How to spot a sociopath?

Answer 1

Oddly enough, some sociopaths are very forthwith about their disorder. Generally those who confess to being a sociopath are A: either lying or B: trying to control it. Being removed from the messy emotions that tie them to other humans, such as empathy, sympathy, and love, they are more readily able to recognize that impulse control is their only means of maintaining a normal life. All sociopaths realize what they are even if they don't have terminology for it and develop accordingly by watching other humans interact. By the time they have reached adulthood, they have a fairly formidable cache of prerecorded responses with which they use to interact more normally with other humans. Bare in mind that just because sociopathy is more common in those who have been abused, doesn't mean every sociopath was abused as a child. In most instances, if the person you are with admits they are a sociopath, then they have opened up to you in a manner that is remarkable and they feel that you are truly trustworthy, being as that is nearly an impossible feat to achieve, you should be flattered and they probably aren't a threat to you. In fact, there probably isn't much they wouldn't do for you, so do be careful about glib remarks revolving around the death of your boss, they may not realize you really don't mean that. Despite popular opinion sociopaths aren't inherently evil, they just aren't wired the same way. Many sociopaths go their entire life without maiming anyone, it all comes down to impulse control which seems to be in short supply here in the U.S., not only for sociopaths, but for normal people too.

Answer 2

Well, to put it bluntly, spotting a sociopath is fairly difficult, because they tend to have the charm to "dazzle" people

It could be the popular guy at school whom everyone loves and is never wrong about anything.

Sociopaths tend to take control of any situation they come across. They have an extreme amount of narsissim, thinking that what ever they do, they do it best.

Although in today's society spotting out a sociopath is a lot more difficult, that doesn't mean there are less of them.

One major way of spotting a sociopath is how much they don't care about someone. These are the kind of people that ignore if not enjoy the pain and suffering of others

Answer 3

Well, you really don't know how dangerous someone is whether they're a sociopath or not. However, if you know someone is a sociopath then it's a fair assumption to make that you have observed unempathetic and anti-social behaviour in them- these behaviours will give a good indication of how dangerous they are.

Most sociopaths never kill or seriously injure anyone, they prefer to con people out of money or manipulate them into doing things which serve the interests of the sociopath. Killing is a sign of low impulse control though, which is one of their hallmarks too.

I think if you try to antagonise a sociopath they could become dangerous, whether they would fly off the handle and assault you or sneakily hurt you would depend on their level of intelligence and how much control they have over their behaviour.

Another good indication is whether or not they have a criminal record, and if so whether it includes a record for violent offences.

Either way they aren't the best people to spend time around if you don't have to, but since they make up 1% of humanity the odds are everyone will have to deal with one at some point- just watch out and remember that if you give them an inch they will take a yard.