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Sociopathy In Serial Killers

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The television show You demonstrates many aspects of sociopathy throughout its four seasons. Protagonist, Joe Goldberg, has fallen into deep obsessions with women, often leading to stalking, violence, and even murder because of the “love” he claims to possess for them. A sociopath is an individual with a history of serious and usually violent criminal activity. It is very similar to psychopathy, but the main distinguishing factor is that sociopaths can be capable of feeling some remorse after their crimes, unlike psychopaths. Sociopathy also seems to stem from the environment rather than biological. In the first couple of seasons of the show, Joe’s backstory consists of being taken from his mother, living in an abusive household, causing him …show more content…

Serial killers often appear to be innocent or even high status, which allows them to lure their victims with that charm (Levin & Fox, 2008). They use this to their advantage, helping them fulfill the strong impulsive desires they cannot shake off. Although they cannot truly have compassion, they know socially acceptable ways of behavior after lots of observation. This ability is usually through processes of compartmentalization and dehumanization of their victims. Sociopaths already have a lessened sense of emotion but a bit more than psychopaths, who cannot feel anything at all. Dehumanization is often used by killers in the aspect where they see their victims as subhuman parts of society (Levin & Fox, 2008). They may use this as a reason why they killed people and said they were cleaning the world from them. They are able to overcome the usual aspects of conscience that help other human beings know when to stop themselves from doing something wrong. Then compartmentalization also goes along with this. This is a process used as a defense mechanism for separating conflicting conflicts to avoid certain feelings. Compartmentalizing helps dampen any signs of remorse that a killer can have. As stated earlier, psychopaths have no sense of emotion at all, but sociopaths can have a small amount. They have these abilities to push away any little emotion all while acting innocent to those around

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In the scholarly journal written by Vujosevic (2015) he provides a framework to answer the question as to whether psychopaths have a conscience that is dysfunctional. He states, “according to my account, this means that their reflective capacity for moral self-assessment, which triggers self evaluative emotions, is significantly impaired”(Vujosevic, 2015, p. 2). In both authors’ writings it discusses psychopaths and their inability to feel guilt after committing crimes. This lack of remorse is what leads to repeat offenses, which can sometimes lead into serial killers, such as Dahmer. All individuals are born into different circumstances, therefore experiencing varying teachings of moral and ethic ground roots, biological differences impacting

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966 Words | 4 Pages

A psychopath is classified as someone who shows no remorse and has no conscience, while a sociopath has some sort of conscience and sometimes shows some guilt or remorse ("What's the Difference Between a Sociopath and a Psychopath"). Psychopaths do not feel sorry for other people (“What’s the Difference Between a Sociopath and a Psychopath”) and Kuklinski certainly did not feel sorry for any of his victims (“Married to The Iceman”). During an interview with HBO, Kuklinski stated that he probably could have killed his father and wouldn’t have felt bad about it ("Richard Kuklinski The Iceman Mafia Hitman HBO Interview 2001 (Part 1)"). Richard Kuklinski also showed sociopathic traits. He only showed remorse when talking about his wife and kids ("Richard Kuklinski 'The Iceman' Part 12 of 12").

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3188 Words | 13 Pages

Psychopathy meant an individual was socially a predator who used his charm to manipulate people and live life according to their desires, harming others and never feeling remorse. Since these traits best describe Bundy, who lacked conscience and violated all laws and regulations of the community without regret, he was a psychopath. Notably, Ted Bundy's actions were coercive and unwanted, constituting sexual violence. As an individual with antisocial personality disorder, Bundy got satisfaction each time he raped and killed his victims. With Cleckley's analysis, Widiger considers Bundy to have sadism, which best describes his sexual violence behaviour.

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2712 Words | 11 Pages

In order for them to be considered a serial killer each kill has to be a separate event that is controlled by pleasure or psychological thrill (Research Guides: Serial Killers: Introduction, 2023). Serial killers most often become egocentric due to their lack of guilt and empathy, these classifications characterize serial killers as psychopaths (Research Guides: Serial Killers: Introduction, 2023). To hide their psychopathic tendencies and appear to be normal most killers wear a “mask of sanity”(Research Guides: Serial Killers: Introduction,

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633 Words | 3 Pages

The Sociopath Next Door consists of an introduction chapter and then twelve additional chapters. The introduction is all about the reader trying to imagine themselves as being a sociopath by giving the reader the symptoms and asking them what they would do in certain situations. Symptoms included in the introduction are lack of a conscience, no feelings of guilt or remorse, no concern for the well-being of others, being selfish, harmful, glib, superficial charm, manipulative, and impulsive (Stout, 2005). The author goes on to say that the ailment of missing a conscience is referred to as sociopathy which is also known as psychopathy. Stout (2005) then compares sociopathy to antisocial personality disorder as defined by the DSM IV.

