Feb 6, 2024 07:57 PM
https://www.livescience.com/human-behavi...el-empathy
EXCERPTS: . . . "People with psychopathic traits are really focused on themselves and their own needs," Howner explained. "They have a lack of empathy and they don't experience feelings of shame or guilt. There's a grandiosity and impulsivity which means they think that they can do anything without consequence."
However, this doesn't mean people with psychopathy don't have any empathy at all, Howner said. Psychologists break this complex emotion down into several different sub categories.
"Affective or emotional empathy is where you feel the emotions that others are showing. You have a kind of emotional resonance with the other person, and this is something psychopaths struggle with," she said. "But cognitive empathy is more like mentalization. That is, you can think how another person is thinking or feeling. Psychopaths are usually good at this and use it to manipulate people."
This apparent lack of emotional empathy is what makes psychopathic individuals seem cold and cruel. However, studies consistently show people with psychopathy have the capacity to experience this type of empathy under the right conditions...
[...] But is this a skill that psychopaths can learn? There's every reason to believe so... So why does this behavior develop in the first place? Scientists aren't exactly sure, although evidence suggests it's a mixture of genetic and environmental factors. ... Studies have shown profound differences in both the structure of the brain and how different brain regions communicate in psychopathic individuals.
[...] These neurological differences mean that psychopathic individuals don't process emotions in the same way as individuals without psychopathy do and this physical disparity is difficult to overcome.
Current treatments rely on a combination of approaches [...] "Current data suggest that psychopathy is no more or less untreatable than any other psychiatric disorder," Baskin-Sommers said. "There's been an unfortunate narrative about psychopathy that these people are fundamentally evil, but society needs to realize that this is a condition that deserves support and necessitates treatment." (MORE - missing details)
EXCERPTS: . . . "People with psychopathic traits are really focused on themselves and their own needs," Howner explained. "They have a lack of empathy and they don't experience feelings of shame or guilt. There's a grandiosity and impulsivity which means they think that they can do anything without consequence."
However, this doesn't mean people with psychopathy don't have any empathy at all, Howner said. Psychologists break this complex emotion down into several different sub categories.
"Affective or emotional empathy is where you feel the emotions that others are showing. You have a kind of emotional resonance with the other person, and this is something psychopaths struggle with," she said. "But cognitive empathy is more like mentalization. That is, you can think how another person is thinking or feeling. Psychopaths are usually good at this and use it to manipulate people."
This apparent lack of emotional empathy is what makes psychopathic individuals seem cold and cruel. However, studies consistently show people with psychopathy have the capacity to experience this type of empathy under the right conditions...
[...] But is this a skill that psychopaths can learn? There's every reason to believe so... So why does this behavior develop in the first place? Scientists aren't exactly sure, although evidence suggests it's a mixture of genetic and environmental factors. ... Studies have shown profound differences in both the structure of the brain and how different brain regions communicate in psychopathic individuals.
[...] These neurological differences mean that psychopathic individuals don't process emotions in the same way as individuals without psychopathy do and this physical disparity is difficult to overcome.
Current treatments rely on a combination of approaches [...] "Current data suggest that psychopathy is no more or less untreatable than any other psychiatric disorder," Baskin-Sommers said. "There's been an unfortunate narrative about psychopathy that these people are fundamentally evil, but society needs to realize that this is a condition that deserves support and necessitates treatment." (MORE - missing details)