• Modified: Jan 31, 2025 • Read in: 9 mins
— by Dr. Sandip Roy.- Psychopaths have a certain set of personality traits — lack of conscience, pathologic lying, emotional coldness, fearlessness, mental toughness, antisocial impulses, superficial charm, persuasiveness, and manipulative behavior.
- As of 2021, psychopathy is present in around 1.2% of adult men and 0.3% to 0.7% of adult women in the United States (source).
- The Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) is the “gold standard” for evaluating and defining psychopathy.
High-functioning psychopaths are unique. They do not act in ways that go against social, moral, or legal norms of society. They don’t usually do anything criminal.
Most notably, they are unnoticeable.
They can seamlessly blend into various social roles — a colleague, potential date, banker, colleague, car mechanic, house painter, or a long-time friend. The world sees them as nice and smart people who rarely get offensive or violent.
However, they are very much capable of seriously harming you when triggered.
Hidden Dangers of A High-Functioning Psychopath
High-functioning psychopaths lack emotional expressions and look oddly normal on the outside.
Their wooden faces never show fear, joy, love, sadness, or any other emotion. They can remain completely indifferent to the suffering of others, even those close to them.
They are a potential threat to society because they:
- Do not feel empathy, sympathy, fear, shame, or guilt.
- Cannot react appropriately to other people’s emotions, often giving flat reactions.
- Classically lack self-control and can do reckless things, disregarding others’ or their own safety.
- Their charming manners and good intelligence fool others into seeing them as likable personas.
Especially for that last reason, high-functioning psychopaths can seamlessly blend into society and function normally, keeping their innate tendencies in control.
N.B.: “High-functioning” in psychology refers to someone who can function in society, who doesn’t show signs of their illness, and who has a relatively high cognitive abilities.
High-functioning depression describes how some people live with depression symptoms while managing to keep up with normal activities of daily living.
Unmasking The High-Functioning Psychopath: Key Features
They live a parasitic lifestyle, taking advantage of others financially and emotionally.
1. Chameleons of Adaptation
High-functioning psychopaths thrive due to their uncanny ability to adapt.
Their chameleon-nature lets them mirror social norms, masking their true nature. They seamlessly shift roles across social, cultural, and professional contexts. And often climb the ranks in high-stakes careers like finance, law, or politics.
They often leverage early adversity, like abusive childhood, into survival strategies, becoming highly successful in their chosen fields.
2. Masters of Manipulation
Charisma is their weapon. It makes them instantly likable.
Their charm is a planned social act — a blend of humor, flattery, and false modesty — to disarm their potential victims and warm up to them.
They can go out of their way to build trust, especially in the initial stages of a relationship, intelligently hiding their predatory intent.
They are skilled at reading people’s desires and fears. They engineer trust through calculated gestures—gifts, flattery, or faux vulnerability. Then use it to exploit later on.
They are pathological liars. They habitually use deception, even when unnecessary, to test boundaries or assert dominance.
Their lies can range from subtle gaslighting to elaborate cons. To con people, they dress fraud schemes as “urgent opportunities.”
3. Emotional Stoics
A lack of empathy and emotional coldness are hallmarks of psychopathy.
They are indifferent to others’ sufferings. This emotional detachment often leaks out in their narcissistic grandiosity, a strong sense of entitlement, and contempt for people’s weaknesses.
Their relationships are transactional — give and take liaisons, with more taking and less giving.
“What’s in it for me?” is the first question in their head, whether it’s a personal or professional connection.
And the worst part is the absence of remorse. They justify the harm they cause others, rejecting all calls to take on guilt for their act.
4. Forceful Enforcers
While physical violence is rare in high-functioning psychopaths, they excel in covert aggression.
Gaslighting, verbal hostility, emotional bullying, silent treatment, and reputation sabotage are their usual tools of domination.
Their anger is calculated, rather than impulsive outbursts. They slowly defang their competitors and force compliance in their victims.
5. Intelligent Strategists
They often come with above-average cognitive and social intelligence.
It makes them persuasive communicators and relationship managers, and succeed in complex, fast-paced environments.
They are smart at creating chaos and then clearing the way. This crisis management skill earns the respect of their peers and rivals.
They prey on people’s trust, exploiting their vulnerabilities at the first chance they get.
6. Relationship Abusers
Love, for the psychopath, is a performance. Their love-show is a means to secure admiration, sex, or resources.
Romantic affairs with psychopaths follow a predictable arc: idealization, devaluation, discard.
Their hot-and-cold behavior keeps their partners nervous. To the point that they blame themselves for the psychopath’s emotional volatility.
7. Potential Dangers To Society
High-functioning psychopaths pose a latent (“yet-untriggered”) threat to society.
They can act warm, guileless, and honor-bound to build alliances. Many long-term associates don’t realize that the relationship is just to serve the psychopath’s ambitions.
They build and exploit societal loopholes, especially in corporate or political roles. They are not ashamed to take bribes, commit fraud, or harm the environment in the name of public welfare.
Their likable façade delays accountability, allowing systemic harm long before detection.
- Read this Summary of The Wisdom of Psychopaths: What Saints, Spies, and Serial Killers Can Teach Us About Success to decode the psychopaths better.
Diagnosing A Psychopath
Psychopathy is not an official diagnosis in the DSM-V. Many experts link the condition to Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD) and Conduct Disorder with CU traits.
The Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) is the “gold standard” diagnostic tool to measure a lifetime pattern of psychopathic behavior (Hare & Neumann, 2008).
