Joe from You and David Dash from Desperate Housewives: An empathy ‘switch’ inside the minds of psychopaths?

Riddhi Rai 
 “Are psychopath’s mad or simply bad?” (Kiehl & Buckholtz, 2010). The vast range of literature on psychopathy has led the common man to develop certain notions on the subject. Despite a variety of views in circulation, popular opinion associates psychopaths with negative attributes such as aggressiveness, impulsivity and a lack of empathy. In other words, “Their hallmark is a stunning lack of conscience; their fame is self-gratification at the other person’s expense.” (Hare, 1999). Several neurological reports address the lack of empathy among psychopaths by connecting it to the malfunctioning of the anterior cingulate present in the paralimbic system of the brain (Kiehl & Buckholtz, 2010). However, this does not prove a complete absence of empathy as a trait in psychopaths. This paper aims to disagree with the idea of a complete absence of empathy among psychopaths and explore the presence of an ‘empathy switch’ in their minds. 

Joe Goldberg, the protagonist of the American thriller series You is obsessed with Guinevere Beck, an aspiring writer. Despite being a serial killer, he does empathise with and displays sensitivity towards a few characters. Similarly, David Dash in the mystery drama series Desperate Housewives decides to bring justice to his deceased family by attempting to murder Mike Delfino who he felt was responsible for the accident. Nevertheless, his several acts of empathy render him the title of a gentleman in the neighbourhood before he proceeds with his ulterior motive.  

An analysis of both characters reveals the presence of selective empathy in psychopaths. For instance, Joe consoles and often helps the little boy who lives in the neighbourhood with his alcoholic mother. Similarly, Dave accurately recognizes the cause of his neighbours’ distress and happiness and suitably presents gifts or conducts activities to be recognized as a good man. Their brilliance at identifying the cause behind others’ passions and fears as well as the cues to evoke a certain emotion in others hints at the presence of selective empathy in their minds. A research study in 2013 compared the brain activity of psychopaths to that of a control group while viewing videos of emotional hand interactions. The initial response indicted a significantly reduced amount of vicarious activity in psychopaths. However, once the psychopaths were instructed to empathise with on-screen victims, the difference in brain activity between the two groups reduced drastically. (Meffert, Gazzola, den Boer, Bartels & Keysers, 2013). Hence, although little vicarious activity was seen in psychopaths initially, its very presence and its potential to increase through a mild instruction indicate the existence of a capacity for empathy as a selective trait with an on and off switch. 

Some may argue that psychopaths lack empathy due to a developmental deficit. Studies suggest that psychopaths lack empathy due to their inability to fathom nuances in language i.e. “they know the words but not the music” (Hare,1999). This makes them tone-deaf to complex feelings such as guilt, remorse and empathy. Moreover, some may understand the acts of empathy by Joe and David as cognitive empathy i.e. the ability to understand others and feign empathy to gain their trust rather than emotional empathy which is a comparatively impulsive and genuine feeling. 

 In my response, most actions of psychopaths are based on a deep set of abstract feelings such as love or jealousy. For instance, both Joe and David’s actions emerged from the immense love they possessed for Beck and family members respectively. Hence, their actions indicate their awareness of complex feelings. However, developmental deficits are definitely contributory factors in turning the empathy switch off. An experiment by Joseph P. Newman suggests that an attention deficit prevents psychopaths from processing new information once they are fixated on a particular goal (Kiehl & Buckholtz, 2010). Consequently, many are unable to decode the fearful expressions of a victim which is a cue for the empathy switch to turn on. Hence, the irrational behaviour results from an attention deficit and not due to a lack of empathy. Moreover, while psychopaths can use cognitive empathy, the 2013 study comparing the psychopaths and the control group measured the brain activity which is unintentional and therefore correlates more with a neurological stimulation of emotional empathy. 

Hence, there is not a complete absence of emotional empathy in psychopaths. The only difference is that the empathy switches on by default in ‘normal’ people and requires provocations to be switched on in the minds of psychopaths. As a result, therapists don’t have to introduce the very concept of empathy but only need to build emotional empathy as a default reaction among psychopaths.

References:

1.     1. Cherry, M. (2004). Desperate Housewives [Television Series]. USA: ABC Studios and Cherry Productions.
2.     Lindenberg R., Lang A., & Sokoloff J. (2018). You [Television Series]. USA: Warner Bros. Television Distribution.
3.     Meffert, H., Gazzola, V., den Boer, J., Bartels, A., & Keysers, C. (2013). Reduced spontaneous but relatively normal deliberate vicarious representations in psychopathy. Brain, 136(8), 2550-2562.
4.     Kiehl, K., & Buckholtz, J. (2010). Inside the Mind of a Psychopath. Scientific American Mind, 21(4), 22-29.
5.     Hare, R. (1999). Without Conscience: The disturbing world of the psychopaths among us. New York: Guilford Publications.