Indeed, it's why I use "supposedly" a lot when talking about it.
The fact it's constantly changing and so widely debated makes it more interesting. If it were rigidly just one view, it'd be boring.
May be the language in itself is problematic because empathy can mean:
1. putting oneself's in someone's shoes (on an intellectual level) which of course sociopaths can do
2. feeling compassion which of course sociopaths cannot do even if they known what is is (I mean its textbook definition).
At least for me it's like this: I can predetermine what someone is going to do by trying to think like the person would, but I don't feel any form of compassion for people i.e. I don't care what happens to them.
For instance I always have a hard time understanding people feeling sad when something bad happened to someone on the news because they don't know them.
And then there's also the word sympathy:
3. the fact or power of sharing the feelings of another, especially in sorrow or trouble; fellow feeling, compassion, or commiseration.
Sympathy is feeling bad for someone, as opposed to feeling bad as a result of emotional contagion.
For example, someone can show a victim of mania sympathy. Someone empathetic would be more likely to mirror their enthusiasm instead, if not both at once.
At least that's how I carry the word around.
by DaddyI am quite capable of experiencing affective empathy and I'm just as capable of turning it off. You have a very limited understanding of the disorder you claim to have. But then again, you being low functioning, I wouldn't really expect you to understand.
Low functioning in sociopathy and psychopathy does not equal low IQ, dumbass, so don't talk to me like I'm fucking stupid. It relates to behavior, not intellect.
Psychopaths don't experience affective empathy as much as I bet you do, especially when you talk about this heightened sense of empathy bullshit. Cognitive empathy is all that's required to blend in and manipulate someone. You don't need to empathize with their emotions. You simply need to recognize them.
Low functioning in sociopathy and psychopathy does not equal low IQ,
dumbass, so don't talk to me like I'm fucking stupid. It relates to
behavior, not intellect.
Stupid is a pretty wide term, to include people with poor behavioral skills, if you weren't stupid you'd be able to control your behavior. So yea, you're fucking stupid.
Cognitive empathy is all that's required to blend in and
manipulate someone. You don't need to empathize with their emotions. You
simply need to recognize them.
All humans have the same system in place that allows them to understand and interpret emotion. The mirror neuron system. This is the same regardless of whether or not you are a psychopath. This system works by first perceiving an emotion and running a sort of simulation in your head. This is Affective Empathy, and it's what allows you to perceive emotion.
You only differ because you are neurotic to the point that you've shut down your ability to register those sensations through some trauma, the ability exists, but is blocked as a subconscious defense mechanism to help keep your fragile ego safe.
If your mirror neuron system didn't work you would function like an autistic and be unable to interpret emotions correctly and thus be unable to manipulate people, dex is a good example of someone who has poor social skills due to falling on the autism spectrum. His personality is a direct result of his inability to connect with and sense the emotions of others. If you didn't experience affective emotion you would be like him.
by DaddyLow functioning in sociopathy and psychopathy does not equal low IQ,
dumbass, so don't talk to me like I'm fucking stupid. It relates to
behavior, not intellect.Stupid is a pretty wide term, to include people with poor behavioral skills, if you weren't stupid you'd be able to control your behavior. So yea, you're fucking stupid.
What. You mean the kind of stupid where you confused panda bears for polar bears in your own fucking avatar? lol (the previous one you had).
Yeah, you know all about stupid first hand, don't you...
Cognitive empathy is all that's required to blend in and
manipulate someone. You don't need to empathize with their emotions. You
simply need to recognize them.All humans have the same system in place that allows them to understand and interpret emotion. The mirror neuron system. This is the same regardless of whether or not you are a psychopath. This system works by first perceiving an emotion and running a sort of simulation in your head. This is Affective Empathy, and it's what allows you to perceive emotion.
You only differ because you are neurotic to the point that you've shut down your ability to register those sensations through some trauma, the ability exists, but is blocked as a subconscious defense mechanism to help keep your fragile ego safe.
If your mirror neuron system didn't work you would function like an autistic and be unable to interpret emotions correctly and thus be unable to manipulate people, dex is a good example of someone who has poor social skills due to falling on the autism spectrum. His personality is a direct result of his inability to connect with and sense the emotions of others. If you didn't experience affective emotion you would be like him.
So, you're claiming to be an empathetic psychopath who can feel other people's emotions, pretty much like any average person, but on a heightened level, is that right?
You're claiming my lack of affective empathy is a defense mechanism, which I honestly lol'd at. If the average psychopath happens to be more like me than you, would you say this article is incorrect?
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/09/130924174331.htm
Someone who believes in Theodore Millon's subtypes would argue this experiment was appealing to the "Malevolent Subtype" (as noted from enjoying the pain of others, and the subtype having sadistic traits).
Is how they respond to pain really a good example of empathetic response? (I found this article earlier.) I'm not a sociopath, but with my own setup, I don't mirror the emotions of people or on screen, but I do get a response from watching others in pain.
An example: That moment in the movie Riddick where he's pulling metal out of his leg. I didn't respond to the display of pain at first, but did part way into it when I began to wonder what that pain felt like. My response was closer to proxying as if it were my own, as opposed to imagining how his pain felt (which if you know me enough, you'd recognize why that is fundamentally flawed).
My point: Is pain really a good resource for experiments with emotion? Is this experiment really a good indicator?
It also does little to nothing to disprove what he posted. In fact, it almost appears they did the same experiment in reverse order and called it a different result, substituting pain for emotion entirely with some steps missing. If those in the experiment had this supposed "empathy switch", they'd just shut it off once it hit the point of not having to imagine it as their own anymore.
Also:
by DaddyThat's the thing about psychology... it's all theory...
And like all theories they are questioning in the beginning.
I never respond to displays of pain on screen. I can watch horrible shit without it impacting me emotionally at all- even if its real. I know that's messed up. I avoid pure gore. But beautifully choreographed or raw violence that is rendered intimately turns me on, especially if one or both parties appear to be deriving visceral pleasure from it.
There is research that has been done into psychopathy, but Daddy's claim that psychopaths have a heightened sense of affective empathy is a bunch of bullshit. There is nothing that indicates that's true.
Daddy is not even a fucking psychopath. He's just a regular narcissist who happens to be highly empathetic.