Running head: THE PSYCHOPATH EXPLORED 1 THE PSYCHOPATH EXPLORED 2 Rhoshanna Glover Argosy University Abstract One of the ways in which psychology is practiced is when it explores abnormalities in people’s behaviors. Psychology studies personality and what is considered normal in the physical, mental and even emotional sense of people’s personalities. Psychopaths are an example of those people who have personality aberrations that affect their interpersonal as well as intrapersonal behavior and balance. Psychopaths are identified for their nature of being amoral and lacking feelings of pity or guilt (In D'Arms & In Jacobson, 2014). This is why this paper explores the entire information about psychopaths seeking to help communities and families identify those in their environment who display characteristics of psychopaths. It will explore the various ways in which psychopathic features are present in the personalities of people who participate in deviance in communities. Beginning with an overview that explains the need for this, the paper goes down to explicate the various characteristics of psychopaths based on research of resources about the subject. The conclusion sums up the whole exposition into a reaffirmation of the thesis statement. The Psychopath Explored Psychologists always seek to explain behavior of various people so that their different personalities can be categorized and understood. Communities have different people who display various kinds of behavior and unless they can be understood, they may be mishandled. To understand the behavior of people in a community or family is a vital step in assisting those who have any disorders in their personalities (Halliwell, 2013). Personality is one of the factors that determine what someone becomes in terms of the behavior, actions and attitudes towards life and other humans beings. Of interest to psychologists are those people who have personality disorders which manifest in behaviors that can be considered abnormal. That is what forms the focus of this paper, to explore the personality of psychopaths and how they are different from people who have normal personalities. It will argue for the point that most of the people who engage in deviance in society especially those that are extreme are psychopathic in one or more of the ways that will be explored (In Millon, 2003). Overview There have been discussions about how to identify psychopaths when one meets them. This means that there are certain characteristics that distinguish and reflect the psychopath personality. There are many psychopaths who have not been identified in communities or families and are therefore either mistaken or not handled as they should. The personality of psychopaths may be threatening and hence it is not only good but safe that communities and families come to an understanding of the characteristics that identify psychopaths. By identifying th.

1. Running head: THE PSYCHOPATH EXPLORED
1
THE PSYCHOPATH EXPLORED
2
Rhoshanna Glover
Argosy University
Abstract
One of the ways in which psychology is practiced is when
it explores abnormalities in people’s behaviors. Psychology
studies personality and what is considered normal in the
physical, mental and even emotional sense of people’s
personalities. Psychopaths are an example of those people who
have personality aberrations that affect their interpersonal as
well as intrapersonal behavior and balance. Psychopaths are
identified for their nature of being amoral and lacking feelings
of pity or guilt (In D'Arms & In Jacobson, 2014). This is why
this paper explores the entire information about psychopaths
seeking to help communities and families identify those in their

2. environment who display characteristics of psychopaths. It will
explore the various ways in which psychopathic features are
present in the personalities of people who participate in
deviance in communities. Beginning with an overview that
explains the need for this, the paper goes down to explicate the
various characteristics of psychopaths based on research of
resources about the subject. The conclusion sums up the whole
exposition into a reaffirmation of the thesis statement.
The Psychopath Explored
Psychologists always seek to explain behavior of various people
so that their different personalities can be categorized and
understood. Communities have different people who display
various kinds of behavior and unless they can be understood,
they may be mishandled. To understand the behavior of people
in a community or family is a vital step in assisting those who
have any disorders in their personalities (Halliwell, 2013).
Personality is one of the factors that determine what someone
becomes in terms of the behavior, actions and attitudes towards
life and other humans beings. Of interest to psychologists are
those people who have personality disorders which manifest in
behaviors that can be considered abnormal. That is what forms
the focus of this paper, to explore the personality of
psychopaths and how they are different from people who have
normal personalities. It will argue for the point that most of the
people who engage in deviance in society especially those that
are extreme are psychopathic in one or more of the ways that
will be explored (In Millon, 2003).
Overview
There have been discussions about how to identify
psychopaths when one meets them. This means that there are

