Sociopath vs Psychopath - What's The Difference?
Do you have an exalted sense of self?
Are you a compulsive liar?
Would you do just about anything to get you want?
If you answered “yes” to all of these questions, you might want to consult a professional
who can determine if you are a sociopath or a psychopath.
Both sociopaths and psychopaths share three common traits suggested by the questions above
– conceitedness, deceitfulness, and manipulation largely unchecked by moral conscience.
Some experts think sociopathy and psychopathy are the same and group them together under
the diagnostic term antisocial personality disorder or APD, while others argue that there
are significant differences between the two mental disorders.
We will examine some of these differences in this episode of The Infographics Show,
“Sociopath vs. Psychopath.”
The outward behavior that sociopaths and psychopaths display can be as different as night and day.
Sociopaths are more impulsive and irresponsible than psychopaths.
As psychologist Scott Bonn notes, sociopaths tend to “live on the fringes of society.”
They often can't hold down a job for long and can't settle down in one place.
They may travel extensively, but they are not sightseers.
If they can't find a legitimate work to pay for whatever they need, they may do shady
things like lie, cheat, and steal from people along the way.
Renowned con man Charles Ponzi lived in this manner.
Ponzi immigrated from Italy to America in 1903.
He supposedly said, “I landed in this country with $2.50 in cash and $1 million in hopes,
and those hopes never left me.”
According to the New England Historical Society, $2.50 was all that he had left after “having
gambled and drunk away” most of the $200 he had with him while on board the ship taking
him to America.
After arriving in Boston, he spent several years “working odd jobs in the Northeast.”
Described by one article as an “alleged sociopath,” he led a “life of lies”
that “was all about tricking rich people into investing in sham corporations.”
His International Reply Coupon scheme was the one where he used money from investors
to pay other investors, a form of fraud that became known as the Ponzi scheme.
According to biography.com, Ponzi spent 14 years in prison for this crime.
He was deported to Italy after being released from prison and ended up dying in Rio de Janeiro
in 1949.
In contrast, psychopaths have more self-control and are more calculating than sociopaths.
They blend into society more effectively than sociopaths because, as Bonn points out, they
are “often well educated and hold steady jobs.”
Not all psychopaths are violent or a threat to society, and some manage to channel their
need to control others into gainful employment.
They gravitate toward positions of authority and jobs requiring objective analysis and
decision-making.
According to a Time article, some professions with the most psychopaths include CEOs, lawyers,
surgeons, and police officers.
Oddly enough, chefs and salespeople also made the list.
Sociopaths have a slight edge over psychopaths when it comes to establishing meaningful relationships.
According to Bonn, “it is difficult but not impossible for sociopaths to form attachments
with others.”
They are “capable of empathy in certain limited circumstances but not in others”
and “with a few individuals but not others.”
Gary Ridgway is a good example of the sociopath's “limited” ability to feel empathy and
form emotional attachments.
Between 1982 and 2001, he “murdered at least 49 women in Washington state,” according
to biography.com.
One article reports that his victims were prostitutes and young runaways.
After killing them, Ridgway “often returned to his dumping grounds to have sex with his
victims' corpses.”
He also dumped some of their bodies in the Green River, which earned him the name of
the Green River Killer.
While Ridgway committed four of these horrible crimes, he was married to his third wife,
Judith Ridgway.
Although he targeted prostitutes because of his “hate” for them, he loved his wife
and had a good relationship with her.
In an interview six years after her husband went to prison, Judith Ridgway still had trouble
believing that her husband was a serial killer.
She described their life together as “loving” and “content.”
She said, “He made me feel like a newlywed every day.”
However, she had to face the truth about what her husband had done after she and the police
discovered evidence linking him to some of the murdered prostitutes.
She divorced Gary Ridgway after 16 years of marriage and has no contact with him today.
She told the interviewer, “I loved the man I knew, and I hate the man who took him away.”
In contrast, psychopaths are “unable to form emotional attachments or feel real empathy
with others” according to Bonn.
Emotions are foreign to them.
They know they should be feeling something, but they don't feel anything.
In his 1941 book called The Mask of Sanity, a psychiatrist named Hervey Cleckley provided
some insight into the mind of the psychopath when he wrote that “Beauty and ugliness,
except in a very superficial sense, goodness, evil, love, horror, and humor have no actual
meaning, no power to move him.”
This makes psychopaths capable of hurting others without any guilt or remorse.
Bonn states that psychopathy is the “most dangerous of all antisocial behaviors” because
psychopaths can “dissociate emotionally from their actions, regardless of how terrible
those actions may be.”
Psychopaths try to compensate for this impairment by being what a WebMD article calls “skilled
actors.”
They are charming and persuasive, and they are capable of faking emotions they can't
feel.
Notorious cult leader Jim Jones revealed his psychopathic mission to play whatever role
was necessary to win trust and manipulate others when he said, “What you need to believe
in is what you can see . . . If you see me as your friend, I'll be your friend.
If you see me as your father, I'll be your father, for those of you that don't have
a father . . . If you see me as your savior, I'll be your savior.
If you see me as your God, I'll be your God.”
A skilled orator, Jones combined idealistic rhetoric and overt and subtle coercion to
condition his followers to commit suicide by drinking a Kool-Aid type drink laced with
cyanide and Valium upon his command according to biography.com.
Another way psychopaths attempt to relate to others is to create a veneer of social
respectability to hide their dark side and any sinister behavior resulting from it.
This is an especially common strategy of psychopathic serial killers like John Wayne Gacy.
A summary of his court case noted his “double life”:
“Evidence showed that the defendant led a double life, engaging in charitable and
political activities at the same time he was committing a series of sadistic torture murders.
He enticed many young men to his home for homosexual liaisons, tying or handcuffing
his partners then strangling or choking them.
Gacy was a successful contractor, was active in the community, and often dressed up as
a clown for parties . . .”
Bonn states that different factors cause people to become sociopaths and psychopaths.
Some researchers think that sociopathy arises from childhood abuse and trauma.
It is a “learned” behavior arising from circumstance.
This is why sociopaths still maintain some moral conscience, some empathy, and some ability
to form emotional attachments, although they are all weak.
However, research suggests that psychopathy has a largely genetic component to it.
Bonn notes that psychopathy “is related to a physiological defect that results in
the underdevelopment of the part of the brain responsible for impulse control and emotions.”
Another report states that “brain scans of people with APD have shown low activity
in areas related to empathy, morality, and self-control.”
According to a Psychologia, sociopaths make up 4% of the general population, while psychopaths
make up about 1%.
However, these percentages are equivalent to millions of people, so it is quite possible
that you might meet a sociopath or psychopath one day.
Have you ever met a sociopath or psychopath?
What was this person like?
Let us know in the comments!
Also, be sure to check out our other video called Signs That YOU Are A Genius!
Thanks for watching, and, as always, don't forget to like, share, and subscribe.
See you next time!
