This is a topic I've discussed with some people on PsychForums. I'll re-post what I've said, in case some find it relevant to the discussion. In the following passage, I equate persons with AsPD/sociopathy to be "low-functioning psychopaths," which could also be considered "low-functioning sociopaths" depending upon the terminology you use.
Throughout history it has been recognized that there exists a subset of people who do not show impairment in rational thought, and yet behave in an immoral or amoral manner. One of the earliest accounts of this phenomenon that survives is from Theophrastus, a student of Aristotle.
The Unscrupulous Man will go and borrow more money from a creditor he has never paid…When marketing he reminds the butcher of some service he has rendered him and, standing near the scales, throws in some meat, if he can, and a soup-bone. If he succeeds, so much the better; if not, he will snatch a piece of tripe and go off laughing.
Today, deviant forms of personality are categorized according to the current paradigm of abnormal psychology. Under this paradigm, Theophrastus's "unscrupulous man" is now considered to have an antisocial personality disorder (AsPD). What abnormal psychologists believe is that people with AsPD incurred insults during the growth of their personalities which taught them to relate to society in an adversarial manner. AsPD is a diagnosis given to those whom it is believed have had such a course of development.
Sociopathy, psychopathy, and AsPD are often used synonymously in the field of psychology. The word "psychopath" is derived from the Greek words psykhe and pathos, "mind" and "suffering/disease" respectively, implying that antisocial condition is a disease of the mind. Sociopathy was a term invented later to describe antisocials; the 'socio' suffix emphasized the theory at the time that antisociality was a conditioned way of relating to society. Eventually psychology came to develop the notion of personality disorders, and 'sociopath' became known as AsPD in The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
However, it is recognized that not all people who behave antisocially do so because life circumstances have conditioned them that way. This is where the idea of 'primary' and 'secondary' psychopathy comes from. The theory is that primary psychopaths do not emotionally relate to others because their genetics render them highly incapable of that. Secondary psychopaths had greater potential for "normal" personality development, but that potential was disrupted. In neuroscience and some circles of psychology, psychopathy is understood to be 'primary psychopathy', and 'sociopathy/ASPD' is understood to be 'secondary psychopathy.' It's a shame people get these terms mixed up, because there is definitely a difference between primary and secondary psychopathy.
Areas of reduced gray matter volume in the temporal pole (above) and medial prefrontal cortex (below) and areas of the brains of the psychopathic group of antisocial men (ASPD+P) compared to the non-psychopathic group of antisocial men (ASPD-P).
http://archpsyc.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1149316
The following is an excerpt from a discussion I had with Etzel about cognitive and affective empathy, which has application to this discussion.
There are other studies too which say that successful psychopaths have higher autonomic reactivity (fight-or-flight response) than unsuccessful psychopaths do. At this point I am not feeling like digging up any more research though.
You seem to believe that high-functioning psychopathy is a good thing, and that lacking grey matter is a bad thing. I agree to the first part is open to opinion, but the second is complicated. Firstly let it be said that psychopathy in itself probably represents the constellation of the so called "warrior genes" playing their part in the course of neurodevelopment. The warrior genes make a person less reactive to serotonin, primarily in the emotional centers of the brain I believe. I got that all from an interview with James Fallon, who is a neuroscientist and a "high-functioning psychopath." Check out his brain scan:
There are also some brain areas that are enlarged in psychopaths. One in the frontal lobe I believe, and they have substantially enlarged corpora colossi, white matter tracts connecting the two hemispheres. I'm too lazy to find the sources now. Those were all from samples of violent offenders though, and I'm not sure how much that data carries over to successful psychopaths. But given the other comparative study I posted, I'd guess their brain volumes would be somewhere between that of controls and unsuccessful psychopaths.
