Psychopaths By Herschel Prins: Chapter Summary

Craparo, A. Schimmenti, V. Caretti (European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 2013) The source is a study done on a group of violent offenders from Italy in order to determine the effect of physical trauma/neglect in childhood on the development of psychopathic behaviour in adulthood. The source investigates 22 criminal offenders who, at some stage in their lives, have had a traumatic (physical) experience. The scientists conducting the experiment used the Hare Psychopathy Checklist—Revised (PCL-R) which measures the presence of psychopathic tendencies in an individual by “checking” a number of personality traits. The study found that the offenders who experienced early childhood physical trauma scored the highest in the Hare Psychopathy Checklist—revised test.

The words “psychopath” and “sociopath” are thrown around quite often and commonly confused, but please bear with me as we dive deeper into the true meaning of the words. In the early 1800s, doctors who worked with mental patients began to notice that some of their patients who appeared outwardly normal had what they termed a “moral depravity” or “moral insanity,” in that they seemed to possess no sense of ethics or of the rights of other people. The term “psychopath” was first applied to these people. The term was changed to “sociopath” in the 1930s to emphasize the damage they do to society. Modern researchers and doctors have returned to using the term “psychopath”. Some of them use this term to refer to a more serious disorder, most of the

In the American society, things are more often than not exaggerated to make things more interesting; leave us ignorant with fantasy of crime, horror, romance, action, and adventure. Psychopaths and sociopaths are often confused with each other, and people believe that the two aren’t any different. In the entertainment business, psychopaths and sociopaths are made out to seem ruthless, violent murderers, rapists and more. While they can be all of these things, the media and entertainment business makes things seem different than they really are. According to definition, a sociopath is a person who lacks empathy, but a psychopath is one that has a complete lack of it. That might not seem like like anything at first, but surprisingly, the lack of empathy versus the complete lack of empathy can change things up.

Psychopath and sociopath are two terms classified as antisocial personality disorders in the world of psychology. Although many people have heard of these two terms, quite often people do not know what sets them apart from one another. A sociopath is defined as a person with a personality disorder manifesting itself in extreme antisocial attitudes and behavior and a lack of conscience. The definition of psychopath is similar in being a person suffering from chronic mental disorder with abnormal or violent social behavior. By looking at the definitions, these personality disorders appear very similar; however, there are specific attributes that are more specific to one of the two.

Retrieved April 22, 2016, from http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/antisocial-personality-disorder/home/ovc-20198975 Diagnostic Taxonomy/15 Personality Spectra. (n.d.). Retrieved April 22, 2016, from http://www.millonpersonality.com/theory/diagnostic-taxonomy/ McMurran, M., & Howard, R. C. (2008). Personality, personality disorder and risk of violence: An evidence-based approach. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

psychopath as an exaggerated narcissist lack of empathy and egocentrism. antisocial, disregard society 's social norms. disregard authority. eager. presses people for tangible and intangible goods.

An attribute of society that has been constant throughout history is criminality, and due to the continuing effort to understand crime, this has resulted in the emergence of many schools of thought. In the 21st century, the world is continuing to see petrifying and outrageous murder cases, a recent one being the case of Canadian citizen Luka Magnotta, who murdered Lin Jun and recorded himself stabbing, dismembering, and performing acts of necrophilia on Jun, mailing his body parts to multiple places in Canada, including to Prime Minister Stephen Harper. After an analysis of the case of Luka Magnotta, when considering a psychological explanation, Magnotta’s criminality can be sufficiently explained through Eysenck’s theory of crime and personality,

Topic: Psychopath Specific Purpose: To inform my audience on the characteristic shown by psychopath and common psychopathic behavior Central Idea: Psychopath will sometimes shows unique behavior or characteristic such as speech pattern, abnormal sexual behavior and lack of emotional control. Organisational Pattern: Topical Introduction: Attention, Look around you and look at the person next to you they might be a psychopath.

What drives a serial killer to their breaking point? What is it that makes them start killing? Nature and nurture are both key elements. They both play their part in turning a once innocent person, into a psychopath. Which drives a serial killer more though? Is it the nature of their lives and their surroundings? Is it their family genes and the way they grew up with their family? Many serial killers are affected differently. They aren’t all driven by the same thing though. There is something in each serial killer that makes them different. There is something inside that drives them into their psychotic rage. Even though nature and nurture both play a part in a serial killer’s life, nurture is more effective to a serial killer’s life than nature.

A psychopath is classified as someone who shows no remorse and has no conscience, while a sociopath has some sort of conscience and sometimes shows some guilt or remorse ("What's the Difference Between a Sociopath and a Psychopath"). Psychopaths do not feel sorry for other people (“What’s the Difference Between a Sociopath and a Psychopath”) and Kuklinski certainly did not feel sorry for any of his victims (“Married to The Iceman”). During an interview with HBO, Kuklinski stated that he probably could have killed his father and wouldn’t have felt bad about it ("Richard Kuklinski The Iceman Mafia Hitman HBO Interview 2001 (Part 1)"). Richard Kuklinski also showed sociopathic traits. He only showed remorse when talking about his wife and kids ("Richard Kuklinski 'The Iceman' Part 12 of 12").

Sigmund Freud believe that the unconscious “originates in early experience” and that personality is “strongly influenced by unconscious determinants” (Cloninger et al., p. 23). Based on this model of personality development, it would appear as if Jeffrey Dahmer was led by his Id impulses, in spite of his Superego’s attempts to restrain him. Jung would likely agree with Dahmer’s father that Jeffrey was, in fact, introverted throughout most of his life and Freud would want to explore just what happened to Jeffrey in his early childhood that was so incredibly traumatic. Freud would probably conclude that it was Jeffrey’s childhood hernia operation that was at the root of Dahmer’s pathological development. Could it be that Jeffrey had felt abandoned, abused and tortured when he was left at the hospital, not understanding what would be happening or why?

Ronson, Jon. “Strange Answers to the Psychopath Test.” One in a 100 people is a psychopath. If there is a school of 1,500 people, 15 of those people are a psychopath or have psychopathic trait/tendencies. The author Jon Ronson of the book “The Psychopath Test” tell us about the fine line between crazy and sane.

In “What Makes a Serial Killer”, La Donna Beaty aims to provide an evidence regarding the most vital characteristics of a serial killer. Mainly, the information given in the article is based on eight different sources with the help of which the author supports her primary argument. There are four essential characteristics that the author distinguishes as being the most influential in terms of becoming a serial killer. Concretely, according to the presented theories, these characteristics include the impact of society, the general atmosphere within one 's family, the heavy use of alcohol and mental illnesses. Beaty 's essay is fairly an informative piece as suggesting what might form a serial killer, she does not say what she thinks may

Ridgway’s crimes all had an element of sadistic violence, a trait that is prevalent in psychopathic criminals, (Boer et al., 2003). It is the belief of the authorities that Ridgway

In her memoir, Confessions of a Sociopath: A Life Spent Hiding in Plain Sight, M.E. Thomas presents an objective view on the daily functions of a person diagnosed with an antisocial personality with the aid of modern research as well as her own experiences with her disorder. By utilizing anecdotal evidence as well as varied tone, Thomas effectively portrays an accurate representation of the life of a sociopath. Much of Thomas’s evidence is presented in the form of her experiential stories.