Personality Traits of Psychopaths

The personality traits of psychopaths predispose them to violence and criminal activity. And yet, not all psychopaths will become violent criminals. Furthermore, many of the personality traits of psychopaths make them charming, charismatic and appealing to others. The hero of the novel, One Flow Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, was a psychopath; and yet most readers take a liking to him, as they did to his silver screen image immortalized by Jack Nicholson.

So what are the personality traits of psychopaths? What are the seemingly opposing characteristics that make them appear sane and appealing on the one hand, but heartless, cruel and lethal on the other?

Internal Personality Traits of Psychopaths

Inwardly psychopaths are easily bored. They are typically highly intelligent but have no strong emotions or a moral understanding. Often referred to as lacking a conscience, psychopaths are deceitful and unable to feel guilt or remorse of any kind. Inclined to violence as a result, psychopaths will gladly flout social conventions and act impulsively to get what they want when they want it. Feeling no sense of belonging or attachment to others, psychopaths are not checked by normal human concerns.

Psychopaths feel nothing for others and will rationalize any action they wish to take. It is no surprise that psychopaths are also highly avaricious, seeking to grab money how they can, when and where they can. But it is equally easy to see why psychopaths can be appealing personalities. With character traits that lead them to be daring, defiant, out-spoken, unquelled, unconquerable, iconoclasts–psychopaths can dazzle, intrigue and inspire, as Adolph Hitler inspired a whole nation to raise itself from the dust of a shattered economy and the humiliation of a lost war, but to do so by ruthless, unconscionable, murderous means the likes of which had not been seen for centuries.

Interpersonal Personality Traits of Psychopaths

So what would a psychopath be like to deal with? Socially maladjusted, the psychopath cannot form normal attachments to others. Therefore any appeal to his sense of right and wrong or to his emotions is senseless. The psychopath possess neither consciousness nor the ability to feel strong emotions of his own, let alone to empathize with those of others. This leads to the deadliest of the psychopaths character traits-the ability to be violent without anything to check his actions.

For this reason, psychopaths resent authority and look down at any social instrument that will try to hold them back. Being without conscience, psychopaths can feel no respect for the law, which is set to protect men against each other. To the psychopath who sees nothing but his own interests, the concerns, the fears, the lives of others are as meaningless as if you were to attribute such things to a fossil.

Sources & Recommended Reading:

1. Edelstein, Linda. The Writer’s Guide to Character Traits. Writer’s Digest Books, 1999, p. 127.

2. The Psychopathic God, Adolph Hitler. Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Psychopathic_God

3. The Psychopath-The Mask of Sanity. Retrieved from: http://www.cassiopaea.com/cassiopaea/psychopath.htm