Antisocial Personality Disorder

Normal Range of Antisocial Personality Disorder

Adventurers, Dissenting Personality

Who are considered adventurers according to Oldham and Morris (1995)?

Intrepid individuals who pushed the frontiers by crossing oceans, breaking records, and even walking on the moon.

What do adventurers seek according to Oldham and Morris (1995)?

Adventure provides a route to freedom that is socially acceptable and admired as stereotypically masculine.

What characterizes the value system of adventurers?

They are non-conformers with their own value system.

What do adventurers love?

Challenges.

What assumption do adventurers make about people?

They assume that people can take care of themselves.

How do adventurers typically interact with others?

They are interpersonally persuasive.

What is a common trait of adventurers regarding settling down?

They are reluctant to settle down.

Who are two examples of adventurers mentioned by Oldham and Morris (1995)?

Christopher Columbus and John Glenn.

What is a key characteristic of a Dissenting Personality according to Millon et al. (1994)?

Unconventional

How do individuals with a Dissenting Personality approach consequences?

They are willing to take the consequences, regardless of how others might judge them.

What tendency do individuals with a Dissenting Personality have regarding the truth?

They are inclined at times to finesse the truth.

How do individuals with a Dissenting Personality view legal boundaries?

They flirt with legal boundaries in pursuit of their own goals and desires.

How do individuals with a Dissenting Personality perceive their independence?

They see themselves as independent or creatively autonomous.

What type of responsibilities do individuals with a Dissenting Personality accept?

They do not accept customary responsibilities.

How do individuals with a Dissenting Personality view authority?

They view authority contemptibly as belonging to 'Big Brother.'

What is the societal view that individuals with a Dissenting Personality reject?

They believe society replaces individuality with a socially acceptable identity.

What do people with Dissenting Personality dislike according to Millon et al. (1994)?

Dislike daily routine

How are individuals with a Dissenting Personality often criticized?

They are criticized by others as being impulsive and irresponsible

What traits describe a Dissenting Personality?

Action-oriented, independent thinking, enterprising, and confrontational

What motivates individuals with a Dissenting Personality?

They are self-motivated and extremely resourceful

What do individuals with a Dissenting Personality do to achieve their goals?

They seize initiative to make matters work toward their own ends

What leadership qualities do individuals with a Dissenting Personality possess?

They make wonderful leaders and take charge with confident, decisive action

What describes individuals who never come in contact with the law?

They are effective at covering their tracks.

What is a characteristic of individuals who are willing to deceive and exploit others?

They have a capacity for guiltless willingness to deceive and exploit others.

What type of individuals may flourish in the gray area of legal technicalities?

Industrialists and entrepreneurs.

Who are savvy corporate executives?

They exploit some market position, monopoly power, or regulatory loophole for huge advantage.

What is a consequence of individuals who exploit legal loopholes for their own gain?

They may cause great costs to others.

What do individuals who systematically dismember corporations do?

They engage in hostile takeovers for their own self-gain.

What is characteristic of many politicians?

- Deception of doublespeak is a talent necessary for survival
- Deliberately create public policy so complex that any particular aspect might be singled out to impress the special interest of the moment

How do politicians "spin" objective events and skirt the edge of deceitfulness?

-minimizing negatives
-exaggerating positives

What do politicians do when cornered?

• Focus attention on mitigating circumstances
• Lie by omission by failing to report the total circumstances and full motivations of their actions

What can politicians be thought of as?

"premeditating antisocials"

Other examples of Antisocial Personality Disorder

- The smooth-talking businessman
- The less-than-forthcoming used-car salesman

What are these examples not as vivid a description as?

the serial murderer; but more common and result in just as great a threat to society

Variations of the Antisocial Personality

The Covetous Antisocial, The Reputation-Defending Antisocial (Narcissistic features), the Risk Taking Antisocial (Histrionic features), the Nomadic Antisocial (Schizoid, Avoidant features), the Malevolent Antisocial (Sadistic, Paranoid features)

What is a variant of the 'pure' pattern in psychology?

The Covetous Antisocial

What is a distilled form of the Covetous Antisocial pattern?

Aggrandizement

What desire characterizes the Covetous Antisocial pattern?

Desire to possess and dominate

How do Covetous Antisocial individuals feel about what life has given them?

They feel that life has not given them 'their due'

What do Covetous Antisocial individuals believe they have been deprived of?

Their rightful amount of love, support, and/or material reward

What do Covetous Antisocial individuals think about others' shares?

Others have received more than their share

What characterizes the Covetous Antisocial?

Jealous of those who have received the bounty of good life.

What drives the Covetous Antisocial?

Envious desire for retribution to take what destiny has refused them.

What is the goal of the Covetous Antisocial?

Compensation for the emptiness of life.

How does the Covetous Antisocial seek to achieve their goal?

Through deceit and/or destruction.

What rationalization does the Covetous Antisocial use for their actions?

They assert that they alone can restore the imbalance fated to them.

What is the primary emotion experienced by the Covetous Antisocial?

Seething with anger and resentment

What do Covetous Antisocial individuals derive pleasure from?

Taking control of the property and possessions of others

Are all Covetous Antisocial individuals criminal?

Some are overtly criminal

What is a common motivation for many Covetous Antisocial individuals?

An enormous drive for revenge

How do Covetous Antisocial individuals interact with others?

