Dark Triad

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_triad

Test for the triads: http://personality-testing.info/tests/SD3.php

Quotes from http://www.livescience.com/13083-criminals-brain-neuroscience-ethics.html  (without permission): 

"Psychopaths lack emotion. They lack empathy, remorse, guilt.... Researchers found a distinct lack of fear conditioning in the 3-year-olds who would later become criminals... Overall, these studies and many more like them paint a picture of significant biological differences between people who commit serious crimes and people who do not. While not all people with antisocial personality disorder — or even all psychopaths — end up breaking the law, and not all criminals meet the criteria for these disorders, there is a marked correlation.... Pardini has been researching the potential brain differences between people with a past criminal record who have stopped committing crimes, and those who continue criminal behavior. While both groups showed brain differences compared with non-criminals in the study, Pardini and his colleagues uncovered few brain differences between chronic offenders and so-called remitting offenders... The field of neurocriminology also raises other philosophical quandaries, such as the question of whether revealing the role of brain abnormalities in crime reduces a person's responsibility for his or her own actions. 

Psychopaths know right and wrong cognitively, but don't have a feeling for what's right and wrong.

In fact, that reasoning has been argued in a court of law. Raine recounted a case he consulted on, of a man named Herbert Weinstein who had killed his wife. Brain scans subsequently revealed a large cyst in the frontal cortex of Weinstein's brain, showing that his cognitive abilities were significantly compromised. The scans were used to strike a plea bargain in which Weinstein's sentence was reduced to only 11 years in prison. "Imaging was used to reduce his culpability, to reduce his responsibility," Raine said. "Yet is that not a slippery slope to Armageddon where there's no responsibility in society?" "

Quote from the excellent book "Snakes in Suits" http://www.mtpinnacle.com/pdfs/psycophaths-at-work.pdf:

"Novels and movies portray psychopaths in extreme, stereotypical ways. They appear as cold-blooded serial killers, stalkers, sex offenders, con men and women, or the prototypical evil, manipulating villain, such as Dr. No or Hannibal Lecter. Reality, unfortunately, provides some support for this view, but the picture is somewhat more complex than this. Years of research on prison populations bear out the criminality and violence implied by the term psychopath. We now know that both male and female psychopaths commit a greater number and variety of crimes than do other criminals. Their crimes tend to be more violent than those of other criminals, and their general behavior more controlling, aggressive, threatening, and abusive. Further, their aggression and violence tend to be predatory in nature — cold-blooded and devoid of the intense emotional upheaval that typically accompanies the violent acts of most people."

"They lacked insight concerning themselves and the impact of their behavior on others, but this seemed not to concern them at all. They did not understand and cared little about the feelings of others, lacking both remorse and shame for the harm they did others. They were noticeably unreliable, even about important things relevant to their current situation, and seemed to have no real life goals or plans. Most obvious of all, these patients were consummate liars, being untruthful about almost everything (even inconsequential things most people wouldn’t waste time and energy lying about). They were insincere, although often appearing to be very sincere to those with little experience interacting with them, particularly new staff members." 

Evidence of this sort does not mean that the pathways adult psychopathy are fixed and immutable, but it does indicate that the social environment will have a tough time in overcoming what nature has provided. As noted in Without Conscience, the elements needed for the development of psychopathy—such as a profound inability to experience empathy and the complete range of emotions, including fear—are provided in part by nature and possibly by some unknown biological influences on the developing fetus and neonate. As a result, the capacity for developing internal controls and conscience and for making emotional “connections” with others is greatly reduced. To use a simple analogy, the potter is instrumental in molding pottery from clay (nurture), but the characteristics of the pottery also depend on the sort of clay available (nature). 

