Described variously as the dire lack of deep emotions, psychopathy is a personality disorder found in various sections of society. The belief that Psychopaths are only found behind prison walls and rehabilitation institutions is a serious misconception. On the contrary, finding a Psychopath in the boardroom is equally probable as finding the Psychopath in a state penitentiary (Wynn 259). The major explanation behind this observation is the fact that every person is obsessed with power, domination and control. Such desires are likely to make an individual lose the empathic considerations an average human being is expected to have for their neighbors and associates. Psychopaths have little capacity to postpone emotions and the urge for gratification. The Psychopaths find it difficult to control or regulate their conducts as they do not find a reason in considering what others perceive of them. Their emotions and feelings such as fear, shame and shyness, are often described as shallow and almost inexistent. This paper seeks to explain the causes of Psychopathy in individuals of all social classes.
Before explaining the various causes of psychopathic tendencies, it is critical to gain a little understanding on what psychopathy entails. This means that we have to explore and evaluate all characteristic of psychopaths. The first feature of such a personality disorder is the superficial charm that creates a deceiving perception of the individual’s conduct (Wiebe 26). A typical Psychopath cannot be identified from the looks. Psychologists have explained that the psychopaths look like any other human being and can look deceivingly innocent. Majority of the serial killers does not look as such. They are introverts that can be mistaken for innocent lone rangers that are too shy to interact with other people. The second feature of the Psychopaths is the reluctance and even total denial towards accepting responsibility. They do not like being held accountable and will always seek to evade this. As such, they will use all means, however, crooked to find their way out of every situation. This has been seen among the dictatorship governments. The dictators, who are usually Psychopaths, never want to leave power because it is only upon their exit from the corridors of power that they will be held answerable for their deeds.
Yet another key feature of the Psychopaths is that they have a tendency towards sadistic characters. Just like innate sadists, the Psychopaths have little considerations for other people if any. They lack empathy and do not care whether or not the other people feel pain anger, pain or pleasure (Peschardt & Mitchell 264). Thirdly, the Psychopaths weigh people from the position of how they can be of use to them. As such, they tend to exploit people and use them for their personal advantage. The Psychopaths tend to use others as a stepladder to reach the top. The people being used may fail to realize the fact that the contract is not in their best concern. This is because the Psychopaths can be demonically charming liars. They make the deal look too sweet to resist. Good examples of the deceiving Psychopaths are the human trafficking individuals. They make empty promises that sound ideal to the victims. At the back of their minds, the traffickers know the dangers awaiting the victims, but they do not care a bit.
Psychopaths covet power and belongings. They use their fearless nature to exploit others and illegally acquire wealth. They cannot hesitate to steal, rob or even engage in white collar crimes as ways of obtaining wealth. Psychopaths are impulsive risk takers that can sometimes risk their own lives in the process of pursuing wealth. Primary Psychopaths are not responsive to such things as punishments and disapproval. They do not respond to apprehension and shame. They rarely get affected by stress and depression. They lack guilty conscience and act normally even after committing a felony or costing other peoples a great deal. A good example of the primary Psychopath is a prisoner who is held for having committed various felonies, and still has the nerve to go back to committing such felonies. Secondary Psychopaths can get worried at times and can get more stressed over a situation than would an average human being. They are prone to guilt and have the capacity to respond to stressing situations.
The third class of Psychopaths is the distempered group. This class of Psychopaths consists of individuals that react in an explosive manner comparable to an epileptic fit when their anger overwhelms them (Wynn 261). They have high sexual energy and extreme pedophilic tendencies. The Psychopaths of this nature have an obsession for illicit dealings and illegal activities. They do not like struggling for success but rather prefer the short way out of everything. The last class of Psychopaths is the charismatic class. This is made up of individuals that have a magical charm when it comes to telling lies. They can lie to a person into giving up their lives for some course that is not likely to help them at all. They are demonically convincing and possess fast talking abilities. The best example of such individuals is the clergy. Some religious leaders are said to be charismatic Psychopaths as they can convince people to believe that which they cannot verify.
