Understanding Sociopaths

[Wyatt]

Just finished watching Hulu’s Fyre Festival documentary. Really incredible story. The founder of the festival, Billy McFarland,  lied to more than ten thousand people and illegally took more than $20 million from them. Billy’s a self-admitted sociopath.

Sociopaths are people who don’t understand other’s emotions. They often act in ways that hurt others but feel no remorse for the pain they cause.

In my short 22 years I’ve met several sociopaths. My uncle, 2 kids I knew well in high-school, 2 girls I’ve met while dating, a fraternity brother, a former friend from college that was able to manipulate people very successfully, and my mom’s old boss who started a fraudulent business and scammed people out of millions of dollars. And the more people that tell me stories about crazy people they know, the more I see how many sociopaths there really are. There seems to be more out there than I used to think.

 

A few questions:

1. Are sociopaths born differently or do life experiences form their tendencies? Is it a problem with their brain? 

2. What is there to learn about how the ego works by studying sociopaths?

3. Sociopaths are master manipulators. Good advice for protecting yourself from being manipulated?

[K VIL]

3. Complete fact checks and be skeptical of grandiose statements from anyone. Assume good intentions and understand human nature in all its forms range from sociopaths to socially well adapted. What does it take to maintain these forms? Stop blindly giving money away because someone has a great sob story or is charismatic/charming/sexy the gamut.. 

[Equanimitize]

You have to be careful with putting labels on people-as you know human beings are very complex. With that being said this is something I studied for a little while especially after having the discussion about it earlier. I also think it is important for human beings to understand these people-more understanding leads to less suffering on both sides of the coin.

The spectrum I use is Narcissistic Personality Disorder -> Sociopath -> Psychopath. Every human being has at minimum a little bit of narcism in them unless they have completely obliterated the ego.   

The way I see it is that sociopaths become sociopaths due to environmental pressure, something in their environment usually along the lines of nurturing is not present during a specific time in their life to where it re-wires how they show up and see the world. As you said they don't have the capacity to feel remorse or empathy for someone that they just hurt in some form or fashion. So, while their genetics are prepped and primed to get a response when something or someone activates that aspect of their genes-they are born with a pre-disposition to sociopathy-and it takes the proper concoction over a specific period of time for someone to show up as a Sociopath. (I could be completely off base here, this is how I grasp & understand it, please do your own research)

There's ton to learn about all human beings and the ego. We are just getting started, as we become more conscious we will understand many of these aspects of the human condition. Sort of like how ice pick lobotomies were at one point and time the norm in society. What is the icepick lobotomy in this day and age in which we live in? 

Indeed they are master manipulators, they are incredibly tricky. They usually prey on people who have good hearts. They are the ultimate chameleons, able to reflect back to you exactly what you want to see and hear. They will inevitably dig their own grave, because that is what happens when you manipulate too much all the turds you drop end up stinking up your own apartment therefore causing them to constantly move and never able to build something solid in their life. It is important to realize that the life of a Sociopath is not good at all, they will inevitably burn out into flames simply because we are no longer fighting sabertooth tigers they operate out of scarcity and flight or fight mentality-I would not wish this upon anyone. 

Sociopaths have a distinct framework by which they use to manipulate. I'd suggest you study up on a little bit of it just so that you can be aware of certain people. A good rule of the thumb is they are energy vampires, they are like vacuums and will suck all the energy out of where they are-even if it seem its "positive" they love to take the energy and repurpose for their own consumption-which unfortunately shows how much they are in deficit. 

A psychopath on the other hand can have incredible nurturing and love and an environment which is abundant but yet is born with this consciousness defect-to where they prey on fellow human beings. (again due your own research to confirm this)

Some books I thought were pretty good are:

"Rethinking Narcissism" as well as "The Sociopath next Door"

You can also check out Robert Hare Psychopath checklist

Hope this helps you and others! 

[Wyze]

This is Sam Vaknin (who is also diagnosed with NPD), his POV is interesting...controversial because its different from DSMs and what is accepted in the mainstream. Food for though, and keep an open mind, and keep asking questions.

 

Edited January 26, 2019 by Wyze

[Matt8800]

On 1/24/2019 at 2:35 AM, Wyatt said:

Just finished watching Hulu’s Fyre Festival documentary. Really incredible story. The founder of the festival, Billy McFarland,  lied to more than ten thousand people and illegally took more than $20 million from them. Billy’s a self-admitted sociopath.

Sociopaths are people who don’t understand other’s emotions. They often act in ways that hurt others but feel no remorse for the pain they cause.

In my short 22 years I’ve met several sociopaths. My uncle, 2 kids I knew well in high-school, 2 girls I’ve met while dating, a fraternity brother, a former friend from college that was able to manipulate people very successfully, and my mom’s old boss who started a fraudulent business and scammed people out of millions of dollars. And the more people that tell me stories about crazy people they know, the more I see how many sociopaths there really are. There seems to be more out there than I used to think.

 

A few questions:

1. Are sociopaths born differently or do life experiences form their tendencies? Is it a problem with their brain? 

2. What is there to learn about how the ego works by studying sociopaths?

3. Sociopaths are master manipulators. Good advice for protecting yourself from being manipulated?

MRIs confirm that certain areas of the brain correlate with feelings of empathy. Empathy can be impacted by environment and conditioning but natural brain wiring is a huge factor also. 

As someone with a touch of Aspergers, my brain does not naturally produce feelings of empathy like many people's brains. With that said, true love is not about what you feel, it is an ability you have to give love regardless of how you feel. Someone that is naturally wired to think and feel like a sociopath can choose to rise above it if that is their karma/destiny in this incarnation.

[lmfao]

@Wyatt this is the clearest explanation I've found online for what a sociopath is https://www.quora.com/What-exactly-is-the-definition-of-a-sociopath/answer/Corey-Reaux-Savonte-1

Like @Equanimitize said be careful about the labels you point on people. Someone who commits heinous crimes isn't automatically a sociopath. Low empathy or ruthlessness doesn't make you a sociopath automatically. Make sure you aren't overusing the term Sociopathy in your explanations of the world. 

1) Sociopathy is triggered by environmental circumstances (and perhaps 1 or 2 "bad" genes which make you more susceptible to becoming one), which is one of the differentiaters of it from psychopathy. Psychopaths will often not feel strong emotions in regard to sadness, anxiety or loneliness (although they can feel fear) meanwhile sociopaths can. Psychopaths are mostly born the way they are imo. Perhaps there can exist a complex overlap of psychopathy and Sociopathy in a person, which starts to blurs the boundary between these two things. This boundary can be blurred in two senses. One sense is in how we choose to define these two things and and it can also be blurred in how we can observe someone externally and be able to tell the difference. However the existence of these two different categories is not arbitrary if you look at extreme cases within each category. 

From a scientific perspective, personality is all about the brain so yes Sociopathy is a consequence of the state of a persons brain. The brain is nowhere near being fully understood in science, so in what exact ways the brain of a sociopath is different from a normal person who knows. There does exist some research on this. 

2) Probably. Sociopaths have different characteristics from "normal" people, so looking at Sociopathy will allow you to see how the ego will function even when you change a few variables and you can then perhaps start to build an abstract/generalised image of what ego is despite the many forms it takes in different people and in different situation. 

3) People who are too nice and push overs are more easily manipulated. If you're good at reading people you're less likely to fall for manipulation. Someone who has healthily integrated their shadow side and aggression can stand up for themselves and will paradoxically enough be in less situations where they have to be aggressive. 

Edited January 26, 2019 by lmfao