THE AUTHORITY
Robert Hare, PhD, is a Clinical Psychologist and Emeritus Professor of Psychology at the University of British Columbia, Canada. He has taught and conducted psychopathy research for more than four decades, devoting most of his academic career to the investigation of psychopathy, its nature, assessment, and implications for mental health and criminal justice.
Dr. Hare’s psychopathy research began with a study focussing on inmates in the Canadian Prison System. About 20% of the inmate population had no adverse reaction to punishment, and they also accounted for over 80% of the heinous crimes committed.
Dr. Hare is the author of several books, including Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us, and more than one hundred scientific articles on psychopathy. He is the developer of the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) and a co-author of its derivatives, the Psychopathy Checklist: Screening Version, the Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version, the Antisocial Process Screening Device, and the P-Scan (for use in law enforcement).
He consults with law enforcement, including the FBI and the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police), sits on the Research Advisory Board of the new FBI Child Abduction and Serial Murder Investigative Resources Center (CASMIRC), and is a member of the FBI Serial Murder Working Group.
What came as a surprise to Dr. Hare was that he began to recognize some of those same traits in the general public. His further study identified a previously unrecognized area of psychopathy, that he categorized as “sociopaths.”
The term “sociopath” was retired and removed from therapeutic use in the early-1990s, as the conditions were replaced with more detailed personality disorders, such as Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD), Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD), and others. “Psychopathy” and “psychopath,” though, are still used to define that area of psychology.
Dr. Hare’s PCL-R was reviewed in Buros Mental Measurements Yearbook (1995), as being the “state of the art” both clinically and in research use. In 2005, the Buros Mental Measurements Yearbook review listed the PCL-R as “a reliable and effective instrument for the measurement of psychopathy and is considered the ‘gold standard’ for measurement of psychopathy.”
Dr. Hare has won numerous awards for his lifetime of achievements.
Though not used therapeuticcally, the term “sociopath” is still in general use today because of its universal acceptance by the public. In that regard, since the term is familiar but the personality disorders may not be, I use “sociopath” throughout this site.
Note: the cause of someone being either a “psychopath” or “sociopath” is due to a specific neurological disorder, and differences in the brain’s physical structure. For simplicity, I refer to it as the bad gene throughout this site. It is hereditary.
January 31st, 2011 at 16:13
i know that tests have been done on brains of people suffering from alcoholism and this has found a physical differance that is from a large percentage of the general population, an alcoholics body digests alcohol differantly.
Have this same tests been made and recognised by the medical fraternity, the reason I am asking is that I have read a study which suggests very strongly that “sociopaths” are “made” not “born”.
Although I could see that having said this it would make for a legal nightmare as people could then justify the most heinous acts on “family” or upbringing even though I believe this could be true
regards
March 2nd, 2011 at 03:50
Catherine,
I have read the “upbringing theory” many times, but the fact is that it has been proven genetic. My post Does “bad-upbringing” create a psychopath? covers it in much more detail.
March 26th, 2011 at 23:26
I agree with Larry. I think its hereditary too. I had seen it in my father. I was told by my mom my grand father, his dad was even worse. My oldest brother has it and he was spoiled rotten! One of my own three children has it.
June 4th, 2011 at 17:06
I believe it is hereditary as well, and feel that my partner Jim may have been one of only two-in his abusive family that were not born sociopaths.
The other siblings and mother support sociopathic behavior in each other becoming defenders and enablers of it. The problems never lay with them-always someone else. Jim and his brother Andy were always “outsiders” and took the brunt of family wrath.
When someone knows deep inside there is something “not right with them” they hide the flaw by directing attention to the weaker, more “feeling” member.
The feeling member becomes the one who has something wrong with them. Over the years that person begins to believe it.
In a deeply sociopathic family the feeling members are a threat and must be destroyed- hence anyone notice who the real culprits are.
It is all so terribly bizarre. And if I hadn’t witnessed it I probably wouldn’t believe it.
June 5th, 2011 at 10:17
Wow Carla. You are so right.
My mother is co-dependent and has always enabled my fathers behavior. My mom is not sociopathic. I know she knows somethings not right. She is in denile big time! My other brother who is younger is an alcoholic is the weaker one.
Dad always told him from early on he is stupid and will never amount to anything. And you know how children believe their parents. He told me the same thing. It took years for me to realize what the true situation is. If I had not read the internet I never would have known it has a word. When growing up I believed my oldest brother just had a mean streak. And dad was just tired from working a lot and drank. And hey, men are just vile creatures anyway. (I know better now.)
I would also like to add my mother married very young. 17 or 18. And my father was 10 years older then her and always reminded her of that fact too. She was never to question his authority. My dad has since gone but now my brother has taken his place. I wish I could make my mom a femininist so she can protect herself and see whats going on.
She is 76 years old and lives with me right now. Does that make me co-dependent even though she is my mother and I know what my sociopathic brother is up to?
June 5th, 2011 at 22:24
Carla,
As Debbie eluded to, you nailed it. Change a few names, and you could be writing about my first family.
Thanks for your insights, Carla, and thanks again to Debbie.