The Sociopath Next Door

Excerpt From "The Sociopath Next Door" - Martha Stout Ph.D
INTRODUCTION

Minds differ still more than faces.

--Voltaire

Imagine - if you can - not having a conscience, none at all, no feelings of guilt or remorse no matter what you do, no limiting sense of concern for thewell-being of strangers, friends, or even family members. Imagine no struggleswith shame, not a single one in your whole life, no matter what kind of selfish, lazy, harmful, or immoral action you had taken.

And pretend that the concept of responsibility is unknown to you, except as a
burden others seem to accept without question, like gullible fools.

Now add to this strange fantasy the ability to conceal from other people that

your psychological makeup is radically different from theirs. Since everyone
simply assumes that conscience is universal among human beings, hiding the fact
that you are conscience-free is nearly effortless.

You are not held back from any of your desires by guilt or shame, and you are
never confronted by others for your cold-bloodedness. The ice water in your
veins is so bizarre, so completely outside of their personal experience, that
they seldom even guess at your condition.

In other words, you are completely free of internal restraints, and your unhampered liberty to do just as you please, with no pangs of conscience, is conveniently invisible to the world.

You can do anything at all, and still your strange advantage over the majority
of people, who are kept in line by their consciences will most likely remain
undiscovered.

How will you live your life?

What will you do with your huge and secret advantage, and with the corresponding
handicap of other people (conscience)? [...]

Maybe you are someone who craves money and power, and though you have no vestige of conscience, you do have a magnificent IQ. You have the driving nature and the intellectual capacity to pursue tremendous wealth and influence, and you are in no way moved by the nagging voice of conscience that prevents other people from doing everything and anything they have to do to succeed. You choose business, politics, the law,

banking, international development, or any of a broad array of other power
professions, and you pursue your career with a cold passion that tolerates none
of the usual moral or legal incumbrances.

When it is expedient, you doctor the accounting and shred the evidence, you stab your employees and your clients (or your constituency) in the back, marry for money, tell lethal

premeditated lies to people who trust you, attempt to ruin colleagues who are
powerful or eloquent, and simply steam-roll over groups who are dependent and
voiceless. And all of this you do with the exquisite freedom that results from
having no conscience whatsoever.[...]

Provided you are not forcibly stopped, you can do anything at all.

The high incidence of sociopathy in human society has a profound effect on the

rest of us who must live on this planet, too, even those of us who have not been
clinically traumatized. The individuals who constitute this 4 percent drain our
relationships, our bank accounts, our accomplishments, our self-esteem, our very
peace on earth.

Yet surprisingly, many people know nothing about this disorder, or if they do,

they think only in terms of violent psychopathy - murderers, serial killers,
mass murderers - people who have conspicuously broken the law many times over,
and who, if caught, will be imprisoned, maybe even put to death by our legal
system.

We are not commonly aware of, nor do we usually identify, the larger number of nonviolent sociopaths among us, people who often are not blatant lawbreakers, and against whom our formal legal system provides little defense.[...]

Most of us feel mildly guilty if we eat the last piece of cake in the kitchen,
let alone what we would feel if we intentionally and methodically set about to
hurt another person.

Those who have no conscience at all are a group unto themselves, whether they be homicidal tyrants or merely ruthless social snipers.

The presence or absence of conscience is a deep human division, arguably more
significant than intelligence, race, or even gender.

What differentiates a sociopath who lives off the labors of others from one who occasionally robs convenience stores, or from one who is a contemporary robber baron - or what makes the difference betwen an ordinary bully and a sociopathic murderer - is nothing more than social status, drive, intellect, blood lust, or simple opportunity.

What distinguishes all of these people from the rest of us is an utterly empty
hole in the psyche, where there should be the most evolved of all humanizing
functions. [Martha Stout, Ph.D.,

The Sociopath Next Door