Do "sociopaths" ever experience empathy on any level? Such as, when you hear or see someone experiencing extreme undue or unjust suffering, such as a child who has been abandoned since birth and spends their life bouncing around foster homes never knowing what a real family feels like. Or an individual who has a mental disability and has a life filled with constant mental suffering and must live without being able to experience the joys that most others get to such as relationships or even an independent lifestyle? Or any other sad situation?
This sums it up perfectly - its a total indifference. I bumped into a friend of the family a while back in the supermarket. She told me of her nephew who suffered from a disability and he was close to death. She was clearly quite upset so I acted as she would expect and faked concern and horror at her situation. In actual fact I though c'mon for goodness sake I'm busy shopping and this is taking up time.
I can appreciate her situation but was totally indifferent to it!!
A sociopath would be able to empathise, an aspy or someone else who falls heavily on the autisism spectrum would not be able to. A sociopath CAN choose to turn emotions on or off. aspys and autistics must be trained to read emotions in others. the ability to empathise is what gives sociopaths the higher ability to understand and manipulate the emotions of their victims. the lack of emotion is what makes autistics awkward and antisocial.
I think the confusion is because empathy is not one single thing. Empathy are made up of many different things. If you cry because your friend cries, that is your brain echoing their emotion. It is one dimension of empathy. If you sit back and think of situations similar to what your friend goes through, so you have an idea what it feels like for them, that is also part.
Many neurotypicals are much better on the first thing. They react spontaneously. They are not very good at walking in someone else's shoes, it takes too much thinking for them. So they tend to just trust instinct.
by DaddyA sociopath would be able to empathise
True, but a sociopath wouldn't empathise all the time: Psychopathic criminals have empathy switch
Most of the time, a sociopath would be indifferent.
the ability to empathise is what gives sociopaths the higher ability to
understand and manipulate the emotions of their victims.
Yes, but that only requires cognitive empathy.
Emotional Empathy and Cognitive Empathy