[zaliack]

(Original post by Samrout)
lol. Kelvin McKenzie

Lmao, I just read up who he was, and I am confident that he is a psychopath!

In January 1987, MacKenzie published a front-page story alleging that pop singer Elton John had had sex with underage rentboys. These claims were without any foundation and entirely false. Shortly after, MacKenzie published further allegations that the singer had had the voiceboxes of his guard dogs removed because their barking kept him awake at night. Not only were these additional claims also completely untrue, but MacKenzie confirmed their inaccuracy shortly after publication by sending a reporter to the singer's house, who quickly discovered that all of his guard dogs were quite capable of barking (MacKenzie later admitted that in retrospect he found it difficult to understand why he had believed, never mind published, the claims about the guard dogs which he later realised were self-evidently absurd). Elton John sued The Sun for libel over both these claims and was later awarded £1,000,000 in damages.[14] MacKenzie later said of Elton John

"I think The Sun should have its million quid back. It hasn't damaged him at all, has it? Libel can only have a value if there has been some kind of damage, right? Where is the damage? Where? There's nothing wrong with him. So no, I don't feel bad about him, not at all."

If that's not psychopathy, I don't know what is.

[A Cat]

between 1 and 4 in a 100 are psychopaths. They have a ridiculous amount of energy to maintain their "mask of sanity" - appearing normal, talking and acting how they think they should be expected to according to society, living in the system. Behind the mask they are scheming, raging, hating, viewing everyone as subhuman and themselves as gods. They believe people owe them something and they'll take it whether you want to give or not.

From a religious description - Satan, demons.

[A Cat]

(Original post by zaliack)
Lmao, I just read up who he was, and I am confident that he is a psychopath!



If that's not psychopathy, I don't know what is.

I saw him on question time a couple times, the first I thought he was an absolute dick, the second I listened to what he had to say and concluded - psychopath.

When psychopaths aspire to be and are in such positions of power, does this not explain the injustices that frequent this world?

[Pitt1988]

Psychopaths doesn't necessarily mean you're a murderer or anything. I've come across the 1% figure before as well. What I thought it was, was a genetic thing in your brain and it was your upbringing that would determine how you turned out later. From what I understood it is quite often linked with intelligence as well, so you could either be an amazing doctor, or an amazing serial killer that went for a prolonged period of time without being caught. Or, of course, both.

[megan.c]

I'm not sure about those figures, but I know I've had this misfortune of meeting and being associated with one.

Genuinely fear for my life around that guy - what he did/does goes beyond bullying.

[A Cat]

(Original post by Pitt1988)
Psychopaths doesn't necessarily mean you're a murderer or anything. I've come across the 1% figure before as well. What I thought it was, was a genetic thing in your brain and it was your upbringing that would determine how you turned out later. From what I understood it is quite often linked with intelligence as well, so you could either be an amazing doctor, or an amazing serial killer that went for a prolonged period of time without being caught. Or, of course, both.

Harold Shipman

[Aoide]

There are situations but they are selfish ones. If someones success would be beneficial to me or I agree with their goals then i'll help if I can. I will do things which typicall appear altruistic and giving but the motive will always be selfish- even it is as simple as just being fun. I certainly won't go out of my way to stop others unless I have a good reason, i'm not at all sadistic.

Detatched is a good way of looking at it. I'll use people and make ruthless choices if that is what is required to get what I want but I don't harbour any bad feeling for people, they were just unfortunate enough to be in the way. I'm not out to do evil things, good and evil doesn't even come into my decisions. This does make me sound like a **** but there are a suprising number of situations where people are glad to have someone who can make the hard choices.

Psychopaths doesn't necessarily mean you're a murderer or anything. I've come across the 1% figure before as well. What I thought it was, was a genetic thing in your brain and it was your upbringing that would determine how you turned out later. From what I understood it is quite often linked with intelligence as well, so you could either be an amazing doctor, or an amazing serial killer that went for a prolonged period of time without being caught. Or, of course, both.

Psychopaths are usually attributed with being more inteligent. I'm not sure if they really are or if their personality just makes better use of the inteligence they do have. I would consider myself intelligent but I know that my nature means that why I really apply myself I get better results and I will do pretty much anything to get what I want. Psychopaths like control, if they are serious about doing something they can be very focused and thorough. Sociopaths tend to fall into two groups depending on how long their attention span is. A lot have very low attention span meaning they can't really stick at anything for long. The others are the one which tend to be more successful because while they want to get to their goals quickly they will put the time if they have to. A lot of these end up in fairly high postions. Oddly doctor is a fairly common job because it is well paid, repsected and importantly being detached is a great help- they won't feel anything when patients die and will have no issue operating.

[zaliack]

(Original post by megan.c)
I'm not sure about those figures, but I know I've had this misfortune of meeting and being associated with one.

Genuinely fear for my life around that guy - what he did/does goes beyond bullying.

He probably had anti-social personality disorder, but not psychopathy. I remember reading that there are 3 times as many prisoners with ASPD than there are with psychopathy.

[Miraclefish]

It can also mean the 1% are functioning psychopaths, also referred to as sociopaths.

People who have no conscience, who will hurt and manipulate others for their own ends or amusment... simply because they can.

A psychopath won't always be a murderer or killer, but they will display similar traits.

[Clare~Bear]

Like others have said, if they're that bad as a child then they probably go to a special needs school or something. So then it's unlikely that there would be any in your school. plus it would be hard to tell cos they'd probably be on medication, so they appear normal.

[lightburns]

(Original post by Aoide)
That is how I would feel. Rather than lacking the ability to care, i just don't form emotional bonds so I haven't lost anything.

