THE ANTISOCIAL PERSONALITY DISORDER: AN OVERVIEW The sociopath has been given many different names over the decades, but the symptoms remain remarkably the same. Sociopathy originates in childhood, where it is characterized by such things as truancy, persistent lying, theft, and vandalism. Similar behaviors persist into adulthood, taking the forms of assaults against persons and property, defaulting on major debts and financial responsibilities, and involvement in the underworld. Sociopaths share a group of personality traits, which include the absence of a sense of shame or remorse, failure to learn from past experience, and impoverished emotions. Thus, we come full circle. Clinical observations lead us to believe that sociopaths are deficient in the ability to experience emotion and in the degree to which conscience controls their behavior. These clinical observations ate confirmed by laboratory studies, which indicate that physical punishment is particularly ineffective with sociopaths. Further studies suggest that physical punishment may be ineffective because sociopaths are under-aroused, a condition that may be due to aberrant limbic function. While the effects of environment are clearly evident in the development of sociopathy, there is evidence that genetics, too, plays a role. And speculation that genetic factors influence brain function, especially limbic function, is consistent with data that indicate that sociopaths are under-aroused.
OTHER PERSONALITY’S...
Antisocial Personality Disorder The antisocial personality disorder is the best known and best studied of the personality disorders, but it is not the only one. People who are characteristically suspicious and distrustful, or passive, or inappropriately emotional, or overly dependent upon others, or enormously compulsive and orderly, such people, too, may be suffering from a personality disorder.
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