6 Signs of Psychopathy/Sociopathy

Most, if not, all of us have an encounter with someone who’s at least a bit of a psychopath or sociopath. We usually find out afterwards, but sometimes you can tell nearly straight-away by their qualities that they’re not the most mentally stable person. Psychopaths and sociopaths are a lot more common than you may have thought. In fact, the people you would’ve never thought that were psycho or sociopaths can in fact be either of those two or even both!

Here are 6 unmistakable signs to tell if someone is a socio/psychopath so you can know in advance next time you meet one.

1. Inability to feel negative emotions

In 1994, there was a study in which 25 non-psychopathic controls asked 25 psychopaths to attribute emotions to a story protagonist. The only emotions the psychopaths felt were happiness and indifference, failing to feel emotions such as guilt, sadness, and embarrassment when expected. It’s a common misconception that they can’t feel emotion, as they can, in fact, feel happiness.

According to HealthyPlace.com, sociopaths, a little differently than psychopaths, “view their world as their party” and “can cry if they want to”. But, like psychopaths, they can’t feel remorse, and, with few exceptions, don’t feel, and high-functioning sociopaths can fake emotion really well and are very manipulative! Their insincerity’s part of what makes them a threat to authority and quite a challenge to deal with at times.

2. Compulsive lying

Since they can’t feel remorse or guilt and have trouble being mindful of future consequences, both psychopaths and sociopaths have a thing for lying… a lot… compulsively. They go lie after lie, because they don’t see lying as wrong and their compulsive lying system keeps them doing as they please… because they don’t see that as wrong either. They don’t see the point in restricting them from doing something inappropriate and after they do said inappropriate thing, they’ll lie their way out of it—mercilessly. According to the psychopath and to the sociopath, there is no such thing as a sin.

Another reason they would lie mercilessly and pathologically is to charm you. They want you to get on their side so they can get the best out of you. And by doing that, they will put on this good act, then execute afterwards when you’re comfortable with them. Never trust a psycho or sociopath, yes, but their charm can be so convincing, you’ll trust them more often than not, so be careful and follow your gut.

3. Violence and cruelty towards animals

Because of their lack of remorse and emotion, sociopaths and psychopaths don’t really have a soft spot for furry creatures and thus physically abuse them. Don’t get too excited, vegans, ‘meaters’ (or meat eaters) are not sociopaths nor psychopaths. Socio/psychopaths would beat up their family dog, or intentionally step on their cat’s stomach while they’re resting on the ground, for the hell of it. They see it as entertainment and enjoy giving animals pain as it satisfies them. Their lack of remorse and conscience makes them do it over again as they can’t empathize with animals. They get a rush from it and tend to think, “it’s just an animal; who cares?” according to PETA Prime.org.

Infamous serial killer Ted Bundy would abuse the family dog. Jeffrey Dahmer and Richard Ramirez were animal abusers as children as well, along with many other killers and rapists.

If your kid has a penchant for teasing animals a little too violently, beware of that next time you witness them doing that.

4. Immorality

While sociopaths and psychopaths are quite different, they’re both immoral—in different ways, of course.

Psychopaths are immoral as in they defy ethics and others’ rights to get what they desire. They’re inhumane individuals.

Sociopaths lie and manipulate for the same result, which obviously is also immoral.

Both would also publicly humiliate someone for the hell of it or use violence against others to get their way, which is not the right way to treat others, therefore it’s immoral.

Why would they be so immoral? In short, they simply don’t feel the need. In more detailed, they lack empathy, remorse, and a conscience, so they literally don’t feel the need to have to be moral and treat others nicely. So, they would treat others dangerously to get their way, because “why not?”, they think.

5. Concerning inability to follow rules/inability to conform to society

Sociopaths suffer from Antisocial Personality Disorder. Psychopaths are also considered antisocial. Contrary to popular belief, the term “antisocial” does not mean someone who doesn’t socialize with others very often—that would be asocial. Someone who’s antisocial, however, is someone who doesn’t conform to society and has a lot of trouble following rules. Asocial behaviour is really nothing to be concerned about compared to antisocial behaviour. Someone might not talk a lot, but someone who can’t follow rules due to a lack of conscience, giving them a lack of audacity to conform to society and follow rules is quite a threat. In fact, a lot of sociopaths and psychopaths are VERY talkative, making those antisocials not asocial. The term “antisocial” is made up of two words: “anti” and “society”, meaning that sufferers of an antisocial personality, which would be psychopaths and sociopaths, are literally anti society.

There you go; psychopaths and sociopaths, or antisocial individuals, are against society, but not against sociability.

When confronted about breaking rules, both would lie their way out of it relentlessly (see sign #2).

6. Violence and hostility

Because of their low remorse and hotter-than-average-tempers, both would turn to violence and hostility. Psychopaths are naturally violent people that enjoy violent things and sociopaths can get hostile when confronted. According to Health.com, sociopaths, apart from being hostile themselves, are also more likely to interpret others’ behaviour as hostile, and as a result, would likely seek revenge.

Revenge is common amongst the antisocial, as they see the world as “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”, rather than an eye for an eye making the whole world blind. They’re already blind to feelings.

The thing about the antisocial is that they have a cruel, mean-spirited disregard for others’ feelings and other people’s’ safety is definitely out of the question.

Well, that’s it. Just keep an eye out for others’ personalities next time you meet them so you don’t fall into the trap of dealing with a psycho or sociopath.

I hope I educated ya. Peace.