Can you spot a sociopath? It could be your boss, your neighbor, your ex.

This is an excellent discussion, Karen! People need to be more aware of others. Women need to have the self-esteem to look at the men she goes out with today. When a man is handsome, many women will discount an entire load of those characteristics. She makes up excuses for him. We need to take these people seriously and guard ourselves. It is not just men on a date, though. It could be your boss. Do not allow someone like that to intimidate you until you feel they know better than you do. Do not put up with the abuse they put out. As a whole, we need to have the confidence to evaluate the people in our lives and make sure they do not have so much control that we do not see them as they are. This is a serious issue.

I actually believe that 6 is the best way to spot a sociopath. Irresponsibility can be taken to mean irresponsibilty at work or home, but it can also be taken as an irresponsibilty of their own lives. Sociopaths never seem to take any responsibility for their own actions, they always have a story to tell, or they always have someone else to blame. All of the woe that has happened to them in their life had nothing to do with them. And they convince the people that care about them of this by deception by way of manipulating the truth a bit. For example he might say, "Yeah, my ex just started yelling at me and I had to get away from the psycho", but they neglect to tell you that the ex just caught him in bed with another woman for the third time that month. So I think the best way to spot them is to try to ignore the fake charm they have and listen to your gut when it tells you there is a big hole in the story they are telling. Not to say every person that lies is a sociopath, but it could open your eyes to other things. Like the fact that they have no friends, or no friends that have been around for very long which is another good indicator.

WOW!! Well, I don't think I'm a Sociopath although I don't conform to social norms or I should say I'm not big on accepting things just to please others, I'm also terrible about not planning for the future...too many times I wait till something is right in front of me before I deal with it. I don't think I'm irritable or aggessive although I am outspoken (I've only become that way in the last few years). I don't think I'm deceitful or manipulative tho I do keep somethings to myself. I'm definately not reckless (I always think everything through all the way--all of the consequences before I do it). I often hurt when I see or hear of others in pain and I am very responsible to the point that I believe that if you say or do something that you should have the backbone to own up to it and not lie about doing or saying it or blame other ppl. So I guess 2 out of 7 means I'm not a sociopath after all...whew...I was worried lol :) LIVE IN PEACE

Thank you for best response!

The giveaway for me is number seven, "lack of remorse after having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another person". That is a little hard to over look. Sociopaths can be so smooth, many of the other traits can misconstrued for something else (charm, courage, cleverness...), but number seven screams Sociopathy. Is the figure really that high? That is terrible.