"Being aware of one’s own tendency to attribute psychopathy to those displaying some of its features, including oneself, is important in honing one’s skill in spotting the real thing....  In other words, the psychopath positively reinforces your self-presentation, saying, in effect, I like who you are. Reinforcing someone’s persona is a simple, yet powerful, influence technique, especially if communicated in a convincing—that is, charming—manner... The psychopath’s third message is: Your secrets are safe with me. Safety or security is one of our most basic psychophysical needs; the psychopath willingly fulfills this need.... It is probable that she had very little of the impulse []yearning, pains, jealousies and taboos of sexuality] herself and indeed felt a contempt for those who did. And when you think of it in one way, she was right... While “work” can take on many different forms, the basic concept involves exchanging goal-oriented efforts for money or reward; essentially, an exchange takes place between employee and employer that satisfies the needs of both. There may be misunderstandings or disagreements about amount of effort expended, how well the goals were accomplished, and level of reward, but the basic model is pretty much part and parcel of any employment relationship. Having a sense of entitlement and being parasitic, however, psychopaths do not adhere to this fair-exchange model of work, wanting instead large rewards for mediocre effort or poor performance. Their work ethic is geared more to making themselves look good than to doing a decent job...Almost instinctively, fraudsters find these individuals [informal leaders in an organization] and build strong relationships with them with the intent of using them to their advantage...
Only a relatively few individuals demonstrate most of the expected traits and characteristics in a consistent manner across all aspects of their personal, professional, and social lives. Even so, it is often difficult to see behind their chameleon-like façade. Psychopaths demonstrate the expected traits and characteristics in a consistent manner across all aspects of their lives, but they may hide them well...
A lot of research has shown that conscientiousness is a primary dimension of personality, rather than just a style or personal preference...
There are some clusters of psychopathic traits that do come across as low consideration, extreme structuring, and low conscientiousness.If demonstrated together, they could raise the suspicion that one is dealing with a psychopath...A charming demeanor and grandiose talk can easily be mistaken for charismatic leadership and self-confidence...
The ability to influence events and decisions and persuade peers and subordinates to support your point of view are critical executive management skills...To find someone who seems to have a natural talent for influence and persuasion is rare. When found, it is hard for decision makers to look past it...
Style Trumps Substance - Politicians, advertisers, and salesmen are not the only ones who understand that “looking and sounding good” often blinds people to what should be obvious to them: distortions of the truth, empty clichés, hyperbole, and fatuous nonsense. “I don’t know what he said. But he’s so good-looking. What’s not to believe?”...Risk taking, often difficult to quantify or differentiate from foolhardiness, is a trait that closely lines up with what we expect of leaders in times of crisis. But how much risk is appropriate? How much risk will be effective in saving the day or, in more mundane business settings, achieving objectives? Another trait, impulsivity, accentuates risk-taking behavior, leading to acting without sufficient planning and forethought. And thrill seeking often involves taking dangerous risks just to see what will happen. Elements of extreme impulsivity and thrill seeking can also be mistaken for high energy, action orientation, courage, and the ability to multitask, all important management traits...Most [psychopaths] were filtered out during []bomb disposal squad] training, and those who slipped through didn't last long. It is just as unlikely that psychopaths make good spies, terrorists, or mobsters, simply because their impulsiveness, concern only for the moment, and lack of allegiance to people or causes make them unpredictable, careless, and undependable—likely to be “loose cannons.”
We suggest that it is easy for someone—anyone—to confuse behavior that is psychopathically motivated with expressions of genuine leadership talent. "
Seasoned psychopathy researchers are often impressed with the conversational skills of psychopaths when in their presence, only to find during subsequent listening to the tapes that their banter is filled with flowery phrases, inconsistencies, lies, distortions, and bad logic...
We also know that psychopaths treat individuals differently depending on their perceived status. Psychopathic responses to perceived “lower-status” interviewers may include condescension, flirting, disparaging side comments, and displays of entitlement, among other things. “High-status” interviewers may provoke discussion of overly ambitious career aspirations and expectations, bravado and deceitful boasting, and even the disparagement of another “lower-status” interviewer. By getting all of the interviewers in a room together for a discussion of the candidates, the selection committee can flush out these discrepancies. By reviewing the candidate’s interview results together, critical inconsistencies, and possibly deceitful claims, can be uncovered. A good meeting facilitator will get each person to test his or her impressions, feelings, and facts about each candidate. Lists of positive and negative aspects of the slate of candidates can then be used to make the final selection...

During employment interviews, psychopaths (and others skilled at impression management) will quickly assess the interviewer’s value system, personal needs, and psychological makeup, and then tailor their speech and behaviors to make a good impression...University researchers have used a variety of techniques to study psychopathy in the general population. The challenge is to get them to come into the laboratory and to agree to provide enough information about themselves for a proper assessment to be conducted. A common procedure is to put an ad in the newspaper, such as the following: 
Are you charming, intelligent, adventurous, aggressive, impulsive? Do you get bored easily and like to live life on the edge? If you would like to make some easy money by participating in a confidential interview, please call to set up an appointment.

But who would volunteer for such a study? Real psychopaths, psychopathic wannabes, crooks, would-be mercenaries, or those who just need the money? All of these, it appears. Indeed, a recent study found that the average score on the PCL: SV of those who answered such an ad was very high, with half the scores approaching those of incarcerated criminals. Among the latter, some had been arrested for a variety of crimes, while others had managed to engage in a range of unethical behaviors without ever being charged...
The most debilitating characteristic of even the most well-behaved psychopath is an inability to form a workable team. Noted in narcissistic and Machiavellian business people as well as psychopaths, the inability to form a team is a critical factor in career derailment...

Both narcissists and Machiavellians tend to be immodest, but it is the psychopath’s arrogance that stands out so clearly to coworkers. Psychopaths rarely, if ever, take responsibility for their actions, even if they clearly made mistakes or their actions and decisions led to failures. But they go a few steps farther; they will not only blame others but also create “evidence” that others are to blame. This takes effort, but psychopaths easily integrate it into their game, seizing on opportunities to bring harm to others’ careers or professional standing.

"The first time was about three months ago, when I read his [psychopath reportee's] interim report. It was a mess: a hodgepodge of material he seemed to cobble together because I asked. There was no organization, no synthesis, and no accurate timeline. He couldn’t—or wouldn’t—even answer some basic questions about the details and figures. I told him I expected more of a status report, complete with his personal analysis and recommendations, and more details about dates, costs, and so forth.” “How did he respond?” asked Frank. “Well, at first he went ballistic on me, ranting about how we have too many meetings at this company, I should trust him, and on and on."...
Excessive or incongruous compliments and flattery should be a signal for you to pay critical attention to what is coming next. Ask yourself, “What does this person really want of me?”...

We all have hot buttons and weak spots. Hot buttons are those things that provoke an automatic—often emotional—reaction from you, get you excited, or set you off. For example, you may react with envy and depression when your colleague gets promoted, and with sudden frustration or anger when someone cuts you off in traffic, gets credit
for your work, or is critical of the way you dress...When someone presses one of our hot buttons, our attention may be diverted from more important things in our social environment, and our evaluation of a person or situation may be colored by the feelings and reactions triggered by the hot button. This reflex-like tendency—to let hot buttons get the better of us—is not lost on the psychopath or any manipulative person. They will identify your hot buttons and will push them to test their utility. They will use this information to establish in you a mood that is conducive to their current interests and schemes. It is difficult, except in the most blatant situations, to tell whether someone has purposely pushed your hot button or has inadvertently done so without any particular intent to manipulate or use you. In fact, many legitimate friendships are started when someone has pushed a hot button in an effort to genuinely befriend you. A psychopath’s attempt to use your hot buttons against you— for example, to make you lose control in front of someone of importance—will quickly be labeled a mistake by him or her, if challenged. You may even receive a public apology. However, if the psychopath’s motive is to embarrass or humiliate you in front of others, then the damage is already done to your reputation...Learning all you can about your hot buttons is a first defense against having them pushed unscrupulously. Unfortunately, it is far easier to become aware of one’s hot buttons than to learn to control them. Eventually, you will improve in your ability to quickly recognize a hot-button reaction as it starts, allowing you time to put on the brakes and to regain control of your reactions. 

