Psychopaths: Nature or Nurture?

Clinical psychopaths have physiological markers that can be seen in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and in lower resting heart rate, for example. It has not been determined with certainty if these aberrations are present at birth or if they are due to childhood environment or trauma. It does seem plausible that the outcome for a “born psychopath” is closely tied to “external” influences. In other words; the characteristics of each individual, and his path in life, are the result of an interaction between nature and nurture. If that truly is the case, isn’t it plausible that it is the childhood setting that determines if a child born with a psychopathic brain abnormality will become a high functioning ‘controlled’ psychopath or not? Perhaps psychopaths from ‘good’ homes are more likely to become politicians, corporate executives, lawyers, psychiatrists, and Wall Street operatives, while the psychopaths from ‘bad’ homes are more likely to take the positions as con artists, rapists, murderers, serial killers, and other criminals that have a high representation rate in prisons.

Sociopaths: Controlled and Uncontrolled (RobertLindsay.wordpress.com) Psychopaths are manipulators. (psychopathresistance.wordpress.com) The Invisible Psychopath—By The Time You Recognize Them It’s Too Late (totallyteas.wordpress.com) The Great Debate Over Nature Vs. Nurture in Psychology (psych.answers.com) Scandal After Scandal, Lie Upon Lie … What’s Going On? (ritholtz.com) What Does The Mind Of A Killer Look Like? (wnyc.org) Nature vs. Nurture (theotherwesmoorereader.wordpress.com) Psychopaths Caused the Financial Crisis (ritholtz.com)

Dealing with Resisters

Psychopaths dominate because most people are brainwashed to be victims. There occasionally are people with partial resistance. They are isolated and the psychopaths can easily discredit and remove them.

A Game of Destroying People

A Game of Destroying People

“Psychopaths blame their victims for what happened
and consider the victims’ fate irrelevant.”

The mocking and controlling behavior of the psychopathic mind is motivated by a claim for submission. The submission brings them feelings of excitement consisting of a type of victory. They enjoy what they consider to be a game of destroying people. It’s amusing to them.

A Game of Destroying People

Devalue and discard

A narcissist will quickly devalue and discard his target, claiming he is the victim. His victims are now put in a defensive role by his lies and character assassination. By involving others he is enlarging his circle of those who give him attention. Any attention you may have given him is now replaced and multiplied by other people he manages to fool. A win/win scenario for a narcissist.

He will increase his attempts to provoke his victim into some reaction—the more emotional the better to make her look crazy and himself sane. Do NOT take his bait. It is his trap and setup. Provoking you into a reaction is his goal.

Dr. Vaknin explains: “Even the victim’s relatives, friends, and colleagues are amenable to the considerable charm, persuasiveness, and manipulativeness of the abuser and to his impressive thespian skills. The abuser offers a plausible rendition of the events and interprets them to his favor. Others rarely have a chance to witness an abusive exchange first hand and at close quarters. In contrast, the victims are often on the verge of a nervous breakdown: harassed, unkempt, irritable, impatient, abrasive, and hysterical.”

“Confronted with this contrast between a polished, self-controlled, and suave abuser and his harried casualties it is easy to reach the conclusion that the real victim is the abuser, or that both parties abuse each other equally. The prey’s acts of self-defense, assertiveness, or insistence on her rights are interpreted as aggression, lability, or a mental health problem.”

Dr. Sam Vaknin
Narcissism by Proxy, FAQ#42  

Related articles

• Some Thoughts I’ve Found About Narcissists… (parentalalienationnj.wordpress.com)
• In Order to Live (imperfectlady.typepad.com)

“Make it your priority to spread the word.”

“Not only do psychopaths live among us, but also through our ignorance we have allowed them to rise to positions of almost absolute power over us. Widespread knowledge of the reality of psychopathy on this planet is the essential first step to securing our future and that of our children. Make it your priority to spread the word.”

 Harrison Koehli of Red Pill Press

The Psychopath—emotion and the brain

Identifying Different Psychopaths

Pacific Northwest and Serial Killers

Reblogged from Blame the Amygdala:

I just stumbled across this article from the Seattle Times, published in 2003, and written by Alex Tizon. When reading about serial killers, you can't help wondering if there is just something special about the Pacific Northwest. This article puts those thoughts into some context.

Does Northwest draw out serial killers?

