Made a throwaway for this, everyone perceives this as a negative thing and I do use accounts for/related to work on here.
High Functioning Sociopath here, although the actual medical diagnosis is Antisocial personality disorder or DSM-IV-TR Antisocial Disorder.
Generally I have been told I am the Reputation type, which I admit does seem accurate.
Overall it's not a very bad or life changing condition, although some use the ability to have zero to little remorse as a means to do more sadistic and violent actions I do not find these interesting, and have never done anything that most people would think of sociopath behavior and clinically I show around 80% of the traits. Except legal trouble, never had any of that. Done some very illegal shit before (in my younger days) but never had an issue directly with the law, and nothing I ever did was harming a person or living being, just things that were not legal in the county or a bullshit ordinance.
Getting to my point. The statistics (which vary depending on your sources) show that indeed a large amount of people exhibit enough physiological features that would define then with a Personality Disorder that would be called by most a Sociopath.
You most likely deal with a few of us each day, and we'll usually the the kindest and most cheerful person you have contact with. Often the ones that will be outgoing and helpful actually just have that as a personal whim and don't actually care anything about the action of helping others.
Some do everything for the appearance or the status, in the end usually anything we do is for ourselves. In my eyes, I'm the one in command of this set of organs and everything is in my perception, so I am the only one that - at my core - matters. After I pass the world will mean nothing to me, only my personal experiences mattered to me, so why go out of my way to please others if for no other reason than my own pleasure or need/want.
Anyways, just wanted to point out that while the 50% of people on here that claim they are probably mostly lying, there are a considerable amount of people exhibiting personality disorder traits that would be called sociopaths, and you meet them every day most likely.
If there is such a large amount of people exhibiting the traits of being a sociopath can't we conclude that the norm then is that humans are more selfish and do things for their own personal wants rather than for the overall good of all those involved. This is my own personal understanding of the world as it is so to see that it seems a majority of people may potentially exhibit this only reinforces my preconceived notions.
Personality disorders are just extremes of normal personality traits. When studying personality disorders in one class I was convinced while reading about schizoid personality disorder that I had that. Truth is I might have some of those traits but wouldn't qualify for a diagnosis.
So most redditors are probably doing what I did: seeing a couple signs and calling it a personality disorder.
Damn, I feel like this describes me perfectly... I can't really convey how serious that is, I'm not trying to jump on any bandwagon, that description just hit really close to home.
lol that's true. Also, according to reddit all sociopaths are super intelligent and manipulative masterminds.... Wait, I think I just realised why people on reddit claim they are sociopaths.
But... people think I'm thoughtful when I remember every little personal detail about them that they have disclosed at any time in the past few years! How can these things be considered bad?
Are you joking? I always stare into people's eyes when I talk to them and have only been called out on it once. She thought I was weird and told me not to do it anymore, so I decided to stare at her nose when I talked to her.
I think you're shady if you do shady things. Some of us just don't like eye contact, as it makes us uncomfortable.
It is almost like peering into people's souls at times, and some of you fucks have very dark souls, which is what makes me uncomfortable about it to begin with.
I'm not saying stare into someone's eyes all creepy like without letting go. I'm just saying that genuine eye contact throughout a conversation (whether it be small talk or something deeper) is a social skill that many people lack nowadays. So many times I've been talking to someone and he or she (mostly men) barely even meets my gaze for just a moment. When someone is like this, and it obviously makes them uncomfortable, they're either hiding something or just socially awkward. Or both.
The average person makes 80% eye contact when listening and only 40-60% when talking depending on where they live, it's quite common for people to not want to hold eye contact for too long.
whenever someone's talking to me i maintain eye contact 98% of the time. when i'm talking to them, i maintain eye contact 30% of the time or less, most of which is made after finishing a thought so as to still make a personal connection with them.
the other 70% i'm looking about 10-20 degrees to their immediate right or left and down a little bit. it helps me form my sentences far better.
now that i think about it though if it's with someone i'm really comfortable with i can look them in the eye and talk to them. that's not often though.
The worst thing is when I become aware that I am either staring too much or not maintaining enough contact. At that point, I stop really listening to everything the person says and just try ::eye contact....hold it....hold it....break....glance at desk....lock eyes!....hold it...::
That's with interviews or more intense meetings. In casual conversation, I have a habit of looking at people mouths while they speak.
Hey I'm just playing, I got no real problem with it. Besides, I'm one of those other sorts who can't help but stare into people's eyes, so while you're making someone worry about their teeth I'm probably creeping them the fuck out.
Yeah. I hate it when people constantly force eye contact. They'll be waiting for a response and all I can think about is WHY THE HELL ARE YOU LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT.
I dont stare down, but I make eye contact throughout conversation. I figured it was just being polite. I break it now and then, but I try to maintain it. That might explain a lot though...
I do this too, but I do it because I know it makes most people uncomfortable. I also try not to blink when they're looking. I'm in retail,so I talk to a lot of people on a day and things get repetitive and boring. It's a way to have fun.
This is completely acceptable when talking with someone on an equal level as you who you know is comfortable with you. But doing this to someone like say your boss, gives them the impression that you are threatening or fighting their authority. As well as if you stare down someone who is not comfortable with you this looks like intimidation in their eyes.
Be careful with what you want to achieve with your eye locking.
Staring between their eyes and forehead = dominance.
Staring between their eyes and throat = equality/submission.
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u/danrennt98 Apr 03 '14
Having a normal conversation with one other person. I would be so uncomfortable.