What is wrong with you—too heavy, too thin, or too shy? We often see flaws in ourselves that others do not see. Some are real, but many of these exist only in our imaginations. Psychopaths are adept at identifying those things that you like least about yourself, and at using them as currency in their dealings with you. 

For example, promising to give you what you crave—but with no intention of delivering—is a common technique used in pyramid scams and street games, such as three-card monte. 

Over the course of a long conversation or a series of meetings, a psychopath will try to convince you that he shares many of your likes, dislikes, traits, and attitudes. This need not be stated openly; in fact, psychopathic manipulation can be so subtle that you might be guided to this conclusion just by hearing the psychopath’s life story. Of course, psychopathic stories are carefully crafted to mesh with an individual’s hot buttons and weak spots. In all of the cases we have reviewed, the thought of finding someone who shared their values, beliefs, and life experiences was very seductive.
Hare’s view is that the court performance by [Psychopath Sebastian] Burns was bombastic, disjointed, contradictory, confusing, and confused. The fact that some members of the audience found it compelling is a tribute to the ability of some psychopaths to put on a good show without saying anything of substance...

The opportunistic, deceptive, and manipulative behaviors of psychopaths can be as bewildering to the victims as they are devastating. Many victims become racked with self-doubt, blaming themselves for whatever has happened. Others deny that there is any problem at all. In each case, doubts and concerns about the psychopaths in their lives are converted into doubts about themselves. The problem is greatly exacerbated when a victim cannot convince others, including family and friends, that someone else is the cause of the problem. “Everyone thought that I was the problem” is a common refrain of those who have dealt with a psychopath. "

When I read page 139 of this book, I couldn't help but wonder whether Hitler was a psychopath.

From the book "Psychology of Insanity": 

"This belief involves the adoption of psychological determinism —the doctrine that in the psychical world, as in the world of matter, every event must have a cause. Provided that the necessary antecedents are present, then the result will inevitably follow; and if we see the result, then we know that certain definite causes must have combined in order to produce it. Chance has no more part in psychologyy than it has in Physics. Every thought which flits through the mind, however casual or irrelevant it may seem to be, is the only thought which can possibly result from the various mental processes which preceded it. If I am asked to think of a number, it is apparently a matter of indifference to me which number I select. In reality, however, the number is definitely and absolutely determined by the mental state of the moment—one particular number will inevitably appear in the mind, no other is possible." - Amazing.

"That a man generally knows why he thinks in a certain way, and why he does certain things, is a widespread and cherished belief of the human race. It is, unfortunately, for the most part an erroneous one.We have an overwhelming need to believe that we are acting rationally, and are loath to admit that we think and do things without being ourselves aware of the motives producing those thoughts and actions. Now a very large number of our mental processes are the result of an emotional bias or complex of the type we have described. Such a causal chain is, however, incompatible with our ideal of rationality. Hence we tend to substitute for it a fictitious logical process, and persuade ourselves that the particular thought or action is its reasonable and natural result.The distinction between the real and apparent causes of mental processes is well illustrated in the advice given to the newly created judge, "Give your decision, it will probably be right. But do not give your reasons, they will almost certainly be wrong."
We have found that the processes of the normal mind are in part the result of causes or ' complexes," of whose action the individual himself may be altogether unconscious. Secondly, the action of such complexes may be indirect, so that the conscious processes produced may have but fittle prima facie relation to the causes responsible for them. Thirdly, the individual may believe his thoughts or actions to be the results of other causes, which have in reality played no part whatever in their production, but are only the effects of a subsequent process of rationalisation.The hypothesis that the insane mind is not the chaos which a superficial observer imagines it to be, but that the appearance of disorder is due to our ignorance of the deeper mental processes which link up the disjointed symptoms into a coherent whole, is at any rate suggestive and stimulating.Subsequent chapters will show, as a matter of fact, that recent psychological researches justify and confirm it to a very large extent. We shall hope to demonstrate that the thoughts and actions of the insane are not a meaningless and inscrutable medley, but that cause and effect play as considerable part in the mind of the apparently incomprehensible lunatic as in that of the normal man. We shall find reason to believe, moreover, that not only are the mental processes of the insane explicable by psychological laws, but that these laws are identical with those governing the minds of the sane, that the lunatic is battling with the same troubles which beset us all, and that he is endeavouring to express ideas, desires, and ambitions, with which we are all acquainted."This conception of two opposing groups of ideas, only allowed to come into contact through the distorting medium of rationafisation, will be made clearer by the consideration of some specific examples. The man whose commercial morality differs fundamentally from the code which he practices in his private life, persuades himself that the latter code is not properly applicable to business relations, that to ask a customer three times the value of a certain article is obviously something quite different from thieving, that a man must five, and that the immorality of lying completely disappears when it is necessary for the support of one's wife and family. In a large number of cases they are of the type seen in the prudery example described above, the exaggerated appearance in the superficial layers of the mind of the opposite quality to that belonging to the complex in question. A familiar instance is the concealment of diffidence and social shymess by the assumption of a boisterous good fellowship. Another familiar manifestation of the censure is to be found in the concealment of a gnawing sorrow by the assumption of a witty exterior, it is a common observation that a secret unhappiness often lurks beneath the sparkling witticisms of the man of jokes. Humour is, indeed, one of the great refuges of life, and the man who is sensitive but has no humour suffers much from the bitterness of experience. By the aid of humour, experience which is unpalatable can be deprived of its real significance and treated as a joke, and thus we may be saved the sting of many a painful conflict. The extension of this principle into the field of abnormal psychology is perhaps best seen in the " drunkard's humour," which is so characteristic a feature of the chronic alcoholic. Here we find a superficial wit, consisting essentially in an inability to take anything seriously, even the gravest ^acts of life. The consequences of his vice, poverty, a wrecked career, the miseries of wife and children, are glossed over by the alcoholic with a pleasantry or a bon mot, and are not allowed to disturb his exaggerated self complacency. In this manner he achieves a superficial peace of mind, and is saved from that remorse which constitutes the most distressing of all conflicts. It has been well said that " almost universally regarded as either, on the one hand, a sin or a vice, or, on the other hand, as a disease, there can be little doubt that it (alcoholism) is essentially a response to a psychological necessity. In the tragic conflict between what he has been taught to desire and what he is allowed to get, man has found in alcohol, as he has found in certain other drugs, a sinister but effective peacemaker, a means of securing, for however short a time, some way out of the prison-house of reality back to the Golden Age...In the sphere of insanity the mechanism of projection plays a prominent part, and a great variety of symptoms may be ascribed to its action. Alcoholism, described in the last chapter as one of humanity's refuges from the stress of conflict, provides many exceUent examples. The chronic alcohofic develops with great frequency delusions concerning the conduct of his wife or other relatives. Thus one of my patients complained bitterly that his wife was dissolute, a drunkard, and a spendthrift, that she neglected both himself and the chUdren, and that she aUowed the home to go to rack and ruin. 

