Psychopaths are known for their lack of emotion but can psychopaths love? Can psychopaths cry or experience happiness? Emotional incapacity is well documented in psychopaths but some psychopaths may show some normal and even some hypersensitivity to some emotions. When answering "can psychopaths love?" it's also important to take into account how severe the psychopathy is in the individual. (How To Recognize and Identify Psychopathic Behavior)
Psychopaths and Shallow Emotions
Having shallow emotion and a lack of empathy, fear and guilt altogether are diagnostic symptoms of psychopathy. However, this still means that psychopaths can experience emotions like happiness to a smaller extent and in a fleeting way. These are not emotions to the intensity that the normal person would experience, but they are there. Rage may be an exception to this rule as rages appear to be something that psychopaths can feel.
Can Psychopaths Love?
The answer to this question may lie in how severe the psychopathy is. Psychopathy is typically measured on Hare's Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) and individuals are given a score out of 40. Those that score over 30 are considered classic psychopaths like these famous psychopaths. (The typical criminal who is not a psychopath scores around a 22 while non-criminal, non-psychopaths score around a two.)
The lower on the scale a psychopath is, the more likely they are to develop some sort of love for people such as family members. Psychopaths are much less likely to develop deep bonds with others, however. Interestingly, psychopaths may still want to be loved even if they are almost incapable of truly loving another. However, psychopaths typically experience many shorter-term relationships or even many marriages (Are you dating or married to a psychopath? Check this out and see).
Can Psychopaths Cry or Experience Sadness?
There are some areas where psychopaths may experience normal emotions and grief is one such area. In response to death of a person with whom there is a bond, some psychopaths can experience sadness and this may even bring about feelings of guilt which are otherwise impossible to feel. Crying may be a part of this. Exposure to trauma may also bring about emotions that would normally be suppressed in a psychopath.
It is also known that psychopaths are aware of the emotional separation between them and the rest of the world and this can cause them great dissatisfaction and suffering. Suffering may also be as a result of a desire for attention.
There are other areas where psychopaths may actually be hypersensitive to emotions due to a history of abuse or neglect - which is common in psychopaths (Psychopathic Personality and How It Develops). Examples of this can be experiences of disrespect, rejection by others, changes in circ*mstances that are not under their control and loneliness.
Can Psychopaths Experience Happiness?
There is little research on whether psychopaths can experience happiness, per se, but one could assume that psychopaths experience some positive emotion when they commit antisocial acts (one psychopathic serial killer calling killing a "high") thus being part of the reason they continue to commit them. Additionally, psychopaths constantly strive for stimulation and this may be a way of seeking positive emotions as well.
article references
APA Reference
Tracy, N. (2021, December 17). Can Psychopaths Love, Cry or Experience Happiness?, HealthyPlace. Retrieved on 2024, April 17 from https://www.healthyplace.com/personality-disorders/psychopath/can-psychopaths-love-cry-or-experience-happiness
Last Updated: January 28, 2022
FAQs
Psychopaths and Shallow Emotions
What emotions can psychopaths feel? ›
In psychopathy, the bulk of the clinical and empirical evidence points toward the conclusion that fear responding is uniquely disabled, with other high-arousal (positive excitement, anger) and negatively valenced (anger, disgust) emotions remaining intact.
How do psychopaths experience love? ›
Several studies have indicated that people with psychopathic personalities tend to fear intimacy and struggle to form close emotional bonds with others. In love, this often manifests as a particular type of disjointed connection called avoidant attachment.
Do sociopaths cry? ›
Sociopaths don't have feelings or emotions, nor do sociopaths cry genuinely. However, they do experience proto-emotions, primitive emotions that rear their ugly heads in moments of perceived need. The sociopath is quite capable of intense anger, frustration, and rage.
Do psychopaths have good emotional intelligence? ›
Five of ten studies found negative correlations between psychopathy and EI, and a further two found mixed results: negative correlations for some scales and positive correlations for others. One of the studies revealed that higher EI was associated with higher psychopathy.
Can psychopaths cry? ›
In response to death of a person with whom there is a bond, some psychopaths can experience sadness and this may even bring about feelings of guilt which are otherwise impossible to feel. Crying may be a part of this. Exposure to trauma may also bring about emotions that would normally be suppressed in a psychopath.
What emotions can psychopaths not feel? ›
For example, psychopaths tend to be quite incapable of guilt, remorse, empathy, and deep attachment (bonding) to others. The feeling of fear is often muted for this population. They do not 'feel' the emotional state of others (or care) – emotional empathy.
Do psychopaths like affection? ›
Psychopaths don't feel love of any kind. Chemical love, regardless of who or what it is directed at is an oxytocin necessitative emotion. If you don't process oxytocin, you don't feel chemical love, bonding, trust, jealousy, and several other weird things as well such as facial recognition and memory.
Can psychopaths feel romantic love? ›
Yes psychopaths can feel love for someone or something or fall in love with someone. However some psychopaths mistake feeling infatuated with someone for love or being in love with them. Usually this happens with younger psychopaths but some older more immature psychopaths still think like this.
What do psychopaths fantasize about? ›
Results showed that persons high in psychopathy were more likely to perceive fantasizing about sexual relations with other people and expressing emotions towards a person other than the partner as infidelity. But a different pattern emerged among those high in Machiavellianism.
A narcissist might become angry when they see you cry depending on the circ*mstances. It may arouse an overwhelming feeling of shame or losing control over the other person and their own emotions. So to regain control and suppress shame, they might react with aggression.
What are the 7 symptoms of a sociopath? ›
Symptoms
- Ignoring right and wrong.
- Telling lies to take advantage of others.
- Not being sensitive to or respectful of others.
- Using charm or wit to manipulate others for personal gain or pleasure.
- Having a sense of superiority and being extremely opinionated.
- Having problems with the law, including criminal behavior.
Evidently, individuals with psychopathy are capable of experiencing emotion; they just have a blunted emotional response when their attention is directed toward something else. This is an extreme version of the kind of processing we all do. In routine decision-making, we rarely focus explicitly on emotion.
How to control a psychopath? ›
If you must deal with a psychopath, try these five strategies:
- Keep Your Emotions in Check.
- Don't Show That You're Intimidated.
- Don't Buy Into Their Stories.
- Turn the Conversation Back on Them.
- Opt for Online Communication Whenever You Can.
But do all psychopaths show a complete lack of normal emotional capacities and empathy? Like healthy people, many psychopaths love their parents, spouse, children, and pets in their own way, but they have difficulty in loving and trusting the rest of the world.
Do psychopaths blend in? ›
Impulse control and the ability to suppress aggression helps 'successful' psychopaths blend in with society, according to a study published in Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment.
Can psychopaths recognize emotions? ›
A study shows lower emotional awareness in those with greater psychopathy levels, but only if they also experienced childhood abuse/neglect. Many high-psychopathy individuals without childhood abuse/neglect had high levels of emotional awareness, possibly helping them be manipulative.
Do psychopaths suffer emotionally? ›
Psychopaths can suffer emotional pain for a variety of reasons. As with anyone else, psychopaths have a deep wish to be loved and cared for.
Are some psychopaths deeply emotional? ›
In fact, some individuals who exhibit psychopathic traits are deeply emotional but appear to have “shut down” in order to cope with their circ*mstances. This subgroup is most likely to respond to particular psychotherapy techniques and have a chance at a happier life.
How do psychopaths understand emotions? ›
Psychopaths do have emotion, they just have no social emotions like empathy, remorse, guilt, love and emotional attachment. For example, they may feel content because you came at their birthday, but more because they have distraction and got a present and not because they like you.
