15 to 20 power point slides

Abstract

One of the ways in which psychology is practiced is when it explores abnormalities in people’s behaviors. Psychology studies personality and what is considered normal in the physical, mental and even emotional sense of people’s personalities. Psychopaths are an example of those people who have personality aberrations that affect their interpersonal as well as intrapersonal behavior and balance. Psychopaths are identified for their nature of being amoral and lacking feelings of pity or guilt (In D'Arms & In Jacobson, 2014). This is why this paper explores the entire information about psychopaths seeking to help communities and families identify those in their environment who display characteristics of psychopaths. It will explore the various ways in which psychopathic features are present in the personalities of people who participate in deviance in communities. Beginning with an overview that explains the need for this, the paper goes down to explicate the various characteristics of psychopaths based on research of resources about the subject. The conclusion sums up the whole exposition into a reaffirmation of the thesis statement.

The Psychopath Explored

Psychologists always seek to explain behavior of various people so that their different personalities can be categorized and understood. Communities have different people who display various kinds of behavior and unless they can be understood, they may be mishandled. To understand the behavior of people in a community or family is a vital step in assisting those who have any disorders in their personalities (Halliwell, 2013). Personality is one of the factors that determine what someone becomes in terms of the behavior, actions and attitudes towards life and other humans beings. Of interest to psychologists are those people who have personality disorders which manifest in behaviors that can be considered abnormal. That is what forms the focus of this paper, to explore the personality of psychopaths and how they are different from people who have normal personalities. It will argue for the point that most of the people who engage in deviance in society especially those that are extreme are psychopathic in one or more of the ways that will be explored (In Millon, 2003).

Overview

There have been discussions about how to identify psychopaths when one meets them. This means that there are certain characteristics that distinguish and reflect the psychopath personality. There are many psychopaths who have not been identified in communities or families and are therefore either mistaken or not handled as they should. The personality of psychopaths may be threatening and hence it is not only good but safe that communities and families come to an understanding of the characteristics that identify psychopaths. By identifying them, people can then know how to handle them, react to them or relate with them in the various social forums. Understanding and identifying them can also go along way in helping families attempt to offer assistance to them. The beware attitude that should be of people concerning psychopaths emanate from the fact that they do not have the same emotional experiences as the rest of the people. Their feelings of empathy, guilt or remorse are considered obsolete (Halliwell, 2013).

Psychopaths are identifiable because of their lack of real emotions. The personality they develop is also reliant on those around them as they try to mimic what they see the people next to them do or express. This means that those who are around psychopaths have a responsibility to identify them and provide the best models for them to learn after. The major problem of psychopaths is their inability to own up to mistakes when they make them. They are too egocentric that everything only justifies their behavior of being strong-willed, never accepting fault or feeling they are causing problems in the community, family or workplace. Such people never yield in confrontations, can have bad tempers seen in emotional outbursts and can even go to extremes of physically assaulting others just to drive their point across or kill. Having psychopaths in the society, workplace or family can be risky. This is the reason as to why it is important to help individuals in these contexts understand some of the characteristics that can help tell some people’s behaviors and personalities as epitomizing psychopath or being exactly it.

Characteristics of Psychopaths

On the whole, psychopaths have a common characteristic that revolves around lack of emotions. Those who appear to have only portray a semblance of it. In the real sense, they have no power in them to be appealed to emotionally or to catch feelings such as pity or empathy. They therefore are ‘emotional vacuums’ who apparently are also affected mentally. For nothing to appeal to their emotions such as someone in pain means that their judgment of bad and good is only depended on what they think at the moment. This is an impaired sense of good and bad when it comes to perceiving the problems of others (Haycock, 2014). Something is only rationally bad if it causes suffering to the psychopath and not to other people. Whenever pain is inflicted on them in anyway, they get a justification to get violent and may commit a heinous act and may never get to recognize that it was a wrong. Incidences of police that turn their guns on their fiancées, stab their children, kill their friends, or injure someone for reasons that may not justify the act may reflect a psychopathic disposition. This paper therefore highlights and explores the characteristics of this personality in a black and white way for the benefit of communities and families.