The task of establishing the causes of Psychopathy is another endless nurture-nature debate. Apparently, most human traits can be attributed to the environment. The environment is a nurture agent that acts to modify the conduct and behavior of an individual. Social factors are what make up the said environment. Much as, environment is the greatest modifier of conduct and behavior, nature has a vital role to play, as well (Peschardt & Mitchell 264). Worth noting is the fact that the tendency of people to be Psychopaths can be determined by the genetic makeup of an individual. Arguably, conduct of parents can be reflected in the children either because such conduct is inherent in the genes or because the home set up where the parents are the key figures forces the children into being Psychopaths. Debatably, therefore, the environment and the genetic aspects of individuals determine the behavior of a person.
One of the biggest reasons why an individual can become a psychopath is because of living in difficult and unreasonably challenging conditions. An excellent illustration is the conduct of the people in prisons and other correctional facilities. The people in such institutions face difficulties, such as, the difficulty of accessing social amenities and interacting with those people to whom they are affiliated (Andrews & Furness 23). Such difficulties make the members of the penitentiaries and state prisons develop a certain attitude towards people that view human beings as objects. In the long run, the convicts become so much hardened to the extent that they lose the sense for human suffering. They can stand and watch an individual suffer and will not do a thing to help. Arguably, the life in the prisons is the most undesirable life as it deprives one of the ability to interact and move around. Other difficulties in the penitentiaries include fights, sexual assault and competition for unlimited resources. Such conditions make one act barbarically by making their human feelings fade away. Upon release, such individuals become sadistic members of society those are never ready and willing to interact.
Another reason that can be created by the environment is low self worth. An individual can develop a low self esteem if they interact and socialize with individuals of unequal backgrounds and family status. Pierre Bourdieu, a French socialist, explains that unequal social backgrounds and family settings can cause some children to develop low self esteem (Graham & Wasserman 69). For instance, if, in a school, a student happens to be in a class that is made up of students coming from rich families, such an individual are likely to feel side-lined. The feeling of inferiority complex makes an individual feel looked down upon even when none of their class mates talks or acts in a way likely to discriminate them. The phenomenon is somewhat psychological. It may develop into hatred. Such hatred is extremely dangerous as it is hatred for self and others. Hatred for self can make an individual develop suicidal tendencies. Suicide attempts, which are usually unsuccessful, are among the possible outcomes of such inferiority complex. People with suicidal tendencies have little regard for the suffering of other people. They may get depressed to the extent of developing mental disorders. Such mental disorders are likely to make an individual resort to serial killing (brown & Forth 32). Research indicates that most serial killers have a history of inferiority complex and low self worth. One of the most frequent sources of low self worth among college students across the United States, according to research, is rejection by a potential lover or spouse.
Drug abuse can make a person a psychopath. Drug abuse is the tendency of an individual to consume illicit drugs for intoxication purposes. Such drugs are detrimental to the physical as well as the mental wellbeing of an individual. This way, the drug addicts, are at a risk of developing mental imbalances and disorders. The mental imbalance, according to psychologists, is likely to affect the part that is concerned with fear and other feelings such as shame (Wiebe 34). Once such parts of the brain are affected, the individual becomes fearless and emotionless. This way they develop antisocial tendencies become difficult to interact with. This way, the community members, develop a fear towards them. Such fear and unwillingness to interact with people makes them social misfits. A social misfit will always consider himself hated and unwanted. As such, they as well learn to hate people. From the hatred, they can engage in such things as rape and serial killing. Thus, they become psychopaths.
Aggressiveness is a likely cause of psychopathy in quite a number of ways. Among the most regular ways through which an individual can grow to be a psychopath through aggressiveness is sexual tension. Sexual aggressiveness can make a person behave irrationally. Such irrationality may make an individual engage in rape and pedophilic tendencies (Peschardt & Mitchell 268). The person may emotionlessly engage other individuals of both sexes in animalistic sexual acts. It is characteristic of the psychopaths to have abnormally exaggerated libido and sexual energy. It is for this reason that they are known to have multiple sexual partners in their lives, with whom they are not emotionally attached. They engage in sexual activities purely for selfish gratification. Being possessed about having sex can compel an individual into being the serial killer that rapes and kills. Similarly, the victims of sexual aggression can develop into being psychopaths.
