Psychopath or Sociopath?
Posted by Deborah Kay Corey at 10:49 AM
In every Presidential race personalities play a huge factor. The person's charisma, or lack of it, face and manner are what sometimes win or loose the whole country. These days rumors abound about McCain and Obama. People trade barbs on the street over which candidate is more charming or not charming...and of course some insults tend to fly as well. Even now, people trade insults over the President, 'Bush is psycho over the war' and 'Bill Clinton was a born sociopath, that's why he does what he does to Hillary and the rest of us'.
The terms psychopath and sociopath fly freely in political circles to explain crazy bosses, co-workers, ex-spouses, ex-lovers, and even obnoxious donors. The terms also fly freely in the Entertainment world as well. Guess what? The terms so freely used may actually be more correct than you want to know.
Let's define for a moment what a Sociopath is and what a Psychopath is - in fact a psychologist by the name of Dr. Robert Hare at the University of British Columbia has been writing a lot about the two lately. Here is the link for a Psychopath. The two terms can be used interchangeably depending on the person in question, but frankly psychologists shy away from the terms because of their use in films to depict cold blooded killers.They now talk about people with Anti Social Personality Disorder and Narcissitic Personality Disorder. People often think of Hitler as a psychopath, but guess what, he doesn't fit the full profile. Psychopaths make up 25% of the prison population and guess what, they scare the other prisoners. Sociopaths on the other hand lack some of the outright violence and trouble with the justice system seen earlier in life. They are your classic white collar criminal and are more likely to blend better in society.
In every Presidential race personalities play a huge factor. The person's charisma, or lack of it, face and manner are what sometimes win or loose the whole country. These days rumors abound about McCain and Obama. People trade barbs on the street over which candidate is more charming or not charming...and of course some insults tend to fly as well. Even now, people trade insults over the President, 'Bush is psycho over the war' and 'Bill Clinton was a born sociopath, that's why he does what he does to Hillary and the rest of us'.
The terms psychopath and sociopath fly freely in political circles to explain crazy bosses, co-workers, ex-spouses, ex-lovers, and even obnoxious donors. The terms also fly freely in the Entertainment world as well. Guess what? The terms so freely used may actually be more correct than you want to know.
Let's define for a moment what a Sociopath is and what a Psychopath is - in fact a psychologist by the name of Dr. Robert Hare at the University of British Columbia has been writing a lot about the two lately. Here is the link for a Psychopath. The two terms can be used interchangeably depending on the person in question, but frankly psychologists shy away from the terms because of their use in films to depict cold blooded killers.They now talk about people with Anti Social Personality Disorder and Narcissitic Personality Disorder. People often think of Hitler as a psychopath, but guess what, he doesn't fit the full profile. Psychopaths make up 25% of the prison population and guess what, they scare the other prisoners. Sociopaths on the other hand lack some of the outright violence and trouble with the justice system seen earlier in life. They are your classic white collar criminal and are more likely to blend better in society.