Top Ten Ways to Detect Sociopaths
10.)
Surface Charm and Glibness
Some people seem to have more charm than others.
Pronounced charm is a red flag which indicates sociopathy.
Sociopaths do not feel the same love, empathy and remorse that neurotypical people do.
This isn’t pop psychology.
MRIs show that sociopaths process life differently.
Since sociopaths become conscienceless due to a blend of childhood trauma and genetics,
they realize fairly early on that they don’t feel things as others do.
They know that they are different.
In order to cloak their strangeness and in order to get what they want from others, they
learn how to act in order to “pass” in society.
As they mimic “neurotypical” people, they become adept at charming them.
Their charm is centered on “mirroring” those that they meet.
In other words, they gather facts about others and use these facts in order to appear to
have the same interests and the same values.
Also, sociopaths are known to have higher levels of testosterone and an excess of this
hormone tends to make them more sexually attractive to other people.
The downside of this is that sociopaths are often hypersexual, which does not promote
fidelity.
Naturally, sociopaths don’t feel guilty when they cheat.
Glibness is also a dead giveaway.
If you know someone who uses jokes, puns and deflections in order to avoid serious discussions
about real problems, beware.
This is not unintentional and it’s a sign that the sociopath wants to move the conversation
away from difficult issues.
In particular, if you find that a partner, colleague or friend avoids answering direct
questions, or hesitates before answering any types of questions, you should definitely
be wary.
Celebrity Example – Ted Bundy’s modus operandi was to win the sympathy of his intended
victims by playing the victim himself.
Sociopaths know that playing the victim is a very effective way to achieve their goals!
Known for his traditionally masculine features, Bundy was very well-spoken and was able to
trick women by appearing to be injured.
He wore a fake cast (which he crafted himself at home, from a stolen bag of Plaster of Paris),
donned crutches and then posed as a victim.
He would approach women and ask them to help him move things over to his VW Bug.
This infamous VW Bug was modified in order to assist him with rape and murder.
He had removed the passenger seat with a mind to making it simpler to carry “cargo”.
However, his victims usually didn’t see the missing passenger seat until it was too
late.
With sociopaths, the evil often lurks just out of sight, so it’s important to consider
the fact that anyone whom you may meet may be conscienceless.
9.)
Egoism and Grandiosity Sociopaths have swollen egos.
Their lack of emotional depth and incapacity for love are characteristics which they often
view as secret weapons in the wars that they wage against those whom they want to manipulate
and/or ruin.
This “edge” that they feel they have over non-sociopaths (neurotypicals) feeds their
sense of superiority.
Therefore, the second primary indicator of sociopathy is egoism/grandiosity.
Signs of an ego which has narcissistic features (sociopaths are also narcissistic) include
bragging about their looks, vanity, bragging about positive encounters with celebrities
or other VIPs and bragging about sexual performance and/or exploits.
In terms of spotting grandiosity, look for a sense of disdain for others!
For example, the sociopath may make racist statements regularly.
As well, he or she may relate to individuals or creatures which are notorious for doing
significant damage to humanity or God, such as war criminals, gangsters or the Devil.
Many sociopaths may give you clues to who they really are, even if they frame it as
a joke.
For example, someone who calls him or herself, “evil” or “bad” is actually bragging
about what’s inside.
He or she wants this darkness recognised.
Celebrity Example - Hermann Goring The late Nazi figurehead, Hermann Goring,
is commonly perceived as a sociopath, for good reason.
He had many features of this currently-incurable personality disorder, including high sensation
seeking, egocentricity and disdain for others.
Like most sociopaths, he had nerves of steel (he was a WWI fighter pilot), an icy and spooky
“predator stare”, as well as a penchant for compassion-free manipulation.
Goring’s perception of occupying a higher tier is evident in the following quote.
The people are his puppets: “Voice or no voice, the people can always
be brought to the bidding of the leaders.
That is easy.
All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peace makers for
lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger.
It works the same in any country.”
8.)
High Sensation Seeker If you want a little excitement, you’ll
find it with a sociopath.
What you won’t find is love, respect and reciprocity.
Sociopaths live in a state of constant boredom, as their inner lives are practically non-existent.
