What's the Difference Between Sociopathy and Psychopathy?

According to a therapist, the words sociopath and psychopath are both often used to describe someone who does things for personal gain or who hurts other people, from telling lies to stealing to committing grizzly violent crimes. But what do these terms actually mean? Talk to various mental health providers and psychological researchers, and you may get different answers before the article. This episode is based on How Stuff Work.

Spoke via email psychotherapist Terry Cole. She said the terms are often used interchangeably in popular literature, chronology writing, and within the media at large, but they are not diagnostic terms and not exactly the same. That means that you won't find the definition for psychopath or sociopath in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders because doctors don't give an official diagnosis for psychopath or sociopath. Instead, they

may diagnose someone with antisocial personality disorder. This is a mental health condition in which a person consistently shows no regard for moralistic concepts of right and wrong. Also displays a profound lack of empathy and a dominant self importance. How stuff works also spoke by email with Eileen Anderson, a professor of bioethics an adjunct professor of psychiatry in

the School of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University. She said, typically sociopathy and psychopathy are lay terms to describe what gets diagnosed as antisocial personality disorder. However, other personality disorders, such as narcissistic personality disorder or borderline personality disorder could be invoked to the extent that there's a difference between

a quote unquote psychopath and a sociopath. Anderson explained that research indicates that those whom lay people refer to as sociopaths might feel some remorse proceed with antisocial behavior that fits their agendas anyway. Meanwhile, by common definitions, quote psychopaths feel no conscience or remorse for risky behavior. They feel entitled to achieve their personal goals, even when those goals might include acts that most would include as unconscionable, such

as lying, stealing, assault, or even killing someone. When you hear the word psychopath, you might think of pop culture examples of villains from movies or books like Hannibal Lecter, a person who has violent tendencies and seems to enjoy hurting others. The latter quality is referred to as sadism. These two traits are not the same thing, but they are correlated, That is, they tend to appear with one another.

In general, mental disorders don't fit neat labels, partially because we're developing and updating our understanding of mental health all the time. For example, the term psychopath was coined as psychopastiche by German psychiatrist J. L. A. Cock in eighteen eighty eight to describe subjects with a tendency to hurt

themselves or others. It was a characteristic that he believed someone was born with Another German psychiatrist Karl Bernbaum observed the same sort of pervasive pattern of antisocial behavior, but felt it was caused by societal forces that made it difficult for young adults to learn a more acceptable way to act. He came up with a different term, sociopathy to describe this in nineteen o nine. American psychologist George E.

Partridge helped popularize the term in the nineteen thirties. Over the years, both terms were used in psychological literature, sometimes interchangeably, but again, neither of these terms are used as a diagnosis today. How Stuff Works also spoke with David Schester, an associate professor of social psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University whose research focuses upon understanding the psychological and biological processes

that motivate and constrain aggressive behavior. He explained, we're referring to what we call a psychological construct or trait. People can't be reduced down to a single trait, so instead of using the term psychopath, for example, he might describe someone as having high psychopathy. He said, it's a dimension of personality, kind of a cluster of traits, the same

way that extraversion is a personality dimension. Psychopathy really reflects what we call an antagonistic disposition, in which my own desires and wishes and things like that are placed well above the well being and desires and outcomes of other people. The most common Psychopathic traits include negative affect or neuroticism, detachment or low extraversion, disinhibition or low conscientiousness, and antagonism

or low agreeableness. Chester said that the hallmark feature of psychopathy is a quote callous indifference to other people's suffering. That is, where most people who see someone else in pain might experience an empathetic or sympathetic response. A person with a high degree of psychopathy might feel a blunted reaction or a lack of empathy. Altogether, the portrayal of these and similar traits in popular culture definitely muddles the definitions.

You may have seen sociopathy described as volatile and impulsive and psychopaths as cold and heartless, but again, they are not two distinct disorders, and these tendencies are highly correlated. The same person might act like a hothead and lash out in some situations, but at other times behave cunning and stone cold. Chester said, instead of being hot and cold versions of the antagonistic personality, it's really that these

are two strategies occurring in the same individual. At the core of both is a basic antagonism and indifference to others well being, especially when it comes to one's own personal gain. But again, traits like antagonism and personal attachment are found in varying degrees in different people, along with other less scary or even admirable traits. Chester said, in the overall population, one or two percent of people have

serious diagnosable levels of psychopathic tendencies. But that's not to say that outside of that, psychopathy isn't an important critical trait that people have varying degrees of. A person who has a high degree of psychopathy might even seem kind and pathetic in some situations. I think of Tony Soprano, the likable fictional mobster who's the protagonist of the TV series The Sopranos. He's capable of forming attachments and being

an affectionate father. He even cares about the welfare of a family of ducks living in a swimming pool, but has no qualms about killing an ex mobster who's turned to government witness, or about beating up a guy for dating his ex a. Chester said, Tony Soprano is not a paradoxical character. He's very realistic and that sometimes he's nice, sometimes he's not interested. He's honestly one of the better examples of psychopathy because he displays it in all its messiness.

A mental health professionals debate whether people with the high degree of psychopathy lack empathy or sympathy, or whether they have the ability but choose not to use it. According to Chester, the can't feel camp has been the dominant narrative, but he be a growing number of other researchers think

the choice does fact. During the equation, he explained that brain scans of subjects with psychopathies show they not only have empathetic circuits, but they do use them, though not necessarily in the way that most of us do, and individual psychopathic tendencies might want to understand someone else's pain not because they want to help, but because that knowledge would enable them to hurt someone in the future more effectively if that helps get them something that they want today.

We still don't know who will or won't develop antisocial personality disorder. There's no single cause. Instead, research indicates that it results from a complex combination of genetic factors and environmental factors, including early family life and emotional attachments to parents during childhood. As with any mental health issue, if you're concerned about yourself or someone you care for, reach out to a healthcare professional for more resources. We are,

after all, just a podcast. Today's episode is based on the article What's the Difference between a Sociopath and a Psychopath? On HowStuffWorks dot com written by Patrick J. Higer. Brainstuff is production of iHeartRadio in partnership with how Stuffworks dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.