3. certain characteristics that distinguish and reflect the
psychopath personality. There are many psychopaths who have
not been identified in communities or families and are therefore
either mistaken or not handled as they should. The personality
of psychopaths may be threatening and hence it is not only good
but safe that communities and families come to an
understanding of the characteristics that identify psychopaths.
By identifying them, people can then know how to handle them,
react to them or relate with them in the various social forums.
Understanding and identifying them can also go along way in
helping families attempt to offer assistance to them. The
beware attitude that should be of people concerning psychopaths
emanate from the fact that they do not have the same emotional
experiences as the rest of the people. Their feelings of empathy,
guilt or remorse are considered obsolete (Halliwell, 2013).
Psychopaths are identifiable because of their lack of real
emotions. The personality they develop is also reliant on those
around them as they try to mimic what they see the people next
to them do or express. This means that those who are around
psychopaths have a responsibility to identify them and provide
the best models for them to learn after. The major problem of
psychopaths is their inability to own up to mistakes when they
make them. They are too egocentric that everything only
justifies their behavior of being strong-willed, never accepting
fault or feeling they are causing problems in the community,
family or workplace. Such people never yield in confrontations,
can have bad tempers seen in emotional outbursts and can even
go to extremes of physically assaulting others just to drive their
point across or kill. Having psychopaths in the society,
workplace or family can be risky. This is the reason as to why it
is important to help individuals in these contexts understand
some of the characteristics that can help tell some people’s
behaviors and personalities as epitomizing psychopath or being
exactly it.
Characteristics of Psychopaths
On the whole, psychopaths have a common characteristic

4. that revolves around lack of emotions. Those who appear to
have only portray a semblance of it. In the real sense, they have
no power in them to be appealed to emotionally or to catch
feelings such as pity or empathy. They therefore are ‘emotional
vacuums’ who apparently are also affected mentally. For
nothing to appeal to their emotions such as someone in pain
means that their judgment of bad and good is only depended on
what they think at the moment. This is an impaired sense of
good and bad when it comes to perceiving the problems of
others (Haycock, 2014). Something is only rationally bad if it
causes suffering to the psychopath and not to other people.
Whenever pain is inflicted on them in anyway, they get a
justification to get violent and may commit a heinous act and
may never get to recognize that it was a wrong. Incidences of
police that turn their guns on their fiancées, stab their children,
kill their friends, or injure someone for reasons that may not
justify the act may reflect a psychopathic disposition. This
paper therefore highlights and explores the characteristics of
this personality in a black and white way for the benefit of
communities and families.
According to Haycock (2014), Psychopaths have the
following common characteristics that this paper explores.
· Are not delusional in thinking
· No sense of shame and remorse
· Have antisocial characteristics
· have a repulsive tendency towards those around them
· threaten to commit suicide
· they trivialize their sexual or emotional life
· Have no visions in life future plans
Lack of Delusional Thinking
Unlike would be expected of persons who have social or
mental disorders, psychopaths have clarity of mind and thought.
They may not display any signs of serious mental damage such
as would manifest in psychotic tendencies or spells of
hallucination. This is a characteristic that makes it hard to at
first identify psychopaths. Research does indicate that in fact,

5. most psychopaths would usually show average intelligence and
behave normally especially when it comes to work and life
activities. However, they are never visionary, do not experience
even any signs of thinking ahead or perceive fantasies. This is
however a vital characteristic since if someone does not appear
to experience any moments of delusions such as fantasy, visions
of what future they hope or what they think of certain matters, it
signifies this disorder. They are always logical and realistic and
never delve into the world of the ideal in any particular time.
Those who are at work never seem to worry about dismal
performance and would in fact take issue with the boss if they
tried to question them over the poor performance. Most of the
psychopaths that have been positively identified, researches do
assert, always end up loosing their jobs or quitting due to their
lack of vision and ability to conceive a picture of what they can
achieve later.
Lack of feelings of shame and remorse
This is one of those characteristics that would help
identify a psychopath instantly. Research has pointed to the
fact that some of the psychopaths due to their outburst of anger
have been judged in courts for committing heinous acts of crime
(Kantor, 2006). Whenever they commit, it never worries them as
if it did not occur to them they committed a wrong. They would
for example hit a wife and when reprimanded hit someone else
still not understanding why they are being reprimanded. If they
make a mistake at work and were fired, they can do something
bad like kicking a computer, punch the boss or something even
worse. Whenever they are mortified or when they do something
shameful it never affects their confidence but would instead
stand to defend the act as having been justified. This makes
them daring and boundless when it comes to words and actions.
They never have sympathy, empathy or pity for someone to
whom they inflict pain, inconvenience or cause suffering. They
can chop off a child’s toe at the same instance laugh their ribs
exhausted (Smith & Meyer, 1988).
Antisocial Characteristics

