[knuththetruth]

>Do you think it’s something that people suspect about you? Or do you think people’s perceptions are so off that they wouldn’t really know what psychopathy looks like?

>No. Psychopaths use what we call a ‘mask.’ It’s basically an entire affectation of being like everyone else. We learn at a really young age that if we respond to things the way that we naturally respond to things, people don’t like that. So you just learn how to affect the behavior and how to appear like everyone else, and that’s just what you have to do.

Psychopaths always believe this to be true, and to their “credit,” it does deceive many people. But it’s also symptomatic of their narcissistic delusions.

It’s been my experience that people who have had the misfortune of spending a lot of time around a psychopath can quite quickly identify others. It’s hard to describe exactly, but psychopaths are very deterministic in their behavior patterns. It’s as if the dulled emotions and fear response subtract some of the randomness that makes people without this pathology actually unpredictable. They can still be surprising in the moral thresholds and social boundaries they’ll cross without hesitation, but in terms of what they pursue (opportunities to deceive and manipulate, power over others), they’re dully predictable.

So, many do actually see completely through them, it’s just that this knowledge isn’t very useful. Social hierarchies and asymmetries of power do more to preserve their capacity to cause damage than anything else, so without the opportunity to fundamentally change the context you’re navigating, there’s not much you can do. Your boss will, in most cases, still be your boss, even if they’re transparently psychopathic. And their power to harm you is inherent to their title, not the specifics of their personality.

This is why if you ever read a book about dealing with psychopaths, the first thing they’ll almost all tell you is that nothing is gained by confronting them and your best recourse is to disengage as completely as possible. It’s a realpolitik approach to social dynamics, because only in rare and limited circumstances does a deep understanding of the psychopathic mind allow you to transcend them.

[dfraser992]

Got my upvote there... I had to deal with a actual psychopath who'd fooled the other people in this little charity sort of org for years. I got pulled in because a friend asked me to work on their website and I was supportive of the goals of the organization.

The guy was an obvious ass&*$% but had wormed his way into defining himself as the 'head' of the org and people went on with it because A) the dominant behaviors B) he'd turned himself into the public face of the org C) and I quote "yeah, but he's productive, he motivates other people, he gets things done"... But that was just the Stockholm syndrome talking - people like this are little more than parasites. I was the new guy so could see through the mask a lot quicker. I wish I'd asked questions about the backstory...

I concur with everything you say about social hierarchies and power. I'm American and my take on the English, based on my living here for over a decade and all the sociopathically inclined I've run into, is that there is a very good reason there seems to be so many adult bullies etc in the UK (versus my take on America). The rigid class structure and etc conceals a lot of fundamental psychological pathologies in English society - sure, they're present in every society, but the English seem to revel in them and even regard them as virtues.

[kromem]

I think the thing most interesting in the interview was the S/O and friends.

What's the value in those relationships to a psychopath? I can't imagine there's the same desire for consensual validation, etc that drives so many normative relationships.

I really wish the interviewer dived a bit deeper into what her need fulfillment was in her interpersonal relationships.

[ashildr]

„I can't imagine there's the same desire for consensual validation, etc that drives so many normative relationships.“

So is the rational decision to be together with a S/O less worthy than being bound together by the subconscious (chemical?) force of love?

[knuththetruth]

It’s touched on obliquely, but psychopaths are impulsive and in constant need of stimulation, which, because of their diminished emotional responses, they largely derive from anti-social behavior. Its adrenaline inducing response is one of the few ways they can “feel.” High functioning psychopaths will often pursue long-term relationships because they provide a consistent source of this kind of stimulation, while also allowing them to modulate and practice the “masks” they use to deceive others.

The interviewee more or less admits this in speaking about how her “friend” would frequently ask if she was unwelcome around the interviewee, despite her not doing anything explicit to suggest this. It’s a typical psychopathic lapse into bragging about one’s ability to manipulate or inspire fear in others, albeit under the guise of the ability to “feel concern.” I guess it’s kind of a clever manipulation within the context of the interview itself, if again, it wasn’t so remarkably predictable. Few psychopaths can seem to go very long without slipping in examples of their inherent superiority or delighting in some prior act of sadism.

[afpx]

When someone appears to be non-psychopathic, how can you be certain?

Reminds me of the “zombie problem”: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophical_zombie