Disturbing Similarities Found Between Psychopaths and Normal People

A chilling discovery has revealed tiny differences between psychopaths and ordinary people. Scientists have discovered what really separates a cold-blooded psychopath from an ordinary person. A team from the University of Pennsylvania has found significant differences in brain structure that may explain why psychopaths think, feel and behave in highly disturbing ways.

Using MRI scans, researchers compared the brains of 39 adult men with high psychopathy scores with those of a control group, and what they found was alarming, the Daily Mail reports.

In psychopaths, the researchers found shrunken areas in the basal ganglia, which controls movement and learning; the thalamus, the body’s sensory relay station; and the cerebellum, which helps coordinate motor functions. But the most striking changes were found in the orbitofrontal cortex and insular regions, which are responsible for emotional regulation, impulse control, and social behavior. In other words, the parts of the brain that keep most people from lying, bullying, or hurting others were noticeably damaged.

"These are the very personality traits that psychopaths struggle with," the researchers explained.

However, the scans also revealed weaker connections between brain regions associated with empathy, guilt and moral reasoning, suggesting that psychopaths' callous behaviour may not just be a personality problem but deeply rooted in neural wiring.

While some personality traits, such as deception and manipulation, are likely shaped by life experiences, physical differences in the brain point to a biological basis for why psychopaths act the way they do.

And that, scientists say, could help open up new ways to identify and possibly treat people at risk of extreme antisocial behaviour.

A study published in the European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience found significant disruptions in the amygdala. This powerful area helps control fear, anger and emotional processing, which is the basis for socially functioning people, the Daily Mail explains.

When this doesn’t work properly, the result isn’t just mood swings, but a complete breakdown in how a person understands others and regulates their own behavior. This disconnect can manifest itself in frightening ways: psychopaths often fail to express emotion through facial expressions, making them appear cold, distant, or frighteningly shallow.

The impulsive behavior stems from neurological abnormalities found in a study that explained why less than one percent of the world's population are psychopaths, but 20 percent of people in prison exhibit psychopathic tendencies.

According to the study, most people do not commit violent crimes, but 60% lie in casual conversation, 40 to 60% ignore speed limits on the roads, and 10% have used illegal drugs.

Previous research has even suggested that psychopaths may have a malfunctioning mirror neuron system - the part of the brain that helps us imitate and learn behavior by observing others.

In other words, while most people would instinctively learn to empathize when watching someone cry or suffer, a psychopath may feel nothing, the Daily Mail notes.

Experts often avoid using the label directly, fearing the stigma it carries. Instead, psychologists use a detailed diagnostic tool known as the psychopathy checklist to assess personality traits and assign scores. Many diagnosed psychopaths don’t end up in jail or in treatment. They blend in. They learn to mimic normal emotions, mask dangerous impulses, and move undetected through society, the Daily Mail points out.

A study published in March found a disturbing sign that people may be psychopaths. Scientists found a link between psychopathy and "sadism" - the enjoyment of inflicting pain, suffering or humiliation on others. Examples of sadism include trolling people online, killing video game characters, killing insects and even sticking pins into voodoo dolls.

So if you do sadistic things like this - even if it's just to embarrass other people online - you could be a psychopath, warns the Daily Mail.

Experts at Maastricht University in the Netherlands warn that sadism may be more common than previously thought. In disturbing experiments, they found that members of the public were more than willing to scare people and harm insects. "Sadistic pleasure, the gratuitous enjoyment of inflicting pain on others, has devastating interpersonal and social consequences," the experts report.