In " Old Maids' Insanity," for example, an unmarried lady of considerable age, and of blameless reputation, begins to complain of the undesirable attentions to which she is subjected by some male acquaintance. She explains that the man is obviously anxious to marry her, and persistently follows her about. Finally certain trifling incidents lead her to believe that he is scheming to abduct her by force, and on the strength of this she perhaps writes him an indignant letter, or lodges a complaint with the police. Investigation follows, and it is found that the man is not only entirely innocent of the charges levelled against him, but that he has never expressed the least interest in the lady, and is probably hardly aware of her existence. The lady is certified to be suffering from " delusions of persecution," and is removed to an asylum... The repressed instincts obtain an indirect expression, however, by the mechanism of projection. The desires originating therefrom are roused to activity by the man in question, and the real state of affairs is that the lady is in love with the man but, owing to the repression, the mind will not acknowledge that these ideas and emotions are part of itself, and finds a solution of the conflict by reversing the significance of the desires and projecting them upon their own object...Even the habit of excessive indulgence in music, for those who are neither performers themselves nor musically gifted enough to take it in a purely intellectual way, has probably a relaxing effect upon the character. 

The degradation of speech and mental content proceeds according to fairly precise laws which have been laboriously investigated by Jung and his followers. Space does not permit of any further description of them here, but it may be said that by their aid it is possible to show that even the most incoherent and apparently meaningless speech has nevertheless a definite signnificance, capable of being elucidated by psychological analysis. 


We have seen that a vast number of abnormal phenomena, ranging from hallucinations and delusions to the complicated phantasy productions described in the last chapter, are to be regarded as examples of dissociation. The mind has lost that homogeneity which is the ideal of the normal personality, and has become disintegrated into more or less independent portions, each pursuing its own course and development without reference to the welfare of the whole. We have seen, moreover, that this disintegration has invariably owed its existence to the presence of a conflict. Homogeneity has disappeared because the mind contains elements which are incompatible with each other, and dissociation has arisen as a method of avoiding the storm and stress which the warring of these mutually hostile elements would otherwise inevitably produce. Dissociation is therefore to be regarded biologically as a refuge from the stress of conflict, and as one of nature's methods of dealing with conflicts which seem insoluble by other means. 

has invariably owed its existence to the presence of a conflict. Homogeneity has disappeared because the mind contains elements which are incompatible
with each other, and dissociation has arisen as a method of avoiding the storm and stress which the warring of these mutually hostile elements would otherwise inevitably produce. Dissociation is therefore to be regarded biologically as a refuge from the stress of conflict, and as one of nature's methods of dealing with conflicts which seem insoluble by other means. 

 It was shown that the abnormal phenomena finally produced could be regarded as biological reactions whose purpose was to provide a way of escape from the strain of this intolerable struggle. The individual found a refuge in dissociation, and retired into an imaginary world where the complexes attained a delusional fulfillment, while all the mental processes incompatible with this imaginary world were shut out of the field of consciousness. Now in cases of this type it is interesting to note that among the processes thus excluded from effectual participation in consciousness are to be found almost all the tendencies due to the operation of herd instinct. The patients have lost the gregarious attributes of the normal man, and the sanctions of traditional conduct have no longer any significance for them. In the milder cases this change shows itself merely as a loss of interest in the affairs of their fellows, a tendency to be solitary and unsociable, an atrophy of their affections for friends and relatives, and an indifference to the ordinary conventions of society. In the advanced cases the change is much more marked, and the mind is completely withdrawn from participation in the life of the herd. The code of conduct imposed by convention and traditions no longer regulates the patient's behaviour, and he becomes slovenly, filthy, degraded, and shameless. In this picture, to which so many chronic lunatics conform, may be recognised the absolute negation of herd instinct and of the vast group of mental activities which arise therefrom. 

It is possible that insanity, or a part of insanity, will prove to be less dependent upon intrinsic defects of the individual than on the conditions in which he has to five, and the future may determine that it is not the individual who must be eliminated, but the conditions which must be modified."

