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Part I: The Dark Triad: Psychopathy, Machiavellian-ism, and Narcissism

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Part I: The Dark Triad: Psychopathy, Machiavellian-ism, and Narcissism

My name is Drunk Parrot and I'm going to share some person thoughts with the PerC community. In real life, I am a 26 year old male who lives in the American South, with a decent job, friends, and a loving family. I also consider myself to be a psychopath, through my own understanding of the term. I was supposed to go see a psychologist, today. The psychologist canceled, as his wife is sick. So in lieu of talking to a psychologist, I'm going to share my thoughts with the internet. I chose Critical Thinking, because I'm presenting this as a high brow subject. I have already interacted with a lot of users, on this site, and I'm not one for trolling (Outside of Spam World). Read on if you're curious, or read a book about cardboard, if you're not. Those are your only two options. I'm not going to post a bunch of links, because you can do the research, yourself, although I'll provide some.

-Part I is about defining terms. If I'm going to lecture everyone about my views, I will at least have the courtesy to define the terms in how I conceptualize them. I might be wrong, but all of these terms are passed around like reefer, anyway.
-Part II shares my personal story as to why I am believe I am the way I am.
-Part III is my objective and subjective analysis of psychopathy and empathy, as well as, the existential purpose of how I view them in life.
-These threads are meant to encourage discussion. I'm not trying to lecture, but rather I want to create awareness.

Psychopath is both a meaningless term as well as a powerful word that evokes emotion. It is meaningless because the field of psychology does not agree on what it means. In the DSM, all you'll find is ASPD, which is a disorder. On Robert Hare's Psychopathy Checklist, I'd give myself a score in the 20s. 30+ is more criminal psychopaths, while the average empath scores 4-6. I personally tie it into the Dark Triad and I like this link. Understanding The Dark Triad – A General Overview | Illimitable Men
-Narcissism is living with a false ego, and the inability to put others ahead of themselves.
-Machiavellianism is the tendency to see all social paradigms and scenarios as games of strategy that require meticulous manoeuvring.
-Psychopathy is defined in relation to the dark triad is the inherent ability for the dark triad individual to show no aversion for immoral or harmful behaviour, predominantly because they feel no empathy, guilt or remorse when doing bad things.

HelloQuizzy.com: You scored 73Machiavellianism, 49 Narcissism, 84 Psychopathy!

I tried to find other, meaningless tests, but they kept linking to this one. In some ways, it's meaningless, but at the same time, it's consistent with myself. Amy from Gone Girl is as bad as it gets; throw in borderline and you got the Cluster B Queen. For someone who exhibits all 3, I would unprofessionally call them a "Full-blown ________". Ted Bundy, for example, was a full blown psychopath. A psychopath is highly rational, but enough narcissism and machiavellian traits can make someone deranged. I believe that individuals who score high in the dark triad have a root cause. Narcissism can be developed, but I've read it can be genetic, too. For me, I associate sociopathy with Machiavellian traits. I've met 25-30 sociopaths (That I recognized as one) and most were not criminals. I differentiate sociopath from psychopathy as the former is created in the environment while the latter is born with the neurological condition. How I discovered I have the brain of a psychopath | James Fallon | Comment is free | The Guardian

There is a root 'cause' that enters someone into the dark triad. The best way to describe it would be life is a game. Serious issues do not faze them, as life is mostly surreal. For all three, and those with BPD, too; they will always be this condition/disorder. I have heard/read some people say that a true narcissist/sociopath/psychopath does not know they are one because they are incapable of insight. I believe this to be a gross stereotype that completely disregards a person's ability to research and learn about themselves. I can probably say that a narcissist is highly unlikely to ever admit they are one, because the problem is other people, not themselves. Still, there are blogs out there run by self-aware narcissists/sociopaths/psychopaths. I have a 140 IQ, that was tested 5 years ago. Is it ridiculous that an intelligent person, like myself, can do research in a topic and identify with traits that define a disorder or condition? The internet is a huge resource for assisting in diagnoses and the past decade has seen an emergence of self-aware "paths" who would otherwise be clueless in the past.
Cluster B is incurable, although a person can change their behavior and their perception. Empaths like to have hope, and maybe it's the type 7 in me, but I want to believe that a person doesn't have to be evil, just because they're a monster. Still, monsters destroy things, but I think they (we) can become "domesticated".

-Narcissists are the protagonists in their minds. They do not have to play to win the game, because life has already determined them to be the winner. Kanye West and Donald Trump come to mind. Narcissists can actually be empathetic. The average narcissist (Another paradox!) has a full range of emotions, and their needs always come before others. My Dad is a narcissist (ESTJ 369 so/sp). He loved me and my brother because we are extensions of himself. I haven't spoke with him in 2 years, other than the occasional email/text. I don't really care, and I have no clue if he does. Maybe he expects me to reach out to him? Anyway, I'd call narcissists the Vampires, as they suck narc supply out of people. The supply usually comes in the form of empathy, sympathy, admiration, or even just paying attention to them. I associate narcissism, generically, with unhealthy type 3s, although any type can be a narcissist, in theory. I would also say any MBTI type can be a narcissist. A lady I work with is probably a natural type 2 ESFJ, but her NPD makes it to where she's always passing the shame on others. Another lady, who got fired for cheating at work, was a type 8, but she naturally gravitated to type 3. It's bizarre that people do not see through them, but I've come to accept that the average person believes other people are good, until proven otherwise. Perhaps that is the empathy, involved? I use to be more narcissistic, but the two psychologists I've seen told me that I'm not what they'd consider to be someone with NPD. That being said, I think my false ego is what covered my psychopathy.

