Oh this thread made me laugh. Especially the 'This is a science board' bit! Lucysnow becomes expert in pyschopaths all of a sudden. Check out the conversation we had on the subject in the Real Story Behind Colunbine thread. (http://www.sciforums.com/showthread.php?t=92260) LOL Did I light a little match there Luce? Hope so.
To distinguish between appears lost in generalization of definition. At the core, they both are the same. Sociopathic. No feeling, no empathy for others. Perhaps the difference is one of evolvement and how and what lengths they will go to to attain their 'ultimate victim' and exactly what that 'victim' represents to them. What need are they fullfilling? What do they need from them? Which in turn will relate back to their past repressions and poison pedagogy and subsequent emotional imbalance. The basis of which lies with family and the distorted family system thriving in todays culture. Family Dysfunction anybody? To example 'mass murderers' as psychopaths due to their crimes against law/humanity would be to separate sociopaths as those that commit ethical/moral ills such as philandering, laundering, corporate/social climbers. Does the difference lie with the goal?As these people are everywhere and the goal is varied. Win at all cost. All about me. Does the charming serial philanderer not feel euphoric and intoxicated when a plan to entrap the female he idealizes as the prize starts to pay off. Does he not feel euphoric when he attains more than one? Does he not hone his craft from what he learns from attaining one 'trophy' to entrap the next? What's that one like, what's that one like? The predator. And so on. How he relates to the victim's appears to differ in only what he can get from her. Never to be content. Likewise the corporate climber, intoxicated by power, self presevation and eye on the prize at all costs. Dirty tricks, manipulation and what ever it takes? Become intoxicated by his self attainment and every move, he make revolve around getting it? Surrounding himself with pliable pawns to be used and disposed of and stalking out any perceived threats? The attainment of their goals at the forefront appear only limited by what is considered socially acceptable. The serial philanderer can stalk, court ,seduce then attain the woman he sets as his goal. Then have, use and leave without her knowing she was used. Or stay for a whle should the environ satisfy some other shallow need ie social or financial attainment. The corporate climber can make it to the stop unchecked under weak management using position to intimidate rivals or threats to his plan. To quote any clinical analysis of a 'labelled psychopathic mass murderer' as being truthful or even to be quoted I find curious. Another game to play and win. Another ready victim to play with and control. Is it a question of intent and organisation to carry out the plan? The lengths they take to retain a victim or acheive a goal to fullfill their needs however varied? How closely aligned is euphoria along with extreme narcissism to a state of psychosis? The variation appears to me to be in the intensity of the psychotic/euphoric episode over time to fullfill and last and the innate foundations within the individual.
The thing is, psychologists have kind of used those two terms fuzzily...and they are the ones writing the terms! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antisocial_personality_disorder We had a marathon thread about this here...Mods, y'all may want to do a merge and bump? http://www.sciforums.com/showthread.php?t=106536&highlight=sociopaths FWIW, psychosis is very disorderly...there's no planning involved.
Sociopath Vs. Psychopath I am a black metal lead vocalist and multi-instrumentalist and the leader of a band from Barrow,Alaska called Psychopath.I am also very experienced in criminal profiling and i'm currently applying for a job with the FBI's BAU(Behavioral Analysis Unit)a team of elite criminal profilers who track down serial killers.First,I can tell you that a person with ASPD(Anti-Social Personality Disorder)is known as a sociopath. These people are incapable of feeling empathy and remorse and do not experience the same feelings that people like you and I do.They are still in their "Baby Stages" even in adulthood because their frontal lobe(the part of the brain that controls reward and descision-making as well as emotion control)never devolops properly.Sociopaths are prone to violent bursts of anger,and they can't live in a world that doesn't revolve around them.However,they are unlikely to get involved in serial murder.If they do,it is because they want to.A Psychopath is technically the same thing as a Sociopath,they have ASPD(Anti-Social Personality Disorder),but unlike Sociopaths,they have homicidal "urges" that they cannot control.In essence,the primary,but certainly not the only difference between a Sociopath and a Psychopath is that a Psychopath is impulsive and much more violent than a Sociopath.Sociopaths fit in with their surroundings,their good at retaining relationships,they can hold onto jobs,they have plans for life,they're charming,they can care about their parents.In serial crime,Sociopaths are extremely organized.Sociopaths understand human emotions,they're just unable to feel normal human emotions themselves.This is what causes them to be masterminds at slick talking and manipulation.Sociopaths will do something only if it benefits them,and they're also incapable of empathy or remorse,Psychopaths on the other hand are unable to hold down a job,can't maintain relationships,incapable of feeling empathy or remorse,extremely violent,impulsive,unable to create plans for their life.They are more disorganized than Sociopaths and tend to leave clues at the crime scene unlike Sociopaths.
Essentially,Sociopaths are extremely organized in their lifestyle,and they have a blatent disregard for the emotions of other human beings.Psychopaths are a little more disorganized,but nonetheless very organized in their crimes,and they not only disregard human emotions,they violate them as well,which is why many of them become involved in serial crime(and not always murder,but mostly murder).Sociopaths are more predictable than Psychopaths but nonetheless both can be very organized.
Yes, there is a difference. A sociopath is capable of guilt, caring, building relationships, etc., but only within a certain context. A sociopath will have loyalties to a specific group but not to society at large and will care little to nothing for social norms, often breaking them with impunity if they stand in the way. A psychopath is an organized and manipulative victimizer that has little or no capacity to experience guilt or caring. Psychopaths have an over-the-top rage reaction when something doesn't go their way. If you want to quickly identify them then look for the societal honey badger with pockets of good friends. That is a sociopath. The charismatic sales weasel down the street that has a trail of victims and is prone to tanrtrums is the psychopath.
IMO the difference between a sociopath and psychopath is the first kill. People tend to group all sociopaths as the same, but I can say with a high degree of certainty that they range from mildly affected to extremely affected. You can plot the degree of the disorder on a bell curve chart. On the mildly affected side of the curve you have sociopaths that function quite well in society and many hold respected jobs like lawyers, politicians, CEO's...ETC. The top half of the bell curve, you start finding narcissistic and higher levels of social impairment. While on the extremely affected side you have the potential psychopathic behavior and a much higher chance of that first kill happening.
