6. What causes a person to be
a psychopath
Sociopaths, are made through life's
experiences, with some sociopaths have a
genetic predisposition that means life's
everyday experiences will provide the stimuli
to active the triggers for sociopathy
Other sociopaths do not have this genetic
inclination, they were born ordinary, but have
had strong negative stimuli that forced the
brain into the coping mechanisms of
sociopathy by the activation of these triggers.
8. The majority of evidence with sociopathy is that at very
early ages, they experienced conditions, usually
abusive, such that they learned that normal social
interaction led them to be punished.
However, it's complex. Not everybody who experiences
these conditions gets a Cluster B personality disorder,
let alone actual sociopathy. Even severe abuse leaves a
lot of people fairly normal and neurotypical.
9. Developed by Dr. Robert Hare in 1991
Based on two factors:
1. Emotional Detachment 2. Antisocial Behavior
Diagnostic instrument for psychopathy
Psychopathy Checklist PCL
http://vistriai.com/psychopathtest/
10.
11. Psychopathy brain scan
Psychologists and
neurologists use brain
imaging to analyze
psychopathy, where
patients show deficiencies
in their neural activity and
brain matter. Dysfunction
of emotional and social
processing brain parts
causes psychopathy.
15. Boccardi, M., Frisoni, G., Hare, R., Cavedo, E., Najt, P., Pievani, M., Rasser, J., Laakso,
M., Aronen, H., Tiihonen, E., Vaurio, O., Thompson, P. & Tiihonen, J. (2011). Cortex and
amygdala morphology in psychopathy. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging,193(2),
85-92.
Nickerson, S. (2014). Brain Abnormalities in Psychopaths: A Meta-Analysis. North
American Journal of Psychology, 16(1), 63-77.
Pridmore, S., Chambers, A., & Mcarthur, M. (2005). Neuroimaging in psychopathy.
Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 39(10), 856-865.
Raine, A., Lencz, T., Bihrle, S., LaCasse, L., & Colletti, P. (2000). Reduced prefrontal
gray matter volume and reduced autonomic activity in antisocial personality disorder.
Archives of General Psychiatry, 57, 119–127.
Sato, J., Oliveira-Souza, R., Thomaz, C., Basílio, R., Bramati, I., Amaro, E., Tovar-Moll,
F., Hare, R. & Moll, J. (2011). Identification of psychopathic individuals using pattern
classification of MRI images. Social Neuroscience, 6(5/6), 627-639.
Weber, S., Habel, U., Amunts, K., & Schneider, F. (2008). Structural Brain
Abnormalities In Psychopaths—a Review. Behavioral Sciences & the Law, 26(1), 7-28.
References
: What is Psychopathy?
Psychopathy is a complex personality, so it’s an actual mental illness
It results from the absence of emotional connections with cognition and thoughts
An individual who has a psychopathic personality is without conscience, and is called a psychopath.
Psychopaths make 1% of the general population, one-third of them are females. They are very different from what we commonly think about one as the serial killer, and from how we see them in movies. Through education and lifestyle, they can be socially well adjusted and successful.
However, psychopaths have common personality characteristics that define this personality disorder.
Characteristics
Those characteristics and traits are very important, and they include:
Constant lying and manipulation of other people for their own ends.
Lack of concern to other people, so they are careless about others.
Irresponsibility without shame.
Impulsivity; they fear nothing.
Lack of empathy and remorse.
Egotism and selfishness.
As well as being antisocial; means they prefer to spend their time alone away from others. So unlike normal people, there is no difference between a neutral and emotional event for a psychopath, and the reasons are yet to be fully understood.
1-Danger and physical abuse causes a person to view the world as a dangerous place for themselves, and they become hyper vigilant and paranoid as a way of trying to foresee and cope with threats.
2-- The person has not been supported emotionally to the degree that is too painful to be sustainable, which causes the emotions to dampen and which allows coping because the pain eases. This disintegration and atrophy of emotions continues until they are reduced to a level that the individual can cope with without too much discomfort.
3- The person has feelings and or desires which are not tolerated by family/peers/society. The person comes to the view that they are not part of the social group, leading to them dismantling social mores and emotions. This trigger often leads to the hostile environment trigger, say a pedophile that knows he will not be accepted for being himself, see's that the world is hostile to him because of his nature.This trigger often leads to emotional neglect trigger as well because of a lack of emotional support.
Psychopathy Checklist PCL (you can try it)
A test developed by a professor in psychology, called Dr. Robert Hare, to distinguish between psychopathic individuals and non-psychopathic ones, based on their score.
The test is based on two factors: the emotional detachment and the antisocial behavior
It is the most widely used tool in clinical diagnosis and research studies on psychopaths, where psychopathic individuals are determined by scoring 30 and above.
So it is convenient to firstly point out that when processing an emotional situation, normal people undergo a great activation in parts of their brains that is designed to handle emotions. Scientists focus on two sides, brain structure and body function.
Normal vs. Psychopathic Brains
This picture shows the difference between number or normal brains and a psychopathic one. Which column do you think represents the psychopathic brain?