Why Psychopaths Will Harm You,

and Why They Don't Care

Mental Health Awareness Month ~ May 2017

Good Afternoon Blog Readers, Followers & Visitors!

We're back for our next Blog Session concerning mental health.  In our last Blog Session we discussed the topic of Psychopaths.  The definition of a Psychopath, as well as background information concerning the research conducted on the mental illness relative to both psychopaths and sociopaths was provided.

If you had your Journal on hand to take notes, then you will have plenty of background information that should open your eyes to what a psychopath is, as well as what a sociopath is.  We also talked about how some researchers make a distinction between “primary psychopaths,” who are thought to be genetically caused, and “secondary psychopaths,” seen as more a product of their environments.

In addition, we discussed a mental health category for something called  "antisocial personality disorder"  (APD), while the World Health Organization delineates a similar category it calls "dissocial personality disorder." 

At this point, please grab your Journals, because you'll want to take notes about "Why Psychopaths Will Harm You, and Why They Don't Care."

JOURNAL NOTES

One of the key features of psychopathy is insensitivity to causing harm in others.  Researchers have long attempted to understand why people high in psychopathy have this emotional blindspot.  A new investigation by University of Padova (Italy) psychologist Carolina Pletti and colleagues (2017) tested a new model to provide insights into the reasons behind the failure to care about the suffering of their fellow humans by those high in this trait.

As we discussed in our last Blog Session, and for further confirmation, according to Pletti and her fellow Researchers, it is a well-established finding that people with high levels of psychopathy are less able to recognize distress cues, including facial and vocal expressions of fear and sadness by people in need of immediate help.  The potential relationship between emotions and morality is addressed in the Integrated Emotion System Model (IES).  Most of us, according to the IES, learn early in our lives to avoid making other people sad or afraid.  Those who are psychopathic, though, do not and therefore are less likely to base moral decisions on their potential to cause suffering to others.

The reasoning behind the IES model involves simple reinforcement.  We've learned over our lives that it is bad to cause pain and suffering in others.  Consider what happens when an ordinary toddler pushes a playmate, causing the playmate to burst into tears.  Toddler #1 will feel sad at having hurt Toddler #2, and may even start crying too.  Such encounters teach children to avoid causing negative emotions in other people.  Individuals with psychopathy, though, don’t make this connection and go on to become adults who aren’t deterred from harming other people.  Neuroscientists trace this lack of empathy in part to a deficit in the amygdala, a part of the subcortex which processes emotional stimuli.  The other deficit occurs in a part of the cerebral cortex involved in decision-making that would utilize this emotional information.

Research Discoveries

As other researchers have noted, the high-psychopathic individuals were less distressed in the life-or-death sacrificial situations compared to their low-psychopathic counterparts. The highly psychopathic also were equally likely to lie in the harmful vs. harmless everyday situations, and they were also less emotionally distressed at the prospect of causing harm through their lies.  Interestingly, the highly psychopathic seemed able to judge whether it was morally right or wrong to deceive others, but this judgement didn't deter them from making the harmful choice.  As the authors concluded, “psychopathic individuals are less inclined to refrain from pursuing a personal advantage involving harm to others because of their emotional hypoactivity” (p. 364).

In summary, people high in psychopathy are able to distinguish between right and wrong, but don’t let this distinction affect their decision-making.  They also will pursue choices that benefit them, even if they know they’re morally wrong, because they don’t have the same negative emotions associated with those choices that non-psychopathic individuals do.  We can’t say that people high in psychopathy are unable to make moral choices, then, but it does appear to be justified to say that they will feel less anguish when they have to do so.  The rest of us don’t want to cause harm to others and feel very stressed when forced to do so, but those high in psychopathy seem to be able to make the “utilitarian” or logic-based choice without feeling particularly distraught.

If you’re in a relationship with someone you believe is high in psychopathy, the Italian study shows the dangers that you may run into if that individual would need to make a sacrifice on your behalf.  All other things being equal, you’re far better off being in relationships with people who both know, and care about, what’s best for you.

Be aware of the people in your life, and understand when you are involved with someone who is either a psychopath or a sociopath.  Point that person in the direction of getting needed psychological help.

Our discussions this month on mental health have been very interesting, and very informative for all of us . . .

Until our next Blog Session, keep your Journals on hand to continue taking daily notes concerning your emotions, feelings, thoughts, activities, and any important information that you find that you would like to make a note of.

See you back here on the Blog for more exciting conversation!

Peace, Love & Light,

 René

©Copyright - René Allen - MAY 2017 - All Rights Reserved

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References:  Pletti, C., Lotto, L., Buodo, G., & Sarlo, M. (2017). It's immoral, but I'd do it! Psychopathy traits affect decision‐making in sacrificial dilemmas and in everyday moral situations. British Journal of Psychology, 108(2), 351-368. doi:10.1111/bjop.12205