The second one sounds a bit more like narcissism. The term psychopathy used to have the same definition as sociopathy, so there is some inconsistency and messiness with those terms.
The difference between narcissism and psychopathy is that narcissists typically twist reality around in order to avoid shame because they
are capable of remorse/shame, they just can't bear it- their subconscious spins reality around to protect them from that feeling- but psychopaths just really
don't care. Their subconscious doesn't need to spin reality around- they can own up to doing something incredibly shitty to another person (at least to themselves) and sleep just fine. Narcissists can make your head spin because they manipulate
themselves (unawares) into a flattering reality and they neee-e-ed you to affirm it, basically, but psychopaths manipulate
you and they're somewhat aware they're doing it. And I thought a sociopath was basically a psychopath who also really felt the sadistic need to hurt others just for the sake of hurting others, but I'm not as confident about the latter.
I'm not sure exactly where I'm pulling these understandings from (about psychopath/sociopath/narcissist differences), but I probably should have looked it up before starting this thread. I realize information out there isn't consistent, and that my understanding of the difference might not be universal.
What if the very nature of success in our society naturally selects for people with extremely low levels of remorse or empathy? There are also a great many people who lean in the direction of personality disorder, but who may not be fully diagnosable. One problem I see with this sort of testing is that intelligent people can manipulate therapists and lie on tests. I currently know about one full-blown off the charts sociopath who is fooling the legal system and apparently some therapists in my state. And he's not even that smart.
Oh I think the nature of success in our society is
definitely conducive to people with extremely low levels of remorse of empathy. And yeah, I think an informed prosocial psychopath could probably glide through most evaluations without raising any red flags. But that's why I think the brain scan studies are interesting. Like, there's no gaming it. AFAIK.
The entire system has to change because it is currently designed to reward people who behave in a manner very similar to sociopathy and narcissism. Finding better ways to reveal factually that this is the case might help wake people up to change it, but it could also continue to normalize it. Right now society has been moving in the direction of overtly admiring and emulating people who behave like that. Just look at some of the current court cases dealing with psycho-sadists. Some of them are getting off with easy sentences.
I agree.