-The sociopaths I've met and seen usually have a chip on their shoulder. Whether they were created like a 'boiling frog', through constant abuse, or a single traumatic moment changed them, sociopaths are emotionally repressed. Objectively, I can tell their world is spinning, and their solution is to take what they can from the world. In their mind, "The Game" must be won at all costs. I've met some who are pathological liars, others who are super aggressive, and even those who are slightly honest, but very charming. Like with narcissism, their Enneatype can be anything, but I generally view Thinkers as more likely to be sociopaths. I'd say a feeler goes the other way, with the trauma and is likely to be more borderline. I once had an ISFP 4w5 roommate who was a sociopath. He became that way after being hooked on opiates, and probably developed more of those traits when he was younger (He never told me, just a guess). A sociopath, at their core, my desire or crave becoming normal. But it might seem impossible, like a ship that sailed along time ago. Thus, the solution is to do whatever it takes to fulfill their vices, by whatever means necessary. I call sociopaths feral animals. They could have been a nice kitten, like my old ISFP roommate, but circumstances in life have caused them to repress virtues in lieu of vices.

-Finally psychopaths! We are the ones who have been playing the game our whole lives. The psychopath brain article suggests it is a cause of a lack of neurological development. Although there are a whole bunch of traits to describe a criminal psychopath, I believe the root cause is a lack of emotional depth. When emotions are not that developed, a person relies more on cold calculated thoughts. Without emotional depth, a person does not respond to fear and does not take other people's emotions into account. A psychopath can evolve in many different ways. As with Narcissists and Sociopaths, Psychopaths share similar traits, at our core, but every person regardless of condition or disorder, is unique. Essentially, no two psychopaths are the same, but the lack of a moral conscience means personal development is often anti-social. It could be con-man, as I once was; the violent gangster, like in every Mafia movie; the conceited nihilist, who finds nothing of purpose; and/or the driven professional/politician/socialite who craves power, like Frank Underwood. I consider people like me to be Robot Children, devoid of emotional depth, but enough emotion to give them some semblance of motivation or purpose. The purpose might not be deep and existential, but it still exists.

I say this because the core emotions of the Enneagram begin to manifest as toddlers. A toddler can experience Fear, Shame, or Anger, but it is clearly underdeveloped. Emotional development stops, for a psychopath, but cognitive development progresses as normal. That is why psychopaths have an MBTI, Enneagram, and instinctual variant. I would expect all psychopaths to be thinkers, but who knows? I would type Frank Underwood as an ENTJ 8w9 3w4 6w7 so/sp. He's a fictional character, but I think he's more interesting than Ted Bundy (I hate him, he had the chance to start a new life TWICE and chose to go back to being a serial asshole simply because he was angry at women; what a loser). Some people see Fe in Underwood, but any skilled psychopath can learn to emulate all the functions, as a form of manipulation. I've portrayed myself as having Fi by talking about how important feelings are for an individual. I copy Te by simply agreeing with Te users and making decisive statements. Sure, that is just a silhouette of those types, but in brief social interactions, I can play them off as authentic. I only experimented because I was curious if I could pull it off. I still haven't figured out how to emulate Ni, but it probably is too risky to try and trick an NJ. I don't try to manipulate as much as I used to, but it is a honed skill and it seems necessary at certain times. With Enneatype, I associate 3, 7, & 8 with psychopathy. 3 denies shame or guilt, 7 is impulsive, and 8 lashes out in anger.

A psychopath, with the emotional depth of a 3 year old, might feel like they should have the entire world as their playground. Imagine said 3 year old as a wild child, always breaking things, hitting people, and throwing temper tantrums. Throw in some neglectful parenting with a predisposition for psychopathy and you have someone who grows up never understanding the concept of punishment or fear, much less empathy. These are the most dangerous psychopaths because a 3 year old wants what they want, when they want it. If they are told know, they throw a tantrum, and for a teen/adult psychopath, that tantrum is actually violent. Perhaps these are the real psychopaths, but I do not think this is 1% of the population, like Dr Hare suggests is the percentage of psychopaths. The majority of psychopaths are sub clinical, and this significant chunk has not been studied, hence the 'sub' part. That is why research is very limited.

http://personalitycafe.com/critical-thinking-philosophy/656250-part-ii-removing-mask.html
http://personalitycafe.com/debate-forum/656258-part-iii-psychopathy-empathy.html#post21243378
 
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