According to Haycock (2014), Psychopaths have the following common characteristics that this paper explores.

· Are not delusional in thinking

· No sense of shame and remorse

· Have antisocial characteristics

· have a repulsive tendency towards those around them

· threaten to commit suicide

· they trivialize their sexual or emotional life

· Have no visions in life future plans

Lack of Delusional Thinking

Unlike would be expected of persons who have social or mental disorders, psychopaths have clarity of mind and thought. They may not display any signs of serious mental damage such as would manifest in psychotic tendencies or spells of hallucination. This is a characteristic that makes it hard to at first identify psychopaths. Research does indicate that in fact, most psychopaths would usually show average intelligence and behave normally especially when it comes to work and life activities. However, they are never visionary, do not experience even any signs of thinking ahead or perceive fantasies. This is however a vital characteristic since if someone does not appear to experience any moments of delusions such as fantasy, visions of what future they hope or what they think of certain matters, it signifies this disorder. They are always logical and realistic and never delve into the world of the ideal in any particular time. Those who are at work never seem to worry about dismal performance and would in fact take issue with the boss if they tried to question them over the poor performance. Most of the psychopaths that have been positively identified, researches do assert, always end up loosing their jobs or quitting due to their lack of vision and ability to conceive a picture of what they can achieve later.

Lack of feelings of shame and remorse

This is one of those characteristics that would help identify a psychopath instantly. Research has pointed to the fact that some of the psychopaths due to their outburst of anger have been judged in courts for committing heinous acts of crime (Kantor, 2006). Whenever they commit, it never worries them as if it did not occur to them they committed a wrong. They would for example hit a wife and when reprimanded hit someone else still not understanding why they are being reprimanded. If they make a mistake at work and were fired, they can do something bad like kicking a computer, punch the boss or something even worse. Whenever they are mortified or when they do something shameful it never affects their confidence but would instead stand to defend the act as having been justified. This makes them daring and boundless when it comes to words and actions. They never have sympathy, empathy or pity for someone to whom they inflict pain, inconvenience or cause suffering. They can chop off a child’s toe at the same instance laugh their ribs exhausted (Smith & Meyer, 1988).

Antisocial Characteristics

Research indicates that psychopaths are repulsive in behavior; do not accommodate people who disprove them, argumentative and even abusive. This personality to be antisocial finds reinforcement in deviance such as can manifest in drug and substance abuse. They spend most of the time in isolation and the times they integrate with other people are mostly dominated by insensitive talk, abuses and unfriendly arguments (Smith & Meyer, 1988). These being the case, psychopaths little manage to keep relationships together with both friends and family. Their antisocial streak makes them susceptible to divorce or problems-fraught marriages. It never happens to them to recognize when they can be hurting other people’s feelings, are insensitive to favors that are done to them and therefore generally inconsiderate and ungrateful. They love to engage in things that reinforce their ego and may therefore resort to unscrupulous means of acquiring wealth or status just so as to gain the approval and respect of members of the community or family around them. Nothing on the world ever matters more than them and their self-worth.

Suicide feelings

Their lack of gratefulness and appreciation in the value of family, society and life in general makes them loose a sense of purpose. When they face consistent frustrations to their ego such as being fired, arrested or defeated, they start issuing threats of killing themselves. However due to their egocentrism, it never allows them to turn their threats into action (Dutton, 2012).  Researchers postulate that while psychopaths may issue countless threats of suicide, there are very few recorded cases of those who really attempt the act of committing suicide. This being the case, psychopaths are identified for their free speech about death, and expressing confidence in dying and not minding what happens to their life as a result of what they engage in. They are therefore daring but out of an internal ego rather than outward fear of shame would not ever dare the act of committing suicide. Those who can commit suicide are only those who are influenced by deviance such as drug abuse (Smith & Meyer, 1988). This is therefore a resounding identity of psychopaths.

