Psychopathy is a term used by mental health professionals to describe some of the personality traits of people who are attractive, manipulative, violent, callous, and prone to crime. You might think psychopaths are everywhere because this term appears in the media so often. In fact, psychopaths make up an estimated 1% of the total population. In everyday life, psychopaths are talented people because they are able to pretend so that from the outside it looks good and fun. To determine if someone has psychopathy, you need to look at some of the main aspects of their personality, their emotional affect, and their relationships with other people.
Step
Part 1 of 3: Observing His Personality
Step 1. Observe if he pretends to be nice
Like actors playing a variety of roles, psychopaths will wear what mental health experts call the "mask" of naturalness to appear attractive and fun. Psychopaths are usually the center of attention and liked by everyone. He tries to please others so that later he is easily manipulated.
Psychopaths always seem so confident that other people are drawn to interacting with them, perhaps because they have established and relatively successful jobs. He may also have a lover, a spouse, and children. Psychopaths are very adept at playing the role of "role models."
Step 2. Observe if he admires himself
Psychopaths believe that they are smarter or more powerful than they really are. To raise his status, he tried to impress both successful and great people. He believed that other people should treat him special.
Often times, his excessive selfishness causes the mask of naturalness he wears to crack. He does not hesitate to insult other people who are considered useless or do not raise their status
Step 3. Determine if he is behaving impulsively and irresponsibly
Both of these traits prove the existence of psychopathy. He felt there was nothing wrong with the way he lived his daily life. Psychopaths are notorious for refusing to take responsibility for their own decisions or the consequences of those decisions. In addition, they do not want to accept the fact that the consequences of their bad behavior are caused by themselves who always refuse to take responsibility. Examples of impulsiveness that they often show, "I'm not at work today" or "This meeting is so boring. I'll just go home!" In conclusion, psychopaths are not people who can be trusted and relied on.
Psychopaths are very egocentric and behave according to their emotions. He will do whatever he wants at will, such as cheating, lying, and stealing without feeling guilty. Psychopaths are very easy to get involved in promiscuity or having an affair. He can decide to stop working for no apparent reason (because this is not a problem for them at all)
Step 4. Observe whether there is a tendency to break the rules
If the person you're observing always follows the rules, it's unlikely that he or she is a psychopath. Psychopaths are always against people who have authority and think they have the right to rule. Perhaps this is why 25% of male criminals in prison are psychopaths.
In addition, after being released from prison, psychopaths still violate the law and are not deterrent
Step 5. Find out if he has ever been involved in juvenile delinquency
Mental health experts found a correlation between childhood and psychopathy experienced as adults. Psychopaths often show bad behavior as a teenager, for example being aggressive towards other people. In addition, he does not react to distress (negative stress) or punishment like other teenagers.
Find out if the person you are observing is having a troubled adolescence. This could indicate a tendency to psychopathy as an adult
Part 2 of 3: Observing His Emotional State
Step 1. Consider his moral and personal life
If the person you are observing has a conscience, it is unlikely that he or she is a psychopath. In general, psychopaths don't care about moral rules. He will do whatever he wants and doesn't care if his actions hurt other people.
Psychopaths don't care about ethics, such as stealing a friend's lover without feeling guilty or trying to bring down a coworker to get promoted and then bragging
Step 2. Pay attention to her affect or emotional response
Psychopaths exhibit poor emotional responses and abnormal reactions to death, injury, or other events that usually trigger feelings of sadness.
Know the difference between a psychopath and a person with autism in responding. Although autism may seem numb at first, he or she will experience distress or try to understand the situation and ask for help. Unlike autism, psychopaths don't feel sad at all
Step 3. Notice if he feels guilty
Psychopaths never feel guilty or sorry. "Rhino-skinned" is the most appropriate nickname to describe this kind of person. He pretends to feel guilty to trick someone into not getting angry.
- For example, he pretends to feel so guilty after hurting someone else's feelings that this person tries to comfort him.
- Interestingly, psychopaths are also able to empathize even if only pretending because psychopathy makes a person unable to empathize sincerely. In addition, psychopaths will try to show empathy, for example so that others admire them because they cannot empathize spontaneously.
Step 4. See if he is able to accept responsibility
Psychopaths never admit guilt sincerely or accept guilt when tried. In a forced state, he will plead guilty, but to manipulate others because he wants to avoid the consequences.
Step 5. Watch out if he starts feeling sorry for himself
Psychopaths are very good at manipulating other people's emotions and feelings so that they position them as victims. This makes you even more powerless and easier to use. If the psychological causes of this mentality are followed by unacceptable evil, be careful with such people.
Part 3 of 3: Observing His Behavior towards Others
Step 1. See if he likes to fuss
Psychopaths like to create chaos and drama to keep things fun because they get bored quickly. He often provokes fights and then pretends to be the victim. He messes up other people's lives and acts like it's nothing and doesn't feel guilty.
If you have to interact with a psychopath while going about your daily life, make sure you keep thinking rationally. For example, while working in an office, a psychopath tells you that you are being humiliated by a coworker and he coaxes you into a confrontation. After a big fight, you realize that he too was persuaded to have a confrontation with you
Step 2. Notice if it performs any manipulations
Everyone is motivated to get what they want, but psychopaths are notoriously sneaky at this. He will use a variety of ways to get what he wants, such as pretending, being nice, being pushy, and other ways to get you to do things you wouldn't normally do.
For example, you are the president director of the company you work for. Psychopathic coworkers try to approach you to take advantage of your weaknesses. One day when you arrive at work, you hear the news that news of a scandal has spread in the office. The classified information you share with psychopaths seems to have made it to the media. Guess who will take your place?
Step 3. Observe the relationship with the other person
Psychopaths usually have short marriages. He will blame his ex-spouse as the cause of the problem and never realize that he is also responsible for the failure of his marriage.
When starting a relationship, psychopaths idolize their partners. Over time, he underestimates his partner and then leaves him to find a new, more interesting partner. For a psychopath, divorce or breaking up is very easy because he has never had a serious bond with his partner
Step 4. Find out if he is lying due to pathological factors
Psychopaths can lie in any way to get you to like them or make up stories to deceive you. Even though things would be fine if he spoke the truth, he would still be lying and more surprisingly, he wouldn't feel guilty, even proud. If you know the truth, he will twist the facts so they don't come off as a lie.
In addition, psychopaths never seem confused when they lie. He remains calm, relaxed, and able to tell anything without being at a loss for words
Step 5. Check if he seems awkward and pretends when he apologizes
When cornered and have to apologize, the psychopath will try to do it, but he can't apologize sincerely because his feelings are so blunt.
- You'll see inconsistent behavior, for example, "Seriously, I didn't mean to hurt you" with a smirk and an insincere tone of voice.
- If you can't accept his bad treatment, he'll get angry, even saying, "You're very irritable" or "Forget it. Don't bother with it anymore!"
