Psychopathy is typically viewed as a mental disorder characterized by abnormal or violent behavior without conscience or empathy. Psychopaths manipulate others through lies and deception to get what they want. Key traits include lack of remorse, need for stimulation, pathological lying, parasitic lifestyle, promiscuity, and failure to accept responsibility. While some are violent criminals, others are more subtle. Famous movie psychopaths portrayed in an entertaining way include Norman Bates, Alex DeLarge, and Dexter Morgan, though movies do not always accurately represent gender balance in psychopathy.

1. Psychopathy
Joshua Paice

2. What is it?
Psychopathy is typically viewed as a mental disorder, influencing people to
approach life with abnormal or violent behaviour.
Different representation of psychopaths have appeared throughout the
media and historically. However, some appear to contrast the reality of how
a psychopath actually behaves and some just appear to overlap the truth.
Some psychologists believe that psychopaths were born without a
conscience. This is the ability to understand the difference between right
and wrong and are pained when they do not get what they want.
Manipulation is key in how a psychopath develops what they want in life.
They will emit untrue emotions to create a false sense of security with an
individual, before eventually getting exactly what they want from that
person.

3. Traits of a psychopath
They tend to lack remorse and empathy, feeling emotion shallowly.
Need for stimulation and prone to boredom.
Pathological lying, can be seen as craft and cunning.
Parasitic lifestyle with financial dependence on others, lack of motiavtion to make
own way in world.
Promiscuous sexual behaviour with numerous sexual affairs.
Failure to accept responsibility for own actions, making an effort to manipulate
others through denial.
Some of them are violent criminals and murders. However, some of them are much
less obvious than this.
They can be intelligent and charming while hiding this lack of empathy. There is even
a theory that many politicians are psychopaths, manipulating an individual into
getting the vote they need, through making pathological lies that they may not be
able to keep.

4. Manipulation
They are often very skilled at manipulating other human beings in
society. They will typically see themselves as superior to get what
they want.
The normal individual will tend to want to explain why something
has been said, though a psychopath will offer excuses applicable
for that reasoning.
It is untrue that a psychopath is ‘afraid of commitment’ or
‘apologized and told me she would change’. Making attempts to
change a psycopath could easily put a person at risk, causing them
distress.
It would also be a bad idea for an ordinary individual to diagnose a
psychopath to their face. It should only be done by a practiced
individual who has no connection to the person.

5. Famous psychopaths in
movies
Norman Bates in
American Psycho.
Christian Bale play
a pristine Wall
Street worker who
goes completely
crazy from time to
time, turning
hilarious comedic
moment into
terrifying in a split
second.
Alex DeLarge in A
Clockwork Orange.
A young man who
rebels against the
establishment is
driven by sex and
violence in this
haunting depiction
of an aggressive
psychopath.
Dexter Morgan in the popular TV
show Dexter. He is a self-
diagnosed psychopath who uses
his charm to manipulate
individuals into getting what he
wants. He is violent but makes
sure that he cleans up all of his
mess in a very pristine way. The
character is also funny which
makes for an entertaining
program that adds to his charm.

6. How do movies make these
characters look psychopathic?
In the TV show Dexter they use extreme close up shots of him
eating breakfast in the morning. The shots make for a grotesque
scene that emulates Dexter's violent personality. The food makes
clear comparisons to the way he deals with humans when he wants
to kill them and yet the audience is captivated by the fact he is just
eating breakfast.
Some movies represent the behaviour more obviously, for example
in American Psycho, it is clear that Bates treats life like a game,
speaking to characters with a quick pace as though he gets bored
very easily, a stereotypical trait of a psychopath that was
mentioned earlier.
There is a lack of female psychopaths in movies, which is an
unrealistic representation of psychopathy because any gender can
be diagnosed with the behaviour.