The difference between Sociopaths and Psychopaths

[Sandstone]

Alot of people use these terms interchangeably and based off of modern psychiatric standards they are not really the same thing.

 

It is easy to mistake the difference though as they both currently fall under Anti-social Personality Disorder.

 

The generally accepted difference between the two is this:

 

Sociopathy:

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- Have a grandiose sense of self and entitlement. They will often dispose of relationships or people and feel no remorse over anything that helps them achieve their end goals (such as attaining a position of power or prestige)

- Can make some strong or intimate bonds with other people (though this number is usually greatly diminished)

- Can feel some empathy but only towards people they have close bonds to

- Lacks empathy for everyone else other than the afore mentioned category

- Prone to violence against animals, elderly, disabled or mentally handicapped people, and children or anyone else they consider physically weaker and thus not useful to them

- Have a significant lack of remorse for most things, though they often follow their own personal set of morals (most of the time things that would lie outside of the normal purview of societal morality)

- Tends to be emotionally unstable, especially in frequency or manner of violent outbursts. They are generally spontaneous and do not necessarily plan out crimes or violent acts very well.

- Usually the result of childhood and/or adolescent psychological trauma such as sexual, physical, or mental abuse especially those committed by guardians or parents, or the internalization of a persistent negative atmosphere (such as being raised in a drug den or whore house.

 

Psychopathy:

- Completely incapable of forming any types of strong social or intimate bonds with anyone.

- Often forms parasitic like relationships.

- Have a grandiose sense of self, and entitlement. Like sociopaths, they are not afraid of using people or hurting people to get to an end goal that they feel entitled to.

- Lacks empathy for everyone with no exceptions, they do not process emotions the same way as everyone else. This is thought to be the result of differences biological brain functioning, e.g. the centers of the brain that govern emotion and empathy are very underactive or slow responding to stimuli.

- Lacks remorse for any and all actions, including criminal activity and behavior considered immoral by society. They are generally undeterred by shunning or criticism but may lash out against such things if they see it as an attempt to hamper their goals.

- Usually very charming even though they lack deep or significant emotions.

- They are very good at manipulation of other people.

- They are pathological liars, often weaving elaborate trees of lies, and sometimes lying about things that seemingly do not matter or merely to impress others.

- They can fake emotions and are often good at fooling untrained people or even psychologists that do not have much experience in dealing with or talking to psychopaths.

- Prone to violence or abuse against those they deem weaker than them and/or not useful to them.

- Are very careful and plan ahead especially when they are committing criminal or immoral acts. They do not readily let on that they doing anything outside the norm, and are not spontaneous or irrational, they do not have outbursts generally speaking unless they know they will not be caught.

- Psychopathy unlike Sociopathy is generally believed to be linked to significant biological differences in the person's brain and is not a result of trauma (in fact many psychopaths are mostly unfazed by things most people would find traumatizing)

- Psychopathy unlike Sociopathy is considered to be related to genetics, and develops gradually from birth.