On Tue, 18 Sep 2007 23:30:03 -0700, "L.W. \(Bill\) Hughes III"
<LWBillHughes@hughes.net> wrote:

Message-ID: <46f0b623$0$24196$88260bb3@free.teranews.com>

Message-ID: <46f0b623$0$24196$88260bb3@free.teranews.com>

The Psychopathy Checklist lets us discuss psychopaths with little
risk that we are describing simple social deviance or criminality, or
that we are mislabeling people who have nothing more in common than
that they have broken the law. But it also provides a detailed picture
of the disordered personalities of the psychopaths among us. In this
chapter and the next, I bring that picture into focus by describing
the more salient features one by one. This chapter looks at the
emotional and interpersonal traits of this complex personality
disorder; chapter 4 examines the unstable, characteristically
antisocial lifestyle of the psychopath.

Emotional/Interpersonal
glib and superficial
egocentric and grandiose
lack of remorse or guilt
lack of empathy
deceitful and manipulative
shallow emotions
Social Deviance
impulsive
poor behavior controls
need for excitement
lack of responsibility
early behavior problems
adult antisocial behavior


A cautionary note: The Psychopathy Checklist is a complex clinical
tool for professional use.[1] What follows is a general summary of the
key traits and behaviors of psychopaths. Do not use these symptoms to
diagnose yourself or others. A diagnosis requires explicit training
and access to the formal scoring manual. If you suspect that someone
you know conforms to the profile described here and in the next
chapter, and if it is important to you to obtain an expert opinion,
seek the services of a qualified (registered) forensic psychologist or
psychiatrist.
Also, be aware that people who are not psychopaths may have some of
the symptoms described here. Many people are impulsive, or glib, or
cold and unfeeling, or antisocial, but this does not mean they are
psychopaths. Psychopathy is a syndrome--a cluster of related symptoms.

Psychopaths are often witty and articulate. They can be amusing and
entertaining conversationalists, ready with a quick and clever
comeback, and can tell unlikely but convincing stories that cast
themselves in a good light. They can be very effective in presenting
themselves well and are often very likable and charming. To some
people, however, they seem too slick and smooth, too obviously
insincere and superficial. Astute observers often get the impression
that psychopaths are play-acting, mechanically "reading their lines."

One of my raters described an interview she did with a prisoner: "I
sat down and took out my clipboard, and the first thing this guy told
me was what beautiful eyes I had. He managed to work quite a few
compliments on my appearance into the interview -- couldn't get over
my hair. So by the time I wrapped things up I was feeling
unusually...well, pretty. I'm a wary person, especially on the job,
and can usually spot a phony. When I got back outside, I couldn't
believe I'd fallen for a line like that."

Psychopaths may ramble and tell stories that seem unlikely in light of
what is known about them. Typically, they attempt to appear familiar
with sociology, psychiatry, medicine, psychology, philosophy, poetry,
literature, art, or law. A signpost to this trait is often a smooth
lack of concern at being found out. One of our prison files describes
a psychopathic inmate claiming to have advanced degrees in sociology
and psychology, when in fact he did not even complete high school. He
maintained the fiction during an interview with one of my students, a
Ph.D. candidate in psychology; she commented that the inmate was so
confident in his use of technical jargon and concepts that those not
familiar with the field of psychology might well have been impressed.
Variations on this sort of "expert" theme are common among
psychopaths....

Psychopaths have a narcissistic and grossly inflated view of their
self-worth and importance, a truly astounding egocentricity and sense
of entitlement, and see themselves as the center of the universe, as
superior beings who are justified in living according to their own
rules. "It's not that I don't follow the law," said one of our
subjects. "I follow my own laws. I never violate my own rules." She
then described these rules in terms of "looking out for number one."

When another psychopath, in prison for a variety of crimes including
robbery, rape, and fraud, was asked if he had any weaknesses, he
replied, "I don't have any weaknesses, except maybe I'm too caring."
On a 10-point scale he rated himself "an all-round 10. I would have
said 12, but that would be bragging. If I had a better education I'd
be brilliant."

The grandiosity and pomposity of some psychopaths often emerges in
dramatic fashion in the courtroom. For example, it is not unusual for
them to criticize or fire their lawyers and to take over their own
defense, usually with disastrous results. "My partner got a year. I
got two because of a shithead lawyer," said one of our subjects. He
later handled his own appeal and saw his sentence increased to three
years.

Psychopaths often come across as arrogant, shameless braggarts --
self-assured, opinionated, domineering, and cocky. They love to have
power and control over others and seem unable to believe that other
people have valid opinions different from theirs. They appear
charismatic or "electrifying" to some people.

Psychopaths are seldom embarrassed about their legal, financial, or
personal problems. Rather, they see them as temporary setbacks, the
results of bad luck, unfaithful friends, or an unfair and incompetent
system.

Although psychopaths often claim to have specific goals, they show
little understanding of the qualifications required -- they have no
idea how to achieve their goals and little or no chance of attaining
them, given their track record and lack of sustained interest in
education. The psychopathic inmate thinking about parole might outline
vague plans to become a property tycoon or a lawyer for the poor. One
inmate, not particularly literate, managed to copyright the title of a
book he was planning to write about himself and was already counting
the fortune his bestseller would bring....

