I've looked at this distinction for quite some time and continue to do so. The way the labels historically evolved, from "morally insane" to "psychopath" to "sociopath" to "Antisocial Personality Disorder", tells me we are dealing with the same psychological condition. I prefer to use sociopath instead of psychopath because the public has been deliberately programmed to think "serial killer" when they hear the word psychopath, whereas sociopath does not yet have a misdirect associated with it.LostNFound wrote:The talk of sociopaths here needs to go more toward the psychopaths so here is just a small definition...
Here the problem is quantifying "conscience". It's almost like saying a psychopath has no empathy while a sociopath has very little empathy. We're really just talking about a matter of degree.LostNFound wrote:According to Dr. L. Michael Tompkins, a psychologist at the Sacramento County Mental Health Treatment Center, the difference lies in having a conscience.
So when I say sociopath, Steven, you are perfectly justified to translate it to mean psychopath as you understand the word. Like I said, most people don't really know what a psychopath is. They think "serial killer". If you called Trump a psychopath, the man in the street would immediately object, but if you call Trump a sociopath, he might pause to listen.
But yeah, I appreciated your 2 cents!