Psychopaths and Mirror Neurons: How Empathy Can Be a Luxury

Most people tend to despise the social deviants in our society, the ones who murder, rape, destroy and manipulate others without remorse. Refusing to see them as humans, some of the supposedly most affectionate people can ironically say, equally without remorse, “Fry him” when concerning people they detest.

What most don't realize is that empathy can be left behind at birth in those genetically predisposed to psychopathic behavior. Psychopaths can be diagnosed with Antisocial Personality Disorder, the only real diagnosis for this behavior in the DSM-IV (the psychological Bible). Antisocial personalities tend to be narcissistic and self-centered constantly, only worried about how people perceive them. They can be prone to bouts of rage and when this happens, combined with a bad past and lack of recognition for social consequences, it can be deadly. Those who lack an affinity for violence, yet are still Antisocial, can be the most manipulative people you will ever meet. Compulsive liars, they will say anything and seduce anyone to get what they want. Con artists are most definitely examples of manipulative, yet nonviolent psychopaths.

A lot of people believe that when it comes down to it, all psychopaths are evil and immoral people by decision. They may be detestable, but it may not be their choice, given their own psychology produced by nature, possibly since birth. This is where psychopaths can differ from sociopaths, in that sociopaths are more products of the society they're brought up in as opposed to inherent nature. Scientists have been researching something called mirror neurons, located on both sides toward the front of the brain. They activate when people observe each other. They may be the key which allows us to read facial expressions, to get heavily into sports or other media where others are being watched and performing (I have to admit I never could get into sports, so maybe I have a lack of being able to process these neurons myself, heh). It's natural, for example, if you see someone's arm break and instantly grab your arm out of imagining the same happening to you.

This is all relatively new research, as my class watched a Nova documentary about it just over a year ago discussing this neurological phenomena. But I have to say, it does make sense. It seems like people who grow up with a lot of family and friends carry more empathy for others, while others having grown up relatively alone and/or emotionally and physically abused can have a harder time with it. This is not to say people with slightly less empathy are completely antisocial, however. Many of these people have remorse still intact, a moral compass.

There are a few ingredients for an antisocial personality:

• 1) Negative childhood trauma
• 2) Genetic flaws
• 3) Selfish motive for their behavior

Contrary to what the label of “antisocial” would suggest, these people tend to be the best at manipulating and socializing because of their confidence and their ability to lie pathologically. They tend to be very personable and try to gain trust, and they tend to be men. The idea of being “antisocial” comes from the fact that they simply aren't interested in socializing for the sake of doing so; they want only what's in their best interests and nothing more. People who are thought of as being "antisocial" in a more literal sense would most likely be people with either negative symptoms of schizophrenia or Schizotypal or Schizoid Personality Disorder, such as the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski.

Mirror neurons can be much more difficult to emotionally process for many of these antisocial personalities, to the point where they can read faces and calculate others, even imitating acceptable social behavior for the sake of manipulation, but they don't feel for the person; they're one-way mirrors. They don't care about hurting another's feelings once they get what they want and they aren't looking in a vicarious mirror when looking you in the eyes. The neurons may be something people can be born with a dissociation to, but apparently these neurons can also become less effective if they aren't used enough, which makes sense; it requires practice to learn something. Someone who doesn't or hasn't known a lot of people may not have worked out their mirror neurons as much as someone who's used to seeing people every day. Maybe this empathy reaction retreats from years of abuse to avoid feeling pain caused by others. There's still a lot that needs to be researched, but scientists are coming closer to finding out what makes some more “human” than others.

Some people seem as though they can be too empathetic, where it could be possible that these mirror neurons activate too much to the point where people get too involved with what others are feeling. This certainly never seems to happen in my generation, though.

Seeing and doing can be synonymous when it comes to empathetic responses. When people see someone doing something, they can imagine doing the same, naturally. It can be argued, certainly, that people can grow desensitized to reactions like this, after being heavily exposed to violent stimuli or otherwise. Psychopaths and sociopaths tend not to see other people that way. They see them as people, but not like themselves. They are unable to relate others to themselves mentally or physically without perhaps simply observing a self-centered envy.

With psychopaths, the phrase “stepping in their shoes” is completely literal and pointless.

Despite the presence of these particular neurons in the brain, they may not be a singular collection of cells to form their own system, but rather form the makeup of a larger portion of the brain in different areas. There's much debate as to whether empathy can be pinned down to one part of the brain or if it's part of a larger system. But it's these couple areas of the brain in these particular clusters where the reaction seems to take place, and may be the means to figuring out what went wrong with those who lack them. But to help people who lack empathy gain it? That's still a long way from being close to answerable, if it ever will be at all.

We do know that psychopaths can be inhibited, especially violent ones, but the only real way to convince someone such as Bernie Maddoff to somehow retreat from their manipulative behavior, it's a matter of getting them to understand the consequences they could have on themselves in the end.