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I’m Not a Psychopath, I Just Talk and Act Like One
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accept responsibility). As we stated before, these factors alone do not
indicate psychopathy, but they certainly are warning flags. But what
else does one need to look for?
Psychopaths, although capable of hiding some of their attitudes
and traits from others, are in fact amazingly consistent in their psychological
makeup. Years of study have uncovered their unique personality
structure, reflected in the four components or dimensions of
psychopathy (see page 27): interpersonal, affective, lifestyle, and antisocial.
All psychopaths score very high on the affective dimension,
but there are variations in their scores on the other three dimensions,
giving rise to a number of psychopathic “styles.”
What we know is that virtually all exhibit some form of asocial,
antisocial, or aggressive behavior, whether overt or covert. They are
all egotistical, having a sense of entitlement and the assertiveness to
demand it, which often makes them appear selfish in relationships.
They all have a grandiose sense of who they are and insist that others
give them the respect due them. They are not as goal oriented as the
rest of us when it comes to actual diligence and hard work, although
they will frequently tell others how ambitious they are and weave a
(phony) hard-luck story about how they overcame immense odds
growing up poor or underprivileged or from an abusive home. Yet
they are all irresponsible when it comes to attending to appropriate
behaviors (for example, not doing the job they were assigned or making
promises they do not keep), both on and off the job. And they
rarely, if ever, experience guilt or remorse for any of their transgressions,
even the most outrageous and hurtful.
A Fundamental Mistake
One of the biggest and most painful mistakes we make is to
assume that everyone has much the same capacity as we do for
emotional experiences. Because we have little difficulty in putting
ourselves in the emotional shoes of another person, we are