What is a sociopath?
A person, as a psychopathic personality, whose behavior is antisocial and who lacks a sense of moral responsibility or social conscience. Someone whose social behavior is extremely abnormal. Sociopath’s are interested only in their personal needs and desires, without concern for the effects of their behavior on others.
The Mayo clinic defines Antisocial personality disorder as the following
Source:
Antisocial personality disorder is a type of chronic mental illness in which a person’s ways of thinking, perceiving situations and relating to others are abnormal — and destructive.
People with antisocial personality disorder typically have no regard for right and wrong. They may often violate the law and the rights of others, landing in frequent trouble or conflict. They may lie, behave violently, and have drug and alcohol problems. And people with antisocial personality disorder may not be able to fulfill responsibilities to family, work or school.
Antisocial personality disorder is sometimes known as sociopathic personality disorder. A sociopath is a particularly severe form of antisocial personality disorder.
It is my belief that Tenley is a full blown Sociopath and I have plenty to document here to demonstrate this. But first lets break it down a bit further shall we?
There are ten general symptoms
“http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_a_sociopath” (Source):
· not learning from experience
· no sense of responsibility
· inability to form meaningful relationships
· inability to control impulses
· lack of moral sense
· chronically antisocial behavior
· no change in behavior after punishment
· emotional immaturity
· lack of guilt
· self-centeredness
Characteristics of a Sociopath
Manipulating
A sociopath has a brain. Sadly, a sociopath never uses the brain for his/her use. They believe that much can be achieved by conning and manipulating others. Hence, with a thought like that, sociopath wastes time in convincing others about their malicious ideas. They do so by putting on their charm. A sociopath victimizes the other person as an object to be used for implementing cruel intentions.
Incapacity for Feelings or Emotions
This is the main, yet hidden sociopath characteristic. A sociopath has no scope for emotions or feelings. They only make a superficial exhibition of their emotions. They do laugh, cry, get angry and depressed momentarily. The underlying reason for this superficiality is, they live in their own world and have their own set of morals. They are often ruled by a belief that their actions bear no consequence whatsoever, and they are not accountable to anyone. Incapacity for feelings and emotions allow a sociopath to elude responsibility for actions by placing the blame on others.
Compulsive Liars
Sociopaths have a boundless capacity to lie. It all begins when they lie once to hide a mistake and then continue lying to cover the earlier lies. As mentioned earlier, they are incapacitated to feelings, they do not understand the impact of compulsively lying. If they are caught lying, sociopaths are clever at changing the subject by blaming someone else and crawling clean out of the mess. Often, sociopaths are so clever at lying, that they pass lie detector tests also. Which is why, they rarely end up in prisons. And who thought sociopaths were out of brains!
Shallow Emotions
A sociopath does not have emotions is true. But a sociopath has shallow emotions is equally true. Shallow emotions adheres to show of warmth, joy, appreciation and motivation towards others to satisfy the ulterior motives. These sociopath traits make them seem emotionally strong. They remain cold and do not show reactions to what may cause a normal person to react. They make promises to others to get their job done. However, they are fake, and so are their promises.
Impulsive Nature
The logic of thinking twice before you do anything or say anything does not exist with a sociopath. They get so overwhelmed by a certain idea to which they react impulsively. These actions are always driven by a devious acumen, such as cheating, stealing and lying. The excitement of doing the act is so great, that they jump on the opportunity which leads them into shady acts.
Parasitic Living
Among characteristics of a sociopath, their parasitic nature is very evident. They act like leeches that cling on to everybody. They do so to find an accomplice to their actions. To get their plans done, they get hold of people closest to them, so that they can conveniently slip out the act when desired and then place the blame on others.
Radiating Charm
Sociopaths have a beautiful charm about themselves, which is good enough to cover up all their devilish acts. They are very amusing, carefree and lively. These are the traits that draws a person to them. They often win the admiration from others and can make the crowd gawk at them.
Egocentric
Sociopaths indulge in bragging about themselves like there’s no tomorrow. They firmly believe that what they are doing is absolutely right and there’s no way they would do anything wrong. They are self-assured about themselves. This leads them to making highly preposterous and unrealistic plans about life, making money, marriage and living. Sociopaths fail to understand why others around them are so against them.
