Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us

  • Location 63 Much of the scientific literature on psychopathy is technical, abstract, and difficult to follow for those who lack a background in the behavioral sciences. My goal was to translate this literature so that it became accessible, not only to the general public but to members of the criminal justice system and the mental health community. I tried not to oversimplify theoretical issues and research findings or to overstate what we know. I hope that those readers whose interest is piqued will use the chapter notes to delve deeper into the topic. Introduction: The Problem
  • Page 2 The most obvious expressions of psychopathy -- but by no means the only ones -- involve flagrant criminal violation of society's rules. Not surprisingly, many psychopaths are criminals, but many others remain out of prison, using their charm and chameleonlike abilities to cut a wide swath through society and leaving a wake of ruined lives behind them.
  • Page 5 according to accepted legal and psychiatric standards. Their acts result not from a deranged mind but from a cold, calculating rationality combined with a chilling inability to treat others as thinking, feeling human beings. Such morally incomprehensible behavior, exhibited by a seemingly normal person, leaves us feeling bewildered and helpless.
  • Page 6 By focusing too much on the most brutal and newsworthy examples of their behavior, we run the risk of remaining blind to the larger picture: psychopaths who don't kill but who have a personal impact on our daily lives. We are far more likely to lose our life savings to an oily-tongued swindler than our lives to a steely-eyed killer. Chapter Two. Focusing the Picture
  • Page 21 He will choose you, disarm you with his words, and control you with this presence. He will delight you with his wit and his plans. He will show you a good time, but you will always get the bill. He will smile and deceive you, and he will scare you with his eyes. And when he is through with you, and he will be through with you, he will desert you and take with him your innocence and your pride. You will be left much sadder but not a lot wiser, and for a long time you will wonder what happened and what you did wrong. And if another of his kind comes knocking at your door, will you open it? -- From an essay signed, "A psychopath in prison."
  • Page 22 Most clinicians and researchers don't use the term in this way; they know that psychopathy cannot be understood in terms of traditional views of mental illness. Psychopaths are not disoriented or out of touch with reality, nor do they experience the delusions, hallucinations, or intense subjective distress that characterize most other mental disorders. Unlike psychotic individuals, psychopaths are rational and aware of what they are doing and why. Their behavior is the result of choice, freely exercised.
  • Page 23 some clinicians and researchers -- as well as most sociologists and criminologists -- who believe that the syndrome is forged entirely by social forces and early experiences prefer the term sociopath, whereas those -- including this writer -- who feel that psychological, biological, and genetic factors also contribute to development of the syndrome generally use the term psychopath.
  • Page 25 "Psychopathy," on the other hand, is defined by a cluster of both personality traits and socially deviant behaviors. Most criminals are not psychopaths, and many of the individuals who manage to operate on the shady side of the law and remain out of prison are psychopaths.
  • Page 30 recall one file in which the psychologist had used a battery of self-report tests to conclude that a callous killer was actually a sensitive, caring individual who needed only the psychological equivalent of a warm hug! Because of the uncritical use of personality tests, the literature was (and still is) cluttered with studies that purported to be about psychopathy but actually had very little to do with it. Chapter Three. The Profile: Feelings and Relationships
  • Page 33 Do I care about other people? That's a tough one. But, yeah, I guess I really do ... but I don't let my feelings get in the way.... I mean, I'm as warm and caring as the next guy, but let's face it, everyone's trying to screw you.... You've got to look out for yourself, park your feelings. Say you need something, or someone messes with you ... maybe tries to rip you off... you take care of it ... do whatever needs to be done.... Do I feel bad if I have to hurt someone? Yeah, sometimes. But mostly it's like ... uh ... [laughs] ... how did you feel the last time you squashed a bug? -- A psychopath doing time for kidnapping, rape, and extortion
  • Page 34 Psychopaths are often witty and articulate. They can be amusing and entertaining conversationalists, ready with a quick and clever comeback, and can tell unlikely but convincing stories that cast themselves in a good light. They can be very effective in presenting themselves well and are often very likable and charming. To some people, however, they seem too slick and smooth, too obviously insincere and superficial. Astute observers often get the impression that psychopaths are play-acting, mechanically "reading their lines."
  • Page 35 A signpost to this trait is often a smooth lack of concern at being found out.
  • Page 38 Psychopaths have a narcissistic and grossly inflated view of their self-worth and importance, a truly astounding egocentricity and sense of entitlement, and see themselves as the center of the universe, as superior beings who are justified in living according to their own rules.
  • Page 38 Psychopaths often come across as arrogant, shameless braggarts -- self-assured, opinionated, domineering, and cocky. They love to have power and control over others and seem unable to believe that other people have valid opinions different from theirs. They appear charismatic or "electrifying" to some people.
