I think one of the big problems with this article is assuming that every single person that's been diagnosed with sociopathic tendencies follows all of the symptoms like some weird check list. The facts are that within any diagnosis, there is a sliding scale. Some people are more severe cases than others. Some people can be classified as 'high functioning' and can get by with a normal life and will never show violent tendencies. To take every single characteristic of being a sociopath and claiming that they all are like that is a dishonor to people who are sociopaths.
I also wish you'd cited your sources and that you'd used actual psychological studies. Are there sociopaths that kill? Yes, but there are also women that kill out of post-partum depression and a number of other mental disorders and illnesses that a great number of people have and then never kill anyone. I'm not exactly sure what the point of your article was, as you claim it's trying to figure out if they're as bad as they seem, and then you talking about killing and no remorse. You can have a lack of empathy but still understand the norms of society and try to fill them to the best of your ability.
Don't take my criticism to saying I don't like your article at all though. You have a great start but I believe it needs more focus, better sources, citing sources and ironically, a bit more empathy toward what you're writing about.
I think I might know a sociopath. Can't say I'm surprised though since I always knew something was off about them. Can sociopaths be upset over horrible things that happen to animals? I wonder because I know someone who completely fits the "sociopath" stereotype, yet she loves animals. That's like the only exception for this person.
I have been classed as a sociopath by my GP, to my cynical nature. Yes, I don't have a boyfreind, but... I don't lie all the time. I hardly lie, I love my family and the few freinds who share my cynical point on view as things. Interesting artical.. But next time, do a bit of homework first, then write. I know people who are sociopaths and many have girlfreinds and boyfreinds One or two are married and have kids. So... You are kinda steroytyping people who are sociopaths by saying: They lie all the time, its hard to have a relationship with them.
I quite liked this article; it was very well written, even though I wasn't sure what points you were actually trying to make by the end.
The reason why both sociopathy and psychopathy almost always come with negative connotations is because they are both classed as "dangerous" mental disorders, under the class of psychoses, if I remember correctly.
Both words are actually made up of socio (or psycho) + pathology, which is used to describe diseases in general.
Sociopaths are considered dangerous because although they are antisocial, have no 'moral compass' and may lack any kind of compassion, but they don't always alienate themselves as such. In fact, in history lots of sociopaths that were actually famous murderers because they were 'pillars' in their communities, so to speak.
A hypothetical situation to illustrate a key difference between sociopaths and psychopaths would probably read like this: assuming that both committed a murder, the sociopath may have murdered in order to see if they are "smarter" than the law, may plant evidence or pay close attention to the investigation to see if they can evade capture, while a psychopath may have murdered owing to an urge or a compulsion to kill, and could potentially return to the scene of the crime, or take a trophy to remember it by.
That is a very, very hypothetical situation, because, like you said in your article, not all sociopaths are highly intelligent.
Sociopaths do have a tendency for lying however, not unlike another mental condition, pseudologia fantastica (pathological lying) where lies are told "pathologically" and (in the case of sociopathy) may not always have something to gain from being told. Which is probably why I found myself questioning the quote you included from the self-diagnosed sociopath.
Truth is, there is absolutely no way of knowing who out there is a sociopath, and who isn't. Some people may appear to have sociopathic tendencies, but they may just feel naturally disconnected, which, in this day and age, is unfortunately considered normal.
I'm not 100% sure of the actual statistics anymore, but I'd hazard a guess that most people probably walk past maybe ten or so people in their life that are sociopaths, psychopaths, whatever, and don't even realise it.
On the whole this was a good article; although if there's a next time, you might find that it helps readers if you focus on one major issue per paragraph, explain it, dissect it a little, and then in the final paragraph, just sum up your thoughts, answer any questions you posed in your article and then maybe finish with a definitive thought or conclusive sentence.
But I stand by what I said earlier. I liked this article.
I think this article would have fared far better if the quote/example you used was taken from someone who was actually diagnosed as a sociopath. Using the quote of a undiagnosed or self-diagnosed "sociopath" doesn't really give this piece any merit or validity.
I also found myself a bit lost about what the point was. The title suggests that it's supposed to be an explanation of what a sociopath really is, perhaps even dispelling some misconceptions about it, but your closing lines moves towards something else. The piece was a bit confusing and could have used a bit more structure and organization or maybe more focus.
I hate it when people confuse psychopathic with psychotic. Psychopaths have "moral insanity" where they feel no guilt, but a psychotic person has an actual mental disorder. They are completely different things.
However, I've always failed to see the difference between a psychopath and a sociopath. Whether they are killers or not is pretty irrelevant to a group of people. Only a very small fraction of all psycho/sociopaths are killers. It's not as common as the media would like people to believe.
If you've ever met someone who was a self-centred asshole who really didn't seem to care if they hurt people's feelings, they were probably sociopathic.