themselves that characterize psychopathy; it is the profound absence of empathy and guilt that is at the core of what makes a psychopath, and what sets such individuals apart from the rest of us. "
8 " The origins of the current description of the psychopathy syndrome can be traced back to the work of Harvey Cleckley in 1940s, and his book, The Mask of Sanity. Some of the key features of psychopathy recorded by Cleckley included: absence of nervousness, interpersonal charm, lack of shame, impoverished affect (emotions seem shallow and are often used to manipulate others), and antisocial behaviour that appears senseless and without obvious motivation. Since Cleckley’s days, scientists have systematically developed ways of assessing psychopathy in criminal populations and in community samples. They have also developed assessments for psychopathic traits in children. "
9 " Diagnostic classification systems, such as the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (known as DSM-5), outline symptoms and guidance for clinical professionals who diagnose psychiatric disorders. Although the standard assessment of criminal psychopathy using the Hare criteria is as, if not more rigorous than traditional psychiatric diagnostic assessments based on classification systems such as DSM-5, psychopathy is not included as a formal diagnosis in these systems. Instead, the DSM-5 has a diagnostic category called antisocial personality disorder, which refers to individuals who violate societal norms and rights of other people. "
10 " Antisocial personality disorder does not equate to psychopathy. Although most individuals with psychopathy would qualify for an antisocial personality disorder diagnosis, the converse is not true. Many more individuals qualify for an antisocial personality disorder diagnosis than have psychopathy. "
11 " Careful studies suggest that we can reliably measure psychopathic traits in the general population. In other words, people vary in their level of psychopathic traits, and all of us are somewhere along the continuum of being more or less psychopathic. "
12 " The label of ‘psychopath’ has connotations of an individual being depraved, dangerous, and beyond redemption, but like any other feature of our personality, psychopathic traits and their behavioural manifestations can change over development and can change following intervention. As such it would be overly harsh and irresponsible to use the psychopathy label in reference to children whose developmental outcomes are not fixed. "
13 " Scientists estimate that just under 1 per cent of the population would qualify for criminal psychopathy diagnosis according to the Hare’s Psychopathy Checklist criteria. "
14 " We do not diagnose members of the general public as psychopaths (although we can say that someone scores among the top 5 per cent of the general population on psychopathic traits, for example). Similarly, a child will not receive a diagnosis of psychopathy, but we can index those at highest risk of developing the condition by selecting children with conduct disorder who also display clinically concerning levels of psychopathic traits. "
15 " We do not have precise estimates for the ratio of male to female psychopaths, but if we make calculations based on what we know about rates of antisocial and criminal behaviour in males vs. females, it is perhaps safe to expect the ratio to be around five male criminal psychopaths to every one female criminal psychopath. "
16 " Research shows that women with psychopathy are much more likely to engage in relational aggression (spreading rumours, exclusion, mean comments), while men with psychopathy are much more likely to be physically aggressive. "
17 " Individuals with psychopathy seem quite willing to take risks in order to get something that they want, even if there is a strong likelihood of reprisal. "
18 " One of the striking hallmarks of individuals with psychopathy (or those at risk of developing the condition) is that their relationships seem shallow, transient, and transactional. "
19 " Sociopaths are often described as being unfeeling towards others, selfishly pursuing their own needs and using aggression to get what they want. Despite a vague sense that sociopathy denotes serious antisocial behaviour, no separate, well-validated assessment instrument for sociopathy exists. "
20 " it is not enough to know what is right or wrong, it is also critically important to ‘feel it’. Feeling for other people’s distress, finding it upsetting, is what researchers think is a key motivator of moral behaviour. "