  • Page 38 Psychopaths are seldom embarrassed about their legal, financial, or personal problems. Rather, they see them as temporary setbacks, the results of bad luck, unfaithful friends, or an unfair and incompetent system.
  • Page 40 Psychopaths show a stunning lack of concern for the devastating effects their actions have on others. Often they are completely forthright about the matter, calmly stating that they have no sense of guilt, are not sorry for the pain and destruction they have caused, and that there is no reason for them to be concerned.
  • Page 41 Ted Bundy
  • Page 41 "Guilt?" he remarked in prison. "It's this mechanism we use to control people. It's an illusion. It's a kind of social control mechanism -- and it's very unhealthy. It does terrible things to our bodies. And there are much better ways to control our behavior than that rather extraordinary use of guilt." [p. 288]
  • Page 42 Psychopaths' lack of remorse or guilt is associated with a remarkable ability to rationalize their behavior and to shrug off personal responsibility for actions that cause shock and disappointment to family, friends, associates, and others who have played by the rules. Usually they have handy excuses for their behavior, and in some cases they deny that it happened at all.
  • Page 43 Another subject, up for breaking and entering for the twentieth time, said, "Sure I stole the stuff. But, hey! Those folks were insured up the kazoo -- nobody got hurt, nobody suffered. What's the big deal? In fact, I'm doing them a favor by giving them a chance to collect insurance. They'll put in for more than that junk was worth, you know. They always do."
  • Page 43 In an ironic twist, psychopaths frequently see themselves as the real victims.
  • Page 44 Psychopaths view people as little more than objects to be used for their own gratification. The weak and the vulnerable -- whom they mock, rather than pity -- are favorite targets. "There is no such thing, in the psychopathic universe, as the merely weak," wrote psychologist Robert Rieber. "Whoever is weak is also a sucker; that is, someone who demands to be exploited."9
  • Page 45 Psychopaths, however, display a general lack of empathy. They are indifferent to the rights and suffering of family members and strangers alike.
  • Page 46 Lying, deceiving, and manipulation are natural talents for psychopaths.
  • Page 46 Much of the lying seems to have no motivation other than what psychologist Paul Ekman refers to as a "duping delight."10
  • Page 49 Their statements often reveal their belief that the world is made up of "givers and takers," predators and prey, and that it would be very foolish not to exploit the weaknesses of others.
  • Page 50 "Money grows on trees," said another psychopath, a woman with a long history of frauds and petty thefts. "They say it doesn't but it does. I don't want to do it to people, it's just so easy!"
  • Page 53 J. H. Johns and H. C. Quay to say that the psychopath "knows the words but not the music."
  • Page 54 Laboratory experiments using biomedical recorders have shown that psychopaths lack the physiological responses normally associated with fear.16 Chapter Four. The Profile: Lifestyle
  • Page 61 Psychopaths have an ongoing and excessive need for excitement -- they long to live in the fast lane or "on the edge," where the action is. In many cases the action involves breaking the rules.
  • Page 61 Many psychopaths describe "doing crime" for excitement or thrills. When asked if she ever did crazy or dangerous things just for fun, one of our female subjects replied, "Yeah, lots of things. But what I find most exciting is walking through airports with drugs. Christ! What a high!"
  • Page 62 Psychopaths are easily bored.
  • Page 62 Obligations and commitments mean nothing to psychopaths.
  • Page 64 Psychopaths do not hesitate to use the resources of family and friends to bail them out of difficulty. Chapter Five. Internal Controls: The Missing Piece
  • Page 80 Ronald Markman, who (along with Dominick Bosco) wrote Alone with the Devil, a book about Markman's professional work with murderers. The psychiatrist suggested that as an audience we identify with psychopaths, living out our fantasies of life with no internal controls. "There is something inside them that is also inside us and we are attracted to them so we can find out what that something is," Markman wrote. In Weber's interview he went even further: "We're all psychopaths under the skin." Chapter Six. Crime: The Logical Choice
  • Page 100 "The most salient thing about Earl is his obsession with absolute power. He values people only insofar as they bend to his will or can be coerced or manipulated into doing what he wants. He constantly sizes up his prospects for exploiting people and situations." Other prison files describe how, in his quest for power and control, he walks a fine line between inmates and staff and is both feared and admired by both sides. He is very skilled in the use of threats, intimidation, muscle, bribery, and drugs, and he "regularly informs on other inmates in an effort to save his ass and to obtain privileges. The con code means nothing to him unless he personally gets something out of it."
