THE 17 MAIN DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SOCIOPATHS AND PSYCHOPATHS - GEOGRAFÍA - 2025

The differences between sociopathy and psychopathy are sometimes difficult to understand by non-experts on the subject, however certain characteristics of behavior can be delimited.

Not knowing how to differentiate them clearly is normal, because even psychologists, psychiatrists or criminologists sometimes do not agree on what characterizes one or the other. In fact, I've read quite a few articles that use both terms as if they were the same thing.

I will refer to the DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders), which came out in 2013, although I increasingly doubt its validity and reliability, due to the clear interests of pharmaceutical companies.

It is the manual used by psychiatrists and psychologists to diagnose mental illnesses and disorders. According to this manual, sociopathy and psychopathy fall under the "Antisocial Personality" disorders. These disorders are made up of many common behaviors, so it can be difficult to tell them apart.

First, I will refer to the statistics, then I will explain the differences and finally I will give you examples of known psychopaths from real life and fiction.

Do you know any psychopath or sociopath? You can comment at the end of the article. I am interested in your opinion. Thank you!

Statistics

Michael C. Hall as Dexter - Photo: Christian Weber - Photo ID: Dexter_Q116-12

Before I start with the shared and different traits, I'd like to tell you the actual statistics for these "disorders."

According to Wikipedia, "a disorder is a clinically significant behavioral or psychological pattern that, whatever its cause, is an individual manifestation of a behavioral, psychological or biological dysfunction."

You may think that these disorders are extremely rare, however look at some statistics that show that 1-3% of men and 1% of women are psychopaths.

So, it is very likely that we meet people who have these behavioral traits on a daily basis. At least 400,000 people throughout Spain are psychopaths, many more in countries with more populations such as Mexico or Argentina.

In fact, great political and business leaders are believed to be psychopaths, which can be dangerous when they have a lot of power, as their decisions influence millions of people.

Who will be a psychopath among the people you know?

Shared behaviors

The key behaviors and traits shared by sociopathy and psychopathy are:

• Not feeling remorse or guilt.
• Disregard for the rights of others.
• Disregard for laws and social norms.
• Tendency to behave violently.

Main differences between sociopaths and psychopaths

Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer and Ed Gein, three serial killer psychopaths

Characteristics of sociopaths

A definition of sociopath can be: person with difficulties to adapt to society and to establish personal relationships, with disregard for laws and social norms and emotionally unstable.

1-Sociopaths are often nervous and easily agitated.

2-They have outbursts of rage and are somewhat emotionally unstable.

3-It is difficult for them to maintain a stable job and they can live on the margins of society.

4-For them it is difficult to establish personal ties with others.

5-Although they can establish a bond with someone or a group, they do not respect social norms.

6-For others, they are "rare" and if they commit crimes they will be violent, fortuitous, impulsive and without planning.

Characteristics of psychopaths

A definition of psychopath can be: person with a lack of empathy, with contempt for laws and social norms, manipulative and usually well adapted socially.

7-They do not feel empathy for people, and in general, for living beings.

8-Although they are often "charming", they are unable to establish emotional ties with other people.

9-They tend to be manipulative and know how to win the trust of others.

10-Although it is difficult for them to feel emotions, they learn to show them.

11-Therefore, they seem normal, they are not "rare."

12-Normally they lead a normal life, have good jobs and are well educated.

13-It is difficult to know if someone is a psychopath or not because they are very good at manipulating and pretending.

14-When they commit crimes (only a very small minority of psychopaths commit them), they do it planned.

15-They are calm, meticulous and some are very charismatic.

16-They are usually leaders.

17-According to the specialist Robert Hare: «They seem intelligent, but in reality they are not especially bright. Some yes, of course. And when they are intelligent they are more dangerous.

In an interview, Robert Hare answers the question, can you be friends with psychopaths?

Causes of differences

It is believed that psychopathy is largely influenced by genetics, while sociopathy would be caused by the environment.

Psychopathy is related to a physiological defect that results in a lack of development of a brain region responsible for controlling emotions and impulses. Sociopathy can be the cause of childhood trauma, physical or emotional abuse.

When it comes to committing crimes, psychopaths are undoubtedly much more fearsome and dangerous, because of how they separate their actions and their emotional repercussions. That is, despite the seriousness of the crimes, they will not feel guilt or grief.

Discarding myths

In my opinion, these are not "all or nothing" disorders. I mean, you're either psycho or not. Therefore, I think it is much more difficult to see pure psychopaths.

There will be people who have some features and some don't, and some features are more accentuated than others. There will also be others who are 100% psychopaths.

On the other hand, only the minority of psychopaths or sociopaths commit crimes.

Those who commit violent crimes (the kind in movies like Hannibal) may be psychopaths, but not all psychopaths commit crimes.

And in reality, many business and political leaders are thought to be psychopaths (an estimated 4% of them are). This does not mean that they do things wrong, although if they do they could have disastrous consequences.

Robert Hare answers the question, how does the 1% of psychopaths influence society ?:

Known real and fictional psychopaths

Adolf hitler

I am convinced that it will help you better understand the differences with examples from people you may already know.

As you can see, none of them was precisely "short-minded." They are all smart and plan their crimes pretty well.

Royal

• Adolf Hitler: without a doubt one of the most cruel people in all history.
• Josef Mengele: known as "the angel of death", he participated in the deaths of thousands of people and in some of the most cruel experiments in all of history.
• Charles Manson: He was the planner for the macabre murder of Sharon Tate (Roman Polanski's wife) and her guests at his Beverly Hills residence on August 9, 1969.

Fictional

• Hannibal Lecter: without a doubt, one of the clearest exponents of the cinema of an intelligent, calm psychopath who commits his crimes in a planned way and leaving clues. A very good scene is when, in the second part, he is quietly having dinner with some friends in Italy, he is friendly and charismatic. However, shortly afterwards he commits several murders.

The first film in which this character appears is "The Silence of the Lambs" and the second is titled "Hannibal."