You've undoubtedly heard someone classified as having an antisocial personality disorder such as sociopathy or psychopathy if you keep up with current events, read periodicals, or watch crime dramas or horror flicks on television. This is especially likely if you read the news.
It's possible that you've even come across articles offering relationship advise with titles like "7 Signs You're Dating a Sociopath, According to a Therapist" or "13 Signs You're Dealing with a Psychopath." If so, you're not alone.
Both of these terms are frequently used to refer to a person who engages in behaviors for the purpose of obtaining personal advantage or at the expense of other individuals. These behaviors can range from lying and stealing to the commission of heinous acts of violence. Both of these mental health problems elicit feelings of dread and fear, in addition to attraction.
But what exactly does each of these terms signify, even though they all sound terrifying? And what is the most significant distinction that can be made between sociopaths and psychopaths? Does one exhibit antisocial personality disorders and impulsive actions, while the other demonstrates aggressive conduct and features such as violent tendencies? Or do each of these phrases refer to a particular type of mental health disorder that can affect a person?
Comparing Sociopaths and Psychopaths
If you consult a variety of professionals in the field of mental health and researchers in the field of psychology, you can obtain a variety of responses to those questions.
"The terms are often used interchangeably in popular literature, writing about criminology, and within the media at large, but they are not diagnostic terms, and they are not exactly the same," notes psychologist, novelist, and podcaster Terri Cole via email.
As a result, you won't be able to locate the definitions for psychopath or sociopath in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) because psychiatrists and psychiatric professionals don't provide official diagnoses for either condition. Instead, they most usually give the individual a diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder.
According to Cole, "the term sociopath is used to describe an individual who has antisocial personality disorder (ASPD), whereas the term psychopathology is used to describe a set of personality traits."
Some people use the term "hot vs. cold" to express the distinction between the two mental health states. According to Cole, "someone who acts erratically and impulsively with little or no conscience about how their behavior impacts others" is a sociopath. "A sociopath describes someone who acts as if they have no idea how their behavior impacts others." A psychopath, on the other hand, is someone who does not have control over their impulses and has little qualms about engaging in violent activity, but "is generally considered to be more calculating and dangerous."
Personality Disorder With Antisocial Traits
Others maintain that the two terms refer to fundamentally the same thing but in a manner that is slightly different.
Eileen Anderson, a professor of bioethics and adjunct professor of psychiatry in the School of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University, notes via email that "typically, sociopathy and psychopathy are lay terms to describe what gets diagnosed as antisocial personality disorder." Antisocial personality disorder is a mental health disease in which a person persistently demonstrates a lack of regard for good and wrong as well as a significant deficit in empathy for other people.
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"However, other personality disorders, such as narcissistic personality disorder or borderline personality disorder, could also be invoked," explains Anderson. Both diagnoses have a tendency to refer to individuals who have a severe lack of empathy, a preoccupation with one's own importance, and an absence of a sense of right and wrong.
According to Anderson, research suggests that persons who are referred to be sociopaths by the general public could experience some guilt but continue with antisocial behavior that fits their goals nevertheless. This is the case to the extent that there is a difference between a psychopathy and a sociopathy.
"Psychopaths do not have a conscience and do not feel remorse for their risky behavior," she explains. They have the attitude that they are entitled to attain their personal goals, even if it means engaging in behaviors that the majority of others would consider to be immoral, such as lying, stealing, assaulting, or even killing another person.
Mental Disorders Don't Fit Neat Labels
Both psychopathy and sociopathy have a long history, but their definitions have shifted considerably over the course of that history. According to Scholarpedia, the German psychiatrist J.L.A. Koch coined the term "psychopath" in 1888 to characterize patients who had a propensity to inflict pain not only on themselves but also on other people. In English, the term is most often known as "psychopath."
Koch believed that psychopathic tendencies were something that a person inherited from their parents. Karl Birnbaum, another German psychiatrist, made the same observations on a pervasive pattern of antisocial behavior but came to the conclusion that it was produced by factors inside society that made it difficult for young individuals to adopt a more socially acceptable way to operate. He suggested using the term "sociopathy" instead to refer to the issue they were having.
According to the book "Villainy in Western Culture: Historical Archetypes of Danger, Disorder, and Death" written by M. Gregory Kendrick in 2016, a psychologist named George E. Partridge who worked at Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, was one of the people who helped spread Birnbaum's notion to the United States.
Hervey M. Cleckley, an American psychiatrist, wrote a book in 1941 titled "The Mask of Sanity: An Attempt to Clarify Some Issues About the So-Called Psychopathic Personality." In it, Cleckley described "Max," a patient at a Veterans Affairs hospital, who could seem educated, polite, and even charming when he wasn't engaging in acts of criminal conduct such as forging checks or giving someone a savage beatdown over some insignificant transgression. Max was a patient at the hospital when Cleckley wrote the article.
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Both of these phrases have been employed throughout the years in the body of psychological literature, often interchangeably. According to David Chester, a mental health practitioner or a scientist who studies the mind will rarely give a patient a clinical diagnostic of psychopath or sociopath in today's world. This is true of both mental health professionals and scientists. At Virginia Commonwealth University, he holds a position as an associate professor of social psychology. The primary goal of his study is to get an understanding of the psychological and biological processes that motivate and constrain aggressive conduct.
