Ask HN: Psychopaths/Sociopaths

1 点作者 WhatIsThisIm12将近 9 年前

Last time I tried to discuss this topic on HN, my post was flagged. However, I think HN is a great place to discuss it, because I'd wager a significant percentage of commenters here fall into the "sociopath" category, myself included.So my question is,1) Are you a sociopath?2) What do you think of society's labeling and marginalization of so-called sociopaths?Sometimes I think sociopathic individuals will be the next minority to fight for their rights. It's scary how much anti-sociopath rhetoric is prevalent in media today. Nobody is offended if you say sociopaths should be rounded up and killed. According to society, as long as you can sufficiently label someone a sociopath, it becomes within your rights to deny them freedoms and torture or kill them.

5 条评论

smt88将近 9 年前

> 1) Are you a sociopath?No.2) What do you think of society's labeling and marginalization of so-called sociopaths?Who cares? This is a non-issue for the following reason: even experts can't positively identify a sociopath, and even the definition/diagnosis isn't widely agreed-upon. A smart sociopath would exhibit mostly pro-social behaviors, even though he has anti-social motivations.People can't be persecuted as a group if they can't be identified in that group. People can rage about sociopaths all they want, but they can't identify them in order to do anything to them.> Nobody is offended if you say sociopaths should be rounded up and killed. According to society, as long as you can sufficiently label someone a sociopath, it becomes within your rights to deny them freedoms and torture or kill them.I don't know what country you live in, but this is not true in the US. If you can show me some examples that aren't random nutjobs on the internet, I'd be very interested to see them.(You may, of course, be referring to sociopaths who are accused of murder or some other anti-social act, which is not the same as persecuting them just for their personality.)

评论 #11882732 未加载

DanBC将近 9 年前

You probably should not self-diagnose yourself with a complex psychiatric diagnosis.And people with personality disorders of various type are already campaigning for change - your use of outdated stigmatising language is hampering your ability to search.Mostly around borderline PD and antisocial PD: <a href="http://www.emergenceplus.org.uk/news-from-emergence/507-meeting-the-challenge-making-a-difference-a-new-personality-disorder-practitioner-guide.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.emergenceplus.org.uk/news-from-emergence/507-meet...</a><a href="https://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/offenders/mentally-disordered-offenders/working-with-personality-disordered-offenders.pdf" rel="nofollow">https://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/offenders/mentally-diso...</a>

wahern将近 9 年前

If you're bothered by societal attitudes regarding sociopaths (and not simply because it's effecting your success at personal gain), you're probably not a sociopath in the classic sense.If you feel some kind of kinship with other sociopaths, you're probably not a sociopath.There are other phenomenon related to empathy. For example it was recently discovered that some people lack conscious awareness of empathy. In these cases physiological and psychological responses to empathic emotions are clearly present (e.g. various stress responses), but the person doesn't consciously understand why the response is occurring (or even always that it's occurring) or its relation to a social interaction. Some people on the so-called autistic spectrum seem to suffer from this; their mirror neurons are present and functioning, they're just not plugged into everything correctly.Some people lack episodic memories. They remember the birth of their child, for example, in the same way they remember that 10 * 10 == 100; as a fact, not as a lived experience imbued with an emotional dimension. Arguably this might imply that their experience of the world is more superficial than others, perhaps similar in some respects to a sociopath's experience of the world.The role of sex in relationships is incredibly rich and complex. Arguably people who are asexual or otherwise less motivated or responsive to sexual passions might feel more disconnected emotionally in some respects than other people.And just because you _think_ you wouldn't be emotionally stirred by events normatively considered "shocking" (like the injury of a small child, or especially your own child) doesn't mean you wouldn't actually be stirred in reality. We all consciously and unconsciously disassociate from the world, especially when technology intermediates. But you can't compare that to being physically present and involved. It's why it makes little sense to believe that, e.g., playing violent video games would strongly relate to a tendency to real-life violent behavior.

Broken_Hippo将近 9 年前

1. No 2. Not much.The thing is this: Even if most people are sociopaths, it isn't an issue. What the media labels as a sociopath doesn't match the clinical definition. Even a clinical diagnosis only comes about if the person is having life problems or is hurting other folks, and most won't do that because it would hurt themselves or hamper their goals. The same really goes for hearing voices - it isn't a problem so long as you can deal with it, they are positive and go about life in a fairly normal fashion - but if you can't, you should probably seek help. In addition, a lot of people will self-label if it is a popular thing to be. For reference, suddenly lots of people fall into the autism spectrum, many have ADHD, gluten intolerance, etc without a doctor's actual diagnosis. A "hunch". It is probably normal to feel a bit abnormal because we only see a glimpse of what goes on in other's heads.... as long as you can sufficiently lavel someone a sociopath, it becomes within your rights to deny them freedoms and torture or kill them.Not really, nor is this any different from someone schizophrenic or bipolar or any number of diseases. Society is only bothered with those that are violent and outright hurt folks. But it is the same with rapists, child molesters, etc, and there are many contributing factors. So long as we have a society that is generally well-educated and can sort out the difference between reality and fantasy, oddities and normalities, it really doesn't matter much. (whether we have that is debatable and another topic altogether).

id122015将近 9 年前

1.No. 2. If you want to understand what sociopats are search for the very long article called, The Gervais Principle according to The Office, its also the comedy movie series, and watch it. Its a pitty it only tells the story of sociopaths within corporations. But there are a lot of sociopaths in Public Sector that we cant escape, Public Administration, Public Education, etc.. look sociopath here:<a href="http://m.riverfronttimes.com/newsblog/2016/06/06/mizzou-employee-used-stolen-cash-for-dogs-surgery-home-repairs" rel="nofollow">http://m.riverfronttimes.com/newsblog/2016/06/06/mizzou-empl...</a>