Psychopaths Don’t Come with a Warning Label on Their Foreheads. Find Out If You Are a Psychopath.
Personality traits are often labelled psychopathic these days. The word is thrown around loosely when describing exes or bosses. But what facts are really behind these popular diagnoses?
Not all psychopaths are criminals like Manson or Hitler, some psychopathic traits can help forge success. But those aren’t the interesting parts of psychopathy.
If you’re wondering if you are a psychopath or just confident, keep reading to find out.
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With that out of the way, let’s jump straight into the article.
1
Confidence Is Key
We’re not talking about normal levels; psychopaths have another level of confidence. Often unwavering over-confidence that despite the facts, remains in place.
Dr. Silvina Galperin, is a clinical and counselling Psychologist in Vaughan at CBT Psychology for Personal Development. According to her a psychopath “often has a sense of entitlement and adopts a superior attitude toward ?th?r? to whom they consider inferior to them.”
One thing psychopaths leverage is the fact that humans flock to confident people. Just look at the success confident people have, even if they don’t have the goods to back it. Ahem…. Elizabeth Holmes.
2
You Can Charm the Birds Out of a Tree
This confidence comes with oodles of suaveness. Charm that is almost hypnotic. The problem is that it’s not at all genuine.
Dr Galperin weighs in again: they “appear very friendly and nice, […] but all this charm is superficial.”
This charm is just part of the show to gain adoration to achieve what they are there to achieve. If you are able to turn on and off charm like a tap when you want something, then you might be a psychopath.
3
You Are Impulsive
If you take spontaneous to another level, then you could be displaying traits of a psychopath. They are well known for “leap before you look” behaviour that doesn’t have a lot of thought put into it. It’s this thrill-seeking behaviour but with no fear of the consequences that can be a tell-tale sign you’re in the danger zone of psychopathy.
You might find that your life would have a lot less drama if you could get your impulses under control.
4
Lying Is Second Nature to You
Along with crazy behaviour comes having to duck and dive from the truth. Of course, this makes sense that you will have to come up with some “alternative facts” when you spent your rent money on a wild night out!
After a while, you struggle to remember the true facts because you are so convincing in the lie that you even fool yourself!
Is it really possible to take a test to know if you’re a psychopath? Stick around, we have some interesting intel.
5
Emotions Feel like a Foreign Concept
You understand that emotions happen, but you just don’t quite get them. Why anyone would feel devastated over your comment on their outfit, or why would you be overjoyed over the news of someone else’s baby?
Psychopaths can decern emotions, and know them on an intellectual level, but the only way they come into their lives is for gain. Guilt trips, flattery, declaring themselves victims, these are all excellent ways for psychopaths to manipulate people to get what they want.
6
Sorry Ain’t a Thing
If you find Welsh town names easier to say than a simple sorry, then you might be in psychopath territory. Psychopaths don’t apologise. This stems from a disregard for personal responsibility but we’ll get into that later.
What is most interesting is that psychopaths will happily rap off a lengthy justification of their actions, but don’t hold your breath for an apology. If backed into a corner, psychopaths might offer a smirky “sorry” or defend further with a “sorry you are so sensitive” type of remark.
Which brings us to the next point…
7
You Can’t Empathise with Other People
Back to the feelings… as well as being unable to have any true emotions of their own, psychopaths also think other people have way too many emotions and are weak because of it. Psychopaths wont share someone’s joy about a promotion, or their sorrow over a breakup.
Of course, there is always an exception, and in this case the exception is that psychopaths will not acknowledge emotions if there is something in it for them. More on this in a bit.
8
You Don’t Respect Rules or the Law
We’re sure by now you have realised that psychopaths don’t fall into the “rule followers” category. This behaviour is anti-social, which doesn’t equal introvert.
Dr Prakash Masand, a psychiatrist and founder of the Centres of Psychiatric Excellence explains it better: “When we say anti-social in ASPD, it means someone who goes against society, rules, and other behaviours that are more commonplace.”
Trying to curb the actions of a psychopath by appealing to rule following is like trying to catch a rainbow.
9
You Find It Hard to Tell Right from Wrong
Along with the idea that rules are flexible, psychopaths feel that there is more grey between right and wrong than black and white. They might justify an affair because of an unhappy marriage or stealing something because someone left it lying around.
Basically, if you can always find a reason to bend the rules, or find a way around the law, you’re in the psychopath camp.
Look, we’ll be honest, if you’re finding that these are speaking about you – you can change. Watch our video 15 Steps To Build Trust And Keep It where viewers have said, “Other than my family I trust your channel the most,” and use the advice to build up your reputation again.
10
You’re Good at Controlling People
We mentioned before that psychopaths are only interested in other people’s emotions when it is in their favour. That’s because psychopaths have unlocked the superpower of using emotions to control people.
From charming them with flattery or guilting them with another sob story where they are the victim, psychopaths are inherently good at controlling people to do their bidding.
11
You Get Bored Easily
It’s hard to really wow a psychopath. If you bore easily and aren’t easily impressed, this could be a psychopathic trait. These impulse junkies need constant dopamine hits and outside stimulation to satiate their need for pleasure.
According to recoveryways.com “by some estimates, 90 percent of people with antisocial personality disorder will develop a substance use disorder. Unfortunately, these people are also the least likely to seek help, and when they do enter treatment, they rarely complete it.”
Ironically, you know what does get boring fast? Drug addiction!
12
You Always Have an Excuse
How often do you hear yourself say “It’s not my fault because…” and then deviate the blame to someone or something else as long as it’s not you?
If you find yourself always concocting an excuse, then you might be displaying some psychopathic traits. More about where these excuses come from coming up.
13
Your Relationships Are Kinda Shallow
If you believe that people are purely for a reason or a season, then you could be a psychopath. If you think of people more as placeholders than persons of interest and affection, then you are missing out on the deep relationships everyone else experiences.
Aluxers, if you want to blow your mind – we strongly encourage you to listen to “The Wisdom of Psychopaths – What Saints, Spies, and Serial Killers Can Teach Us About Success,” by Kevin Dutton. It’s on Audible and we have a free download for you at alux.com/freebook.
If you want to invest more in your friendships, check out 15 Ways to Be a Better Friend.
14
You’re Irresponsible
When you don’t take responsibility it’s easy to be irresponsible. Why look after your equipment, others or yourself if you see everything as replaceable?
Psychopaths find it easier to take what they want and hurt people and property in the process because they don’t feel bad about it. They feel like people who don’t act like they do are just saps.
15
It’s Never Your Fault
The main reason that psychopaths find it so easy to lie, dodge the rules or come up with an excuse is that they don’t know how to take responsibility.
They don’t feel bad about passing the blame, but they will also never give up an opportunity to take the credit for something whether they deserve it or not. Whatever the situation, they can’t take responsibility for their mistakes if they don’t see them.
The irony of this list is that just based on this very fact, hardly any psychopaths will actually recognise themselves in these traits.
Question:
Who do you see as the most successful psychopath in history and why?
