Depending on who you talk to, Adnan Syed could be referred to as a psychopath. Although Adnan wanted to share his innocence, his defender told him not to otherwise he would make matters worse for himself. During the case, Adnan’s defence attorney asked for the jury to consider it a crime of passion, rather than intent to kill. However, the judge disagreed and said that Hae’s murder was planned and that Adnan used intellect and charisma to manipulate Hae and took her to her
( Armitage, page 7). In simpler terms, Moriwaki’s has a great lack of emotions and has been labeled a “psychopath”. A psychopath is defined as a person that suffers from a chronic medical disorder and has a violent or abnormal behavior. Psychopathic traits are often associated with criminal behavior. With this in mind, Moriwaki’s lack of emotions and psychopathic personality has lead to the murder of Kurose.
In her memoir, Confessions of a Sociopath: A Life Spent Hiding in Plain Sight, M.E. Thomas presents an objective view on the daily functions of a person diagnosed with an antisocial personality with the aid of modern research as well as her own experiences with her disorder. By utilizing anecdotal evidence as well as varied tone, Thomas effectively portrays an accurate representation of the life of a sociopath. Much of Thomas’s evidence is presented in the form of her experiential stories.
Generally speaking, a sociopath is one who tends to be both impulsive and erratic in their behavior. They can become agitated and angered easily and, they tend to have
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
In Maniac Magee, by Jerry Spinelli, Amanda Beale, is sympathetic. One way, Jerry Spinelli, developed the trait sympathetic when she was letting Maniac talk to her on her way to school (page 11).The reason is that she let him talk to her even she ended up late, and she let him walk to school with her. Another way Amanda was shown to be sympathetic was when she let Maniac have a book to read (page 13). The next reason is that she let him borrow it and she knew he would give it back, but she didn’t want to give him her house number. Lastly, the author showed that Amanda was sympathetic when Amanda gave up her room, so Maniac could sleep somewhere else other than the couch.
“Psychopaths appear charming, likable, but it’s an act. They are coldhearted manipulators who will do anything for their gain” (Cullen 200). Eric was incredibly smart when it came to reading people. He used this to get away with whatever he wanted. “Psychopaths attempt to, and often succeed, in manipulating mental health professionals” (Cullen 275).
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").
A prime example of a forensic psychology concept, psychopathy, is a television series called "Dexter". Throughout the whole show, but specifically season two episode eleven, titled "Left Turn Ahead", Dexter Morgan, the show's protagonist, represents the nature of psychopathy. Psychopathy is defined as a neuropsychiatric disorder marked by deficient emotional responses, lack of empathy, and poor behavioral controls, commonly resulting in persistent antisocial deviance and criminal behavior. In this specific episode, the main character begins to worry that his adoptive sister was showing psychopathic tendencies that may have been brought out by him.
Traits of psychopaths: Superficial charm, pathological lying, lack of remorse or guilt, impulsivity, unrealistic goals, early behavioral problems, a feeling of being above the law. One psychopath that sticks out in U.S history is H.H Holmes. If you have ever heard of the “Murder Castle” then you know of him. Dr. H.H. Holmes is considered America's first serial killer. The number of victims is estimated to be 27, and later discoveries of corpses revealed as many as 200.
The definition of a Psychopath is, unstable aggressive person with abnormal or violent social behavior. Narcissistic personality disorder is defined as a person who is in need of admiration and has a lack of empathy for others, but is also very lacking in confidence and does not take well to criticism.("Narcissistic Personality Disorder - Mayo Clinic"). Antisocial personality disorder is defined as a medical condition where a person has long term patterns of manipulating, exploiting or violating rights of others ("Criteria For Antisocial Personality Disorder - Antisocial Personality Disorder"). Dennis was believed to be a psychopath because he felt no emotion and kills in order to get excitement or lust, etc. Dennis was believed to have been born with a defective thalamus, causing him to feel nothing whats so ever.
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.
Psychopath and sociopath are two terms classified as antisocial personality disorders in the world of psychology. Although many people have heard of these two terms, quite often people do not know what sets them apart from one another. A sociopath is defined as a person with a personality disorder manifesting itself in extreme antisocial attitudes and behavior and a lack of conscience. The definition of psychopath is similar in being a person suffering from chronic mental disorder with abnormal or violent social behavior. By looking at the definitions, these personality disorders appear very similar; however, there are specific attributes that are more specific to one of the two.
Heydrich the Psychopath Reinhard Heydrich fit the profile of a psychopath. While Heydrich’s lack of conscience, cunning, diverse criminal career, and personal ambition could be chalked up to variables such as the Nazi ideology, upbringing, and/or the demands of intelligence work, other personality traits cannot. Heydrich had an impulsivity and sex drive commonly found in psychopaths, getting himself thrown out of the Navy and losing a pension he greatly desired as the result of an indecent relationship with a woman. Heydrich would continue to remain addicted to sex during his time with the SS, often dragging colleagues on escapades to find women for sex and showing a callous disregard for his wife and children (Dederichs 2009, 77-78). Heydrich was also known for consuming excessive amounts of alcohol during these escapades and on other occasions.
This is because many believe that psychopaths understand that something is wrong when they are doing it. “…recent studies suggests that psychopaths really do have a defective understanding of moral violations” (Nichols 77). So in other words, psychopaths fully understand that their actions of say, hurting someone is wrong; however, they just do not care, their urges suppress any type of rationalism. Also, this ties into moral and conventional distinction. Moral distinction is like punching another person, while conventional distinction is like shouting out the answer in class instead of raising your hand.
