Sociopath-
A person who lacks regard for others' feelings
A person who lies and deceives others
A person who lacks empathy
A person who has a disregard for what is right
A person who may not be able to keep positive relationships with friends
A person who is deceitful
A person who may use humor, intelligence, or charisma to manipulate others
These are just a few traits of a sociopath. Malcom Gladwell in a podcast about why we are so easily fooled by dishonest people, said "The reason sociopaths and liars get away with their lies, is not because they are geniuses, it's because we are not built to spot them.
Timothy R Levine, a professor at the University of Alabama wrote a book called Duped. In it he discusses the Truth Default theory. Basically, we believe and trust what others have to say. We want to see the good in people. We are correct most of the time which is why we continue to trust in others. The flipside, however, is we are destined to be deceived.
Some people can appear to be authentic. They can easily convince other people they are believable. We have seen this happen over and over throughout the years. Sometimes people have their memories altered by their lies and eventually believe them to be true. Yet, we continue to rely on our, default to truth, as our intuitive instinct.
Malcom discusses there are 2 types of liars, matched and unmatched. Matched people are easily detectable when they make false claims. Perhaps they turn red or start to sweat. They have telltale signs that make it easily detectable. Mismatched, meaning a liar acting like an honest person or possibly an honest person being misleading, can be more challenging to spot. We are usually won over by mismatched liars. We misread, draw inaccurate intentions and incorrect conclusions when dealing with mismatched people and believe their false claims of innocence.
When people who knew Hitler personally were asked if they believed him when he made the prewar claim that he did not want to expand his territory, they did. The people who did not personally have conversations with him, did not believe his intentions. It is easy to be deceived by misreading people you personally trust. Our innate need to trust others lends itself to being vulnerable to deceit.
Vulnerability is often unfortunately looked at as a weakness because it is the state of being exposed but, in actuality, is a showing of bravery. As Brene Brown has cited, it is the ability to show up and be seen when we have no control over the outcome. Society continues to believe in people's intentions as good. Trust is most times, well earned. We count on our family, friends, bosses, and leaders to be honest. While this is not always the case because some of our family, friends, bosses, and leaders will fit the sociopath profile, the good news, is the rate of compulsive or pathological lying is about 7% - 13% of the population. Overall, I am grateful for the, default to truth. I am much happier knowing the majority is upright, principled, and honorable.
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