sociopath vrs aspies

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I think lack of conscience is the issue here. And I don't think all Aspies lack empathy and I know that at least one Aspie is capable of manipulation because I have manipulated people before. But by definition, maybe there are Aspie sociopaths but there is no way at all that all Aspies are. I definitely have a conscience. So if that makes me the only Aspie who is not a sociopath than no one can say that all Aspies are.

I knew one boy. He was very mean and abusive and a liar. He would hit his mom and break things to get his way and he bullied my brothers and threw an ax at them because they were trying to stop him from chopping up our hammock which he destroyed. He also lied to me about it and said they were mean to him and I totally sided with him and I found out from my mother he bullied other kids in his new school and I also heard from my ex about him who also knew him and he told me what a bastard he was. I know he was telling me the truth because the stories matched. He mentioned Zach to me and how Frankie got him on his side. Under Frankie's version he was the victim and being picked on, my ex's version, Frankie was the bully and would harass him and my ex would pick him up and toss him on the ground in self defense.

I think Frankie had sociopathic tenancies and he had ODD but he acted like a psychopath. He had no remorse and he bragged about hurting other kids and breaking their bones and he took pride in it. He was also diagnosed with AS at age seven. I think one can be both. Sociopath, psychopath, I get those two mixed up. I remember my therapist telling me he was a sick child and that it was mental illness what he was doing and it wasn't AS behavior. Frankie was also manipulative because he would imitate his mother and he knew how to get his way and he had her under his control. She was his doormat because she was afraid of him and the kid was ten years old but he was getting stronger and was still shorter than her.

At 15 I thought she should just hit him back every time he hits her and also stop giving into him and just ignore him until he treats her with respect like if he screams at her, ignore him and don't do his commands until he asks her nicely. but with Conduct disorder, this might not work because then they will just push the button more on the elevator to get it to come figuratively speaking. This kid had been in and out of mental hospitals in Seattle.

One trait of highly successful people is psychopathic tendencies. Being able to make difficult decisions is tough. Handling the guilt, remorse and consequences of your actions takes effort. That effort is beyond some people.

I am not defending psycho/sociopaths. God knows, there are many nasty people in our lives. Learning how to respond to bad behavior is my goal. I spent Thanksgiving with an aunt who was spitting bullets at me the whole time. It was her problem, not mine.

Edit: Got confused between psychopath and sociopath

Last edited by goatfish57 on 03 Dec 2015, 11:00 am, edited 1 time in total.

You can call me an aspie, and you can call me "different from the average", but you cannot call me a psycho/sociopath. Unlike actual psycho/sociopaths, I feel emotion, I care about others, and I don't take pleasure in others' pain.

As with all aspects of humanoid psychology, this is a complex topic with many unknowns and endless surprises. Google James Fallon if you want to explore a completely different 'take' on psychopaths (aka "sociopaths"). I guarantee that if you do, you will not be bored. He's a very funny, intelligent, engaging, happily married... psychopath.

BTW it has yet to be proven conclusively that all or even most people on the autism spectrum lack empathy. An understanding of the neuropsychology of autism is still very much in its infancy.

Around 18 a high school aquaintence called me up- and we became friends for a few years.

I couldnt stand the guy, but I tolerated him because he was (what I thought of) as the opposite of me: streetwise, and successful with the ladies, and like that. He deviated from the norm one way, and I the opposite way.

I was Sheldon Leonard, and he was The Fonz. So if I figured that if I hung with him and studied him I would become the happy medium between the two extremes (so to speak)- that was my logic. Shortly after college we drifted apart. Havent seen him in decades.

Decades later I was finally diagnosed as aspie. Thinking back to when I knew this friend from my previous life I get more and more convinced that he was an out-and-out sociopath. So I think of autistic and sociopath as being polar opposites. Though an individual could be a member of both groups.

If aspies and auties were more like sociopaths life would be a lot easier for auties and aspies. Life IS very easy for sociopaths. The ones that dont get caught and put into the penitentiary. Thats for sure.

Given that people on the autism spectrum generally seem compelled to speak the literal truth, and sociopaths are much more likely to lie even when it doesn't confer any direct benefit on them, I'm curious as to how someone who was a member of both groups would look. Would they lie, and then later blurt out the truth?

That they are polar opposites, on the other hand, rings true.

I dunno.

Maybe they would be a failed sociopath. Lol!

Excuse me, I have to go and sharpen my axe.

I attempted to be a sociopath at 16. I failed and mom threatened to put me in a hospital if I hit her again. While I was doing it, I was forcing myself because I felt desperate so I was trying to be like Frankie because I saw how much control he was in and how his mother conformed so I gave it a shot months later and while I was doing it I keep wondering how does he even have the balls to do all these things and not care about his house or what things he breaks. Wow he is so strong. My mom told me he wasn't strong, he was a bully. Now I realize it doesn't even take strength at all, all it takes is lack of compassion and lack of empathy, lack of remorse, lack of conscious because some people do not have that in their head so they wouldn't even have a problem doing these horrible things.

All that and a lack of impulse control, yes.

Actually I think a lack of impulse control is one of the main distinctions between a sociopath and a psychopath (the latter being more likely to be violent for that reason). Sociopaths are more calculating than psychopaths, they are more likely to carefully weigh their actions beforehand and less likely to use violence if it will ultimately get in the way of what they want rather than satisfy a fleeting urge to lash out. They both lack empathy, but sociopaths are much more careful about how they apply their self-interest-directed behaviour.

Yeah, I think you're right.

Exactly. It's invariably hypocritical to criticize anyone for directing energy in their own way. It's only an issue when people waste energy on textbook sociopathy.

If anybody is interested, the best depiction of a sociopath in fiction is in the movie Frozen. They got the behavior, down to all the warning signs, as well as the reactions of the people around the person just right.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that you're not talking about the Disney film Frozen.