Quotes from the book "The Mask of Sanity":

"Before returning to the hospital, Chester [one of the psychopathic cases discussed in the book] had complained bitterly to his father, stating that he would kill himself rather than come. The father recognized this threat of suicide as insincere but typical of the somewhat dramatic airs often assumed by the patient. Except for past experience with such threats, it would have been natural to think desperation would be consistent with his intensely strong distaste for restraint of any sort...
I believe that consistent, prompt and regular punishment for unacceptable conduct is of great value in treating most people who persist in flagrant misbehavior, delinquency or crime. I believe it is usually of far more value than any form of dynamic psychotherapy.
His little difficulties with the law about bad checks and swindling schemes he waived aside as if they had been matters too small and too irrelevant for serious discussion. He showed plainly that he considered himself of a type superior to the best people in town and to his parents and dwelt at length on the rarefied social and intellectual atmosphere in which he moved when away.
He did not readily take no for an answer but continued to beg after repeated refusals. His manner was supercilious and haughty, though his words were sometimes shamefully abject. During these interviews he outrageously and falsely criticized his parents, accusing them of the most fantastic mistreatment and laying all his difficulties at their door.
"But I've got to see you at once," Walter insisted. "I tell you I'm in trouble." The other, becoming vexed at such insistence and at the highhanded, peremptory tone, explained that his own affairs were urgent also and asked to be told more about the matter. Walter would give no details. He became more demanding. "I tell you I want to see you. You come on down to 1321 Juniper Street. I'll be in front of the house. And if you've ever traveled fast in your life you travel fast now." At this the other man became rebellious. He frankly stated that he could not and would not tear himself away from his own business at such a time on such an inscrutable errand. Walter then began to compromise and at last grudgingly agreed to a meeting in a few hours. His whole manner in the conversation was that of one who demands fulfillment of an obligation, not of one who requests a favor...As in so many cases of this sort, drink, being a tangible and superficial activity, is often stressed by the family and the patient as if it were the major source of difficulty. Being at a loss to account for antisocial and self-damaging acts in terms of real purpose, it is customary for them to decide that these must have been carried out because some drinks had been taken. I do not share such a belief. This patient, like a good many others, was more inclined to discuss drinking than his more essential difficulties, so this at first was the chief topic. 

Perhaps, he admitted, there were tendencies within, whose presence he did not suspect. As he continued, he spontaneously questioned his essential sincerity but in such a way as to make him seem even more sincere than heretofore. This man's apparent insight, freedom from evasiveness, and willingness to admit himself responsible for his misfortunes are, it might be said, inconsistent with his history, which is typically that of a psychopath. In my opinion, however, none of these qualities which appeared to be so highly developed in him are real. It is perhaps more accurate to say that, whatever reality there may be in these qualities, it is not integrated
into the person's functioning. It does not emerge objectively in the actuality of behavior.

In time, his insight comes to seem but a mimicry of insight. He uses the words which one who understood would use, but they do not have a corresponding meaning. He speaks with every evidence of conviction and sincerity, but when one studies him over a period of time, it becomes apparent finally that he is merely going through the motions, that he is not actually living the feelings he describes so well. His evasiveness, of almost Dostoevskian complexity, consists in an openness which is actually no openness at all. He freely gives up discrediting information about his weakness and his failures and appears to take them with ardent seriousness, to understand them, to regret them to the bottom of his heart, and to intend to learn and profit by them. But all the while he is, for the most part, merely using the words, the gestures, and the expressions without entering into the feeling and the understanding. We find ourselves dealing not so much with a genius at acting but with a person who, in the most important matters, has no capacity of distinguishing between what is acting and what is not.

There is, however, a fundamental difference. Psychopaths notoriously deceive and falsify, with strict awareness of the intention and about any sort of situation.

But he at once insists that he has always been a man of his word, ignoring the many incidents in his history to the contrary. He leaves out many well-established facts which would not fit in with the picture he now means to give of himself, as a man who has done many foolish and unpardonable things but who is still a "gentleman" fundamentally. He always insists that the many women with whom he has had relations were those who would obviously excite romantic feelings, though this is by no means true. He says repeatedly that sexual relations are no pleasure to him unless he gives the woman pleasure too, but one can see that this is an opinion he has picked up from reading and that it has nothing to do with the reality of his life. Actually his experiences with women have been casual, incomplete, and of so little real significance to him that he has been known to drink himself into a state of impotence rather than continue even the primary physical exercises of the relationship. Later he says that no woman among the many with whom he has had intercourse ever afforded anything of serious significance to him; but he feels that this is rather to his credit as a romantic lover. "I am in love with love!" he concludes tritely.

Once after he had remained away for two full nights, the police were called. He was picked up at a dive where slot machines and other gambling devices furnished amusement to mill workers and rustics from the surrounding countryside. He had previously driven over to a nearby city with a casual acquaintance who had gone there in
the course of his duties as a traveling salesman. The fact that he had not taken the trouble to inform his mother of his intentions seemed to him a trifle in comparison with what he indignantly regarded as the meddling of his family in asking the police to look for him.

It is interesting to contrast the ingenuity in some features of his plan with the injudiciousness of the general scheme. The talk of going all the way to New York with which he beguiled his companion probably represented a vague hope (if lucky breaks occurred) but the unlikelihood of getting that far did not deter the patient in his actions. Apparently Milt said to himself, well, if we don't make it all the way to New York, at least we'll have a good trip and see a lot of other places nearer at hand...It was, she repeatedly said, the way be made her feel personally valued and cherished, deeply and truly loved, rather than a remarkable sensuously erotic experience that bound her to him. One can but marvel that Stanley, and only Stanley, of all the men she had known, could give her this invincible impression of sincerity in personal love and make it convincing time after time despite the repeated and trenchantly disillusioning contradictions demonstrated so vividly and so painfully, and sometimes brutally, by his conduct.

But vague as the concept of schizophrenia remains and various as its manifestations are, the schizophrenic, when recognized, is promptly called a patient with mental illness and treated as such, The psychopath, however, continues to be treated as a petty criminal at one moment, as a mentally ill person at the next, and again as a well and normal human being-all without the slightest change in his condition having occurred. 