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2614 Words | 11 Pages

They are unable to feel guilt or have empathy for others. Real sociopathy is obviously no laughing matter as it is a serious mental health problem. And not all sociopaths are killers or visa versa. But today we are looking at our favorite fictional psychopaths and trying to understand what

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775 Words | 4 Pages

Contrary to the commonly held belief, psychopathy is actually very rare. Although, quite a few people exhibit certain psychopathic traits, to be a psychopath one must display a variety of characteristics. Psychopaths have low anxiety, mercilessness, and externalization of blame. A psychopath is dangerous and should be treated as is due to their ability to ignore the law and commit heinous crimes. The behaviors of the typical psychopath share common characteristics and therefore, psychopaths must be considered dangerous.

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834 Words | 4 Pages

This quote shows the most basic characteristics used to describe a psychopath - someone having no emotion and not being able to connect with others on a personal level. But, there’s more to understanding psychopaths than meets the eye. Specific purpose: To inform my audience about psychopaths Central Idea: The characteristics, the theories regarding psychopathy, and different ways to identify a psychopath.

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608 Words | 3 Pages

However, the psychopath is unable to fully understand their decision due to their inability to comprehend emotion. “They are entirely unable to use empathy, concern, or morality as reasons not to harm others, even though these are the best reasons to comply with moral and legal rules. They are ‘morally insane’ and are incapable of being morally responsive agents. Psychopaths are simply not part of the moral community and do not deserve blame

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1131 Words | 5 Pages

It’s not exactly known why these are such strong motives amongst killers and why they act upon them. Yet, a lot of investigation has gone into this. Many people believe that all serial killers want to get caught. However, as stated by the FBI, “It’s not that serial killers want to get caught; they feel that they can’t get caught” (15). This can only push the idea that all serial killers may even lack empathy.

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1971 Words | 8 Pages

Lecter and Gumb characterize antisocial personality disorder (ASPD), which is a mental disorder defined by a persistent pattern of disregard for the rights and feelings of others. Individuals with ASPD lack remorse and empathy and commonly manipulate others solely for their own benefit. In addition, they may behave impulsively or disregard laws, which can lead to criminal behavior. (Kiehl and Hoffman 355-397). Psychopathy and sociopathy are not clinical diagnoses but can be used to describe individuals with ASPD who also meet a distinct set of criteria.

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575 Words | 3 Pages

Madoff is often described as a sociopath because of his lack of empathy and disregard for the rights of others. He was able to manipulate his clients into trusting him, and he continued to perpetuate his scheme even as he knew it was unsustainable. Madoff's behavior was impulsive, and he did not exhibit the grandiosity or sense of entitlement often associated with psychopathy. Jeffrey Dahmer 3. Jeffrey Dahmer is another serial killer who is often described as a psychopath.

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1126 Words | 5 Pages

But, before labeling them as a psychopath, we should understand and investigate how are psychopaths actually are. Psychopath is from the word psyche that means soul and the word pathos that means disease. Psychopathy is a developmental disorder marked by emotional deficits and an increased risk for antisocial behavior. It is not equivalent to the diagnosis Antisocial Personality Disorder, which concentrates only on the increased risk for antisocial behavior and not a specific cause—ie, the reduced guilt and empathy that constitutes the emotional deficit (Blair, 2013). Psychopath is symptoms of abnormalities that considered as a dangerous behavior and make people feel bothered.

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1063 Words | 5 Pages

Psychopaths exhibit a variety of maladaptive traits such as rarely experiencing genuine affection for others. They are skilled at faking affection, are irresponsible, impulsive, tolerate little frustration and they pursue immediate gratification. A writer who visited Kemper in the Santa Cruz County Jail while he was awaiting sentencing recorded this macabre conversation, Published in the March, 1974 issue of Front Page Detective magazine: For all of his seeming ability to relate to people in an animated and warm exchange, Kemper also has the ability to withdraw without warning into a kind of frightening reverie, reliving his acts of violence. I watched it happen. He had paused in his outpouring of talk about himself and looked at me curiously.

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619 Words | 3 Pages

As we might think of a psychopath as being serial killers, this is not exactly true. Most of them have high-end jobs who wear suits and know the right things to say. In the film Dr. Robert Hare calls them "snakes in suits". These are not the people answering to orders, they are the ones receiving the answers or as one may say the one who calls the shots. The main points discussed in the film are how psychopath do not share the same emotions that we do, how dangerous they can be, and their ability to blend in with the rest of the world.

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