Another Crime - Another Psychopath?

Maybe you’ve heard the notion that Wall Street is full of psychopaths, or that a large number of positions of great power, prestige and financial gain are held by psychopaths, or that they are over-represented in business and politics.  Well, that has not been definitively proven, but each day psychopaths walk among us.  Sounds a bit like a trailer for a horror movie...  All kidding aside, exactly what a psychopath is has been distorted through popular media.  Many of you likely think you know, as labels like ‘violent psychopath’ and ‘psychopathic serial killer’ abound in news and other reporting. Psychopathy, though, is generally misunderstood.

A specific set of personality traits and behaviours lead to the diagnosis of psychopathy.  Psychopaths tend to appear very charming, making a good first impression on others.  They appear normal.  Under that veneer of normalcy, however, is a self-centered, dishonest, undependable, irresponsible person largely devoid of guilt, empathy and love.  We all know people who act dishonestly, or self-centered, or irresponsible, but the real clincher in the psychopathic personality is the lack of guilt, empathy and love.  In addition, casual and callous interpersonal and romantic relationships are the norm where blame for irresponsible or reckless actions is placed on others.  And, according to Robert Hare, a psychologist with the University of British Columbia, psychopaths show interpersonal deficits like grandiosity, arrogance and deceitfulness, affective deficits like lack of guilt and empathy, and impulsive and criminal behaviours like sexual promiscuity and stealing.  Some would even go so far as to say psychopaths have no soul, but that is a debate for another time and place.

Psychopaths are usually male.  We don’t really know why this is the case – at least not yet.  They are present in most, perhaps all, cultures – even Inuit societies have talked of persons within their ranks who fit the description of what it means to be a psychopath. 

A popular notion is that most serial killers are psychopaths.  Most serial killers, it turns out, aren’t.  They may possess one or more of the traits which define psychopathy, but most psychopaths aren’t even violent.  The other side of the coin is true, too:  most violent people are not psychopaths.  In fact, some notorious serial killers like Charles Manson and David Berkowitz displayed features of psychosis (e.g. schizophrenia is a psychosis: a lapse from reality) rather than psychopathic behaviour.  Psychopaths are usually quite rational whereas Berkowitz believed he was receiving commands from a dog. 

We may never successfully infuse the core personality traits into psychopaths which would enable them to feel things like love, empathy and guilt.  Psychotherapy may prove useful, however, to change behaviour.

D.