Since any emotions that they do experience, such as lust, anger, irritation, envy and
fleeting happiness, are usually quite weak, they flicker into their consciousness and
then dissipate as quickly as they come.
For this reason, they find that boredom is their biggest challenge in life.
Anger is usually the most powerful emotion that a sociopath feels.
He or she may even like to be angry, as it’s better to feel something than to feel so little.
If someone in your life seems to create drama and chaos on purpose, at frequent intervals,
he or she may be a sociopath who is trying to access sensation via arguments.
Sensation-seeking may happen in an array of ways, from juggling multiple romantic relationships
to reckless driving (speeding, drunk driving) to drug abuse and alcoholism.
The truth is that many sociopaths abuse drugs and booze on a regular basis.
Sociopaths may also seek out deviant adventures in riskier locales, such as the Third World.
Since they find any fear that they do experience to be pleasurable, they enjoy putting themselves
at risk.
Without risk, they experience a sense of emptiness which is depressing and unpleasant!
Celebrity Example – Charles Manson turned to petty crimes for survival and in order
to seek out the sensations that sociopaths crave.
Like Bundy and Goring, Manson also had the intense stare that sociopaths utilize in order
to gain power over others and he used his predatory stare and charisma in order to turn
his cult of weak-minded followers into brainwashed groupies.
The excitement of manipulation is definitely the sociopath’s highest form of sensation.
In fact, many derive intense physical pleasure from duping and conning those around them.
7.)
Frequent and Compulsive Lying We all have to lie to some extent in order
to function in society.
However, most of us make a point of being honest, as it’s a better way to live.
Our consciences prompt us to avoid lying when we can.
Those who lie a lot, even when it’s not strictly necessary, are far more likely to
be sociopaths.
In fact, most people who begin to suspect that people in their life are more evil than
anticipated (i.e. sociopaths) do so because they’ve uncovered lies, whether they are
large or small.
Once you get to know them a bit better, sociopaths often seem shady and dishonourable.
Imagine your own capacity for wreaking havoc, were you able to lie to someone’s face without
a single moral qualm!
Since they are unencumbered by guilt, sociopaths lie constantly, to everyone in their lives.
Everyone gets a different version of the sociopath which is customised just for them.
Everyone sees a different mask.
One mask may be donned for a group, while another may be worn for a lover or ex-lover.
It’s all about reputation management and manipulation.
Celebrity Example - Charles Ponzi Many sociopaths don’t turn to violence in
order to get their needs met.
One example is alleged sociopath, Charles Ponzi, whose life of lies was all about tricking
rich people into investing in sham corporations.
The “Ponzi Scheme” is a famous method of defrauding investors and it was named in
“honour” of this white-collar criminal.
Ponzi faced the fate that sociopaths dread most, after death itself.
He languished in a prison cell for fourteen years.
However, it’s safe to say that he enjoyed the lying and trickery immensely before his
misdeeds came to light.
6.)
No Guilt or Sense of Responsibility Many people really struggle to wrap their
heads around the fact that one in twenty-five people are sociopathic and do not feel guilt.
Those with consciences find this difficult to comprehend.
Likewise, the sociopath finds the inner emotional worlds of neurotypicals to be baffling.
A sociopath cannot feel your pain unless he or she makes a conscience effort to do so,
and this doesn’t happen too often.
This guiltlessness is accompanied by lack of shame and zero sense of responsibility
and it’s one of the primary reasons why most sociopaths seem extremely immature.
They seem frozen in adolescence and they lack the emotional tools to learn from experience.
They may claim to want to do better in the future and be very believable when they do
so.
However, they just can’t learn and their impulsiveness and desire to win at the game
of life always leads them to repeat the same mistakes.
A sociopath will follow the same patterns in a way that is truly perplexing.
Anyone else would learn from experience.
Celebrity Example - John Gacy seemed like a stand-up guy as he blended into his Des
Plaines, Illinois community.
However, he was really the stuff of nightmares.
Utterly without guilt, Gacy serially killed 32 young males during the 1970s.
When we wasn’t busy murdering without a shred of remorse, he spent some of his time
dressed as a clown, performing at the birthday parties of local children.
5.)
