The Importance of Recognizing the Difference Between Psychopaths (High v. Low Functioning).

 

 “Sure, I admit we may have gone way beyond the pale but we should not feel guilty. That is just a waste of emotion.”  Janet, "The Destiny of Our Past"

Most people believe that all humans think the way they do.  They believe that they feel fear, dread, love, empathy and anxiety just like they do. They believe wrong, and this can leave them vulnerable in ways they cannot imagine.  

Psychopaths are an interesting segment of the population.  They are not "crazy" in the way Hollywood portrays them, they just don't see the world, or react to it, as most people do.  Here are some of their most notable characteristics:

• Glib and superficial charm.
• The ability to lie, or important in American politics, reconstruct the truth with creativity.
• Lack of empathy.
• Lack of guilt.
• A grandiose sense of self.
• Easily bored and a need for higher-than-average stimulation.
• Highly competitive.
• And, ironically, they tend to be psychically attractive due to wanting to keep in shape and thus more appealing to others, or due to higher-than-average testosterone levels.

Check my YouTube Channel for discussions of psychopathy: 

We should note that not all psychopaths are criminals. Sure, they make up a higher percentage of incarserated individuals, but psychopaths also make up a higher percentage of the politicians who made the laws in the first place. So is there a means to differentiate against the psychopath who shoots a person in a robbery, and the psychopath who performs the life-saving surgery at the hospital? Yes, there are what are known as high functioning psychopaths and low functioning psychopaths. Let us compare.

The general difference is that high functioning psychopaths learn early in their lives that long-term goal setting, putting off immediate gratification and maintaining a positive social image can get get one more in the long-run.  Psychopaths, after all, see life as a game, a game they must win in order to have any satisfaction. Conformity goes against their basic nature, but if they can at least do it enough to gain acceptance, approval, love and respect from those in positions of power (be it the boss or the voters) they can get to the very top of the dominance hierarchy. 

A high functioning psychopath may be extremely loyal to her husband, as well as her female lover, even more so than many regular people. Note, most people would see that statement as a contradiction, but not a psychopath. She does not find societal norms something that should constrain her, she is, in essence, the embodiment of the Nietzschian concept of the Ubermensch, a person who has transcended the slave-morality of the masses. She can set her own rules, as long as she can maintain the appearance of normalcy. If she can balance her relationship with her husband, portray the image of a devoted mother to her children, while also maintaining her relationship with her lover, she wins.  

The HF psychopath I described above will not be the warm and fuzzy wife and mom most people imagine as the motherly archetype.  If her husband were to die, she would immediately go on the search for a high-quality replacement. Were her girlfriend were to leave her, she will find someone else to fulfill her needs, with as much emotion as when we have to trade in a car. She is not so much governed by her emotions, but her own expectations and desires.  Her children? She will be highly protective of them, they are a projection of herself, after all, and she will expect them to have the same drive and ambition as her. And if they don't? Well, you can guess. 

Now let's say she had been a LF psychopath due to her lack of structure growing up.  She would likely have run into trouble with the law, wound up with friends who were not that conducive to success and end up in jail, in dangerous relationships and unable to have stability in her life.  Ironically, she might get psychological intervention in jail, but might get misdiagnosed as a borderline, as some traits overlap with psychopathy, and psychologists often do not want to diagnose psychopathy in women.  Her future might be as a sex worker, while young, as she might find that a thrill, but as she ages she might marry for stability, use sex as a means of attaining goals, continue to be in trouble with the law, or manipulate her way through life in a variety of less-than-desirable ways.

So how does intelligence play into this? Of course a HF psychopath has more career options available (surgeons, emergency care physicians, lawyers, entertainers, CEOs, politics, or journalism - all popular magnets for psychopaths), but underlying ethics and sense of purpose are the most important variables.  Does a psychopath have stable parents, who will teach the child how to accomplish goals in a "cost v benefits" way of meeting challenges? That child might grow up to be your child's favorite teacher, or celebrity, or even climb the political ladder.  However, if she grows up and becomes a congresswoman, or governor, make no mistake about it, she plays the game in the same way you might play a computer simulation game. When you play such games, you have no concern for the casualties, do you? If you lose you often blame it on someone talking to you in the background, right? That is how psychopaths think in regards to making policy.  It is all a game; you as a voter are as valuable in a sense just as a computer generated character, except in this "game" her objective is to get voters to like her. She can smile, take pictures with her children, husband, keep her girlfriend perfectly concealed, and appear to be gushing with empathy.  Truth is, she doesn't feel empathy, but she can sure portray it. As for guilt? Not a bit.

Make no mistake about it, the HF psychopath shares way more in common with the LF psychopath than with a regular person.  Both are Machaivellians, in that the ends always justify the means. Both will rationalize their way out of any predicament, be it explaining why they sold drugs to an undercover cop claiming they felt he looked sad and needed something to pick up his spirits, or trying to justify supporting a war that wasn't all that successful. Both see the world as a stage, and they are the main actor or actress, regardless if, in reality, they are villains in real life, heroes or anti-heroes.  And while both may experience sympathy, as in feeling bad that something went wrong for you, they won't feel empathy, in truly relating to whatever went wrong in your life. 

Have you seen LF psychopaths on TV? Yes, when you tune into crime documentaries for example. Have you seen HF psychopaths on TV? Yes, when you tune into a State of the Union or a Hollywood awards ceremony there are plenty in attendance.  Yet people look upon the ones on the crime documentary as evil wrongdoers who society should lock away, but they see the ones in businesssuits and evening gowns and project all the good feelings one would expect towards those we have been taught to respect.  Just remember though, no matter the psychopath, he or she does not think at all as you do, regardless of if they are high or low functioning.