A Primer on Psychopathy
-- By David S. Kosson and Robert D. Hare
The concept of
psychopathy or psychopathic personality has been around for a long time under a
variety of different names and with several different but overlapping
definitions. The first conceptualization usually linked to the modern concept
of the disorder was Philippe Pinel's description of manie sans delire, which is loosely translated as "insane but not
delirious." (Delirium refers to a state of severe mental agitation and
confusion). The modern view of the psychopathic individual as suffering from a
specific personality disorder originated in the clinical descriptions of several psychiatrists during
the first half of the twentieth century, particularly those provided by Hervey
Cleckley in his book, The Mask of Sanity, (1941/1976). Cleckley postulated that psychopathy involves difficulty in understanding the meaning and significance of human behavior and leads to a pervasive deficit in the experience of emotion. The title of the book conveys Cleckley's view that psychopathic individuals do not appear insane in the usual sense of the word. Read the entire article...
What Psychopath Means
-- Scott O. Lilienfeld and Hal Arkowitz
Reproduced with permission. © 2007 Scientific American Inc. All Rights Reserved.
This Charming Psychopath
How to Spot Social Predators Before They Attack
-- By Robert D. Hare
Reproduced with permission. © 2007 Psychology Today All Rights Reserved.