Yesterday, I came across an amazing summary of what traits come together to make a psychopathic personality. Many of them are quite surprising, yet they shed so much light on what makes a psychopath tick that I had to share it with you. This is what makes a psychopath tick —
Psychopaths have a mix of genetic traits and learned behaviors that leads to exceptionally aggressive, manipulative, hurtful, and otherwise antisocial behavior. Psychopaths are classified as a kind of antisocial personality disorder (ASPD), although currently not all causes of this condition are completely understood.
Because psychopaths are a mixture of widely different traits, they are not simple to understand or predict. Here is the best summary of what makes them tick that I have found, summarized below
Psychopaths Have Fast Twitch (ADHD) Hunter Brains
Hunter brains tend to be extremely active, never giving the thinker a rest. This trait of psychopaths is linked to the fact that they have MAOA-L genes, the “hunter gene.”
While we often associate ADHD with an inability to concentrate, this isn’t always necessarily the case, or main experience of this brain type. Psychopaths are likely to have other ADHD brain functions including —
- Compulsive fidgeting
- Difficulty staying seated
- Forgetfulness
- Impulsiveness
- Behavioral problems
ADHD and Brain Structure and Function
Psychopaths Process Information Intellectually Rather than Emotionally
Lack of emotional capacity is one of the key elements of the psychopath personality type.
Psychopaths have great difficulty of think in emotional terms, making their thoughts seem cold and calculating to the outside observer.
Contrary to what we like to think, most people are practically incapable of thinking truly objectively, without some level of emotional involvement in their thoughts. When comparing psychopaths to the general population, their cold logic makes them especially potent in business and logical pursuits. But, also startlingly cold-blooded.
Psychopaths Lack Reciprocal Emotions
Most people tend to like people that like them. And, hate people that hate them. This is a natural psychological mechanism that psychopaths tend not to have.
While a psychopath can have feeling and emotions about other people, these emotions will not necessarily reflect the emotional state of the other person.
This trait makes psychopaths seemingly unpredictable in relationships. Victims may think that they are friends with the psychopath, because in normal people acting like friends builds an emotional bond between you. But, the psychopath felt no such bond.
Psychopaths Lack Pro-Social Emotions
Because psychopaths feel emotions so much less strongly than the average person, they are also very unlikely to feel or express positive emotions related to helping or benefiting others.
So, not only do psychopaths not feel bad about hurting others, they also don’t feel good about helping others either.
Psychopaths Have High Testosterone and Low Cortisol Brain Balance
Testosterone is the male sex hormone, but naturally present in all humans. It is liked to aggression, pleasure seeking, and reward driven behavior. Psychopaths tend to be have a higher level of testosterone than average.
Cortisol is the hormone linked with stress. Psychopaths have a naturally lower level of cortisol, making them more immune to stressful situations. They will physically feel less stressed in the same environment as the average person.
Altogether, this makes a psychopath more prone to thrill seeking and high risk behaviors.
Psychopaths Have High Cognitive Empathy
While they don’t feel the emotions of others, psychopaths are actually extremely perceptive of the emotions of others.
Psychopath’s hunter like qualities and genetic make up lend them the ability to hyper-focus on behavior and micro-facial expressions of people they interact with. With this ability, they are able to anticipate and manipulate people’ emotions, in some cases before the person they are interacting with even recognizes the emotion in themself.
Psychopaths Have Low Emotional Empathy
All of the brain differences we have spoke of so far lead the psychopath to experience the world drastically differently than the average person.
As a consequence, psychopaths tend to have different empathizing and understating where other people are coming from emotionally. While they can understand intellectually, they cannot consciously put them self in another person’s emotional shoes.
Psychopaths Have Very Low Emotional Contagion
Emotional contagion is the involuntary transfer of emotion between individuals.
For instance, if you see someone with a truly scared expression, you will feel afraid as well. If someone is crying, then you will feel sad as well.
Psychopath’s mirror neurons do not fire when placed in emotional situations, so they will not be at all emotionally moved by the expressed emotions of those around them.
Psychopaths Are Immune to Social Indoctrination
As part of growing up in a society and family structure, humans naturally become indoctrinated — internalizing the core beliefs and thought patterns of the group.
Psychopaths, because of their shallow emotional range and lack of pro-social emotions urging them to conform with the group, will generally never internalize social mores. While they may recognize that there is a way that society does things, they never truly buy in to it.
Instead, they adapt from an intellectual level, following “the way things are done” only when they see a benefit to themselves, or when they feel the consequences are too great. Morales and laws are obstacles to be overcome, rather than the right way to live.
Psychopaths Experience Inner Self / Outer Self Duality
Due to orbitofrontal cortex and emotional limbic cortex being both turned off in psychopaths, they don’t have the experience of the inner and outer self.
Where a normal person experiences times when they have conflicting thoughts and desires — the metaphorical angel and devil on the shoulders — psychopaths lack a differentiated moral compass. Inner self and outer self are mixed in to a single perception.
Psychopaths Have More Theta Brain Waves
EEG machines measure higher level of theta brainwaves in waking states than the average.
Theta brainwaves are most commonly linked with states of meditation, which higher levels being related to feelings of intense focus and loss of self.
This measurement is probably related to the reasons why psychopaths exhibit the ability for extreme mental focus, as well as the partial loss of the self, as discussed in the previous heading.
Psychopaths Have Structural Brain Differences
Measurable brain differences include —
- smaller amygdala
- differences in connection between amygdala and prefrontal cortex
- Corpus callosum is larger and longer
- Corpus callosum has better connectivity between both hemispheres of the brain
- information is transmitted from one hemisphere to the other hemisphere at a very high rate
(from psychopath researcher Dan Baxter)
Psychopaths Have No Link Between Emotion and Physiology
Most humans give subconscious tells about their emotions through subtle facial movements and body language. This is how we can see a photo of video of someone and say that they “look sad” even if they have a neutral face.
Psychopaths don’t have this natural connection, making it extremely difficult or impossible to read what their emotional state is just from their body language.
Lack of these emotional queues can be extremely off putting, so most psychopaths learn to mask it by mimicking these queues. This makes psychopaths extraordinary good actors in combination with their fine perception of emotions in other people.
