What Is the Definition of a Psychopath?

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A psychopath is a person who lacks empathy toward other people which stems into greater problems such as manipulation, compulsive lying, and extreme narcissism.

We usually perceive psychopaths to be the characters we see in the movies. Psychopaths may be seen as the killer with the white mask trying to kill everyone in the night. Much like Jason in the movie Halloween. Psychopaths can be murderers but it is most likely that you have met a few today. It might be the barista at Starbucks, the salesman at the car dealership, or the person in front of you at the DMV.

Psychopaths are usually very intelligent, successful people. They usually learn from an early age that they are different from everyone else when it comes to their feelings. They don’t feel emotion like everyone else does and so they often wear a mask, but if that mask comes off, you better watch out! They are regarded as leaders and often dominate conversations, many people who don’t know them may regard them as charming. Recent studies have shown that much can be learned from people who show no remorse. Check out The Wisdom of Psychopaths: What Saints, Spies, and Serial Killers Can Teach Us About Success by Kevin Dutton.

Being a psychopath usually comes from genetics or environmental factors.

A few examples of someone who is a psychopath:

  • You just lost a loved one and you’re crying in front of them and they are showing no emotion. They might as well been waiting in line to order a Big Mac.
  • A guy that has a girlfriend or wife that sees how many women he can sleep with. He will disregard everyone’s emotions involved. (He can be so charming he could lie his way out of the situation with his girlfriend if he gets caught.)
  • They pretend to care about a certain situation but you just know they aren’t feeling any emotions.

The whole root of being a psychopath is the lack of empathy. This can lead to other traits of a psychopath.

  1. Can fake empathy.
  2. Impedes their will on others.
  3. Uses sharp cutting words with no remorse.
  4. Pretend to care but they can’t feel emotions of others.
  5. They will lie to people about their feeling.
  6. They manipulate others without feeling remorse.
  7. They are often charming and natural, especially with first impressions.
  8. They usually take high risks.
  9. They are narcissists, the world revolves around them.
  10. They feel like they are entitled to everything.