They manipulate others like pawns in a power game

What is a common feeling experienced by the Covetous Antisocial?

A deep sense of emptiness

What do Covetous Antisocial individuals often imagine?

How different life might have been had opportunity blessed them

What types of individuals can be classified as Covetous Antisocial?

Range from simple thieves to manipulative entrepreneurs

How do Covetous Antisocial individuals view others?

As objects to satisfy their desires

What is a characteristic of Covetous Antisocial individuals regarding compassion?

They have little compassion for or guilt about the effects of their behavior

What do Covetous Antisocial individuals never feel they have acquired enough of?

They never feel they have acquired quite enough

What is a common emotional state for Covetous Antisocial individuals despite their success?

They feel unfulfilled regardless of their success

What is a key trait of Covetous Antisocial individuals in terms of satisfaction?

They remain forever dissatisfied and insatiable

What is the motivation of the Reputation-Defending Antisocial?

To defend and extend bravery and toughness

What is a key characteristic of antisocial acts in the Reputation-Defending Antisocial?

They are designed to ensure that they are noticed by others

What do Reputation-Defending Antisocial individuals seek from others?

Respect that they deserve

What are Reputation-Defending Antisocial individuals perpetually on guard against?

The possibility of belittlement

What is the common perception of the Reputation-Defending Antisocial?

They are significant and not to be easily dismissed or pushed around.

What happens when the status or ability of a Reputation-Defending Antisocial is slighted?

They may erupt with ferocious intensity.

What behaviors might a Reputation-Defending Antisocial exhibit when challenged?

Posturing and threatening until their rivals back down.

What is the purpose of being tough and assertive for a Reputation-Defending Antisocial?

It is a defensive act intended to prove their strength and guarantee a reputation of indomitable courage.

What do Risk-Taking Antisocial individuals wish others to see them as?

Unaffected by what almost anyone else would experience as dangerous or frightening.

What do Risk-Taking Antisocial individuals seek as its own reward?

Risk.

What does risk provide for Risk-Taking Antisocial individuals?

A means of feeling stimulated and alive.

Is risk-taking for material gain among Risk-Taking Antisocial individuals?

No, it is not a means of material gain.

What motivates thrill seekers among Risk-Taking Antisocial individuals?

Opportunities to test their mettle.

Why do Risk-Taking Antisocial individuals perform?

For the attention, applause, and amazement of an audience.

How do Risk-Taking Antisocial individuals feel without opportunities for risk-taking?

Trapped by the boredom of life.

How are Risk-Taking Antisocial individuals often seen by others?

As foolhardy, if not stupid.

What are the characteristics of individuals with Nomadic Antisocial features?

They drift along at the margins of society.

How do Nomadic Antisocial individuals acquire resources?

They scavenge for whatever slim resources they come across.

How do Nomadic Antisocial individuals differ from most Antisocials regarding social rejection?

They do not react antagonistically to social rejection.

How do Nomadic Antisocial individuals perceive themselves?

They see themselves as jinxed or doomed.

What is the desire of Nomadic Antisocial individuals in relation to society?

They desire to exist at the edge of a world that would almost certainly reject them.

What emotional state are Nomadic Antisocial individuals often mired in?

They are often mired in self-pity.

What term can describe Nomadic Antisocial individuals in relation to society?

They can be described as societal dropouts.

What are the characteristics of Malevolent Antisocial individuals?

They are often seen as the least attractive antisocials.

How are Malevolent Antisocial individuals described?

Belligerent, rancorous, vicious, malignant, brutal, callous, vengeful, and vindictive.

What type of actions do Malevolent Antisocial individuals perform?

They perform actions charged with a hateful and destructive defiance of conventional social life.

How do Malevolent Antisocial individuals seek to secure their boundaries?

With cold-blooded ruthlessness.

What do Malevolent Antisocial individuals do in response to perceived mistreatment?

They avenge every mistreatment they believe others have inflicted on them in the past.

How do Malevolent Antisocial individuals interpret goodwill and kindness from others?

As hiding a deceptive ploy for which they must always be on guard.

What is a key characteristic of the ego in individuals with Antisocial Personality Disorder according to the Psychodynamic Perspective?

The ego develops but the superego doesn't.

What dominates the personality in individuals with Antisocial Personality Disorder?

The total personality remains dominated by the infantile Id and its pleasure principle.

According to classical psychoanalytic theory, what is the focus of the Id?

The Id is completely centered on its own immediate needs.

Antisocials impulsively and egocentrically violate

shared standards of social living

Just as the id is dominated by sex and aggression, so is the behavior of

most antisocials

Just as the id demands immediate gratification, antisocials focus on

the short term
-failing to think ahead or anticipate the consequences of their actions

Just as the Id knows only its own urges, antisocials know mainly the

selfish pursuit of their own satisfaction
• Act without reflection, remorse, or regards for other

Just as the moral principle is irrelevant to the Id, social
conventions and ideals have no intrinsic value to the

antisocial personality

Just as the id has no tolerance for frustration, neither do

antisocials
• Seem incapable of delaying action in the face of reward, unless deterred by the threat of concrete punishments

What characterizes the conscience of antisocial individuals?

Antisocials have little in the way of an inner voice or internal censor to moderate their actions.

What do antisocial individuals prioritize over societal constraints?

The immediacy of their own impulses, urges, and desires.