Is Psychology All Bunk?

I don;t think you comprehend the nature of mental illness, Phat. And you seem to be more swayed by the punishment aspect of the justice system than rehabilitation or the protection of society.Mental illness can completely alter a person;s personality...and in many cases medication can resolve the problem.Quite seriously, a person who can be dangerous when mentally ill can, through medication and therapy, not be dangerous at all.If a person commits a crime while mentally ill, are they just as responsible for that crime as if they had made the decision while fully cognizant of the act and its consequences? I certainly don;t think so - they literally aren't thinking the way a normal human being would...and people can't choose to become mentally ill.Do you know anyone with a mental illness, Phat? Statistically speaking, you've likely met at least a couple people who were schizophrenic - and never even knew, because medication allows them to live normal lives. I have some relatives and other loved ones with a variety of mental illness, most dealing with severe clinical depression or multiple flavors of severe anxiety disorder. The difference between their behavior and personality before and after medication is staggering.

That's not entirely true.There are such things as high-functioning sociopaths. And while those with narcissistic personality disorder are rarely pleasant to be around in the long term, that doesn't mean they're inherently dangerous.Chances are you've known a few, or at least known of them. Violence isn't the universal expression of either of those disorders.Narcissism works very well in sales, for instance.

You almost certainly wouldn't even know. One of the major hallmarks of those lines of disorders is the ability to blend in to the rest of society. Real life is like neither Silence of the Lambs nor CSI, most people with these disorders are not serial killers.Narcissists, for example, can actually be extremely generous as a way to win praise, bragging rights, etc. They're often extremely friendly and likeable. Only by spending a significant amount of time with such a person would you be able to start to piece together the facade.You have to remember that while the priorities that have the power to move us can be different, social acceptability has more than one positive incentive.A person can lack the potential to feel remorse or empathy, can be emotionally quite capable of all the worst things imaginable...and can still prefer to not live their entire lives in hiding. Even stripped of the ability to actually care about others, a person can still feel the need to "fake it" for the sake of maintaining a lifestyle.And they do. And it can serve them very well. The ability to outright lie with a straight face and no remorse, a lack of empathy, these things can be extremely effective in the business and political worlds. What precisely do you think a sociopath or narcissist thinks it's "okay to do?" I think you have mistaken notions regarding acceptability, and how such is determined by a person.A person need not care about others to simply follow the rules.I know a man who's been diagnosed with narcissistic personality disorder. He alternates between being one of the most generous people I've ever met, and being a giant selfish dick, depending on how things are going for him. He's not usually a bad guy to be around at all. He's married, owns his own business, and has two dogs that he hasn't mutilated or anything. Once upon a time he was a very good used car salesman. He's not going to kill anyone, or rape anyone, or torture anyone.The only reason I wouldn't ask him to babysit is his lack of patience, which is a trait shared by many who are not narcissists. That's the thing - many people with "antisocial" disorders don't wind up behaving antisocially. They don't go on murder sprees. They blend in. They fake it. Society places some pretty decent incentives to not do things like that, even if you wouldn't feel bad about doing it, even if you have the urge to do it.Ever had the urge to punch somebody right in the face with the sure knowledge that you wouldn't feel bad in the slightest, and still not done it because you didn't want to come across as violent to other people, or risk jail, etc?Empathy is not a requirement for ethical action if the proper incentives and disincentives are set up. Laws (the obvious ones like "don't kill people," "don't steal from people," etc), in fact, are largely intended not for those who possess sufficient capacity for empathy that they would avoid antisocial behaviors anyway, but rather for those who don't have that capacity for feeling, and who need the rules laid out for them.Most of these people are actually productive members of society, despite their disorders, simply because society rewards them for being productive even if they couldn't care less about the welfare of other people.