Psychopathy: What Happens In The Mind Of The Psychopath?

What is a psychopath? In his work “Antisocial Personalities” (1994), David Lykken explores psychopathic and sociopathic personalities, the different subtypes that exist, and the role played by personal and socialization factors that intervene in the genesis of child violence. children who, from a very young age, aim to become criminals.

Throughout this work it becomes clear what for him is one of the most decisive components in the future of a child with a greater probability of developing a style of antisocial personality: parents.

The mind of the Psychopath: serious difficulties in socializing

People affected by this psychological alteration have not developed an awareness or habits of respect for the laws and norms that discourage others from committing antisocial acts, due to inherent peculiarities that make socialization difficult or impossible for them. They are characterized by having character traits that completely or partially incapacitate them from socializing, or by intermittent periods of socialization and antisocial behavior.

There are three components of the socialization let’s see what they are:

1. Conscientiousness

It is the natural tendency to avoid criminal behavior It is usually a consequence of the fear of punishment, both that which entails a social rejection of the crime itself, and that which is self-inflicted by guilt and remorse felt a posteriori.

This does not mean that the temptation to commit a crime is continuous, since prosocial behaviors have become a habit that distances most members of society from the most reprehensible behaviors. This habit is not consolidated until adulthood, which is why towards the end of adolescence the crime rate reaches its highest level. This component is the result of parental activity and the characteristics of each one.

Thus, in people in whom psychopathy occurs, there would be a clear disinhibition in this sense, to the point that they do not feel discomfort about breaking fundamental rules of coexistence, and if they avoid doing so it is only because it is not instrumental to them. in their life context (due to the material consequences that this would have, such as facing the risk of going to jail).

2. Prosociality

It consists of the general predisposition towards prosocial behavior It develops thanks to the bonds of affection and empathy with the people with whom we relate, which causes us to want to enjoy the benefits of this type of ties and a genuine willingness to behave in the same way.

The lack of development of the predisposition to prosociality would mean that those who present psychopathy do not have incentives to interact with others if this does not bring them benefits that can be enjoyed individually.

3. Acceptance of adult responsibility

It refers to the motivation to participate in life in society and the assimilation of work ethic as well as the acceptance of the values ​​of effort and personal improvement as a means to achieve personal objectives.

However, we must not lose sight of the fact that there are well-socialized people who in certain circumstances will commit crimes, while others, even if they are not criminals, are lazy or have a bad character and can be considered bad citizens.

Causes and manifestations of Psychopathy

Cleckley (1955) proposed that the emotions resulting from the experiences lived by “primary” type psychopaths are weakened in terms of the intensity with which they affect them. Through experience, emotions and feelings guide and reinforce this learning process thus building a morality and a system of values.

But what happens to these individuals is that normal socializing experiences are ineffective for the creation of this morality, which is the mechanism through which people are socialized. Hence they fail at the level of establishing personal ties. Due to an innate defect, they can verbalize what they know about emotions without really understanding the meaning of what they are saying.

However, they can feel all those feelings that, if not harbored, would not lead them to commit the actions, legal or illegal, that they commit. In the words of Gilbert and Sullivan:

“When the criminal is not dedicated to his job, or is not hatching his petty criminal plans, he is as capable of feeling innocent pleasure as any honest man.” (p.192)

The myth of psychopathic murderers

It is worth exploring to what extent the concept of psychopathy with which Psychology and forensic sciences work, on the one hand, and that which belongs to the popular imagination, on the other, coincide. And in the latter “psychopath” is almost equivalent to criminal or even murderer. But the truth is that this does not fit reality.

On the one hand, assuming that killing people responds to internal psychological phenomena implies ignoring many contextual aspects that are very important to understanding human behavior (wars, clashes between tribes, etc.). For the other, We cannot forget that antisocial behavior is penalized and that is partly why many people with a tendency toward psychopathy do not flagrantly transgress the rules on a regular basis.

A personality trait or a psychological condition?

There is still an open debate about whether psychopathy is a personality spectrum that we move towards or away from in quantitative terms, or if it is a defined psychological phenomenon with more or less clear limits, that is, an entity qualitatively separated from the rest of the personality traits

In many aspects, all psychological phenomena present themselves in different intensity traits, but it is also true that the concept of psychopathy encompasses various aspects that do not respond to the same measurement criterion: the lack of empathy has little to do with impulsivity, for example, and yet both things occur in people with psychopathy. Thus, both logics, qualitative and quantitative, are present in the idea of ​​what it means to be a psychopath.