The PCL-R has 20 items, which are scored based on interviews, case histories, and specific sources of information.
| Item | Trait |
|---|---|
| 1 | Glibness/Superficial Charm |
| 2 | Grandiose Sense of Self-Worth |
| 3 | Need for Stimulation/Proneness to Boredom |
| 4 | Pathological Lying |
| 5 | Conning/Manipulative |
| 6 | Lack of Remorse or Guilt |
| 7 | Shallow Affect |
| 8 | Callous/Lack of Empathy |
| 9 | Parasitic Lifestyle |
| 10 | Poor Behavioral Controls |
| 11 | Promiscuous Sexual Behavior |
| 12 | Early Behavioral Problems |
| 13 | Lack of Realistic, Long-Term Goals |
| 14 | Impulsivity |
| 15 | Irresponsibility |
| 16 | Failure to Accept Responsibility for Own Actions |
| 17 | Many Short-Term Marital Relationships |
| 18 | Juvenile Delinquency |
| 19 | Revocation of Conditional Release |
| 20 | Criminal Versatility |
The PCL-R test should only be administered and interpreted by qualified and trained professionals.
In some cases, especially in young individuals, psychologists use the DSM-V diagnosis of Conduct Disorder with Callous-Unemotional (CU), which involves:
- Lack of guilt and remorse
- Callous lack of empathy
- Lack of concern about performance in important activities
- General lack of emotional expression
New findings show that not only that people with psychopathy have varying degrees and types of this condition, but that the condition and its precursors can be treated.
High-Functioning vs. Low-Functioning Psychopath
| Features | High-Functioning Psychopaths | Low-Functioning Psychopaths |
|---|---|---|
| Tendencies | Non-violent | Violent |
| Success in society | Often successful | Struggles to function |
| Organization | Conscientious and organized | Undisciplined, impulsive, disorganized |
| Social Skills | Charismatic, glib talkers | Have trouble handling social situations |
| Planning Abilities | Skilled in scheming | Lack of planning skills, unsophisticated |
| Deceitfulness | Avoid deceitful acts when under watch | Always devious, even under watch |
High-functioning psychopath: Despite coming across as “virtually anyone else,” their instincts keep them volatile and unpredictable.
- Does not possess violent tendencies
- Are successful, contributing members of society
- Appear to be charming, caring, witty, and likable people
- Easily engage in dishonest behaviors, especially when no one is watching.
- Their higher likelihood of success in life is due to their low level of conscientiousness.
Low-functioning psychopath: Often stand out like a sore thumb in society, and people around them can see their true nature. They struggle to hold jobs, maintain relationships, and raise happy families.
- Struggles to function successfully within society
- Has violent tendencies and is likely to get embroiled in legal problems
- Has strained relationships due to an inability to curb their destructive bent of mind
- Has poor impulse control, lacks planning skills, and cannot handle complex social situations
About 15% to 25% of prison inmates show psychopathic characteristics (Burton & Saleh, 2020). These are most likely those low-functioning psychopaths who could not curb their violent urges.
Origin of Psychopaths
1. In Their Genes
- Psychopaths may have different brains, especially areas that control emotion, morality, and decision-making. Murderers from good homes had a 14.2% less functioning of the right orbitofrontal cortex; damage to this brain area results in reduced fear conditioning as well as personality and emotional deficits that parallel criminal psychopathic behavior, or what some have termed “acquired sociopathy” (Baker & Bezdjian. 2006).
- A meta-analysis showed that around 49% of the variance in psychopathy is due to genetic factors, while the remaining 51% is attributed to non-shared environmental influences (Beaver & Rowland, 2011).
- Among various genetic influences, certain structural and functional derangement in the brain have been found to contribute to psychopathy (Thompson & Ramos, 2014).
2. From Their Environment
- Environmental factors like problematic parenting, childhood trauma, and detrimental living conditions may contribute to psychopathy (Burton & Saleh, 2020)
- Children who experience harsh, inconsistent discipline, or lack of parental warmth are at a higher risk of developing psychopathic traits.
- Exposure to traumatic events during childhood, such as abuse or neglect, can contribute to the onset of psychopathic behaviors.
- High-risk environments with unsupportive communities and deviant peers may increase a person’s susceptibility to psychopathy (Junewicz & Billick, 2021).
3. Related Mental Illnesses
High-functioning psychopaths may have bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and substance use disorders.
Treating Psychopaths
Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) can help the emotional and behavioral issues of psychopathy. Therapists focus on building trust, boosting motivation for change, and suggesting continuing therapy.
Medicines may be prescribed for their co-existing mental health issues:
- Mood stabilizers: can reduce mood swings in bipolar disorder.
- Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs): can reduce symptoms of OCD.
- Antipsychotics: can reduce hallucinations, delusions, and disorganized thinking.
How To Protect Yourself from Psychopaths
- Awareness: Know their warning signs: lack of conscience, compulsive lying, emotional coldness, fearlessness, mental toughness, antisocial impulses.
- Set boundaries: Don’t let them get too close, share the bare minimum of personal details, keep your past secret, avoid “telling them their true nature.”
- Learn self-defense skills: Learn self-defense (verbal and physical) techniques to protect yourself.
- Inform others: Share the psychopath’s details with friends, family, and colleagues.
- Report concerns: Reach out to authorities if they threaten or bully you.
Final Words
High-functional psychopaths are wolves in sheep’s fur. They can damage you without letting anyone know.
Studies find a higher rate of psychopathic traits among business leaders. These corporate psychopaths often use their charm, focus in high-stress situations, and risk-taking capacity to get to the top of their organizations.
“There’s evidence to suggest that deep within the corridors of the brain, psychopathy and sainthood share secret neural office space.” — Kevin Dutton
√ Also Read: Do Psychopaths Actually Don’t Feel Empathy?
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