This is a link post.

The term “psychopathy” is a mess, so I've written a sequence to tease apart all the different meanings along several dimensions.

Article 1: The Problem. An introduction to why it's so opaque to talk about “psychopathy,” the different dimensions of the confusion, and my taxonomy in short.

Article 2: The Substrate. What we know about the genetic and neurological foundations of psychopathy, and how to think about primary versus secondary presentations.

Article 3: The Shaping. How different types of adversity lead to different outcomes, and why the same genetic loading can produce a functional person or a criminal depending on context.

Article 4: The Self. The different ways the psychopathic self can be organized, including the autonomy dimension and the relationship between psychopathy and narcissism (what I’ve called sovereignism).

Article 5: The Mechanics. An overview of the different ways empathy can break down, from perceptual failures to simulation failures to affective inversion. (This connects to my earlier work on the sadism spectrum.)

Article 6: The Types. Common profiles that tend to co-occur, with recognizable presentations that readers may identify with.

Article 7: The Choice. An assessment of what recovery means for different presentations and the [...]

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First published:
March 17th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/Wjpav5rKHYdmCanKF/the-psychopathy-spectrum

Linkpost URL:
https://impartial-priorities.org/p/psychopathy-the-problem

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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Images from the article:

Illustration of hermit crabs wearing various shells, one wearing glasses holds clipboard.

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[Linkpost] “The Psychopathy Spectrum” by Dawn Drescher

LessWrong (30+ Karma)

[Linkpost] “The Psychopathy Spectrum” by Dawn Drescher