Oh I somewhat lack caring as well. I have a strong utilitarian-based sense of morality, and that is important to me. But I don't have empathy or sympathy. I guess I can understand. It's like the Simpsons quote, "just because I don't care doesn't mean I don't understand".

I am capable of emotional bonds though! I used to have them to people, and I still have them to my snakes. I've heard that psychopathy is an early thing, can it develop later on? Because I don't know what else can explain stuff. It's not that anything's problematic, it's just that I want to understand myself.

2 years ago I started medication for something else that would cause some dramatic brain structural changes. Shouldn't be a problem - except I had some rather crappy things happen around me right at the crunch point. Brain changes are a vulnerable period - many conditions arise at puberty, after all. I will have had some signs of being a bit dodgy before that though, for example... When I was at primary school, a toddler had an accident in the after-school club the day I wasn't there. He was fine, but bashed his head and blood was everywhere. I said "things like this always happen when I'm not here!", and the adults replied along the lines of how I'm obviously good luck for protection. I was meaning that I was damn disappointed that I didn't get to see.
Stuff like that. I don't know, maybe everyone is like that but just aren't as open about it.

Anyway, since 2 years ago... no desire to socialise, all emotional bonds gone, goodbye emotions across the board, time to learn fakery to fit in. Also, before I feed the dead mice to the snakes I have myself a little anatomy lesson with them, which probably isn't seen as very normal.
Thought it was temporary, but still going strong after 2 years. Ho hum.

[megan.c]

(Original post by zaliack)
He probably had anti-social personality disorder, but not psychopathy. I remember reading that there are 3 times as many prisoners with ASPD than there are with psychopathy.

Trust me - he frequently did anti social, cruel and hateful things with absolutely no sign of remorse (despite the obviously being wrong), constantly had a hidden agenda and tried to promote hatred against individuals, and was a compulsive liar.

For all the suffering and wrongdoing he caused a variety of people he never once apologised. Not even for small things like bumping into someone.

If I have ever or am ever to meet one psychopathic person in my lifetime then it would surely have been him.

[internetguru]

I can turn my emotions on and off by simply willing it what does that make me?

[limetang]

(Original post by james1211)
1%?? That seems really really high. So approx 1 in 100 people you meet are diagnosed psychopaths?

Try 0.0001% maybe

It's fairly realistic I'd say. A psychopath is not necessarily a mass murderer. It is just someone who is aware of how someone feels or how an action will affect somebody, they just don't care. Basically they posses only half the ability of empathy.

[InternetGangster]

(Original post by smd4std)
i constantly want to kill people and i enjoy it when people suffer pain.

Do you have any people that you would class as 'friends'? As in, are there people that think you are their friend, but you feel nothing towards them. Could you care less if all of your family members just dropped dead? Wanting to see people suffer,or sadism, is a common trait of psychopaths.

[raaachek]

(Original post by Aoide)
Depends on the person. I have friends which I enjoy spending time and would even say I have loved people but its in a completely selfish way. I enjoy their company and being around them makes my life more interesting. I care about how they make me feel but not really about the person themselves. If they were to stop being interesting I would stop caring. I will do things out of character for a psychopath for them such as putting myself at risk and going out of my way to help because it ensures the relationship continues and makes sure they remain fun.

But are you really a psychopath if you're open to the possibility that you are one? I thought a psychopath could never be convinced that they were one.

[InternetGangster]

(Original post by Aoide)
The OP is correct, its believed that 1% is a close estimate for the number of psychopaths.
It really isn't that high a number but seems it high because the common view of psychopaths is that they are all dangerous and will kill you as soon as no one is looking.

This isn't the case and most psychopaths fit into society fine. They may be selfish and amoral but they probably aren't dangerous. You probably do know at least one and think nothing unusual about them. The number of dangerous psychopaths is much lower.

Depends on what you mean by 'dangerous'. Sure, the average psychopath probably wouldn't kill you, but they would use you for everything you are worth. They are scam artists, and should be avoided at all costs.

[When you see it...]

(Original post by Bellissima)
it would mean it's highly likely I've come into contact with psychopaths, whatever way their psychopathy makes them behave... but if 1/100 people are psychopaths does that mean, in my school of 200 people in each year, at least one of those people were likely to have been psychopaths? and in my entire school which had around 1000 people in... it is highly likely that there was one or more psychpaths?

Assuming exactly 1% of all people are psychopaths, there is an 86.6...% chance that at least one person in your year group is a psychopath:
(1-0.99^(200))*100 = 86.6...%
Does that answer your question or are you just looking for a discussion?
For your entire school:
(1-0.99^(1000))*100 = 99.99568...%
So yeah it's practically certain that there is a psychopath in your school, assuming the 1% figure is correct.

[InternetGangster]

(Original post by Brianop)
But will they have empathy for those who they consider a friend? Or do they have a superficial friendship with friends too?

Psychopaths don't have any true friends. They will only become your friend if they feel it will benefit themselves, and no not care for them in the slightest.

[A Cat]

(Original post by zaliack)
He probably had anti-social personality disorder, but not psychopathy. I remember reading that there are 3 times as many prisoners with ASPD than there are with psychopathy.

ASPD is quite an umbrella term for criminal, anti-human/social behaviour. Psychopathy is a subset of ASPD. While all those with psychopathy will be diagnosed ASPD, not all with ASPD are psychopaths. While Hare's checklist is a good indicator of psychopathy, the best indicators are experience, a background check, a lengthy interview/interaction with the psychopath in question, and the most definitive - a brain scan. In his book, "without conscience", Hare wrote something like "The brain scans showed severe abnormalities - the scans couldn't have come from real people". The scans came from psychopaths.