does anyone have a cure/prevention for selfishness/sociopathy?

[campesino]

I mean the kind of selfishness, that puts one person's desires above respect for other humans. The kind that will poison water sources in order to have a mansion or a bigger financial portfolio, sociopathy.In my view sociopathy is just selfishness to the extreme. It has been said and i agree that sociopaths are parasites and unable to survive by their own. does anyone have any ideas of how to eliminate sociopathy from earth?

[ВАЛТЕР]

Sociopath is an old term used to describe what is now called "Antisocial Personality Disorder"

Antisocial personality disorder: A pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others and inability or unwillingness to conform to what are considered to be the norms of society.



In my view sociopathy is just selfishness to the extreme

It is a mental disorder and is in no way something someone just decides to be or develops, sociopaths are sick, selfish people aren't. Selfishness arises from the material conditions of the individual persons upbringing and daily life. If a person fears that they won't have food to eat tomorrow then all bets are off and they will do whatever is necessary to survive. Selfishness is rewarded by the system rather than discouraged. it isn't something people simply are or aren't, selfishness is developed by events which may take place in the persons life.

[campesino]

I don't include the need to satisfy basic needs no matter what the cost, or not sharing, in my definition of selfishness.

[Kenco Smooth]

There's really no hope of a simple solution given the large genetic influence (http://psych.colorado.edu/%7Ecarey/Courses/PSYC5112/Readings/aspEvolution_Fuergerson.pdf) present. And that's presuming that environmental influences could reliably be counteracted which in itself is pretty unlikely.



It is a mental disorder and is in no way something someone just decides to be or develops, sociopaths are sick, selfish people aren't. Selfishness arises from the material conditions of the individual persons upbringing and daily life. If a person fears that they won't have food to eat tomorrow then all bets are off and they will do whatever is necessary to survive. Selfishness is rewarded by the system rather than discouraged. it isn't something people simply are or aren't, selfishness is developed by events which may take place in the persons life.

I don't think that such a clear line can be drawn between anti-social personalities and run of the mill 'selfishness'. In part I'd be willing to put very large amounts of money on some of the genetic influence on anti-social personality developing also influencing selfishness. It's a bit of an issue that personality disorders are understood typologically whilst personality itself is better understood as a continuum of traits. Muddies the water on how the two are seen to relate.

[ВАЛТЕР]

I don't include the need to satisfy basic needs no matter what the cost, or not sharing, in my definition of selfishness.


People are selfish in order to get ahead in a system that rewards selfishness. People become selfish because of the conditions in which they live as well as the positions that they hold in society. The entire point of selfishness is a need for self-preservation. They see something as a threat to themselves so they react accordingly.

[ВАЛТЕР]

There's really no hope of a simple solution given the large genetic influence (http://psych.colorado.edu/%7Ecarey/Courses/PSYC5112/Readings/aspEvolution_Fuergerson.pdf) present. And that's presuming that environmental influences could reliably be counteracted which in itself is pretty unlikely.



I don't think that such a clear line can be drawn between anti-social personalities and run of the mill 'selfishness'. In part I'd be willing to put very large amounts of money on some of the genetic influence on anti-social personality developing also influencing selfishness. It's a bit of an issue that personality disorders are understood typologically whilst personality itself is better understood as a continuum of traits. Muddies the water on how the two are seen to relate.

Every Sociopath is a selfish person, but not every selfish person is a sociopath. You are right it has a lot to do with genetics as well.

"Selfishness" is a loose term though and can be applied to a lot of things. Everybody can be viewed as "selfish" in one way or another.

[Sasha]

tried MDMA?

[Lev Bronsteinovich]

Sociopathy, to a large degree, is genetically determined, and the best thing you can do is keep a close watch on people with this disorder. This is not simply a linear extension of selfishness, just as depression is not just a linear extension of sadness. True sociopaths have zero empathy and zero shame. They lack the software for this. I work with some people that have had sociopaths in their lives. The sps create havoc -- they simply use people with absolutely no regard for the impact on the other. Since most humans are wired to experience empathy and shame, we have a really hard time believing that these do not exist within another, seemingly normal, human. Sometimes sps are violent and cause death and mayhem. Other times they just use other people callously.

A great study that I saw being presented about ten years ago showed brain scans of normals and sociopaths. Both groups were exposed to photographs of people showing the affect of fear. The normals amygdalas would light up on scans. The sociopaths showed no increase in activity in the amygdala (the part of the brain that generates fear).

Sociopaths are a menace. They almost never seek treatment -- and it would be hard to imagine anything that would really help them. Basically, society needs to be protected from these people.

I think the selfishness that the op is referring to is more normative. Obviously, people are able to justify all kinds of self-serving behaviors that harm others. But, you see, sociopaths have no need to justify it to themselves, they just do it. Capitalism is a system that often regards greed and that necessarily creates huge disparities in wealth. In a socialist society, someone that tried to behave like an investment banker probably would be a sociopath. In our society, they are usually normal, albeit greedy, bastards.

[Ocean Seal]

Basically no, you can't cure anti-social personality disorder, but you can end alienation and end the systematic causes for man's suffering, and hopefully that will reduce the number of people who are brought to ASPD.