Ted Bundy: a really nice guy…

	“Nice and friendly” is the persona of many con artists, abusers, paedophiles, and killers. Ted Bundy was handsome and educated. The number of young women he raped and killed has not been determined, but it may have been more than 200.
Ted Bundy was intelligent and charming.	Ted Bundy’s 1968 VW Beetle. This was the car he used for most of his murders. Now on display at the National Museum of Crime & Punishment in Washington, DC (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Missing 8-Year-Old Was Bundy’s First Victim? (prweb.com)
Imagining Ted Bundy (psychologytoday.com)
The Ted Bundy Stats on Facebook – Unbelievable! (bonjupatten.com)

Misogyny

Find out more:
Men who hate women

This darling little girl met a most terrible fate.

Victoria (Tori) Stafford

Victoria ‘Tori’ Stafford was only eight years old when she was abducted, raped, and murdered by a psychopathic duo. She may still have been alive as she was being stamped on and beaten with a hammer before her body was stuffed into plastic bags and buried beneath a pile of rocks. 16 of her 24 ribs were broken and her liver was lacerated. Of four areas of her head that had been smashed, three were from a hammer’s claw and one with its blunt end.

Terri-Lynn McClintic pleaded guilty in April 2010 to murdering Tori. Michael Rafferty, 31, pleaded not guilty to murder, sexual assault and abduction, but was found guilty of all counts.

The Psychopath Duo

• Michael Rafferty appealing Tori Stafford murder conviction (news.nationalpost.com)

Victims of Psychopaths: True Stories

From DailyStrength.org: 

“Is he beyond a narcissist? Is he a sociopath or psychopath? Think we’re only talking about serial killers here? Psychopaths, sociopaths, and even narcissists come in every walk of life, every career level, and every socio-economic category. They are doctors, attorneys, ministers, students, and truck drivers. They are realtors, construction workers, and professors. They are your boss, your neighbor, your family member, and your lover or husband. You might even be with one now and not know.”

Victims of Psychopaths/Sociopaths

Read the victims’ personal accounts and notice the similarities between the psychopathic abusers that they describe!

Love fraud

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Lovefraud Blog and Lovefraud.com

Wake up to the danger of sociopaths/psychopaths

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New blog posts

 •  Sociopaths/psychopaths as aliens

 •  With the Penn State report, a public understanding of unbelievable betrayal

 •  How to break a “culture of silence”—remove everyone

 •  Warning others: a moral obligation or crossing the line?

 •  Letters to Lovefraud: I provided her a road map to my life

 •  Red Flags of Love Fraud featured in Courier Post newspaper

 •  Signs of a psycho/sociopath in a chilling story from New York

Harrison Koehli: Spread information!

 

“Not only do psychopaths live among us, but also through our ignorance we have allowed them to rise to positions of almost absolute power over us. Widespread knowledge of the reality of psychopathy on this planet is the essential first step to securing our future and that of our children. Make it your priority to spread the word.”

Red Pill Press editor Harrison Koehli discusses the book Political Ponerology by Andrew Lobacewski. It is an audio file with descriptive titles added.

“This is an extraordinary book.”
Ilan Pappe, author of The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine

“Political Ponerology is fascinating, essential reading.”
Philip Zimbardo, author of The Lucifer Effect

The book is a look at psychopaths in political power. Political Ponerology is a study of the founders and supporters of oppressive political regimes. Lobaczewski’s approach analyzes the common factors that lead to the propagation of man’s inhumanity to man. Morality and humanism cannot long withstand the predations of this evil. Knowledge of its nature—and its insidious effect on both individuals and groups—is the only antidote.

 

Some people really are that hostile.

“These people are at war with you. Don’t ever tell them your secrets or your insecurities. They will just use it against you to inflict more pain. It’s a harsh reality to accept, but some people really are that hostile towards the world that they really are out to emotionally hurt everyone and anyone. The people they are closest to are just their easiest victims.”

Kill the messenger

Rosa says:

Isn’t it amazing how sociopaths can run around smearing people, telling insidious lies with impunity….THEN……when WE try to warn others (with the TRUTH) about possible danger of the socio, it’s “Kill the Messenger” time….and we are the “Messenger”.

What’s up with that?

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

Dear Rosa,

What you are describing is the standard abuser protocol called DARVO, an acronym for Deny, Attack, Reverse roles of Victim and Offender.

