NeantHumain: Interest in Psychopaths

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EDIT: just changed title, to remove implication.

I just wanted to comment on the number of topics about or related to psychopaths that were started by NeantHumain in the past month. Man, that guy has started a lot of topics....

I mean the subject matter can be considered quite interesting. But to talk about it as much as NeantHumain does, that is very impressive. (Guess we all know what his new obsession is. ) The guy really knows his material too.

That reminds me - I wonder how many Aspie interests are in the psychological realm?

Last edited by Larval on 09 Dec 2005, 10:42 am, edited 1 time in total.

*moo's at you in a "me me me" kind of way*

I'm currently in enough trouble as it is so I better just shut up on this one.

oh, i am certanly interested in psychology, more so afer accepting being AS. the title of this thread implicates that neant humain is a psychopath!

I agree about the title being misleading. I was a bit concerned when I first saw it.....

-future psychology major and clinical (neuro)psychologist.-

Yes, psychopathy is my current "stereotyped and restricted pattern of interest." It's too bad I forget many of the things I learn from old interests after I stop pursuing them. For example, I've forgotten many things about linguistics. My interest in psychopathy is really sublimation.

Me, too. Although my interest in psychopathy is part of a broader interest in a neurobiology-genetics-personality types-human behavior-etc. theme.

Just yesterday I came across this research by Blair (you might have seen it already) >>

Responding to the emotions of others: Dissociating forms of empathy through the study of typical and psychiatric populations
R.J.R. Blair

Abstract

Empathy is a lay term that is becoming increasingly viewed as a unitary function within the field of cognitive neuroscience. In this paper, a selective review of the empathy literature is provided. It is argued from this literature that empathy is not a unitary system but rather a loose collection of partially dissociable neurocognitive systems. In particular, three main divisions can be made: cognitive empathy (or Theory of Mind), motor empathy, and emotional empathy. The two main psychiatric disorders associated with empathic dysfunction are considered: autism and psychopathy. It is argued that individuals with autism show difficulties with cognitive and motor empathy but less clear difficulties with respect to emotional empathy. In contrast, individuals with psychopathy show clear difficulties with a specific form of emotional empathy but no indications of impairment with cognitive and motor empathy.

link

I highly recommend reading up on Albert Fish, for those who like to have faces to their psychopaths.

Of course, Ed Gein is good, too. But I don't believe he was a psychopath. Just a Schizophrenic with an INSANE mother. But nevertheless, he's fascinating.

I was obsessed with serial killers for a LONG time (though Gein wasn't technically a serial killer by most accounts). And so I got interested in Psychopathy due to that. Books and books on serial killers.