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Who Are These People?
19
Psychopathy is a personality disorder described by the personality
traits and behaviors that form the basis of this book. Psychopaths
are without conscience and incapable of empathy, guilt,
or loyalty to anyone but themselves.
Sociopathy is not a formal psychiatric condition. It refers to patterns
of attitudes and behaviors that are considered antisocial and
criminal by society at large, but are seen as normal or necessary by
the subculture or social environment in which they developed.
Sociopaths may have a well-developed conscience and a normal
capacity for empathy, guilt, and loyalty, but their sense of right and
wrong is based on the norms and expectations of their subculture
or group. Many criminals might be described as sociopaths.
Antisocial personality disorder (APD) is a broad diagnostic
category found in the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic
and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition
(DSM-IV). Antisocial and criminal behaviors play a major role in
its definition and, in this sense, APD is similar to sociopathy.
Some of those with APD are psychopaths, but many are not. The
difference between psychopathy and antisocial personality disorder
is that the former includes personality traits such as lack of
empathy, grandiosity, and shallow emotion that are not necessary
for a diagnosis of APD. APD is three or four times more common
than psychopathy in the general population and in prisons.
The prevalence of those we would describe as sociopathic is unknown
but likely is considerably higher than that of APD.
One may argue that psychopaths who live freely in society simply
have not yet been caught committing a crime or engaging in socially
destructive behavior. Given the psychopaths’ personality features, and
their inclination for breaking the rules and pushing the envelope of acceptable
human behavior, there is some merit to this argument. Still,
just having a psychopathic personality disorder does not make one a
criminal. Some psychopaths live in society and do not technically break
the law—although they may come close, with behavior that usually
is very unpleasant for those around them. Some may lead seemingly