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My apologies then. One of the defining characteristics of a psychopath is the lack of empathy. That is not to say you cannot learn when to feel empathic, and h
by hvidgaard 7y ago
My apologies then.
One of the defining characteristics of a psychopath is the lack of empathy. That is not to say you cannot learn when to feel empathic, and he touches on that too. Maybe we just need to change our definition, or invent a new one. One can be a pathological psychopath, but not be "a psychopath", because they was loved and cared for properly. Essentially they learned that social connections was overwhelmingly beneficial for them.
- TheOtherHobbes 7y agoPsychopaths can fake empathic behaviours. In fact they're so good at this they can appear unusually friendly and caring. They do this by modelling social interactions and replaying them. It's more of a scripted response: "In this situation, act as if you feel like this." I don't think they can learn to have genuine empathic feelings, because the part of the brain that would normally have them doesn't work very well. It's not something good parenting can fix. It can maybe mitigate it to an extent, but it's not unusual for average-to-good parents to be completely baffled by a son/daughter with serious personality issues that are primarily genetic.