  • Page 100 One of the most striking features of Earl's personality is his grandiosity; entries scattered through his files make reference to his dramatic, inflated, and pompous way of communicating. As one of my assessors wrote, "If I hadn't been so afraid of him I would have laughed in his face at his blatant self-worship." As Earl put it, "I'm always being told by others how great I am and how there's nothing I can't do -- sometimes I think they're just shitting me, but a man's got to believe in himself, right? When I check myself out, I like what I see." Chapter Seven. White-Collar Psychopaths
  • Page 102 The faults of the burglar are the qualities of the financier.
  • Page 107 Grambling was able to use his charm, social skills, and family connections to gain the trust of others. He was aided by the common expectation that certain classes of people presumably are trustworthy because of their social or professional credentials. For example, lawyers, physicians, teachers, politicians, counselors, and so forth, generally do not have to work to earn our trust; they have it by virtue of their positions. Our guard may go up when we deal with a used-car salesman or a telephone solicitor, but we often blindly entrust our assets and well-being to a lawyer, doctor, or investment counselor.
  • Page 111 Their job is made a lot easier simply because a lot of people are surprisingly gullible, with an unshakable belief in the inherent goodness of man.
  • Page 111 who became Man of the Year, president of the Chamber of Commerce (shades of serial killer John Wayne Gacy, whose bid for Jaycee president was interrupted by his first murder conviction), and member of the Republican Executive Committee in the small town where he had resided for ten years. Billing himself as a Berkeley Ph.D. in psychology,
  • Page 111 Penitentiary. "Before he was a con man he was a con boy. He was the kind of kid who would steal a Boy Scout uniform in order to hitchhike. He would tell people that he had hit the road to earn a merit badge. Later he joined the army, only to desert after three weeks. Then he masqueraded as a flier in the Royal Air Force. He persuaded people he was a hero. For two decades he dodged across America, a step ahead of the hoodwinked. Along the way he picked up three wives, three divorces, and four children. To this day he has no idea of what happened to any of them."
  • Page 111 "A good liar is a good judge of people,"
  • Page 112 "More people know my name than before," he said. "I can run with this for years." Most of us would be devastated and humiliated by public exposure as a liar and a cheat, but not the psychopath. He or she can still look the community straight in the eye and give impassioned assurances, on their "word of honor."
  • Page 114 Rather than refer to these individuals as successful psychopaths -- after all, their success is often illusory and always at someone else's expense -- I prefer to call them subcriminal psychopaths. Their conduct, although technically not illegal, typically violates conventional ethical standards, hovering just on the shady side of the law. Unlike people who consciously adopt a ruthless, greedy, and apparently unscrupulous strategy in their business dealings but who are reasonably honest and empathetic in other areas of their lives, subcriminal psychopaths exhibit much the same behaviors and attitudes in all areas of their lives. If they lie and cheat on the job -- and get away with it or are even admired for it -- they will lie and cheat in other areas of their lives.
  • Page 115 The cases that come to the public's attention represent only the tip of a very large iceberg.
  • Page 115 Tragically, these victims often cannot get other people to understand what they are going through. Psychopaths are very good at putting on a good impression when it suits them, and they often paint their victims as the real culprits.
  • Page 115 "For five years he cheated on me, kept me living in fear, and forged checks on my personal bank account. But everyone, including my doctor and lawyer and my friends, blamed me for the problem. He had them so convinced that he was a great guy and that I was going mad, I began to believe it myself. Even when he cleaned out my bank account and ran off with a seventeen-year-old student, a lot of people couldn't believe it, and some wanted to know what I had done to make him act so strangely."
  • Page 119 There is no shortage of opportunities for white-collar psychopaths who think big.
  • Page 121 They are fast-talking, charming, self-assured, at ease in social situations, cool under pressure, unfazed by the possibility of being found out, and totally ruthless. And even when exposed, they can carry on as if nothing has happened, often leaving their accusers bewildered and uncertain about their own positions. Chapter Eight. Words from an Overcoat Pocket
  • Page 124 Some people are simply too trusting and gullible for their own good -- ready targets for any smooth talker who comes along. But what about the rest of us? The sad fact is that we are all vulnerable.
  • Page 125 What makes psychopaths different from all others is the remarkable ease with which they lie, the pervasiveness of their deception, and the callousness with which they carry it out.
  • Page 125 But there is something else about the speech of psychopaths that is equally puzzling: their frequent use of contradictory and logically inconsistent statements that usually escape detection.
  • Page 125 When asked if he had ever committed a violent offense, a man serving time for theft answered, "No, but I once had to kill someone."
  • Page 126 It is as if psychopaths sometimes have difficulty in monitoring their own speech, and they let loose with a convoluted barrage of poorly connected words and thoughts.
