Healthy Communities

Do you know what the difference is between a psychopath and a sociopath? This is an important distinction so I repost this regularly…. My PhD data indicates that narcissists, psychopaths and Machiavellians are all subsets of one overarching dark personality type - which I refer to as Persistent Predatory Personality (PPP). This personality type (including psychopaths) is supremely self focused, manipulative, sadistic, cruel, and profoundly dishonest, although they often seem upstanding and normal. MRI imaging work shows PPP, subsuming psychopathy, Machiavellianism and narcissism, have prefrontal cortex, and amygdala brain anomalies. They are wired to be like this. Some people engage in the same behaviours as Persistent Predatory Personalities however, their motivation is not the same. Their behaviours are a consequence of abuse, childhood trauma, etc. These people are often referred to as sociopaths. They are different to PPP in key ways. Over time several terms have been developed to distinguish between the 2 groups of people exhibiting similar behaviours with a different motivation… Psychopath v sociopath, malignant narcissist v vulnerable narcissist, type A psychopath v type B psychopath and so on. My data indicates there is just one over-arching dark personality type which is deeply malevolently motivated - PPP (including psychopaths), and another kind of person who exhibits the same behaviours but do not have the same brain anomalies. The second group of people experience shame and are often willing to seek support. With work they may become more effective in their functioning. Some high profile psychopaths claim to be sociopaths as this is seen to be more palatable.