Your question and your righteous outrage are about psycho/sociopaths’ ability to harm others easily and repeatedly—with impunity—sometimes with devastating consequences for their victim. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the victim’s friends and family may withhold support or reject him/her at the worst of times because the abuser had the evil foresight to secure their sympathy and support, and at the same time, destroy the victim’s reputation and credibility.

The reason why pathological aggressors are so successful with this cunning scheme is quite simple: they are exceptionally skilled actors with a lifetime of practice in lying, manipulating, persuading, and deceiving. The psycho/sociopath will callously aim to crush his victim, unperturbed by ethical concerns. The victim’s options will be limited by his moral standards, and without the persuasive power of a psychopath, he may be unable to convince others of the truth of the matter.

Another reason why many of us are conned again and again is because we cannot fathom that an outwardly nice, intelligent, respectable person whom we may have expended exceptional kindness, trust, and generosity; would be capable of acting so atrociously. We find it hard to believe that there really are human beings who don’t have a conscience and we fail to see the patterns in our experiences that verify any ‘unpleasant’ facts that contradict or challenge our long held beliefs and attitudes.

Read about Denial and DARVO…

 

Public safety

See no evil: Why is there so little psychopathy awareness?

 Reblogged from Psychopathyawareness’s Blog:

It seems like people tend to research psychopathy and other personality disorders after they’ve been burned. I have decided to repost an entry from last year that examines some of the reasons why there is so little psychopathy awareness in the general public. Ideally, this information can reach the general public, so people can spot the symptoms of dangerous personality disorders…

Read more… 1,530 more words

THE SMEAR CAMPAIGN—Trademark of a Sociopath

Sociopath a.k.a. Psychopath

When you are under libelous attack by a person who has deceived and defrauded you, there is a possibility that the person is a sociopath. Sociopaths have no heart, no conscience, and no remorse.

They will lie, cheat, and steal from you and then convincingly tell everyone that it is all your fault.

Read more…

The killer nerd

Randy Steven Kraft, Orange County’s most prolific serial killer, may have killed as many as 65 young men in Oregon, Michigan and California during a 13-year span that ended in 1983.

He was sentenced to die in 1989 after a trial that lasted nearly a year, but he is still on death row, appealing his convictions.

He was a meek looking computer programmer with a high IQ and a quiet suburban lifestyle who was convicted of killing 16 men.

His killing spree came to an end when he was caught with a dead Marine in his Toyota sedan on May 14, 1983.

A “score card” of Kraft’s kills was found in the trunk of his car. It had 65 names on it.

Related articles

• The Lethal Legacy of Randy Kraft
• Death row child killer found hanging in cell
• Killer of 3 Tries Not to Think About Murders
• 2 ‘Speed Freak Killer’ victims found, identified

A fox in the henhouse

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Individuals with psychopathic traits are often attracted to affinity groups—religious, atheist, political, or social groups of people who share common values, beliefs, or interests. The collective trust that members of these groups have in one another and their common belief system provides a perfect cover for the psychopathic person. A psychopathic individual can be highly skilled at accurately mimicking the group’s beliefs or values while in the presence of its members. As a result, trust is easily gained and his or her true motives or covert activities are less likely to be discovered.

An affinity group that has been victimized may have members who are unable to face the truth about the exploitative individual. Often, they will rationalize why he or she took advantage of the group, and continue to believe that the person is basically good at heart.

Unfortunately, it is common for the group to side with the psychopathic person if he or she has targeted an individual member to exploit, abuse, or ostracize. With well established respect from the group, skillful manipulation and deceit, and a careful choice of victim, the aggressor will turn the tables and convincingly paint the victim as the guilty party.

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Read more at:

Aftermath: Surviving Psychopathy Foundation

A NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION PROVIDING INFORMATION AND SUPPORT FOR VICTIMS OF PSYCHOPATHY

It’s so easy to be fooled.

Psychopaths are superficially charming. They lack delusions or other signs of irrational thinking and are free of nervousness and anxiety. In other words, they present an image of stability, confidence, and overall good “mental health” that can disarm even the most experienced judge of human character.

The psychopaths killed another American.

Are we brainwashed to admire psychopaths?