He usually preferred women older than himself, becoming, in fact, a veritable lion among dowagers in his community. Young women also have sought to mother him. The large number of women who appear in his life story have this in common: they have consistently been of sober temperament and inclined toward domesticity rather
than toward flirtatious, erotically passionate, or promiscuous behavior. This is true of the younger as well as of his older benefactresses. His ability to alarm and to draw out protective impulses in women is remarkable. Superficially he gives the impression when with them of a dashing and somewhat predatory male. He is not entirely without ambition as a lover and actually seduces some of his protectresses. His approach in seduction is, however, nearly always through pity.

..but the more intimately a large number of such people are studied, the stronger becomes the impression that it is chiefly woman's impulse to mother that they arouse. Feminine intuition senses that here, concealed beneath an appearance of maturity, is a baby or something very much like a helpless, crying little baby. Her deep instincts to nurse and to protect this winsome little darling are unconsciously called out. The superficial relationship of woman to her lover conceals this fundamental urge. She longs to take this defenseless creature, hold him to her breast, guard him, shape him, and let him grow up under her protection. Her feminine intuition, which so accurately divines the presence of the spiritual baby, fails, alas, to understand that it is a baby who will never grow up.

The confusion about our subject as it has been so often presented in psychiatric textbooks should not be peremptorily attributed to carelessness or ignorance on the part of the authors. It is worthwhile for us to remember that these authors are attempting to treat many disparate and not a few distinctly incongruous matters under a single heading. Even today our officially approved standards demand that a good many different disorders be so treated. Often we find much broader and more heterogeneous areas embraced, and such a motley conglomeration of diverse subjects appears under a single label that even the most sagacious author can say little without falling at once into paradox, error, and soon into absurdity. His statements may be sound, accurate, and entirely pertinent to the various subjects he, perchance, has in mind and at the same time ring loud with nonsense as they strike willy-nilly upon other and alien subjects all forced under a single identifying term that applies to nothing except in language...The studies of Partridge have been valuable in focusing attention on the type of patient who needs attention as a separate entity rather than in a confused group. In his writing can be found a discernible and well-presented clinical picture. Partridge's three general types include only psychopaths, and the relatively modest distinctions among them impress us as valid rather than imaginary. Here, too, we find a clear rejection of the time-honored assumption that psychopaths are marked by gross physical defects and "stigmata of degeneration" and that this disorder has been satisfactorily related to inborn defects. This valuable contribution, though largely ignored by many authorities, merits recognition today.

In work with juvenile delinquents, Healy pointed out that under similar conditions of insecurity or emotional deprivation one child might show anxiety and passive withdrawal and another, aggressive mischief, apparently in response to the personal stress. These observations have been helpful over the years in efforts to interpret and to deal with behavior disorder.

This term [sociopathic personality disturbance, antisocial reaction] refers to chronically antisocial individuals who are always in trouble, profiting neither from experience nor punishment, and maintaining no real loyalties to any person, group, or code. They are frequently callous and hedonistic, showing marked emotional immaturity, with lack of sense of responsibility, lack of judgment, and an ability to rationalize their behavior so that it appears warranted, reasonable, and justified.The borderlines between chronic delinquency and what we have called the psychopath merge in this area. Although anxiety, remorse, shame, and other consciously painful subjective responses to undesirable consequences are deficient in both [chronic delinquency and psychopathy] as compared with the normal, this callousness or apathy is far deeper in the psychopath. The deficiency is also far more successfully masked.We must also consider the possibility that the psychopath may be born with a biologic defect that leaves him without the capacity to feel and appreciate the major issues of life or to react to them in a normal and adequate
manner.

Another much more complicated factor has also impressed me as contributing to the difficulties of the homosexual's life. Many of those who discussed their problems with me fully have left me with the condition that the ideal mate they seek is not another homosexual but a normally oriented person of their own sex.

Is it not pertinent here to ask ourselves again, what is a genius? In the dictionary, among other definitions, we find, "a man endowed with transcendent ability." Shall we conclude that the authentic genius will demonstrate more than ordinary wisdom in the conduct of his life? Or should we consider his books or his music or his statuary apart from his personal acts? Shall we say that his creative productions furnish the evidence of superior wisdom or of essential greatness that he may have failed to display in his role as a husband, father, friend, or citizen? It seems reasonable to argue that we should gratefully accept the work of the poet and artist for what positive qualities we find in the work, itself, and that we can ignore altogether if we choose the life of the man who produced it. May there not be truth and beauty quite genuine in the creative artist's experience but which he cannot apply consistently in the conduct of his own life? It seems reasonable to believe that this is likely.  "

Is it possible that behind the psychopath's disorder there once lay extraordinary potentialities? I have seen other types of people who in critical periods of development seemed to face problems that arose largely from their own precocity, their own distinctly superior qualities. Such patients sometimes seem, it might be said, to have advanced intellectually and in some respects emotionally, so far ahead of what is average that they encounter problems and pressures which demand greater general maturity than it has been possible for them to acquire, although their general maturity may well excel the average. Patients in such situations have been observed who, it seemed, were being pushed into various patterns of psychiatric illness; pushed toward clinical psychoneurosis or possibly even toward schizophrenia, by factors brought into play more through the indirect effects of their superiority than by any specific personality deficits. 
Although excellent capacity is of value in efforts to work through problems, to avoid dangerous pathologic reactive patterns, it is also, I believe, possible that higher magnitudes of emotional and other functional potentiality may have something to do with the degree of destructiveness when regressive withdrawals and disintergrative forces set the course. A man of unusual integrity and loyalty is likely to be more severely damaged than a man mediocre in these respects if complicated and confusing situations cause him to make grave errors in his business (or in his decision as an officer during combat) that result in disaster for which he holds himself responsible. Abandonment or betrayal by a fiancé or mate is likely to put stress upon persons in direct proportion to the depth of genuineness with which the other is loved. Persons of great dignity and pride may find it necessary to destroy their own lives under circumstances in which those with a shallower scope of feeling can adjust with only moderate emotional damage. 
The possibility that a once great capacity for positive living may have played some part in the development of the psychopath's negative (destructive) patterns is, I believe, worthy of careful consideration. 

