Psychopathy is often associated with fearlessness and blunted emotions. But new research in the scientific journal Personality and Individual Differences has found that some psychopaths have higher levels of anxiety and stress.
Primary psychopaths tend to show low trait anxiety and more closely match the stereotype of the prototypical psychopath. Their symptoms are thought to be inherent and are not an indirect consequence of some other deficit (Lykken, 1957). In contrast, secondary psychopaths tend to show high levels of trait anxiety.
Last, a meta-analysis was performed which conclusively showed that psychopathic individuals have trouble in the automatic detection and responsivity to threat but may in fact feel fear, providing direct empirical support for the claim that the conscious experience of fear may not be impaired in these individuals.
Psychopaths are not all “psycho”.
Their lack of emotions, such as anxiety and fear, helps them to stay calm in frightening situations. Experiments have shown that they have a reduced startle response.
Psychopaths are calm and collected under pressure, and have something called a "resilience to chaos." This means they thrive in situations that others would find highly stressful. Sociopaths, however, are more vulnerable to anxiety, so they do not do as well in those environments.
“It is possible that psychopathic individuals both enjoy fear and also do not experience the negative aspects of fear to the same extent as other people.” “These findings may help explain the risk-taking and criminal behaviour of people with psychopathic traits.
Summary: Researchers have found proof that psychopathic individuals can feel fear, but have trouble in the automatic detection and responsivity to threat.
For decades, researchers studying psychopathy have characterized the disorder as a profound inability to process emotions such as empathy, remorse, or regret. A recent study, though, suggests that psychopaths are not incapable of feeling emotions like regret and disappointment.
Psychopaths also would never declare, as you do, that they “worry” about being one. They may know that they have psychopathic tendencies, but they're strangers to worrying about it.
lack of empathy, guilt, conscience, or remorse. shallow experiences of feelings or emotions. impulsivity, and a weak ability to defer gratification and control behavior.
Elevated anger responding is intrinsic to many descriptions of psychopathy. Both Cleckley and Hare's case studies include numerous descriptions of psychopaths whose misbehavior included frequent temper tantrums and rage-induced aggression.
Psychopaths are incredibly rewards-focused
But according to this research, a psychopath's brain is actually wired to seek rewards at almost any cost. That's because a psychopath's brain can release up to four times as much dopamine in response to a reward as a non-psychopath's.
These individuals may feel that they are prisoners of their own etiological determination and believe that they had, in comparison with normal people, fewer opportunities or advantages in life. Despite their outward arrogance, psychopaths feel inferior to others and know they are stigmatized by their own behavior.
Psychopathic attributes and social anxiety are both defined by their adherence to social norms and concerns for other people. Therefore, we hypothesized that psychopathic attributes and tendencies are negatively associated with social anxiety.
There are some areas where psychopaths may experience normal emotions and grief is one such area. In response to death of a person with whom there is a bond, some psychopaths can experience sadness and this may even bring about feelings of guilt which are otherwise impossible to feel. Crying may be a part of this.
Unlike sadists, psychopaths don't harm the harmless simply because they get pleasure from it (though they may). Psychopaths want things. If harming others helps them get what they want, so be it. They can act this way because they are less likely to feel pity or remorse or fear.
Psychopaths, by definition, have problems understanding the emotions of other people, which partly explains why they are so selfish, why they so callously disregard the welfare of others, and why they commit violent crimes at up to three times the rate of other people.
Relationships with psychopaths are never smooth sailing. If they are particularly narcissistic, they're not happy unless they're the center of attention all the time, meaning they can be obsessive and controlling.
The best we can do in a free society is to recognize psychopaths and warn each other about them. Psychopaths are always with us. We should feel sorry for ourselves that we have to put up with them, and sorry for all their victims including their parents, but not sorry for the psychopaths themselves.
Summary: Contrary to popular belief, those suffering from psychopathy are able to experience emotions, but they do have a blunted emotional response if their attention is directed toward something else.
They can turn emotions on and off.
"The results of the study indicate that the vicarious activation of... emotional brain regions was much lower in the patients with psychopathy than in the normal subjects," explains Keysers.
Uninhibited by conscience, they initially assess the utility of those around them freely and equally. They then tend to narrow their choices to those they find unusually trusting or vulnerable. Sometimes, simply having normal personality traits qualifies an individual as vulnerable.
Psychopaths seem to have shallow emotional experiences, they appear indifferent towards the feelings of others, and remorseless with respect to their harmful actions against others [7].
Psychopaths are unable (or unwilling) to control their impulses or to delay gratification. They use rage to control and manipulate others into submission. Many of them are sadistic; taking true pleasure in inflicting physical, emotional and financial harm to their victims.