Write about the factors that contribute to psychopathic behaviour
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“I think a lot of psychopaths are just geniuses who drove so fast that they lost control” is a famous quote by Criss Jami. According to Brito et al. (2021), “psychopathy is a personality disorder characterized by a constellation of affective, interpersonal, lifestyle, and antisocial features whose antecedents can be identified in a subgroup of young people showing severe antisocial behaviour” (p.2). People with psychopathic behaviour manipulate others because they are smart and appear charming. According to Porter et al. (2019), “Psychopaths are manipulative, callous, remorseless, impulsive, irresponsible, antisocial individuals with an emotionally barren disposition” (p.1). Psychopaths do not have empathy, and therefore they not consider other people. They identify and use people’s vulnerabilities and weaknesses to their advantage. The level of psychopathy in prison is 25%, and in the general public is 1% (Brito et al., 2021). “Psychopathy is characterized by structural and functional brain abnormalities in cortical (such as the prefrontal and insular cortices) and subcortical (for example, the amygdala and striatum) regions leading to neurocognitive disruption in emotional responsiveness, reinforcement-based decision-making and attention” (Brito et al., 2021 p.2). Thus, people with psychopathic behaviour feel entitled and consider themselves more important than the rest.
Psychopaths also do not sho remorse when they make a mistake. Porter et al. (2021) also stated that “it was found that incarcerated adult male offenders classified as psychopathic In one of the earliest investigations of the relationship between violence and psychopathy , had been charged with violent crimes about twice as often as offenders classified as no psychopathic” (1). In most cases, psychopathic behaviour leads to violence where the psychopaths are emotionally and physically abusive to their victims. “Moreover, aggression in high-psychopathic individuals may manifest in ways other than overt violence. For example, relational aggression involving threats, dominance, and emotional abuse also has been linked to psychopathy; This is particularly true for high-psychopathic females, who are more likely than males to direct their aggression toward family members and to engage in physical and emotional abuse in the home” (Brito et al., 2021, p.2). Psychopaths are, , therefore, involved in criminal activities and are considered repeat offenders; This is a danger to the community and negatively influences society. Psychopaty is caused by the lack of the ability to process emotions and empathy which is in the part of the brain called the amygdala. genetics and environmental factors are some of The factors that contribute to psychopathic behaviour.
one of the factors that contribute to psychopathic behavior is Genetics. According to Brito et al. (2021), there are risk genes that are unique for psychopathy and those that are shared with the broader antisocial phenotype; This is because the some behaviours associated with psychopathy and neurocognitive profile are at least partially distinct from those associated with antisocial behaviour in general. Rsearch has shown that about 50% of psychopathy cases are inherited. Brito et al. (2021) also stated that “only a handful of candidate gene studies have focused on psychopathic traits, with the majority of these investigations focusing on their putative precursor in CYP, callous-unemotional traits; These studies have identified genes involved in the serotonergic and oxytocinergic systems, which are thought to contribute to reduced emotional reactivity and capacity for attachment to others” (p.6). Thus, genes like serotonergic and oxytocinergic are one of the factors that contribute to psychopathy.
Environmental factors also contribute to psychopathy. According to Brito et al. (2021), “environmental factors and their complex interplay shape how individual development canalizes over time” (p.7). Examples of environmental factors are neglect and childhood abuse. The people who were emotionally, physically and sexually abused end up having psychopathic traits. Chidden, who also grow up seeing violence in their home, also develop psychopathic traits like they lack empathy and have aggressive characteristics. al. (2021) also stated that “cross-sectional and longitudinal studies have identified a wide range of risk factors associated with antisocial behavior and psychopathic features including prenatal maternal stress, child maltreatment during childhood and adolescence, harsh parental discipline during childhood and adolescence, negative parental emotions, disorganized parent-child attachment and disrupted family functioning” (p.7). Good parenting reduces the rate of psychopathy. Thus, environmental factors like emotional and physical factors contribute to psychopathy.
In conclusion, psychopathy is one of the personality disorders and is associated with manipulative behavior. Psychopaths affects the society because psychopaths are involved in criminal behaviour. Psychopaths are not easily identified because they hid their nature by pretending to be likable. The biggest symptoms of psychopathy are lack of empathy and they also tend to manipulate other people. Genetics and environmental factors contribute to psychopathic behaviour. More research about psychopathy should be conducted to know the disorder can be treated in order to have a safe society.
De Brito, Stephane A., Adelle E. Forth, Arielle R. Baskin-Sommers, Inti A. Brazil, Eva R. Kimonis, Dustin Pardini, Paul J. Frick, Robert James R. Blair, and Essi Viding. “Psychopathy.” Nature Reviews Disease Primers 7, no. 1 (2021): 49.
Porter, S., Woodworth, M. T., & Black, P. J. (2018). Psychopathy and aggression.