Shallow Emotions By now, you’re getting the general idea.
These people look like you or I, but aren’t the same inside.
They are not good people and they’re the reason why so many men and women are scarred
from toxic relationships.
Sociopaths do shocking things and their horrible acts, from leading double lives to emptying
other’s savings accounts to sabotaging others in the workplace, may be readily apparent
or may not be discovered for years.
While many sociopaths probably would like to feel what the rest of us feel, instead
of knowing that they are on the outside, looking in, most are quite happy to be sociopaths.
For this reason, you shouldn’t pity them.
Celebrity Example – Diane Downs tried to kill all of her own children and succeeded
in killing one and paralyzing another.
This former postal worker and current member of the prison population did it so that she
could spend time with a new lover who didn’t particularly want to be around children.
As impulsive and deceitful as any other sociopath, Diane Downs planned craftily, but missed things
in her haste to complete her mission.
She was convicted and her own daughter testified against her.
Ann Rule`s non-fiction book, Small Sacrifices, tells the story of this shallow sociopath.
To kill your children in order to keep a lover isn`t love!
The love which Diane felt for this man wasn`t authentic love, either!
It was infatuation and infatuation is about as deep as a sociopath`s love ever goes.
With sociopaths, love is mostly about lust, fleeting infatuation and possessing and controlling
another.
While they can’t love, you are free to love someone else.
4.)
Empathy-free Empathy is feeling someone`s pain.
It`s really simple for the empathetic to define.
For example, when we heard about the horrible attack by terrorists on the Bataclan nightclub,
while the rock band, Eagles of Death Metal, were on the stage, we empathetic beings banded
together and felt the pain of the victims.
Since sociopaths rarely put themselves into anyone’s shoes, they don’t experience
this sense of humanity and oneness.
It is basically missing.
While recent studies have shown that sociopaths are able to turn empathy on and off, it’s
mostly in the “Off” setting.
Consider everyday con artists, who are all too happy to trick others into giving them
things under false pretences.
They don’t emotionally understand how other people feel, due to being effectively “empathy-free”.
Therefore, they are able to make false promises to others without feeling the pain of those
that they deceive. 3.)
Trivial Sexual Life The issue of sex and sociopathy is an interesting
one.
If you’re dating, one thing to watch for is someone who stares at the opposite sex
a lot while you’re out and about.
If a person seems to be on the prowl, even when with a partner, that is narcissistic
behaviour.
Where there is smoke, there is typically fire.
Sociopaths stare.
It’s called the Predator Stare.
It’s about inappropriate eye contact.
Sociopaths don’t have deep emotions, so they may use sex in order to kill boredom.
This lack of depth, coupled with higher-than-average levels of testosterone (and vaulting egos!),
means that sociopaths are often hopelessly addicted to sex.
Since these types typically want higher and higher levels of sensation, they may become
sexual deviants.
This means cheating, using prostitutes, sleeping with people who are under the age of consent,
sex tourism and so on.
Most sociopaths are promiscuous.
In fact, promiscuity is one of the factors that psychiatrists look for when diagnosing
this condition.
2.)
Conduct Problems Prior to Age 15 Sociopathy starts young.
It manifests in one way or another before the age of fifteen.
Teens may be diagnosed with Conduct Disorder.
Others may have no formal diagnosis, but may have trouble following rules at school and
home and show general disrespect for the truth, as well as parents, siblings and authority
figures.
Quite often, but not always, a juvenile delinquent is a budding sociopath.
Some young sociopaths hurt animals and don’t understand why it’s wrong until they are
told.
Others are violent with people.
All will be rule-breakers and most will experiment with alcohol and drugs, as well as sexual
contact, long before their non-sociopath peers.
It’s rare to find an adult sociopath who wasn’t a problem teen in some respect.
1.)
Sadism and Mind Games People with empathy don’t usually enjoy
hurting others.
The sociopath does enjoy it.
Even those who he or she legitimately enjoys spending time with will be subject to sadism
and mind games.
If you know someone who seems to enjoy hurting you, as a cat would toy with a mouse, and
you find the mind games monotonous, it may be time to cut your losses with this person.
A good person is going to protect you from pain, confusion and frustration, rather than
piling it on.