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Without Conscience - The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us - Hare, Robert D. (1993) (EN)Without Conscience - The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us - Hare, Robert D. (1993) (EN).txtde6492d635f553e0.txt carries heavy OCR corruption (letter-for-digit swaps such as "0v6r th6 y6ars", stray page numbers injected mid-word, un-hyphenated line breaks). Quotations below were selected to avoid corrupted spans and re-verified against a normalized rendering of the file.Hare's thesis is that the psychopath is a distinct and identifiable kind of person, not merely a severe criminal: an intraspecies predator who is intelligent, rational, and legally sane, but who lacks conscience, empathy, guilt, remorse, and the capacity for deep emotion. The book's spine is a two-facet clinical portrait drawn from the Psychopathy Checklist. The first facet (Ch. 3) is emotional/interpersonal — glib and superficial, grandiose, deceitful and manipulative, lacking remorse and empathy, shallow in feeling. The second facet (Ch. 4) is a socially deviant lifestyle — impulsive, poorly controlled, needing excitement, irresponsible, with early behavior problems and adult antisocial conduct. A diagnosis requires the complete pattern, which is what separates the roughly one in five inmates who are psychopaths from the majority of criminals who feel guilt and can be understood through poverty, abuse, or the cycle of violence.
The front matter and Introduction establish scale and stakes: Hare estimates around 2 to 3 million psychopaths in North America, prevalence comparable to schizophrenia, and warns that the flamboyant serial-killer image is misleading — most psychopaths never kill, and the everyday damage is financial, emotional, and interpersonal. Chapter 1 gives three case vignettes (the inmate "Ray," "Elsa and Dan," "the Twins"); Chapter 2 traces the history of the concept (Pinel, Cleckley's The Mask of Sanity, the muddle with "sociopath" and DSM "antisocial personality disorder") and the construction of the Checklist. Chapter 5 argues psychopaths lack the "inner policeman" of conscience — the fear, inner speech, and mental imagery that let anxiety suppress prohibited acts. Chapter 6 frames crime as the logical output of that personality (psychopaths commit disproportionate and cold, instrumental violence, and their recidivism is predictable). Chapter 7 extends the disorder into "white-collar" and "subcriminal" territory (the Grambling fraud case; a corporate psychopath, "Dave"). Chapter 8 reports Hare's language research: psychopaths know the dictionary meaning of emotional words but not their emotional charge ("knows the words but not the music"), show weaker brain responses to emotional words, and produce subtly contradictory, off-track speech. Chapter 9 anatomizes how victims are captured — the "show," the pressing of psychological "buttons," and the strange public attraction to notorious killers. Chapter 10 argues origins are an interaction of nature and nurture: biology supplies raw material poorly suited to conscience-formation, while environment shapes only how the disorder is expressed (violent criminal vs. shady professional). Chapters 11-13 turn practical and cautionary: the ethics and dangers of labeling (the "Dr. Death" testimony), the bleak treatment record (traditional therapy fails and may even make psychopaths worse by teaching new manipulations), and a lay "survival guide" for protecting oneself and doing damage control. The Epilogue calls for more research and reframes the goal as learning to socialize young psychopaths, not resocialize adults.
Hare's stance is skeptical and non-sensational: he repeatedly cautions against amateur diagnosis, long-distance diagnosis of public figures, and reading psychopathy off someone's eyes. As a foyer document its value is the clean conceptual line between (a) manipulation grounded in an absence of empathy/conscience and (b) ordinary persuasion, coercion, or badness — and the insistence that this line be drawn with a validated instrument, not a hunch.
Hare states the diagnostic caution up front — psychopathy is a pejorative label not to be applied lightly, and not everyone described in the book is a psychopath (many examples are drawn from media and published reports where the label cannot be confirmed). The Preface sets the popular stakes and the scientific slant: Hare deliberately downplays psychodynamic speculation in favor of experimental psychology and cognitive psychophysiology.
