A Psychopath Analysis

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The Analysis of a Psychopath By Casey Shedden May 2, 2012 ENC1102 I am going to try to give you some insight on how a psychopath’s brain works, maybe to give you some insight on how difficult it is for them to function normally, and how scary it is. Psychopaths are normally labeled as highly selfish, having no emotions, and conscience. Experts have been able to prove that about 1 percent of the general population and as many as 25 percent of male offenders in federal correctional settings are psychopaths. They did a study of psychopaths that are incarcerated in Wisconsin; those researchers found that they had reduced connections between parts of the brain associated with empathy and being able to make decisions. That part of the brain is known as the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, and other parts of the brain. When conducting a study with these images, they compared an inmate who was diagnosed with being a psychopath to those that do not receive that diagnosis. When doing that they found that those that are considered psychopaths have weaker connections between the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and other parts of the brain, including amygdala. The amygdala itself is in connection of emotion, memory, and fear. Interactions between the vmPFC and the amygdala are believed to be the root aspects of…show more content…
Melroy writes that in early childhood development, there is a split in the infant psychopath. There are two sides to that and one is the “soft me”, which is vulnerable inside and the “hard not-me” which is intrusive, punishing outside (neglectful or painful experiences). Once that infant experiences an outside pain he starts turning inward, kind of a way to protect himself from being hurt. The develop what’s called a character armor, that allows them to distrust everything outside, and refusing to allow anything in. That child don’t even like to identify with his own parents, instead he sees the parents as a malevolent
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