Sexual abuse, especially rape can potentially make the victim become a psychopath if such victims were children. This happens when the abused individual suffers trauma for an exceptionally long time and overcome it when it is late in life (Perez 521). For instance, a boy child that is molested at a tender age is likely to be disturbed psychologically. Such disturbance commonly referred to as trauma is can last in the mind of the individual for a considerably long time. In fact, the trauma can remain in the mind of the individual for well over a decade. By the time the person is overcoming the trauma, it will be too late to realize that they have not learnt how to meet people and interrelate with their peers. As such, they will not be able to trust people. They lock themselves up and as their biological needs, such as the sexual needs, increase, the person seeks to satisfy them in a way that may not be friendly to the other party. This may take the form of rape or actual assault.
Looking the issue from the nature side of it, one of the main causes is the genetic makeup. While it has been a topic of contention whether or not the traits of a parent can be passed down to a sibling through genes, social scientists argue that the tendency to be psychopathic is linked to genetics (Sobhani & Bechara 646). The genetic makeup of an individual borrows traits from both parents. In their view, therefore, there is a high likelihood that an individual will be psychopathic if either parent was psychopathic or if both parents were psychopathic. This is to say that a parent whose part of the brain had an imbalance is expected to give birth to a kid with such traits. Worth noting, however, is the possibility that an individual could be psychopathic even when both parents are not psychopathic at all (Feuchtwanger 52). However, the parents may have contributed to the condition. The parent, especially the mother, can influence the conduct of the child through her conduct during pregnancy. For instance, a mother that is chain-smoking during pregnancy is likely to give birth to a deformed baby. Deformations, contrary to common belief, are not only physical but mental, as well. Such mental deformities can be the cause of psychopathy.
Talking of the parent-child connection as a source of psychopathic behavior, the upbringing of children is a significant contributor to the phenomenon. A child that is brought up in a favorable environment such as an environment that emphasizes religion is likely to be highly social and interactive. On the contrary, a kid that is brought up in an adverse environment; where no one is concerned about emphasizing the virtues and discouraging the vices of life, is potential psychopath (Perez 520). There are many differences between a child whose parents take a detached approach towards parenting, and a kid whose parents and guardians take an interactive approach. The latter is likely to gain knowledge on the importance of life. As such, they are likely to take into consideration the feelings of other people. They cannot stand to see an individual suffer. A detached or authoritarian approach to parenting is a probable cause of rebellious behavior later in life. Psychologists warn that children brought up by authoritarian parents grow to be introverts who have an urge to avenge their bitter childhood (Eden & Vincent 193). As a way of avenging, they take others through suffering. They may grow up to be sadists that do not care about the value for life.
It is no doubt that psychopathic tendencies are common features in the world of politics. Considering that politicians are highly persuasive and have extreme convincing capacities, but deliver none of their promises, it is valid to conclude that they are psychopaths (Sobhani & Bechara 649). By violating the obligation to honor their promises, they intentionally hurt the citizen. It is apparent that the electorate is in most cases a collection of poor and middle-class hopefuls looking up to the politician to make their lives worth living. The politicians are well aware of the suffering and torture that the common citizen undergoes. As if to worsen the situation, they have the gut to approach the electorate every time the election is around the corner. They deceive them into offering their support and soon after the elections; they go behind the scenes, only to resurface during the next period with counts of excuses as to why they did not fulfill their vows. Such inhumane character is characteristic of a perfect psychopath.
Adolf Hitler was an exceptional psychopath in the sense that he used the most crooked means to manipulate his subjects and forcefully exercise power. The man who has gone down in books of history as the worst dictator after having killed six million Jews, was said to take pleasure in seeing people suffer whether the claim is a fact or a mere rumor, there are many other features that make him qualify as a perfect psychopath (Peschardt & Mitchell 263). He was obsessed with power and control, and his wild passions drove him into thinking that he could control the entire European continent. President George bush has as well been described as a psychopath, not because he was brutal or anything of the sort, but because he used political trickery always. The former president was known for his politics that were full of propaganda. Like many other leaders in the entire history of the United States, Bush was known for his tendency to fight for power at all cost. The gist with which he handled the Iraqi war brought a psychopathic image of him. He did not mind the welfare of innocent women and children. He fought for American supremacy at the expense of such innocent and blameless, vulnerable groups. The decision to declare war on Iraq and using of superior weaponry against harmless citizens has been criticized by social scientists, human right activists and political scientists as a selfish move that was taken to benefit a cliché of American politicians at the expense of thousands of human lives. In conclusion, it is apparent that psychopathy is phenomena caused by the nature-nurture interplay in all circles of life.
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