No Guilt
Whether it’s a murder, robbery, lie or any other criminal act for that matter, a sociopath feels no guilt whatsoever. They can never empathize with others and neither can they feel guilt for blaming others. They have an amoral world of their own. They lie to an extent where room for guilt gets occupied by self made reality. They often believe that the pain inflicted on the other person was deserved by them. Many criminal sociopath often are seen giving such explanations.
Regularly Seen Sociopath Characteristics
* Early behavior problems, which are seen as juvenile delinquency and referred to as sociopath characteristics in children.
* Indulging in crime of slander.
* Promiscuous behavior and infidelity.
* Entrepreneurial crime mindset.
* Authoritarian and secretive.
* Cheap goal setting, like enslavement of victims.
Learn the red flags and personality traits that might identify a sociopath:
* Thinking about suicide at a young age.
* Killing insects for fun as a child. And/or Animals. And are not caught and punished for this act.
* Abnormal interest in sexual pleasure as a child.
* Abnormal interest in violence/blood as a child.
* A child who rarely smiles.
* Superficial charm: the tendency to be smooth, engaging, charming, and slick. Not in the least shy, self-conscious, or afraid to say anything. He never gets tongue-tied and has freed himself from the social conventions about taking turns in talking, for example.
* Grandiose self worth: a grossly inflated view of one’s abilities and self-worth, self-assured, opinionated, cocky, a braggart. An arrogant guy who believes he is a superior human being.
* Need for stimulation (proneness to boredom): an excessive need for novel, thrilling, and exciting stimulation; taking chances and doing things that are risky. Often has low self-discipline in carrying tasks through to completion because he gets bored easily.
* Pathological lying: can be moderate or high; in moderate form, and will be shrewd, crafty, cunning, sly, and clever (in extreme form, he will be deceptive, deceitful, underhanded, unscrupulous, manipulative, and dishonest).
* Conning and manipulativeness: the use of deceit and deception to cheat, con, or defraud others for personal gain; distinguished from Item #4 in the degree to which exploitation and callous ruthlessness is present, as reflected in a lack of concern for the feelings and suffering of one’s victims.
* Lack of remorse or guilt: a lack of feelings or concern for the losses, pain, and suffering of victims; a tendency to be unconcerned, dispassionate, coldhearted, and unempathic. This item is usually demonstrated by a disdain for one’s victims.
* Shallow affect: emotional poverty or a limited range or depth of feelings; interpersonal coldness in spite of signs of open gregariousness.
* Callousness and lack of empathy: a lack of feelings toward people in general; cold, contemptuous, inconsiderate, and tactless.
* Parasitic lifestyle: an intentional, manipulative, selfish, and exploitative financial dependence on others as reflected in a lack of motivation, low self-discipline, and inability to begin or complete responsibilities.
* Poor behavioral controls: expressions of irritability, annoyance, impatience, threats, aggression, and verbal abuse; inadequate control of anger and temper; acting hastily.
* Promiscuous sexual behavior: a variety of brief, superficial relations, numerous affairs, and an indiscriminate selection of sexual partners; the maintenance of several relationships at the same time; a history of attempts to sexually coerce others into sexual activity or taking great pride at discussing sexual exploits or conquests.
* Lack of realistic, long-term goals: an inability or persistent failure to develop and execute long-term plans and goals; a nomadic existence, aimless, lacking direction in life.
* Impulsivity: the occurrence of behaviors that are unpremeditated and lack reflection or planning; inability to resist temptation, frustrations, and urges; a lack of deliberation without considering the consequences; foolhardy, rash, unpredictable, erratic, and reckless.
* Irresponsibility: repeated failure to fulfill or honor obligations and commitments; such as not paying bills, defaulting on loans, performing sloppy work, being absent or late to work, failing to honor contractual agreements.
* Failure to accept responsibility for own actions: a failure to accept responsibility for one’s actions reflected in low conscientiousness, an absence of dutifulness, antagonistic manipulation, denial of responsibility, and an effort to manipulate others through this denial.
* Many short-term relationships: a lack of commitment to a long-term relationship reflected in inconsistent, undependable, and unreliable commitments in life, including marital.
* Juvenile delinquency: behavior problems between the ages of 13-18; mostly behaviors that are crimes or clearly involve aspects of antagonism, exploitation, aggression, manipulation, or a callous, ruthless tough-mindedness.
* Criminal versatility: A diversity of types of criminal offenses (regardless if the person has been arrested or convicted for them); taking great pride at getting away with crimes.