The Inner World of the Psychopath : A definitive primer on the psychopathic personality by Steve Becker

Author:Steve Becker [Becker, Steve]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2015-06-02T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

THE PSYCHOPATH’S “IMMUNITY MENTALITY”

Psychopaths, as a byproduct of their grandiosity, tend to feel a strange immunity to the ramifications of their transgressions. I call this their “immunity mentality.”

Most of us, even on the lowest moral plane of thinking, when contemplating a violating or perhaps seriously illegal act, will be deterred by thoughts like:

“I could get caught, and if I do, I could be screwed.”

“What if I get caught? If I get busted, I’m really up shit’s creek. And I’ll deserve to be. Of course, I may not get caught, but I’m taking a big risk, and big consequences come with it. Let me think twice.”

Even, as I say, at this lowest tier of moral calculation, psychopathic individuals do not tend to think like this. Psychopaths expect to escape the consequences of their audacious transgressions. Intellectually, they will register the possibility that they could get caught, but on a psychological level, with their reckless, grandiose confidence, they expect not to.

Some are too impulsive-minded to think beyond executing the act that seizes their imagination. Others may contemplate an agenda somewhat more seriously. In either case, two factors are almost assuredly at play, factors to which I’ve alluded like a chorus throughout: the shocking lack of concern for the harm their action will cause, and their almost surreal assumption, steeped in their grandiosity, that they will “get over” on whoever they are exploiting.

Psychopaths just don’t suffer deeply the worry of apprehension; it’s as if they carry, as suggested, the protection of an “immunity card”—a sense of immunity steeped in their grandiosity. But even should they get caught, psychopaths are hardly likely to dissolve into panic. This is unsurprising given their aforementioned inordinately high levels of confidence that they will finesse their way out of virtually any predicament.

Yet still, the psychopath’s peculiar equanimity facing seemingly inevitable exposure and impending, serious sanctions is quite striking. Surely most psychopaths have been busted for their exploitative behaviors, whether on personal levels, job/career levels, or legal/criminal levels. Wouldn’t a prior history of having been busted leave them extra concerned about the real risks of being busted in the present and future?

Psychopaths are far less risk averse than nonpsychopaths. In other words, psychopaths seem to have a higher risk tolerance than is usual. Consequently, they may seek and need risk to “feel alive” and possibly to compensate for propensities to feel bored and under-stimulated. For the psychopath, a high-risk act that would shake a nonpsychopath’s equilibrium to the core may actually have an equilibrium-restoring effect, taking him from an “out of sorts” state of mind to a more satisfied feeling.

But returning to the chapter’s theme. psychopaths seem to possess a view of themselves as virtually immune to or cloaked in protection from the ramifications of their shenanigans. Where others shudder at the thought of having to account for transgressions, the psychopath is unfazed. He does not expect to have to “face the music,” but when he does, he often retains his strange, often glib equanimity.

Watching a psychopath being

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