He argues that when we talk about anything, "we're referring to what we call a psychological construct or trait." People can't be summed up in a single characteristic, no matter how hard you try.
For instance, he can refer to someone as having high psychopathy if he doesn't want to use the term psychopath. "It's a dimension of personality, kind of a cluster of traits, in the same way that extraversion is a personality dimension," adds Chester.
According to Chester, psychopathic behavior "really reflects what we call an antagonistic disposition," in which an individual's "own desires, wishes, and other things of that nature are placed well above the well-being and desires and outcomes of other people."
Characteristics of a Psychopath
Negative affect (also known as neuroticism), detachment (also known as low extraversion), disinhibition (also known as low conscientiousness), hostility (also known as low agreeableness), and psychoticism are the five most frequent psychopathic features.
According to Chester, the defining characteristic of psychopathy is a "callous indifference to the suffering" of other people. When most individuals see someone else in suffering, they may have an empathetic or sympathetic response to it. However, a person with a high degree of psychopathy may have a muted reaction to seeing someone else in pain, or they may not feel any empathy at all.
Professionals in the field of mental health disagree on whether people with a high level of psychopathy are incapable of feeling empathy or sympathy or whether they have the capacity to feel these emotions but choose not to use them.
According to what Chester describes, the "can't feel" camp has been the predominant narrative; nevertheless, he and an increasing number of other academics believe choice plays a role in the equation.
When you hear the word "psychopath," you may think of a person who has violent inclinations and enjoys hurting others, such as Frank Booth, the fiendishly cruel villain portrayed by Dennis Hopper in David Lynch's 1986 psychological movie thriller "Blue Velvet." The film was directed by Lynch and released in 1986.
In the real world, "psychopathy and sadism are highly correlated," according to Chester. "That's not to say that every psychopathic person is also sadistic, but there's a high chance that if you're high in psychopathy, you're probably also high in sadism," the researcher said.
Unfortunately, psychopathic conduct is not all that uncommon, even though the majority of people do not go around snorting from a gas mask and hacking off the ears of hostages like Frank Booth does. According to Chester, "in the overall population, 1 or 2 percent of people have serious diagnosable levels of psychopathic tendencies," "But that's not to say that psychopathy isn't an important critical trait that people have varying degrees of outside of that," the author writes.
Evaluation of Psychopathic Characteristics
There are a number of alternative assessments that can be used to measure psychopathic characteristics and behaviors; however, the Self-Report Psychopathy scale, sometimes known as the SRP, is the one that Chester recommends.
According to Chester, sociopathy and psychopathy are not actually two distinct diseases, despite the common perception that sociopaths have a tendency to be volatile and impulsive and psychopaths have a tendency to be callous and predatory. On the contrary, a strong correlation exists between them.
In some circumstances, a person may behave like a hothead and lash out, while in other circumstances, the same person may behave like a clever and stone-cold killer. "Instead of being hot and cold versions of the antagonistic personality, it's really that there are two strategies occurring in the same individual," he adds. "It's really that there are two strategies occurring in the same individual."
Instead, those who have psychopathic qualities are more likely to also exhibit many of the same characteristics that are associated with the concept of sociopathy. These characteristics can include argumentative and violent behavior. (In fact, Max, the subject of Cleckley's study of psychopathy from 1941, possessed all of these characteristics.)
At its heart lies a fundamental hostility and a callous disregard for the wellbeing of others, particularly when it comes to the pursuit of one's own personal wealth. "Most people aren't willing to do that," Chester adds. "If I have a goal, and it requires hurting you to achieve it, most people won't do that." "However, psychopathic people like engaging in such behavior. I am willing for you to endure hardship so that I may achieve success.
Sociopaths and psychopaths that you are familiar with
What makes things even more complicated is the fact that the characteristics that we consider to be psychopathic or sociopathic can be found in variable degrees in different persons, along with other characteristics that are less concerning or even admirable.
In certain circumstances, someone who has a high level of psychopathy could even give the impression of being compassionate and kind. Imagine yourself as Tony Soprano, the likeable fictional gangster who serves as the protagonist of the critically acclaimed and widely watched television series "The Sopranos."
He is able to develop attachments and is a loving father to his children. Even though he is concerned about the wellbeing of a brood of ducks that lives in his swimming pool, he has no qualms about killing a former mobster who has become a government witness or brutally beating a local politician who has insulted him by dating Tony's ex-mistress. He even worries about the welfare of the ducks.
"Tony Soprano is not a paradoxical character," Chester comments at one point. "He is really realistic in the sense that there are moments when he is pleasant and other times when he is uninterested. Because he exemplifies psychopathy in all of its muddled complexity, he is, in all candor, one of the better instances of the trait.
The website PsychopathyIs, which offers information and tools for academics, clinicians, and persons impacted by psychopathy, claims that there is no one cause of antisocial personality disorder, while nobody knows who will develop it.
According to the findings of recent studies, it is more likely the outcome of a convoluted interaction between hereditary and environmental factors, as well as early family life and emotional bonds to parents during childhood.