Trivializing their sexual and emotional life

Most psychopaths never value their relationships at all. Due to their repulsive nature towards their relations, they never focus to develop their emotional life towards marriage and family. They behave in a way that demonstrates independence from siblings or parents. In their families, they would not be moved if something bad happens to the brother or sister and this indifference is what defines their emotional life (Smith & Meyer, 1988). Sexually, they show indifference towards people of the opposite sex or play down relations with them. They do not hold much respect for those people who have strong relations with family or those who are obligated sexually to their spouses. They regard marriage as being a hurdle to their individual existence and feel good about their independence (Kantor, 2006). As parents, they therefore have no time to demonstrate love to children as either mothers or fathers. They are also too sensitive to anything that holds them obligated to either providing for their families or being physically present for them.

Lack of plans in Life

Psychopaths only concern themselves with the present moment and do not worry about the unknown. Their confidence in a bad way makes them careless in what they regard as important in life. They do not care about how life unrolls to them and hence they never plan the way their life will be in future. As a matter of personality, they only make the most of their present moment to be as ‘high’ as possible and hence they can be reckless when spending money (Kantor, 2006). They want to do enviable things, lead luxurious lives and associate with an expensive life. However, they do not plan how to earn as much as they do with spending. Their urge to lead an expensive life without planning for it makes them resort to deviance to gratify their ego. They can engage in robbery, theft and, for women, such practices as prostitution. However, in participating in such things, they still retain their characteristics of being antisocial and hence cannot do anything that comes to a successful end in teamwork with others. When they use illegal means to get what they want, they have a strong confidence that the plan was too witty that they can be caught up with. Even when they are caught, they still think that they are intelligent more than those remanding them and will still make their way back out. Their life is therefore not planned, and is dependent on self-deceit, dishonesty and efforts to be cunning which causes them frustrations when they are caught up (In Millon, 2003).

Conclusion

On the whole, it comes out that the characteristics of people who partake in some of the acts of deviance such as robbery, murdering or even terrorism related acts display characteristics of psychopaths. Most of them are antisocial and are always evasive. They do not dwell peacefully with other members of the society and hence mostly have to alienate themselves by having to go in hiding. They also display psychopathic tendencies as they do not show signs of regret for whatever they do having to inflict suffering on other humans. They do not regret and some have engaged in heinous acts such as serial killings. Psychopaths are likely to engage in acts of lawlessness due to the disposition of their personality. They do not find gratification in being humble and compliant as they are too egocentric. This means that they may be a cause of disharmony in the community as they have no sense of bad and good actions as long as they are doing what best protects their interest. Just as many deviant people in societies, they are amoral, do not comply with family values and will often be confounded by feelings of worthlessness of life. This may make them speak about suicide which they never commit most of the times. Due to a lack of proper planning in life, they have no clear aspirations and hence may be influenced by others into such damaging acts as drug abuse or be members of gangs of lawbreakers.

References

Dutton, K. (2012). The wisdom of psychopaths: What saints, spies, and serial killers can teach us about success. New York: Scientific American/Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Halliwell, M. (2013). Therapeutic revolutions: Medicine, psychiatry, and American culture, 1945-1970. New Brunswick, N.J: Rutgers University Press.

Haycock, D. A. (2014). Murderous minds: Exploring the criminal psychopathic brain: neurological imaging and the manifestation of evil.

In D'Arms, J., & In Jacobson, D. (2014). Moral psychology and human agency: Philosophical essays on the science of ethics.

In Millon, T. (2003). Psychopathy: Antisocial, criminal and violent behaviour. New York: Guilford Press.

Kantor, M. (2006). The psychopathy of everyday life: How antisocial personality disorder affects all of us. Westport, Conn: Praeger Publishers.

Smith, S. R., & Meyer, R. G. (1988). Law, behavior, and mental health: Policy and practice. New York: New York University Press.