Psychopaths, aka Sociopaths—the latest thinking is that both a biological predisposition as well as certain environmental factors are necessary to create such an individual, and thus the two terms are being used more and more interchangeably—are, for the most part, and despite what the movies and the entertainment industry would have us all believe, NOT violent. They aren’t all, or even mostly, ravening beasts on the inside. That doesn’t mean they aren’t dangerous, though, and even under the best of circumstances they aren’t pleasant or beneficial to have around. So what do you do if you’re unfortunate enough to encounter one of these wolves among society’s sheep?
According to Michael Woodworth, professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia at Okanagan, you should only interact with them online or via other written communications. The psychopath’s ability to manipulate doesn’t work unless he/she is engaging with you in person. Deprived of body language, inflection, posture, etc., the psychopath’s animal magnetism doesn’t work. Then again, if you know enough about a person to know not to interact with them in person, why would you want to interact with them online, either?
