I don't think that's heroic per se but I once managed to talk a thug out of harming a friend of mine.
And when I say a friend of mine I mean my boyfriend at the time.
Long story short the thug was under the impression that my bf was eyeballing him which I knew couldn't be true given the fact that he was very ugly. Add alcohol to the mix (since the scene was taking place in a bar) and my bf's being young, hot-headed and looking for trouble and I still managed to convince the thug that it wouldn't be in his interest to try to fight us.
As for a link between sociopaths and heroes idk I tend to identify more with villains in movies anyway. (i.e I so wanted the dark side of the force to win in Star Wars which it kind of did in Revenge of the Sith).