  • Page 126 the mental processes of psychopaths are poorly regulated and not bound by conventional rules.
  • Page 129 The psychopath is like a color-blind person who sees the world in shades of gray but who has learned how to function in a colored world. He has learned that the light signal for "stop" is at the top of the traffic signal. When the color-blind person tells you he stopped at the red light, he really means he stopped at the top light.
  • Page 136 As psychologist Paul Ekman pointed out, skilled liars are able to break down ideas, concepts, and language into basic components and then recombine them in a variety of ways, almost as if they were playing Scrabble.
  • Page 136 Although psychopaths lie a lot, they are not the skilled liars we often make them out to be.
  • Page 140 It is well known that psychopaths often convincingly malinger -- fake mental illness -- when it is to their advantage to do so. For example, an inmate I described earlier was able to con his way into a psychiatric unit -- and back out again -- by slanting his responses to the questions on a widely used psychological test.
  • Page 142 If their speech is sometimes peculiar, why are psychopaths so believable, so capable of deceiving and manipulating us? Why do we fail to pick up the inconsistencies in what they say? The short answer is, it is difficult to penetrate their mask of normalcy: The oddities in their speech are often too subtle for the casual observer to detect, and they put on a good show. We are sucked in not by what they say but by how they say it and by the emotional buttons they push while saying it. Chapter Nine. Flies in the Web
  • Page 144 People can be induced to swallow anything, provided it is sufficiently seasoned with praise. -- Moliere, The Miser (1668), 1, tr. John Wood
  • Page 144 Most of us accept the terms and rules of human interaction. But there are always people who use their appearance and charm -- natural or contrived -- to convince others to do their will. And in each case, the "victim's" needs and vulnerabilities help to determine the outcome of the exchange. Mostly, the outcomes are relatively harmless, part of the everyday interactions among people.
  • Page 145 As I discussed earlier, although psychopaths may talk a lot they are not necessarily skilled wordsmiths. It is primarily the "show," not eloquent use of language, that attracts our attention and cons us.
  • Page 145 Good looks, a touch of charisma, a flood of words, contrived distractions, a knack for knowing which buttons to press --
  • Page 145 all these can go a long way toward obscuring the fact that the psychopathic presentation is nothing more than a "line."
  • Page 146 psychopaths often make effective use of body language when they speak, and often it is hard not to follow their actions with our eyes. Psychopaths also tend to intrude into our personal space -- for example, by means of intensive eye contact, leaning forward, moving closer, and so forth.
  • Page 147 The examples below illustrate the uncanny ability of psychopaths to detect our vulnerabilities and to push the right buttons.
  • Page 148 Psychopaths have no hesitation in making use of people's need to find a purpose in their lives, or in preying on the confused, the frail, and the helpless. One of our subjects carefully studied newspaper obituaries, looking for elderly people who had just lost a spouse and who had no remaining family members.
  • Page 149 Psychopaths have an uncanny ability to spot and use "nurturant" women -- that is, those who have a powerful need to help or mother others. Many such women are in the helping professions -- nursing, social work, counseling -- and tend to look for the goodness in others while overlooking or minimizing their faults:
  • Page 152 Some people are immune to the truth because they manage to distort reality to make it conform to their idea of what it should be. Chapter Ten. The Roots of the Problem
  • Page 168 far from landing at the bottom of the heap, psychopaths might be helped up some success ladders by their distinctive personality traits.
  • Page 177 If, as I believe, our society is moving in the direction of permitting, reinforcing, and in some instances actually valuing some of the traits listed in the Psychopathy Checklist -- traits such as impulsivity, irresponsibility, lack of remorse, and so on -- our schools may be evolving into microcosms of a "camouflage society," where true psychopaths can hide out, pursuing their destructive, self-gratifying ways and endangering the general student population.
  • Page 177 our society may be not only fascinated but increasingly tolerant of the psychopathic personality. Chapter Twelve. Can Anything Be Done?
  • Page 195 Psychopaths don't feel they have psychological or emotional problems, and they see no reason to change their behavior to conform to societal standards with which they do not agree.
  • Page 195 To elaborate, psychopaths are generally well satisfied with themselves and with their inner landscape, bleak as it may seem to outside observers. They see nothing wrong with themselves, experience little personal distress, and find their behavior rational, rewarding, and satisfying; they never look back with regret or forward with concern. They perceive themselves as superior beings in a hostile, dog-eat-dog world in which others are competitors for power and resources. Psychopaths feel it is legitimate to manipulate and deceive others in order to obtain their "rights," and their social interactions are planned to outmaneuver the malevolence they see in others.