"social predators who charm, manipulate, and ruthlessly plow their way through life, leaving a broad trail of broken hearts, shattered expectations, and empty wallets"
"Completely lacking in conscience and in feelings for others, they selfishly take what they want and do as they please, violating social norms and expectations without the slightest sense of guilt or regret"
"it is very likely that at some time in your life you will come into painful contact with a psychopath"
Opens with the anecdote of a journal editor rejecting the group's EEG data as "too odd" to be from real people, then sets scale: at least 2 million psychopaths in North America, prevalence like schizophrenia but far wider social harm. Hare distinguishes psychopathic killers (sane, calculating) from psychotic ones (e.g., Ed Gein), and warns against fixating on serial killers when the everyday psychopath — the swindler, the abuser — is the greater statistical threat. He rejects the simple "bad childhood" explanation.
"Their hallmark is a stunning lack of conscience; their game is self-gratification at the other person's expense. Many spend time in prison, but many do not. All take far more than they give"
"callous, and remorseless person profoundly lacking in empathy and the ability to form warm emotional relationships with others, a person who functions without the restraints of conscience"
"Psychopathic killers, however, are not mad, according to accepted legal and psychiatric standards"
"We are far more likely to lose our life savings to an oily-tongued swindler than our lives to a steely[...]"
Three case portraits convey the characteristic uneasy sense that "something's wrong here." "Ray" is the inmate Hare met as a young prison psychologist — a relentless manipulator who conned Hare into transfers, ran a still under the warden's table, and later sabotaged Hare's car. "Elsa and Dan" is an everyday romance with a charming, lying drifter. "The Twins" contrasts normal Ariel with her sister Alice, "something a little off" from toddlerhood. The vignettes introduce the mad-or-bad question the book will answer.
"Ray had an incredible ability to con not just me but everybody"
"He lied endlessly, lazily, about everything, and it disturbed him not a whit"
"something's wrong here but I can't quite put my finger on it"
"Is she crazy? Or just plain bad?"
The conceptual and historical chapter. Psychopathy is not psychosis: psychopaths are rational and in touch with reality, so they are judged sane and imprisoned rather than found insane. Hare untangles "psychopath" vs. "sociopath" (a difference partly of assumed causes) and warns that DSM "antisocial personality disorder" — defined mainly by antisocial behaviors — is not synonymous with psychopathy. He traces the concept through Pinel and Cleckley's The Mask of Sanity, then recounts building the Psychopathy Checklist to move beyond unreliable self-report tests (which inmates readily fake).
"Unlike psychotic individuals, psychopaths are rational and aware of what they are doing and why. Their behavior is the result of choice, freely exercised"
"He will choose you, disarm you with his words, and control you with this presence"
"Most criminals are not psychopaths, and many of the individuals who manage to operate on the shady side of the law and remain out of prison are psychopaths"
"We named this instrument the Psychopathy Checklist"
The first Checklist facet: the emotional/interpersonal traits. Glib and superficial; egocentric and grandiose; lacking remorse or guilt (often reframing themselves as the real victims); lacking empathy (people as objects); deceitful and manipulative (Ekman's "duping delight"); and shallow in emotion — able to name feelings they cannot experience. Illustrated with inmate interviews and media cases (Diane Downs, Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy). Hare notes psychopaths physiologically lack the fear response most people feel.
"Psychopaths have a narcissistic and grossly inflated view of their self-worth and importance"
"I don't have any weaknesses, except maybe I'm too caring"
"Lying, deceiving, and manipulation are natural talents for psychopaths"
"I lie like I breathe, one as much as the other"
"Psychopaths seem to suffer a kind of emotional poverty that limits the range and depth of their feelings"
The second facet: the socially deviant lifestyle. Impulsive ("I did it because I felt like it"); poor behavior controls (short-fused but "cold," calculated aggression); an excessive need for excitement and low tolerance for boredom; chronic irresponsibility toward debts, jobs, and children; early behavior problems (including cruelty to animals); and continuous adult antisocial behavior with criminal versatility. The chapter stresses that the full diagnosis requires both facets together, and warns against inflating prevalence by confusing crime with psychopathy.
