by Robert D. Hare
Robert D. Hare’s Without Conscience is an excellent read and great comprehensive overview of the world of Psychopaths. It is extremely well-written and simplified enough for laypersons to fully understand all of Hare’s research and findings. Most academic works are usually full of jargon and difficult for the everyday person to read and understand, but not this book.
Hare clearly and evidently wanted this information to be readily accessible and available to all. His many years of research and interactions with actual psychopaths led him to develop an understanding of this pathology so intricate that many people, including his peers, see him as an authority on the subject. This book only helped elevate him further in his career because of its simplicity and accessibility to all.
In the book, Hare does a wonderful job at explaining and clarifying the terms “psychopath,” “sociopath” and “anti-social personality disorder” since the three are usually used interchangeably. Although they refer to similar disorders/pathologies, Hare illustrates how they aren’t the same and why they shouldn’t be presented as such. He also explains how he developed the “Psychopathic Checklist,” which is administered to individuals, as a diagnostic tool to formalize how clinical diagnoses are made.
Aside from the checklist, Hare does a phenomenal job at explaining psychopaths in complete detail chapter after chapter. He paints the perfect picture of a psychopath’s makeup and general inability to relate empathetically to others. He also does a great job at showing how these people can range from being relatively ‘normal’ but emotionally barren to becoming serial killers. The broad spectrum of psychopaths is due, I learned from the reading, in large part of the upbringing of the person. If the person’s upbringing was ideal and ‘safe’ then they will probably grow-up to live a relatively normal life; however, if their upbringing wasn’t ideal then society would have yet another criminal on their hands.
Although most of Hare’s research and career was involving the criminal world, he does a good job at identifying the fact that not all psychopaths are criminals or become criminals. While many people surely think that is the case, the truth is that many go about their daily lives causing chaos and hurting those people they come across by wrecking emotional havoc in their lives. These might not break the law, but they are emotionally abusive, cruel, manipulative, and controlling to whoever crosses their path; be it a family member, co-worker, or boss. Their inability to create emotional bonds with others is a major component in their apparent behavior towards others.
Hare explains that because of Hollywood and movies, like American Psycho, people have a tendency to think of all psychopaths as physically violent, criminal, and/or serial killers who are out to hurt as many people as possible. This, as we learn from the book, couldn’t be further from the truth. Even though many psychopaths do commit crimes and are in penal system, they aren’t the majority, nor do these violent psychopaths makeup a large percentage of psychopaths in general. This being another reason why I found this book so great and useful, with so much information about these individuals and the telltale signs of their eminent danger, people could be better equipped to distinguish them in their everyday lives.
Being able to recognize a psychopath in your life is very important because this way you might be able to avoid some of the damage/chaos that they are sure to cause you. However, Hare does tell his readers that a clinical diagnosis made by someone trained in the “Psychopathic Checklist” is the best way to truly learn if someone is in fact a psychopath. People just shouldn’t assume a person is one if they believe it to be true, because as he details in one of his chapters, mislabeling a person a psychopath could cause irreparable damage to that person’s life.
Another reason I would highly recommend this book would be the case histories and personal stories Hare included within the text. Some case studies included were from Hare’s personal file and very interesting indeed. They gave the reader an all access pass into the mind and dealings with prior patients of Hare. Aside from these, he also included personal stories/statements from other individuals who submitted writings to him about their interactions with psychopaths and other stories about his researchers’ interaction with their patients. These only added more depth to the reading and really allowed the reader to get a more personal feel to dealing with psychopaths on a daily basis.
Overall, Without Conscience was a very enjoyable and enlightening read. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in psychopathology as a way to ease into the literature. Since Hare made his book simple enough for laypersons to read and understand, people would benefit from reading this book first, before getting into the more academic readings.
Carlos Russo
March 2011
Psychology
Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us by Robert D. Hare
The Guilford PressISBN: 1572304510
236 Pages
