With almost eight billion people in the world, it can be hard to point out all of the psychopaths, sociopaths, and narcissists.
How can you tell which is which?
Approximately 1% of the population is labeled as psychopathic.
About 12% of the population are diagnosed as sociopaths and approximately 5% are diagnosed as narcissists.
Now, with all of those numbers. How do you determine which is which?
Also, did you notice that psychopathy was the only one not labeled as a diagnosis? That is because it is not a true diagnosis. But what makes them different?
These tips are key to locating the differences and knowing how to react and respond.
Even though we will be discussing the differences, we do know that one major similarity is their disregard for other people's feelings or safety.
We need you to sit through this video and watch to the end, because you are not going to believe the facts you will hear in this video. You will start to analyze everyone you talk to!
Number 1: Socializing.
When looking at narcissists versus sociopaths, many times these two terms are mistaken one for the other due to the fact that people are not aware of the small details that differentiate them.
One of those differences is socializing and how they interact with the public.
People who are considered sociopaths are diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder, or APD.
People who are narcissists are diagnosed with narcissistic personality disorder, or NPD.
These two have a lot of qualities that intertwine with each other but a major difference would be how they socialize and if they do.
Narcissists do not usually have trouble socializing with the public.
They can be charming and persuasive to people they talk to.
They can usually hold conversations and manipulate others to view ideas or theories the same way they do.
People with APD have a tendency to not socialize on their own.
They are not good at reading people and understanding other peoples' emotions.
This can cause them to distance themselves from crowds or even small groups because they don't understand others.
They talk and act impulsive which is off putting to others.
Psychopaths do socialize, but they carefully choose and calculate who they prey on.
Narcissists will take over someone else's life to ensure they feel better about their own while a psychopath will prey on someone just to worsen their life.
Number 2: Regard for others.
While we know that these three types of people usually do not have other peoples' best interests in mind, there are small details that can tell us the difference between them.
Looking at narcissists, they have a tendency to make the victim believe they are looking out for their best interest when it really just benefits them in the long run. They usually do not put anyone in physical harm's way, but they pick on them mentally.
Looking at sociopaths, they do not have regard for the law or people’s physical safety.
They are very impulsive people who act without thinking of the consequences.
This can lead to physical harm for another person if they’re not careful enough.
Unlike sociopaths, psychopaths can provide empathy for others, but it acts more as a switch. They can turn it off and on when it benefits them.
Number 3: Types of abuse and why.
What we know about narcissists is that their abuse often cannot be seen. They bully and abuse people mentally.
A lot of times the victim cannot even see that they are being abused.
With gaslighting and other forms such as triangulation, there are many manipulation tactics that they use to subtly abuse their victims.
In regards to sociopaths, they can be labeled as impulsive, out of control, and non-empathetic.
That can lead to violent situations for their victims.
It can be hard to see a true sociopath until a situation has happened where they show their true colors.
Studies conducted in the past have tested people with psychopathic traits versus non-psychopathic traits.
The results have shown that psychopathic people have a shorter fuse, made more threats towards people, and were more aggressive.
Sociopaths are impulsive people, yes, and can harm another person in the wrong situation, but they look to manipulate for power.
We know that throughout the years many known serial killers, such as John Wayne Gacy or Ted Bundy, have murdered because of the power they felt over their victims.
We don't normally see narcissists killing people to be more admired.
That is a big difference between a narcissist versus sociopaths. Sociopaths can also harm their victims indirectly by hurting themselves.
They typically do not view themselves as higher beings and do not care what others think of them.
Examples could be alcohol, drug abuse, or gambling.
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Number 4: Remorse and therapy.
One of the biggest questions one might ask, since narcissists are so self-centered, is can they be cured?
Can you teach a narcissistic person to empathize and feel remorse for the manipulation they inflicted on someone? The answer is yes, it is possible.
While not every narcissist can be cured, their ability to feel remorse and sorrow for what they did is hugely different from sociopaths and psychopaths.
Sociopaths and psychopaths normally do not feel guilty or remorseful for their actions.
Sociopaths have a chemical imbalance in their brain that shuts off the ability to feel remorse for their actions.
Of course, medications can help with the imbalance and make their impulsiveness subtle, but they cannot be cured.
They can learn to adjust and conform to society but you can't shut a personality disorder on and off.
Psychopaths are the same way. You can't force a person to feel remorse when they chemically can't, but with medication you can help alleviate the symptoms. That can help prevent future harmful situations.
Number 5: Genetics versus environment.
Genetics plays a key factor in determining if someone is a psychopath or sociopath.
They say psychopaths are born, but sociopaths are made.
But with constant findings and new data, it can be hard to really be sure.
The way people are raised can develop their brain in certain ways.
Since psychopathy is not actually genetic, the environment has a huge factor on the person.
It has been said that psychopathy is a combination of many different genes so it makes some people at a higher risk than others.
For sociopaths, along with chemical imbalances, a high-risk environment can create a high chance for the person to exhibit sociopathic traits.
An example would be that if a person born with the genetic combination for sociopathic tendencies was raised in a violent household along with parents with sociopathic traits, that person may engage in risky and aggressive behavior because they see that as fit.
Someone else who grew up in the same household but did not have the same genetic predisposition may grow up to be a healthy, non-violent adult.
Now looking at narcissistic people, narcissism can be tricky to detect if it is genetic, but studies have shown that environment plays a huge factor too.
Some studies have shown that certain parenting styles can cause the children to later show narcissistic traits.
It has been said that if a child grows up in a household where they found they had to look for their parents' attention then they may grow up to seek the attention in romantic relationships, with employers or employees, and in friendship.
Narcissists are charming and persuasive, which is the opposite of most people with antisocial personality disorder, making it harder to detect.
Number 6: Relationships.
While we look at these three types of people, we need to look at how they handle and engage in intimate relationships.
Narcissists are known to be able to successfully have relationships.
Narcissistic people have a persuasive tone to them which can easily lure a person into becoming their significant other.
Narcissists are usually not antisocial and don't have problems communicating with people to do what they want.
Narcissistic people like to make every conversation or event centered around them and will do it if they feel like their spouse is more concerned with another party or situation than with them.
A sociopath can engage in relationships but can find it harder to maintain them because they tend to be impulsive and violent.
Since sociopaths have a feeling of entitlement, that can cause a strain on relationships when they engage in self-destructive behavior.
It also strains the relationship when they are caught constantly lying.
Sociopaths are also known to have a harder time empathizing with their partners when emotional situations arise.
The partner can feel alone which will make them leave most of the time.
Psychopaths do not see consequences for their actions so they do what they feel like is right.
They can start by being overly loving and bombard you with affection to lure you in.
They lie constantly and make up feelings they believe the partner is feeling.
They make the victim stay as long as they can and continue the emotional abuse as long as the victim will take it.
When caught lying, they try to lie more to keep the victim entangled.
In summary, a narcissist is more self-centered, a sociopath lacks the empathy to care about others, and a psychopath preys on others for power and control.