"His guiltlessness, however, is the critical distinguishing trait"
"Psychopaths have an ongoing and excessive need for excitement"
"Obligations and commitments mean nothing to psychopaths"
"Impulsive, deceitful children who lack empathy and see the world as their oyster will be much the same as adults"
Conscience is the missing piece. Hare opens with "Elyse and Jeffrey" (charm, then stalking) and dismisses the Hannibal Lecter image as a rare, half-crazy outlier. He explains conscience as an internalized "inner policeman" built by socialization, and offers reasons psychopaths lack it: little aptitude for the fear/anxiety that underpins conscience; "inner speech" without emotional punch; and weak mental imagery of consequences. Includes his reflection on the malfunctioning railway signal as the opposite pole of internal restraint, and a survey of the culture's fascination with the psychopath in film.
"Without the shackles of a nagging conscience, they feel free to satisfy their needs and wants and do whatever they think they can get away with"
"Serial killers are extremely rare; there are probably fewer than one hundred in North America"
"Learning to behave according to the rules and regulations of society, called socialization, is a complex process"
"the rules of behavior were written in pencil, and he had a big eraser"
Crime as the natural output of the personality. Unlike ordinary criminals (who come to crime via subculture, the cycle of violence, need, or passion, and who keep some moral code), psychopaths offend because it pays and is easy. Hare gives quantitative claims (about 20% of inmates are psychopaths; they commit a majority of serious crimes; roughly double the recidivism and triple the violent recidivism). Psychopathic violence is cold, instrumental, and directed more at male strangers than at intimates. The chapter covers rape, wife-battering, prediction of dangerousness, the mid-life decline in offending (without personality change), and closes with "Earl," a maximum-score case.
"Just as the great white shark is a natural killing machine, psychopaths naturally slip into the role of criminal"
"On average, about 20 percent of male and female prison inmates are psychopaths"
"Their violence is callous and instrumental"
"The recidivism rate of psychopaths is about double that of other offenders"
The disorder in three-piece suits. Anchored by the John Grambling multimillion-dollar bank-fraud case (via ADA Brian Rosner), the chapter shows how charm, credentials, and the social presumption of trust ("trust-mongers") let psychopaths defraud institutions and pose as doctors, ministers, and counselors — targeting the vulnerable, including children. Hare coins "subcriminal psychopaths" for those who stay just on the shady side of the law, adds Paul Babiak's corporate case study "Dave," and notes society's leniency toward white-collar crime.
"The faults of the burglar are the qualities of the financier"
"Having obtained our trust, they betray it with stunning callousness"
"They are psychopaths now and they were psychopaths before"
Hare's language research. Everyone is vulnerable because psychopaths lie with remarkable ease and produce contradictory statements that escape notice. Laboratory work shows they treat emotional words like neutral ones (smaller brain responses, no reaction-time boost) — the "knows the words but not the music" deficit — and brain-imaging pilots suggest they process emotional material differently. Their speech tends to be bilaterally organized, built from small "thought units," heavy on "beat" hand gestures, and prone to going "off track"; yet the vivid nonverbal "show" keeps listeners from noticing. Hare concludes psychopaths are still legally sane and accountable.
"What makes psychopaths different from all others is the remarkable ease with which they lie, the pervasiveness of their deception, and the callousness with which they carry it out"
"psychopaths seem to know the dictionary meanings of words but fail to comprehend or appreciate their emotional value or significance"
"But to the psychopath, a word is just a word"
"psychopaths do meet current legal and psychiatric standards for sanity"
How victims are caught. The "show" (looks, charisma, flood of words, stage props, intrusive eye contact) matters more than eloquence. Psychopaths detect and press psychological "buttons," preying on loneliness, insecurity, and "nurturant" people who want to help or mother them. Hare examines the "deadly attraction" of the public to notorious killers (groupies, pen pals) and the ways victims distort reality — denial, projection, and rigidly traditional roles — to stay in damaging relationships.