Psychopaths show a stunning lack of concern for the devastating
effects their actions have on others. Often they are completely
forthright about the matter, calmly stating that they have no sense of
guilt, are not sorry for the pain and destruction they have caused,
and that there is no reason for them to be concerned.

When asked if he had any regrets about stabbing a robbery victim who
subsequently spent three months in the hospital as a result of his
wounds, one of our subjects replied, "Get real! He spends a few months
in a hospital and I rot here. I cut him up a bit, but if I wanted to
kill him I would have slit his throat. That's the kind of guy I am; I
gave him a break." Asked if he regretted any of his crimes, he said,
"I don't regret nothing. What's done is done. There must have been a
reason why I did it at the time, and that is why it was done...."

On the other hand, psychopaths sometimes verbalize remorse but then
contradict themselves in words or actions. Criminals in prison quickly
learn that remorse is an important word. When asked if he experienced
remorse over a murder he'd committed, one young inmate told us, "Yeah,
sure, I feel remorse." Pressed further, he said that he didn't "feel
bad inside about it."

I was once dumbfounded by the logic of an inmate who described his
murder victim as having benefited from the crime by learning "a hard
lesson about life."

"The guy only had himself to blame," another inmate said of the man
he'd murdered in an argument about paying a bar tab. "Anybody could
have seen I was in a rotten mood that night. What did he want to go
and bother me for?" He continued, "Anyway, the guy never suffered.
Knife wounds to an artery are the easiest way to go."

Psychopaths' lack of remorse or guilt is associated with a remarkable
ability to rationalize their behavior and to shrug off personal
responsibility for actions that cause shock and disappointment to
family, friends, associates, and others who have played by the rules.
Usually they have handy excuses for their behavior, and in some cases
they deny that it happened at all....

Many of the characteristics displayed by psychopaths -- especially
their egocentricity, lack of remorse, shallow emotions, and
deceitfulness are closely associated with a profound lack of empathy
(an inability to construct a mental and emotional "facsimile" of
another person). They seem unable to "get into the skin" or to "walk
in the shoes" of others, except in a purely intellectual sense. The
feelings of other people are of no concern to psychopaths.

In some respects they are like the emotionless androids depicted in
science fiction, unable to imagine what real humans experience. One
rapist, high on the Psychopathy Checklist, commented that he found it
hard to empathize with his victims. "They are frightened, right? But,
you see, I don't really understand it. I've been scared myself, and it
wasn't unpleasant."

Psychopaths view people as little more than objects to be used for
their own gratification. The weak and the vulnerable -- whom they
mock, rather than pity--are favorite targets. "There is no such thing,
in the psychopathic universe, as the merely weak," wrote psychologist
Robert Rieber. "Whoever is weak is also a sucker; that is, someone who
demands to be exploited....

Lying, deceiving, and manipulation are natural talents for
psychopaths.

With their powers of imagination in gear and focused on themselves,
psychopaths appear amazingly unfazed by the possibility -- or even by
the certainty -- of being found out. When caught in a lie or
challenged with the truth, they are seldom perplexed or embarrassed --
they simply change their stories or attempt to rework the facts so
that they appear to be consistent with the lie. The results are a
series of contradictory statements and a thoroughly confused listener.
Much of the lying seems to have no motivation other than what
psychologist Paul Ekman refers to as a "duping delight....

Psychopaths seem proud of their ability to lie. When asked if she lied
easily, one woman with a high score on the Psychopathy Checklist
laughed and replied, "I'm the best. I'm really good at it, I think
because I sometimes admit to something bad about myself. They'd think,
well, if she's admitting to that she must be telling the truth about
the rest." She also said that she sometimes "salts the mine" with a
nugget of truth." If they think some of what you say is true, they
usually think it's all true."

Many observers get the impression that psychopaths sometimes are
unaware that they're lying; it is as if the words take on a life of
their own, unfettered by the speaker's knowledge that the observer is
aware of the facts. The psychopath's indifference to being identified
as a liar is truly extraordinary; it causes the listener to wonder
about the speaker's sanity. More often, though, the listener is taken
in....

"I'm the most cold-blooded son of a bitch that you'll ever meet. So
Ted Bundy described himself to the police following his final arrest.

Psychopaths seem to suffer a kind of emotional poverty that limits the
range and depth of their feelings. While at times they appear cold and
unemotional, they are prone to dramatic, shallow, and short-lived
displays of feeling. Careful observers are left with the impression
that they are play-acting and that little is going on below the
surface.

Sometimes they claim to experience strong emotions but are unable to
describe the subtleties of various affective states. For example, they
equate love with sexual arousal, sadness with frustration, and anger
with irritability. "I believe in emotions: hate, anger, lust, and
greed," said Richard Ramirez, the "Night Stalker....

The apparent lack of normal affect and emotional depth led
psychologists J. H. Johns and H. C. Quay to say that the psychopath
"knows the words but not the music.For example, in a rambling book
about hate, violence, and rationalizations for his behavior, Jack
Abbott made this revealing comment: "There are emotions -- a whole
spectrum of them -- that I know only through words, through reading
and in my immature imagination. I can imagine I feel these emotions
(know, therefore, what they are), but I do not. At age thirty-seven I
am barely a precocious child. My passions are those of a boy....