One Key Distinguishing Factor — Conscience
Psychopaths do not have a conscience, when performing a “bad” activity, they feel no remorse or moral qualms for it, though they may pretend to. On the other hand, sociopaths have a weak conscience. For them, they may feel some degree of guilt or remorse, but not enough to stop them from performing that act.
Both psychopaths and sociopaths lack empathy — the ability to understand another perspective of things, in other words, to put one into the “shoes” of another. However, also due to this trait, one may see others simply as items of which they can benefit from. Contrary to popular belief as presented in the media, they are actually not violent, though they use manipulation to receive what they desire.
Cold-Hearted vs Hot-Headed
Though their lack of ability to emphasize, psychopaths are incredibly good at mimicking emotions, allowing their easy manipulation of others. They are often intelligent and charming, and may even pretend to be interested in someone, that they merely want to use to gain the advantage of. They often carefully plot their actions, and typically only use aggression if planned in order to get what they want.
On the other hand, sociopaths are more “direct”. When not interested in a particular person, they make it clear and obvious. They are usually more self-centered compared to psychopaths and are interested in themselves. In fact, they often make excuses by blaming others for their behavior. Not only such, but when conducting certain behaviors, they also act without thinking about how consequences and how others may be affected.
Biological Differences
Furthermore, psychopaths have shown to have different anatomies in the brain that may cause them to be indifferent when reacting, identifying, or responding to someone else’s distress. This causes some interesting effects. For example, typically to watch a movie with gorey scenes, ordinary folk will respond with an accelerated heartbeat and get stressed, however, a psychopath will calm down when watching these scenes.
Different from psychopaths, sociopaths often are diagnosed with sociopathy due to the environment. They may have some life-changing experiences or prolonged exposure to damaging events throughout their lives. Unlike psychopaths, they are typically not genetically predisposed.
__________
Written by: Erin Zhang
_________
References:
Robinson, Kara M. “Sociopath v. Psychopath: What’s the Difference?”. WebMD, August 24, 2014. https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/features/sociopath-psychopath-difference
Comments