Yes, they are. Other differences aside, psychopaths normally have a "charming and friendly" persona, while sociopaths are anti-social. A true psychopath will also feel very few emotions, while a true sociopath feels more emotions, and might cry out of stress or fear (they don't cry out of grief like a neurotypical person though)
This is widely debated among the field, but most psychologists still maintain that there is no real difference in classification. It is the media who uses one word and makes it sound more sinister. Until they can actually quantify consistent changes, it will be regarded that way, I believe. If you're interested in the subject, I'd highly suggest a great book called The Sociopath Next Door! You'll love it.
My score's 42%. I was at a recording of the Museum Of Curiosity which had Kevin Dutton, the guy who put together that test, as a panellist. He told a story about his dad, who was a psychopath and also a market trader. One time, the then-10-year-old Kevin helped his dad out on the market stall, and at the end of the day they went to dinner in an Indian restaurant. When they'd finished their meal, his dad stood up, tinkled a spoon against a glass to get everyone's attention, and said: "Thank you all for coming. I see a lot of old faces here, and some new ones too. And I know some of you travelled a long way to be here with us on this special day, and I want you to know it's really appreciated. I hope you've enjoyed your meals - when you're done, we're having a reception in the pub across the road and we'd be delighted if you could come along." And he paid for their food and left. Kevin said: "Dad... we're not really going to the pub, are we?" And his dad said: "No. But all that lot are. And my mate Martin's just taken over as landlord, he'll make a few extra quid tonight." He also said most psychopaths score fairly normally on that test, since they're smart enough to know that being marked as a psychopath is sub-optimal, so it's all the people scoring 28% you've got to watch out for. Apparently when he's using it to do actual science, there's a load of other stuff involved that's less easy to game.
I got this from this one: I feel like it might be overstating things, but I'll admit that I've got a lot of the philosophical disconnection from social norms and hyperactive/impulsive traits (I have ADHD) that you might associate with that personality type. I'm just too anxious to break the law and too uncomfortable with conflict to actually hurt people. I suppose that makes me either a good or a spineless version of that sort of person, depending on what you value.
I got 39% "Though your conscience is in the right place you also have a pragmatic streak and generally aren’t afraid to do your own dirty work! You’re no shrinking violet - but no daredevil either. You generally have little trouble seeing things from another person’s perspective but, at the same time, are no pushover. ‘Everything in moderation – including moderation’ might sum up your approach to life." This is surprisingly spot on!
I scored 70%, but I deliberately weighed my answers to get a higher score Second time, I scored 48%. I see an inkblot.
For the Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy Scale: I guess according to this being a "go getter" is the same as a psychopath as I didn't pick any of the "rant" related options [neutral for those]. Definitely explains why some of the rich businessmen and women out there would gladly "sell their own mother for a buck" as the saying goes. Given the fact that the "traits" they use to describe a psychopath are not right - but applies more for sociopaths as psychopaths are rather "normal" in average society - made me laugh just a little bit. and Fear me
55 % Far too few questions. I can't stand watching animals suffer but I will laugh (on the inside anyway) if you get conned.
Oh... it is widely debated? Where? - By whom? Generally psychopaths and sociopaths are held in mainframe psychology as being different. The "similarity" is the fact they both suffer APD [antisocial personality disorder] with is a rather generalized and in a way meaningless catch phrase [such as ADHD, "insanity", PTSD, etc.] used to explain something that we barely have an understanding of but we want to seem as if we know what we're gabbing about. It's all hype really so that the experts really seem like experts and not nattering goofballs. We did this years ago with "insanity" [nothing but a catch phrase] for bizarre behaviors and ADHD [another catch phrase] was/is labeled to everything under the sun that resulted in disruptive inattentive behavior. My father has his PhD in this field, he worked with hardened criminals in maximum security prisons [BC Pen for example], as a Classification Officer & more. It was his role to also evaluate prisoners for their parole & he even went out with police to capture escaped prisoners. As well as working with troubled violent youths. The defining factors are the way in which either comes about and their personalities. The differences greatly outweigh the catch phrase similarity. And yes psychopaths are more dangerous because they do not have emotions in the normal sense - they certainly do not have empathy and many are starting to say they don't have emotions at all, just emulate whatever they see other people doing - everyone laughs so they laugh. On top of that what causes a psychopath is not exactly known - the general idea is they are "born". Sociopaths are maintained as being made - they grow up in abnormal households [by learning do they act as they do] and as such their behavior is abnormal. Or they suffer other underlying mental disorders that cause them to become social misfits and they choose to retaliate violently because that is what they've been exposed to. They are oftentimes prone to violent bursts of anger and have short tempers. Now if psychopaths and sociopaths were really one and the same - which they are not - then kindly explain why almost every known sociopath is the social misfit [many of them can't even keep down a job due to their outbursts] and oftentimes "whimsical" in their patterns [either who they attack, how, why, when or even where]. Psychopaths, on the other hand, are quite different seeing as some of the most infamous psychopaths [Ted Bundy, "Salazar", etc.] are noted as being savvy individuals who the average person wouldn't even bat an eyelash at if they passed on the street - and a number of them are either thorough thinkers and/or planners. If you are going to try and use some of the modern shootings, etc. and say psychopaths are misfits ... college shooters are typically sociopaths, not psychopaths. There's maybe one or two shooters in recent years that lean more to psychopathic than sociopathic but most of them are sudden violent responses due to the sheer buildup of pressure [classic sociopathic "birth" - they can't deal with it anymore and so they lash out]. They "learned" the behavior not necessarily at home [though typically the home life is anything but golden when researched] but by TV, video games, etc. There's a reason why a few years ago people were "blaming video games" with one shooting. I had the pleasure if you would of working with both types & cannibals on top at one job. Mental health facility for criminally insane. Great fun. And yes there is a difference - the one psychopath we had could make your skin crawl he was so "smooth" while there were some oddities to the sociopaths [some more obvious than others].
Well, I got 55%. "Everything in moderation - including moderatione." I see a face smiling at me with darkness coming out of it's mouth. ... Should I be worried?
36% Though your conscience is in the right place you also have a pragmatic streak and generally aren’t afraid to do your own dirty work! You’re no shrinking violet - but no daredevil either. You generally have little trouble seeing things from another person’s perspective but, at the same time, are no pushover. ‘Everything in moderation – including moderation’ might sum up your approach to life.
Try to use it on your MC(s). As a reader I am interested in your characters, not so much in YOU! (well that's a lie, many of you that I see on the forum are very interesting characters)