One phenomenon all ponerogenic groups and associations have in common is the fact that their members lose (or have already lost) the capacity to perceive pathological individuals as such, interpreting their behavior in fascinated, heroic, or melodramatic ways. Andrew Lobaczewski

See also:  Political Ponerology

$460 billion per year—the cost of psychopathy

Psychopaths are estimated to make up 1 percent* of the population but constitute roughly 15 to 25 percent of the offenders in prison and are responsible for a disproportionate number of brutal crimes and murders. A recent estimate by the neuroscientist Kent Kiehl placed the national cost of psychopathy at $460 billion a year — roughly 10 times the cost of depression — in part because psychopaths tend to be arrested repeatedly. The societal costs of nonviolent psychopaths may be even higher. Dr. Robert Hare, the co-author of “Snakes in Suits,” describes evidence of psychopathy among some financiers and business people; he suspects Bernie Madoff of falling into that category.

* Opinions about the percentage vary. 1% is the most moderate estimate.

Related articles

• Psychopaths Everywhere? (psychologytoday.com)
• Psychopathy is the greatest obstacle… (psychopathresistance.wordpress.com)
• Are humans becoming more or less psychopathic? (sentientdevelopments.com)
• Snakes in Suits (beatingthebullyboss.wordpress.com)
• The psychopath: Facts and research resources (drjezphillips.wordpress.com)

Nice and friendly?

Bernie Madoff was very well liked and trusted. He ripped off whoever he could, even his old friends.

Since, in the majority of cases, people who indulge in abuse are selective about whom they abuse, other people are typically surprised—or in disbelief—when hearing that someone is experiencing on-going and periodic abuse from someone they know and have always seen as nice and friendly. “Nice and friendly” is the persona of many conmen, abusers, and killers. Although many folks really are as nice and friendly as they seem, some most definitly are not. Like Ted Bundy.

Ted Bundy in custody, Florida, 1978 or 1979.

Psychopathic dominance

If most members of a group are honest and intelligent, then evil people will be identified and excluded. When most members have psychopathic traits, the honest and intelligent people are identified and excluded! In a psychopath-controlled environment, it’s the honest people who seem defective and deviant.

Related articles

• Psychopath “code of ethics” 
• How to Act Like a Psychopath without Really Trying [Excerpt]
• Vulnerabilities exploited by manipulators
• Psychopaths Rule The World.
• ‘Uhs’ and ‘Ums’: Among the Verbal Tics of Psychopaths
• Identifying Psychopaths

Psychopathy is the greatest obstacle…

Psychopathy is “the greatest obstacle in development of personality and social groups”.  “The general inability to recognize the psychological type of such individuals [i.e. psychopaths] causes immense suffering, mass terror, violent oppression, genocide and the decay of civilization… As long as the suggestive [i.e. hypnotic, charming, “spellbinding”] power of the psychopaths is not confronted with facts and with moral and practical consequences of his doctrine, entire social groups may succumb to his demagogic appeal”. Kazimierz Dabrowski (1902–1980)

Related articles

• Beyond Insanity – Political Ponerology – Macrosocial Evil (powersthatbeat.wordpress.com)
• The Psychopath’s Poison Containers (phoenixsphere.com)
• Playing Games in Prison May Reveal Roots of Psychopathy (prweb.com)
• We are not the same. (psychopathresistance.wordpress.com)

They seem completely normal.

Individuals with this personality disorder are terrifyingly self-centered, remorseless, and unable to care about the feelings of others. Perhaps most frightening; they often seem completely normal to their unsuspecting targets.

Bullies get a kick out of seeing others in pain.

Brain scans of teens with a history of aggressive bullying behavior suggest that they may actually get pleasure out of seeing someone else in pain. While this may come as little surprise to those who have been victimized by bullies, it is not what the researchers expected.

The reason they were surprised is because the prevailing view is that these kids are cold and unemotional in their aggression.

“It is entirely possible their brains are lighting in the way they are because they experience seeing pain in others as exciting and fun and pleasurable,” said one researcher.

“We need to test that hypothesis more, but that is what it looks like,” he added.

