41 pages • 1-hour read
The Sociopath Next Door: The Ruthless Versus The Rest Of Us
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Index of Terms
Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD)
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of mental illness, emotional abuse, and child abuse.
ASPD (colloquially known as “sociopathy” or “psychopathy”) is a mental disorder characterized by a disregard for the rights and welfare of others; a lack of empathy, remorse, or guilt; and a total focus on one’s own needs and desires. People with ASPD exhibit shared traits of recklessness, deceitfulness, exploitation of others’ emotions and conscience, and disregard for safety, rules, and law. Stout describes them as more likely to go out of their way to make others’ lives more difficult, and she argues that they rely on constant stimulation to stave off the boredom and lack of meaning caused by their lack of emotional capacity. People with ASPD are known to avoid responsibility and fail to see their part in harming others and are more likely than the general population to fall into substance use or financial difficulties. ASPD appears first in childhood but is not diagnosed until adulthood.
The exact causes of ASPD are not known, but it is thought to be partially genetic and partially environmental (due to abuse, trauma, or exposure to crime as a child). In her book, Stout claims that ASPD is one of the major causes of misery and abuse in the world, and she insists that people must learn to protect themselves from those who have the disorder. Her book has been criticized for painting people with ASPD as “others” who should be feared and avoided.
Conscience
Stout defines the conscience as “a sense of obligation ultimately based in an emotional attachment to another living creature (often but not always a human being), or to a group of human beings, or even in some cases to humanity as a whole” (25). The conscience is a person’s sense of moral right and wrong, and Stout argues that is what keeps humanity together. It is directly connected to the experience of love, and it is what gives people hope that the world can improve. The conscience is a way of evaluating one’s own thoughts and actions, as well as the thoughts and actions of others; those who act with extreme conscience and compassion are often celebrated as heroes.
The conscience is what allows people to feel guilt or remorse when they hurt someone and is the motivator behind many careers and acts of goodwill. It is partially an evolutionary trait with benefits for individuals, groups, and the species as a whole. It is also partially formed by one’s culture, family, and other aspects of one’s social experience. The conscience is studied through a scientific lens, as well as through philosophical and spiritual lenses. What these share is the assertion that the conscience matters and that it is much better to act with a conscience than to act without it. In people with ASPD, the conscience does not function as it does in other people. As a result, these individuals are more likely to intentionally harm others.
Moral Exclusion
Moral exclusion is a psychological phenomenon in which people or groups of people are dehumanized because of the perception that they are outsiders or unworthy of empathy. Moral exclusion can come in the form of racism, sexism, ageism, classism, or any other mechanism through which people categorize and separate themselves. Moral exclusion can also be found in situations where a person is perceived as “evil” because of their actions against humanity (in the cases of, for example, Adolf Hitler or Charles Manson) and are thus seen as undeserving of the moral rights that belong to people generally. Moral exclusion is explored in Stout’s book to demonstrate how people with a conscience can, at times, justify abhorrent actions by excluding others from the influence of their conscience, mimicking the attitudes of those with ASPD. People do this both consciously and unconsciously and are more likely to engage in moral exclusion when others are doing so as well.
Nature Versus Nurture
Nature versus nurture is a philosophical, biological, and psychological debate regarding the origin of human behavior, personality, and development. The debate centers around whether these factors are the result of nature (genetics, evolution) or nurture (environmental factors such as upbringing, culture, etc.). When this question was first proposed in the 19th century—by eugenicist and social Darwinist Francis Galton—the debate was largely “one or the other,” but today, there is a general consensus that most aspects of human behavior are both genetic and environmentally influenced. For most psychological disorders (such as ASPD), the split appears to be almost 50-50, with most mental health conditions stemming both from a genetic component and one or several environmental triggers. What this means is that people are often born with a genetic predisposition to develop certain traits or illnesses, but most of these require some sort of environmental influence, like trauma, education, or lack of attachment to parental figures. Most studies today seek to determine the extent of the influence of genes versus environment and how these influences can be prevented or mitigated to reduce the likelihood of mental illness or disorders.
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