Nina Leeds of Eugene O'Neill's Strange Interlude was regarded by some critics as shameless, immoral, and self-seeking to an extreme degree. The still celebrated Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind, in some contrast to Nina, fails regularly to respond to sincere emotion in her lovers and pursues above all else aims that are fundamentally egocentric and trivial. Nina Leeds, however, seems capable of real feeling toward her first lover, and her reactions after his death, all of which are based on strong emotional drives, can be understood without assuming the same type of disorder postulated in the psychopath. In fact, she shows very little in common with such a disorder. 
Scarlett O'Hara, in my opinion, is a very convincing figure and really shows some of the emotional impoverishment described here in the patients presented as partial psychopaths. Her incapacity for a true commitment in love is apparently unmodifiable; her egocentricity is basic. She seems to be without means of understanding the strong
emotions in those about her or of having adequate awareness of what makes them act when they act in accordance with principles they value. Unlike the complete psychopath, she successfully pursues ends that lead to her material well-being and she avoids putting herself in positions of obvious folly and shame. In her, however, we sense an inward hollowness and a serious lack of insight.
An interesting feature of Gone With the Wind and one that illuminates an important distinguishing characteristic of the psychopath can be found in a comparison between Scarlett O'Hara and Captain Rhett Butler. Although the captain's conduct is often at variance with most ethical standards, although he evades joining wholeheartedly in the war effort and even seeks to gain personal profit through complications of the war, he can hardly fail to give readers the impression of a man warmly and deeply human. If his objective misdemeanors and other bits of wrongdoing are added up and balanced against Scarlett's actions in the book, it is possible that his score would be technically worse and that he would be more liable to legal action and social censure.
Scarlett, as a matter of fact, is kind in the shallower ranges of feeling, rather consistently considerate about all matters except the most vital. The real contrast becomes clear when fundamental personal issues are at stake. Here Captain Butler's nuclear integrity and his valid reactions of love and compassion are communicated not so much by narration and exposition or by what he directly says as in small reflections of his essential personality that cumulatively reveal him. 
It might be argued that of the two, Scarlett, as depicted in the novel, is on the whole a more conforming person, one who can better avoid conduct which will bring about social retaliation. Without attempting a judgment based on ethical absolutes, which is not the province of this book, a significant contrast can be shown between what appears to be the inmost core of each. As indicated already, the fictional Scarlett O'Hara would be a poor representative of the clinical psychopath, but limitations in her personality so effectively brought out in the novel seem closely related in quality to the more disabling deficit that I believe is fundamental in the enigmatic disorder."

I have seldom seen in fiction so complete and so faithful a portrayal of the psychopath as in the character Rags in The Story of Mrs. Murphy (Natalie Anderson Scott). No attempt is made to explain why this man behaves as he does. He is revealed, not by efforts at description and exposition, but with rare fidelity in the concrete rendering of his behavior. The author of this book understands something fundamental about the true psychopath that often is notably lacking in textbook accounts. This is communicated in a form singularly impressive and worthy of careful study.

We shall list the characteristic points that have emerged and then discuss them in order: 

 1. Superficial charm and good "intelligence" 2. Absence of delusions and other signs of irrational thinking 3. Absence of "nervousness" or psychoneurotic manifestations 4. Unreliability 5. Untruthfulness and insincerity 6. Lack of remorse or shame 7. Inadequately motivated antisocial behavior 8. Poor judgment and failure to learn by experience 9. Pathologic egocentricity and incapacity for love10. General poverty in major affective reactions11. Specific loss of insight12. Unresponsiveness in general interpersonal relations13. Fantastic and uninviting behavior with drink and sometimes without14. Suicide rarely carried out15. Sex life impersonal, trivial, and poorly integrated16. Failure to follow any life plan

A very nice differentiation between feeling, thinking, acting characteristics of 2 different types of people has been brought out in page 259 of this book which is quoted below: 

Caldwell has effectively set down outstanding differences between these two clinical pictures in a brief tabulation:

                             Feeling               Thinking                    Acting
1. Ego-enhancement 
(psychopathic)
                             Hedonistic Irresponsible         Antisocial
                             Callous Rationalistic           Impulsive
                             Emotionally                                   Defiant
                             immature                                         Explosive

2. Ego, depreciation 
(neurotic)
                            Apprehensive          Stereotyped          Antisocial              
                            Anxious                    in fantasies         Asocial
                            Fearful                   Preoccupied           Shy, sensitive
                                                           with moral and
                                                      religious ideas
                        Depressed               Obsessive Hesitant
                          Helpless Indecisive
                          Inferior                                        Suggestible
                             Jealous                                             Overly protective
                                                                           Sexually conditioned
         Timorous
                                                                           Passive

Psychopaths are often witty and sometimes give a superficial impression of that far different and very serious thing, humor. Humor, however, in what may be its full, true sense, they never have.

The emotional poverty, the complete lack of strong or tragic feeling universally found in all the psychopaths personally observed, has caused me considerable bewilderment in connection with frequent references in the literature to the powerful instinctual drives and passions said to be manifested in such people. Although weak and even infantile drives displaying themselves theatrically in the absence of ordinary inhibitions may impress the layman as mighty forces, it is hardly to be concluded that wise and deeply experienced psychiatrists would be similarly deceived.

His insight is of course not affected at all with the type of impairment seen in the schizophrenic patient, who may not recognize the fact that others regard him as mentally ill but may insist that he is the Grand Lama and now in Tibet. Yet in a very important sense, in the sense of realistic evaluation, the psychopath lacks insight more consistently than some schizophrenic patients. He has absolutely no capacity to see himself as others see him. It is perhaps more accurate to say that he has no ability to know how others feel when they see him or to experience subjectively anything comparable about the situation. All of the values, all of the major affect concerning his status, are unappreciated by him. This is almost astonishing in view of the psychopath's perfect orientation, his ability and willingness to reason or to go through the forms of reasoning, and his perfect freedom from delusions and other signs of an ordinary psychosis.