"Psychopaths tend to see any social exchange as a"
"If you have any weak spots in your psychological makeup, a psychopath is sure to find and exploit them"
"psychopaths are found not only in prison populations"
Origins. The precursors appear in childhood; DSM's conduct/oppositional/ADHD categories do not capture young psychopathy, though a subgroup of conduct disorder comes close (Frick's child-clinic research; the case "Jason"). Hare weighs nature (sociobiology's "cheating" reproductive strategy; slow brain maturation; frontal-lobe dysfunction) against nurture (trauma, abuse, failed attachment — the case "Tess"), and rejects pure-environment accounts: he argues failure to bond is often a symptom, not a cause. His position is an interactive model — biology supplies clay poorly suited to conscience; environment shapes only the expression. Family studies found family quality had no effect on onset of criminality in psychopaths (unlike other criminals), though it affected their level of violence. Ends on the "camouflage society" worry that culture increasingly rewards psychopathic traits.
"Psychopathy does not suddenly spring, unannounced, into existence in adulthood"
"the very failure to bond is a symptom of psychopathy"
"No amount of social conditioning will by itself generate a capacity for caring about others or a powerful sense of right and wrong"
"psychopathic \"clay\" is much less malleable than is the clay society"
Accurate diagnosis is essential but dangerous. A validated instrument like the Checklist both improves prediction and makes reasons explicit, but a careless file entry can "mark an inmate like Cain," and parole boards misread the label in both directions (the Carl Wayne Buntion case). Hare refuses long-distance diagnosis (declining CBS on Saddam Hussein) and devotes a section to Texas psychiatrist James Grigson ("Dr. Death"), whose courtroom "hypothetical" testimony on future dangerousness — often without examining the defendant — repeatedly produced death sentences. The tool, Hare insists, is only as good as its user.
"improper use of the label has powerful destructive potential for the misdiagnosed individual"
The treatment chapter, and it is bleak. Traditional psychotherapies and biological therapies have proved ineffective, because psychopaths do not think they have a problem and do not want to change. Worse, some studies show therapeutic-community programs leave treated psychopaths more violent afterward — programs can function as "finishing schools" that teach better manipulation and supply ready-made excuses. Hare distinguishes real change from a partner merely learning to cope, describes a new experimental management program (tight control, appeals to self-interest rather than empathy) he was asked to design for the Canadian government, and warns most psychopaths are not in custody to be reached at all.
"Psychopaths don't feel they have psychological or emotional problems"
"psychopaths are perfectly happy with themselves, and they see no need for treatment"
"it may be maladaptive for society but it is adaptive for the individuals themselves"
Practical, non-clinical advice for the lay reader. Protect yourself: know what you are dealing with; discount "props" and the mesmerizing stare (Hare cautions the eyes are not reliable windows to a psychopath's soul); enter relationships with eyes open and verify claims; stay alert in high-risk settings (singles' bars, cruises, foreign airports); and know your own weak spots. For damage control: get a proper professional diagnosis; don't blame yourself; recognize who the real victim is; avoid power struggles; set firm ground rules; expect no dramatic change; cut your losses; and use support groups.
"Your best defense is to understand the nature of these human predators"
"A good psychopath can play a concerto on anyone's heartstrings"
"there is no evidence that parental behavior causes psychopathy"
Hare closes as scientists conventionally do — calling for more research — but with force: despite a century of study, the psychopath remains a mystery, and little systematic research has been devoted to a disorder responsible for enormous social harm. He reframes the policy goal: stop pouring resources into "rehabilitating" adults and invest in understanding origins and in early intervention.
"We have to learn how to socialize them, not resocialize them"
"the mystery of the psychopath still remains"
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