psychopathy
Sign in to savePsychopathy, or psychopathic personality, is a personality construct characterized by impaired empathy and remorse, persistent antisocial behavior, along with bold, disinhibited, and egocentric traits. These traits are often masked by superficial charm and immunity to stress, which create an outward appearance of normality.
AI overview
Psychopathy is a personality pattern marked by a lack of empathy and guilt, combined with antisocial behavior and self-centered traits, though people with this trait often appear charming and calm on the surface. Understanding psychopathy matters because this hidden mismatch between outward presentation and inner traits can help explain why some individuals engage in harmful behavior while seeming to lack genuine concern for others.
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Key facts
- Medical condition.name
- Psychopathy
- Medical condition.field
- Psychiatry, clinical psychology, criminology
- Medical condition.symptoms
- Boldness, superficial charm, antisocial behavior, lack of empathy or remorse, inclination to violence and psychological manipulation, impulsivity, narcissism
- Medical condition.causes
- Genetic factors, experiencing neglect or maltreatment
- Medical condition.risks
- Family history, adverse environmental stressors
- Medical condition.differential
- Antisocial personality disorder, narcissistic personality disorder, sexual sadism disorder, psychosis, other psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia, schizotypal disorder, schizoaffective disorder
- Medical condition.prevention
- Proper care of children
- Medical condition.treatment
- Very few accepted treatments. Use of psychotherapy is accepted, though benefits are weak
- Medical condition.medication
- None
- Medical condition.prognosis
- Poor
Article
58 sectionsContents
- Signs and symptoms
- Primary features
- Core traits
- Low anxiety and fearlessness
- Offending
- Criminality
- Violence
- Sexual offending
- Other offending
- Childhood and adolescent precursors
- Conduct disorder
- Mental traits
- Cognition
- Emotion recognition and empathy
- Moral judgment
- History
- Sociopathy
- 20th century
- Definition
- Concepts
- Measurement
- Personality dimensions
- Criticism of current conceptions
- Cause
- Genetic
- Environment
- Brain injury
- Childhood trauma
- Other theories
- Evolutionary explanations
- Mechanisms
- Psychological
- Neurological
- Biochemical
- Diagnosis
- Tools
- Psychopathy Checklist
- Psychopathic Personality Inventory
- Triarchic Psychopathy Measure
- DSM and ICD
- Other tools
- Comorbidity
- Sex differences
- Management
- Clinical
- Legal
- United Kingdom
- United States
- "Sexual psychopath" laws
- Prognosis
- Frequency
- Society and culture
- In the workplace
- In fiction
- See also
- References
- Bibliography
- External links
Psychopathy, or psychopathic personality, is a personality construct characterized by impaired empathy and remorse, persistent antisocial behavior, along with bold, disinhibited, and egocentric traits. These traits are often masked by superficial charm and immunity to stress, which create an outward appearance of normality.
Hervey M. Cleckley, an American psychiatrist, influenced the initial diagnostic criteria for antisocial personality reaction/disturbance in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), as did American psychologist George E. Partridge. The DSM and International Classification of Diseases (ICD) subsequently introduced the diagnoses of antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) and dissocial personality disorder (DPD), respectively, stating that these diagnoses have been referred to (or include what is referred to) as psychopathy or sociopathy. The creation of ASPD and DPD was driven by the fact that many of the classic traits of psychopathy were impossible to measure objectively. Canadian psychologist Robert D. Hare later re-popularized the construct of psychopathy in criminology with his Psychopathy Checklist.