Let us consider a man whose wife, after many years of struggle equal to that of others discussed in some detail here, had left him and was seriously considering divorce. It is difficult to imagine a situation in which the necessity of permanent separation could be more clear or imperative. Nor is it likely that any patient described here has given a marital partner more reason to feel this need or has more fully demonstrated that, no matter what he said, he would continue to behave, toward her and in general, just as he had since their marriage. A few excerpts from his letters to the wife are illuminating:

 "... You will never be happy either by yourself or with some other man.… we have too much in common... I have no reason to lie or to misrepresent things to you now, even though I did try to explain it to you before... There'll be another day, so I'm told and believe, and even though I don't expect to get proper judgment here on earth from you and yours I will up there and if I'm wrong I'm willing to suffer for eternity... I do love you. I've never loved anyone else since childhood... If I kill myself my blood will be on your hands ... it will be heavy on your heart and soul... All wrongs will be righted on judgment Day... You should have stuck by me-should never have left me… I've suffered now really more than I can stand... You think it will bring you happiness to be rid of me... I sincerely hope and pray that it does if you do such a thing. I wish I could feel likewise … and believe everyone is at fault but me."

There is more in all this than simply false promises and fraudulent efforts to persuade the wife not to get a divorce. There is also indication of inability in his fundamental reactions to size up normally what he has done, what he is, and what he has been.

 "A peculiar sort of vulgarity, domineering rudeness, petty bickering or buffoonish quasi-maulings of wife, mistress, or children, and quick shifts between maudlin and vainglorious moods, although sometimes found in ordinary alcoholics with other serious patterns of disorder, are pathognomonic of the psychopath and in him alone reach full and precocious flower. Even in the first stages of a spree, perhaps after taking only two or three highballs, he may show signs of petty truculence or sullenness but seldom of real gaiety or conviviality. Evidence of any pleasurable reaction is characteristically minimal, as are indications that he is seeking relief from anxiety, despair, worry, responsibility, or tension. Alcohol, as a sort of catalyst, sometimes contributes a good deal to the long and varied series of outlandish pranks and inanely coarse scenes with which nearly every drinking psychopath's story is starred. Free from alcohol, such a patient would scarcely sit under a house all night idly striking matches, or, concealing himself behind book stacks, urinate from the window of a public library on passersby in the street below. Nor would he, like the psychopathic son of a prominent family, suddenly, as a prank, decide to climb into a tree at a busy street corner, where he deliberately undressed, shouting wildly and puerilely to draw public attention. This man could not be persuaded to withdraw until the local fire department was called to remove him. The alcohol probably does not of itself create such behavior. Alcohol is not likely to bring out any impulse that is not already potential in a personality, nor is it likely to cast behavior into patterns for which there is not already significant subsurface predilection. The alcohol merely facilitates expression by narcotizing inhibitory processes. In cases of this sort very little narcotizing may be needed. The oil which lubricates the engine of an automobile neither furnishes the energy for its progress nor directs it.

Although his most theatrical exploits in public are usually carried on when drinking, the psychopath, even after he has been free from all alcohol for months, as for instance, when he is in a psychiatric hospital, retains all the essential personality features which have been mentioned. These show little or no tendency to diminish when he cannot drink. These words translated from Aeschylus, "Bronze is the mirror of the form; wine of the heart," express something pertinent about alcohol and man, whether the man be ill or well."

Additional reading:

1. Book: Power Freaks: Dealing with Them in the Workplace or Anyplace by David L Weiner. - Couldn't find a link to read online (for free).
2. http://vbala99.blogspot.com/2015/03/criminals-who-are-they.html
3. https://heartiste.wordpress.com/2013/04/26/why-are-men-with-dark-triad-personalities-so-irresistible-to-women/
4. https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/fulfillment-any-age/201301/shedding-light-psychology-s-dark-triad
5. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/10204896/Night-owls-more-likely-to-have-Dark-Triad-of-personality-traits.html
6. Fundamental premise: https://heartiste.wordpress.com/2013/03/21/the-fundamental-premise/ and also read this: https://heartiste.wordpress.com/2012/06/29/results-from-an-online-dating-experiment/
7. https://heartiste.wordpress.com/2011/12/02/why-men-dont-need-to-worry-so-much-about-their-looks/
8. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/why-women-really-do-love-selfobsessed-psychopaths-850007.html
9. http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2015/03/18/4-warning-signs-youre-dating-a-narcissist/
10. Lovely article: http://cicn.vanderbilt.edu/images/news/psycho.pdf
11. Very Nice Book: "Psychology of Insanity" by Bernard Hart
12. Statistical Analyses: 
13. http://members.shaw.ca/ssucur/materials/02_selected_notes/06_tempest/03_PaulhusWilliams.pdf: Statistical Analysis. Next Link also.
14. http://www.sakkyndig.com/psykologi/artvit/rauthmann2011.pdf
15. https://dranilj1.wordpress.com/tag/machiavellianism/: A quote from this article: "Consistent with findings that dark personalities actively create positive first impressions, researchers found that the composite of the Dark Triad: Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy correlates with effective adornment. This effect was also evident for psychopathy measured alone. This study provides the first experimental evidence that dark personalities construct appearances that act as social lures; possibly facilitating their cunning social strategies."
16. https://whichmbtitype.wordpress.com/2012/05/04/which-mbti-type-is-most-likely-to-be-a-psychopath/
17. http://worldofanentp.tumblr.com/post/96219034302/psychopathic-types - I am surprised to find J's as high scorers in psychopathic tests.
18. Book: The Story of Mrs. Murphy (Natalie Anderson Scott)
19. A friend sent me this: http://www.expressionsofspirit.com/shadow.htm