Psychopathy: what happens in the psychopath's mind?

What is a psychopath? In his work "Antisocial personalities" (1994), David lykken explores psychopathic and sociopathic personalities, the different subtypes that exist of them and the role played by personal and socialization factors that intervene in the genesis of violence of 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.

• Related article: "The 3 types of personality related to psychopathy"

The mind of the Psychopath: serious difficulties to socialize

People affected by this psychological alteration have not developed a conscience or habits of respect for the laws and norms that deter others from committing antisocial acts, due to inherent peculiarities that make it difficult or impossible for them to socialization. They are characterized by having character traits that totally or partially disable them to socialize, or by intermittent periods of socialization and antisocial behavior.

There are three components of socialization, let's see what they are:

1. Conscientiousness

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

This does not mean that the temptation to commit crimes is continuous, since prosocial behaviors have become a habit that alienates most members of society from those more reprehensible. This habit is not consolidated until adulthood, so 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 no feel discomfort at the fact of breaking fundamental rules of coexistence, and if they avoid doing so it is only because that is not instrumental 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 links of affection and empathy with the people with whom we interact, which causes us to want to enjoy the benefits of these types of ties and a genuine willingness to behave in the same way.

The lack of development of the predisposition to prosociality would make those who present psychopathy do not have incentives to interact with others if that does not bring them benefits that can be enjoyed in a way individual.

3. Acceptance of adult responsibility

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

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 of evil character and can be considered bad citizens.

Causes and manifestations of Psychopathy

Cleckley (1955) proposed that the emotions resulting from the experiences lived by psychopaths of the "primary" type 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 moral and a system of values.

But what happens to these individuals is that normal socializing experiences are ineffective for creation of this morality, which is the mechanism through which people socialize. 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 telling.

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

"When the offender is not engaged in his employment, or is not hatching his little criminal plans, he is as capable of innocent pleasure as any honest man." (p.192)

• If you are interested in the subject of Psychopathy, we recommend the articles "Types of psychopaths" Y "The difference between Psychopathy and Sociopathy"

The myth of psychopathic killers

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

On the one hand, assuming that killing people responds to internal psychological phenomena implies ignoring many very important contextual aspects to understand human behavior (wars, confrontations between tribes, etc.). For the other, we cannot forget that antisocial behavior is penalized, and that partly because of this many people with a tendency to psychopathy do not flagrantly transgress the norms on a regular basis.

A personality trait or a psychological condition?

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

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

Bibliographic references:

• Chabrol H.; Van Leeuwen N.; Rodgers R.; Sejourne N. (2009). Contributions of psychopathic, narcissistic, Machiavellian, and sadistic personality traits to juvenile delinquency. Personality and Individual Differences, 47 (7): pp. 734 - 739.
• Cooke, D. J., Hart, S. D., Logan, C., & Michie, C. (2012). Explaining the Construct of Psychopathy: Development and Validation of a Conceptual Model, the Comprehensive Assessment of Psychopathic Personality (CAPP). International Journal of Forensic Mental Health, 11 (4), pp. 242 - 252.
• Gao, Yu; Raine, Adrian (March 2010). "Successful and unsuccessful psychopaths: a neurobiological model". Behavioral Sciences & the Law, 28 (2): pp. 194 - 210.
• Lykken, D. (1994) Antisocial personalities. Barcelona: Herder.
• Mills, Jeremy F.; Kroner, Daryl G.; Morgan, Robert D. (2011). "Psychopathic Traits". Clinician's Guide to Violence Risk Assessment. New York: Guilford Press.
• Neumann, C.S.; Hare, R.D. (2008). Psychopathic traits in a large community sample: Links to violence, alcohol use, and intelligence. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 76 (5): pp. 893 - 899.
• Vinkers, D. J., de Beurs, E., Barendregt, M., Rinne, T., & Hoek, H. W. (2011). The relationship between mental disorders and different types of crime. Criminal Behavior and Mental Health, 21, 307-320.