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Technically speaking, most corporate leaders are psychopaths, not sociopaths. A sociopath has conscience, empathy, and ethics but his differ radically from tho
by pwnstigator 17y ago
Technically speaking, most corporate leaders are psychopaths, not sociopaths.
A sociopath has conscience, empathy, and ethics but his differ radically from those of mainstream society. For example, a gang member who'll kill someone in a rival gang-- breaking the law in most societies-- but would take a bullet to save his mother, is a sociopath-- not a psychopath.
Psychopaths are selfish and devoid of any conscience or empathy. However, they're very manipulative and often skilled at playing within society's rules, which sociopaths rarely do (because they have so much contempt for society). Dr. House might be considered a very mild sociopath, but he's not a psychopath: he's never cruel, and he has very strong ethics, but absolutely no regard for the ethical principles society expects him to hold.
The difference is that sociopaths reject society's superego and conscience but still have their own. Psychopaths have none. So the corporate barons and media moguls are correctly typed as psychopaths, not sociopaths.
Otherwise, good article.
- hnhg 17y agoDoesn't this depend on where your definition is taken from? I remember reading in something reputable (or it might have been a BBC Radio documentary) that at one time they were synonyms for the same thing, but that one was used in the USA and other was used elsewhere. This has to be taken with a pinch of salt as my memory appears to be very vague on this. I'm sure though that historically they have been used to describe the same condition and that differences in their usage have only appeared recently.
- dasil003 17y agoAccording to this: http://www.mental-health-matters.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=94 http://www.mental-health-matters.com/index.php?option=com_co... Psychopath is not a technical term.
- warfangle 17y agoAddendum: http://allpsych.com/disorders/personality/antisocial.html http://allpsych.com/disorders/personality/antisocial.html (Actual DSM-IV reference)
- jonny_noog 17y agoI'd like to read about the sources for your views of these two terms. I have never been able to find a clear definition of the difference. Wikipedia for example, redirects from Sociopathy to Psychopathy. So there at least, the terms seem interchangeable. Your take is not one that I have heard before, but I am interested to know more.
- Daniel_Newby 17y agoTry reading The Mask of Sanity http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mask_of_Sanity http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mask_of_Sanity (The External Links section at the very bottom has a link to a PDF.) The author describes a number of case studies of what he calls psychopaths who are neither dangerous nor offensive to the society around them.
- jonny_noog 17y agoThanks, I'll check it out.
- philwelch 17y agoI probably wouldn't use a gang member as an example of a sociopath--to him, his society is one where killing rival gang members is a cultural norm. He's not a sociopath, he's normal in that he fits into the culture around him.