Compared to non-psychopaths, studies suggest that psychopaths make significantly less eye contact. This applies to both eye contact frequency and duration. Eye contact avoidance doesn't only occur while listening during in-person interaction.
A failure to maintain eye contact can be a symptom of someone hiding something or being insecure. But because sociopaths are extremely confident, they'll do the opposite—staring in a way that veers on predatorial. “Sociopaths are unfazed by uninterrupted eye contact,” writes diagnosed sociopath M.E. Thomas.
Instead, psychopathy is characterised by an extreme lack of empathy. Psychopaths may also be manipulative, charming and exploitative, and behave in an impulsive and risky manner. They may lack conscience or guilt, and refuse to accept responsibility for their actions.
A sociopathic stare is a look that doesn't involve any sort of feeling or emotion. It is different than when someone looks at you and their eyes light up because they are happy to see you. The sociopathic gaze may be the only way to tell that someone is a sociopath.
Nevertheless, psychopathy is among the most difficult disorders to spot. Psychopaths can appear normal, even charming. Underneath, they lack any semblance of conscience. Their antisocial nature inclines them often (but by no means always) to criminality.
Psychopaths, like Rader, often hide in plain sight and, as I have often explained, if they had horns on their heads and long, pointed tails, psychopaths would be much easier to identify and therefore to avoid. However some disguises are just too difficult to spot, until it's too late.
Eye contact practices in psychopaths
Studies confirm that psychopathic in-person eye contact is just as minimal while speaking. Psychopaths also steer clear of the eyes when viewing images of human faces. A study examining this had offenders, both psychopaths and non, look at images of different human faces.
They speak slowly and quietly.
They don't emphasize emotional words like other people do. Their tone remains fairly neutral throughout the conversation. Researchers suspect they craft a calm demeanor intentionally because it helps them gain more control in their personal interactions.
Smiles, smirks, and laughter.
They would know better and feel some empathy for the victim. If you see someone smiling, smirking, or laughing out loud as they watch another's pain on TV, in a movie, or on the street at an accident, you may be watching a sociopath who can't help himself or herself.
Key traits
Some of the red flags that someone is a psychopath include a lack of empathy, a charming personality to fool others, disorganisation, a tendency to blame others, a lack of fear, and being cold-hearted. “Making a clinical diagnosis of psychopathy is rather hard, actually,” Erikson said.
There is no single known cause of psychopathy. Genetics, trauma, brain structure, exposure to violence during childhood, and environmental conditions are possible contributing factors. Research about effective treatments for psychopathy is ongoing.
Those with histrionic, narcissistic, obsessive-compulsive, schizotypal, passive-aggressive, self-defeating, antisocial, paranoid, borderline, avoidant, dependent, and sadistic personality traits also were attracted to psychopaths.
Psychopaths face chronic boredom throughout their lives, leading to a persistent need for excessive stimulation. Some suggest psychopaths are hardwired to require more arousal than other people, meaning they need to do exciting things all the time to feel normal levels of arousal or entertainment.
Children with psychopathic traits evidenced an impairment in their recognition for sad and fearful facial expressions and for sad vocal tone.
The authors carried out a search in different scientific databases, collecting data from articles published between 1994 and 2020, until obtaining a total of 40. They obtained data such as psychopathic criminals showed less blink reflex while watching scenes of mutilations or assaults than other types of criminals.
“Sometimes, people with psychopathy use a stare as a deliberate means of controlling and intimidating others,” she continues. “But it can also reflect cold, hard anger if they're struggling to inhibit it in the same way that other people might glare if they're upset with someone.”
2. Notice the psychopathic stare. A normal person will stare at you, and when you catch their eye, they will look away. A psychopath will continue staring without looking away or blinking.
They found the young men with stronger psychopathic traits tended to have higher social intelligence and more relaxed attitudes towards casual sex. Members of the opposite sex also found the men with more psychopathic traits as more attractive, even after controlling for physical attractiveness ratings.
When psychopaths cry, Glass says they will often wipe underneath each eye, one at a time. "When people cry genuine tears they cry with both eyes, and so they will tend to wipe both eyes at once."
A psychopath has an inflated view of themselves. They see themselves as important and entitled. Psychopaths often feel justified to live according to their own rules, and they think that the laws don't apply to them.
Yes, a psychopath can be obsessed with someone, often driven by personal desires or a need for control. Their obsession may show up as stalking (offline and online), gossiping, public image manipulation, or excessive possessiveness.