Related articles

• ‘Bully’, a must-see for teens (bostonglobe.com)
• Emotional bullying (salemwitchhunt.wordpress.com)
• Are You Immune to Bullying? Learn about Someone who Is. (standupagainstbullyingguy.wordpress.com)
• The Anatomy of a Bully (dearfriendsblog.wordpress.com)
• Mom Seeks Restraining Order Against Daughter’s 9-Year-Old Bully (dreamindemon.com)
• Bullying (neumannpsychology.wordpress.com)
• Bullying study findings (itv.com)
• Bullying Helps (momentmatters.wordpress.com)

13 Rules for dealing with a psycho/sociopath

According to Dr. Stout, author of The Sociopath Next Door

1. Accept that some people have no conscience; that there are evil people in this world who do not act out of concern or love for another.
2. Listen to your instincts — labels (professional roles) do not make a good person. Look carefully at someone who “carries” a professional label, judging whether that individual’s behavior fits what is expected of that professional role.
3. Practice the rule of threes — One lie or broken promise may be a misunderstanding, two lies may involve a serious mistake, three lies — the individual is not trustworthy. Stay away from that individual.
4. Question authority.
5. Suspect flattery — when someone flatters you excessively, telling you how much they appreciate you or like it when you visit or how much they enjoy your conversations.
6. Redefine your concept of respect — respect must be earned. Don’t automatically give respect to an individual because of her professional role or her relationship to you.
7. Refuse to join the game — do not try to outsmart the sociopath. Do not reduce yourself to his level.
8. Once you identify a sociopath, avoid him, refuse any kind of interaction. It is the only way to protect yourself.
9. Question your tendency to pity too easily. Anyone who actively campaigns for your pity or consistently hurts others is likely a sociopath. Pity should be reserved for those who truly deserve it. Make sure the individual who seeks your help really needs it.
10. Do not try to redeem the unredeemable. If you are dealing with someone without a conscience, you cannot change them, no matter how educated or loving you are. Sociopaths have no reason to change; they like who they are.
11. Never agree to help a sociopath conceal her true character. You don’t owe the sociopath anything. Don’t believe that you are like her, no matter what she says. You are nothing like her.
12. Defend your psyche. Humanity is not a failure. Being kind and loving and caring is the best way to live. It is the way most people live their lives.
13. Living well is the best revenge.

Related articles

• What not to read before bed (morvensblog.wordpress.com)
• Doc Bonn Explains: The Difference Between a Sociopath and a Psychopath (psychopathresistance.wordpress.com)
• Sociopaths and Psychopaths: Can They Be Cured? (phoenixsphere.com)
• Sociopaths R Us (lewrockwell.com)
• “Because most humans aren’t full-on sociopaths, alcohol and drugs are pretty much the only way…” (darkerme.com)
• Setting yourself up to be Judged (spreadinformation.wordpress.com)
• Why We Love Sociopaths (thelastpsychiatrist.com)
• Denzel Washington Studied Sociopaths for Safe House Role (shoppingblog.com)
• A Real Capacity for Evil (lewrockwell.com)
• Cape Fear (1991) (hesnersfilmcritiques.com)
• The Ascendence of Sociopaths in US Governance (theburningplatform.com)

Criticizing a narcissist

“Narcissists mainly want to punish or defeat someone who has threatened their highly favorable views of themselves.” “People who are preoccupied with validating a grandiose self-image apparently find criticism highly upsetting and lash out against the source of it.”

Related articles

• Are You Dating a Narcissist? (theroot.com)
• Narcissistic personality disorder of scientists (neurostyle.wordpress.com)

Doc Bonn Explains:

The Difference Between a Sociopath and a Psychopath

Reblogged from Doc Bonn Blog:

The study of criminal behavior includes an examination of mental disorders that can contribute to deviant behavior. Sociopathy and psychopathy are terms used in psychology and criminology to refer to two separate groups of people with antisocial personality traits.  Significantly, these conditions are not classified as mental illnesses and they are not official diagnostic terms.  In the fourth edition of the…

Read more… 671 more words

The BTK serial killer

BTK – Bind, Torture, Kill

Dennis Rader confessed to ten murders over a span of nearly 30 years upon his capture in 2005. In between murders, he lived a remarkably normal outward life with a wife and two children. He was a member of Christ Lutheran Church and had been elected president of the Congregation Council. He was also a Cub Scout leader. His killings all took place in Kansas.

As a child, he tortured animals. He also harbored a sexual fetish for women’s underwear and would later steal underpants from his victims and wear them himself.

Related articles

• Do You Know a Serial Killer? (psychologytoday.com)
• Dr. Scott Bonn Writes to Serial Killers (docbonn.wordpress.com)
• I Feel Your Pain… and I Enjoy It (neurocritic.blogspot.com)

A quick test