6. Research indicates that psychopaths are repulsive in behavior;
do not accommodate people who disprove them, argumentative
and even abusive. This personality to be antisocial finds
reinforcement in deviance such as can manifest in drug and
substance abuse. They spend most of the time in isolation and
the times they integrate with other people are mostly dominated
by insensitive talk, abuses and unfriendly arguments (Smith &
Meyer, 1988). These being the case, psychopaths little manage
to keep relationships together with both friends and family.
Their antisocial streak makes them susceptible to divorce or
problems-fraught marriages. It never happens to them to
recognize when they can be hurting other people’s feelings, are
insensitive to favors that are done to them and therefore
generally inconsiderate and ungrateful. They love to engage in
things that reinforce their ego and may therefore resort to
unscrupulous means of acquiring wealth or status just so as to
gain the approval and respect of members of the community or
family around them. Nothing on the world ever matters more
than them and their self-worth.
Suicide feelings
Their lack of gratefulness and appreciation in the value of
family, society and life in general makes them loose a sense of
purpose. When they face consistent frustrations to their ego
such as being fired, arrested or defeated, they start issuing
threats of killing themselves. However due to their egocentrism,
it never allows them to turn their threats into action (Dutton,
2012). Researchers postulate that while psychopaths may issue
countless threats of suicide, there are very few recorded cases
of those who really attempt the act of committing suicide. This
being the case, psychopaths are identified for their free speech
about death, and expressing confidence in dying and not
minding what happens to their life as a result of what they
engage in. They are therefore daring but out of an internal ego
rather than outward fear of shame would not ever dare the act of
committing suicide. Those who can commit suicide are only
those who are influenced by deviance such as drug abuse (Smith

7. & Meyer, 1988). This is therefore a resounding identity of
psychopaths.
Trivializing their sexual and emotional life
Most psychopaths never value their relationships at all.
Due to their repulsive nature towards their relations, they never
focus to develop their emotional life towards marriage and
family. They behave in a way that demonstrates independence
from siblings or parents. In their families, they would not be
moved if something bad happens to the brother or sister and this
indifference is what defines their emotional life (Smith &
Meyer, 1988). Sexually, they show indifference towards people
of the opposite sex or play down relations with them. They do
not hold much respect for those people who have strong
relations with family or those who are obligated sexually to
their spouses. They regard marriage as being a hurdle to their
individual existence and feel good about their independence
(Kantor, 2006). As parents, they therefore have no time to
demonstrate love to children as either mothers or fathers. They
are also too sensitive to anything that holds them obligated to
either providing for their families or being physically present
for them.
Lack of plans in Life
Psychopaths only concern themselves with the present
moment and do not worry about the unknown. Their confidence
in a bad way makes them careless in what they regard as
important in life. They do not care about how life unrolls to
them and hence they never plan the way their life will be in
future. As a matter of personality, they only make the most of
their present moment to be as ‘high’ as possible and hence they
can be reckless when spending money (Kantor, 2006). They
want to do enviable things, lead luxurious lives and associate
with an expensive life. However, they do not plan how to earn
as much as they do with spending. Their urge to lead an
expensive life without planning for it makes them resort to
deviance to gratify their ego. They can engage in robbery, theft
and, for women, such practices as prostitution. However, in

8. participating in such things, they still retain their characteristics
of being antisocial and hence cannot do anything that comes to
a successful end in teamwork with others. When they use illegal
means to get what they want, they have a strong confidence that
the plan was too witty that they can be caught up with. Even
when they are caught, they still think that they are intelligent
more than those remanding them and will still make their way
back out. Their life is therefore not planned, and is dependent
on self-deceit, dishonesty and efforts to be cunning which
causes them frustrations when they are caught up (In Millon,
2003).
Conclusion
On the whole, it comes out that the characteristics of
people who partake in some of the acts of deviance such as
robbery, murdering or even terrorism related acts display
characteristics of psychopaths. Most of them are antisocial and
are always evasive. They do not dwell peacefully with other
members of the society and hence mostly have to alienate
themselves by having to go in hiding. They also display
psychopathic tendencies as they do not show signs of regret for
whatever they do having to inflict suffering on other humans.
They do not regret and some have engaged in heinous acts such
as serial killings. Psychopaths are likely to engage in acts of
lawlessness due to the disposition of their personality. They do
not find gratification in being humble and compliant as they are
too egocentric. This means that they may be a cause of
disharmony in the community as they have no sense of bad and
good actions as long as they are doing what best protects their
interest. Just as many deviant people in societies, they are
amoral, do not comply with family values and will often be
confounded by feelings of worthlessness of life. This may make
them speak about suicide which they never commit most of the
times. Due to a lack of proper planning in life, they have no
clear aspirations and hence may be influenced by others into
such damaging acts as drug abuse or be members of gangs of
lawbreakers.

9. References
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