History Main / LackofEmpathy

Empathy is in truth the capablity to be happy because you see someone else is happy, sad because they are sad, afraid because they are afraid, and so on. It is not quite the same as love or compassion but is intricately linked to it, and may be a prequisite for it, or at least for it's healthy development. Guilt, too, comes from the ability to put yourself in another person's shoes emotionally, imagine the hurt you have caused them, and feel bad about it.

Psychopaths feel neither guilt nor remorse, nor any kind of meaningful love. Their emotions are though to be shallow, even non-existent, and what emotions they do feel do not have any depth to them. They may feel some kind of fear, but they are detached from the feeling and it is not affected by the fear of others, regardless of the situation (eg. this kind of empathy is reason for mass panic; for good or il, psychopaths are not susceptible to social panic). They feel anger but it tends to be short-lived, often lasting only seconds, though the anger is often explosive and uncontrolled. They are very egocentric and callous, and they do not appreciate the consequences of their actions. They are, however, very, very good at ''reading'' other peoples emotions and imitating them; this enables them to be highly sociable and to operate as a normal member of society, though it also makes it easier for them to [[ManipulativeBastard take advantage of people]].

As originaly defined, a Sociopath is a relatively normal person who developed psychopathic traits- ''especially'' lack of empathy- as a result of environmental influences, such as an [[FreudianExcuse abusive childhood]], though genetic factors are important and the ''potential'' for psychopathic traits was always present. It is usually considered equivalent to Antisocial Personality Disorder, which is pathological deviant behaviour (ie. lying, cheating, stealing and commiting violent crimes, on a regular basis and often impulsively), without a semblance of remorse, thought to be driven by deep-seated issues of rage. Psychopathy and Sociopathy officially are just obsolete synonyms for ASPD; originally, though, psychopathy was distinct and the traits were primarily genetic, meaning they were more or less born that way.

** Pride ''literally'' is this. He is so devoid of empathy that he views the other homonculi as lowly as the other homonculi view humans. And while Father shows a measure of affection for his "children", he has even ''less'' empathy for humankind then they do. As a comparison, Envy has, on multiple occasions, laughed openly at the "foolishness" of humanity. When Ling Yao accuses Father of doing the same, his response is roughly:

* Arguably, the titular [[SuzumiyaHaruhi Haruhi Suzumiya]].
** Not arguably. Her entire personality is practically defined by her inability to comprehend the idea that others might have feelings that differ from her own.
** [[CharacterDevelopment She gets better]]. Ryoko Asakura is a better example.

* A lack of empathy is not uncommon in serial killers (unsurprisingly; at least 60% of serial killers are psychopaths). Gary Ridgway, the Green River Killer, once said that he can't recall the faces of the women he killed. Ted Bundy said some things like "What's one less person on the face of the earth, anyway?" and "I don't feel guilty for anything. I feel sorry for people who feel guilt."

As originaly defined, a Sociopath is a relatively normal person who developed psychopathic traits- ''especially'' lack of empathy- as a result of environmental influences, such as an [[FreudianExcuse abusive childhood]], though genetic factors are important and the ''potential'' for psychopathic traits was always present.

Psychopaths feel neither guilt nor remorse, nor any kind of meaningful love. Their emotions are though to be shallow, even non-existent, and what emotions they do feel do not have any depth to them. They may feel some kind of fear, but they are detached from the feeling and it is not affected by the fear of others, regardless of the situation. They feel anger but it tends to be short-lived, often lasting only seconds, though the anger is often explosive and uncontrolled.
They are very egocentric and callous, and they do not appreciate the consequences of their actions.

* A lack of empathy is not uncommon in serial killers (unsprisingly; at least 60% of serial killers are psychopaths). Gary Ridgway, the Green River Killer, once said that he can't recall the faces of the women he killed. Ted Bundy said some things like "What's one less person on the face of the earth, anyway?" and "I don't feel guilty for anything. I feel sorry for people who feel guilt."

Also known as [[TheSociopath Antisocial Personality Disorder]]. A person with ASPD typically has no concept of the rights/wishes of other humans, or they may go out of their way to deliberately ignore those rights/wishes. They are deceitful, which is indicated by their repeated lying, and manipulation of others for their own personal profit or pleasure. They can sometimes be narcissistic and are ultimately unable to maintain any relationships in their lives, be they romantic or platonic.

* A lack of empathy is not uncommon in serial killers. Gary Ridgway, the Green River Killer, once said that he can't recall the faces of the women he killed. Ted Bundy said some things like "What's one less person on the face of the earth, anyway?" and "I don't feel guilty for anything. I feel sorry for people who feel guilt."

* [[HarryPotter Lord Voldemort]].
** Pretty much all of Voldemort's Death Eaters.
*** Particularly Bellatrix, who seems to be a sadist as well as mentally unbalanced in general.
** Vernon, Petunia Dursley, and Aunt Marge, aren't much better, either.
** Uh, TheUmbridge.

** The suggestion is TheSociopath and other people that are said to have a LackOfEmpathy completely lack Emotional Empathy and Compassionate Empathy. They see you have emotions, but they can't share your emotions so have no reason to avoid behaviours which hurt you and don't hurt them. They don't feel guilt, because that requires Emotional Empathy. He feels sorry, because he pities and looks down upon such "empaths". In the mind of a sociopath, by displaying this weakness they are inviting the sociopath to take advantage of them.

** The suggestion is TheSociopath and other people that are said to have a LackOfEmpathy completely lack Emotional Empathy and Compassionate Empathy. They see you have emotions, but they can't share your emotions so have no reason to avoid behaviours which hurt you and don't hurt them. They don't feel guilt, because that requires Emotional Empathy. He feels sorry, because he pities and looks down upon such "empaths".

** The suggestion is TheSociopath and other people that are said to have a LackOfEmpathy completely lack Emotional Empathy and Compassionate Empathy. They see you have emotions, but they can't share your emotions so have no reason to avoid behaviours which hurt you and don't hurt them.
*** [[DontExplainTheJoke That's the joke.]] [[IncrediblyLamePun Such as it is.]]

* Autistic people are sometimes held to lack empathy, but it's contended that that they may simply be bad at ''expressing'' empathy. In any case, people with high-functioning autism and Asperger syndrome find the contention that they lack empathy extremely offensive for obvious reasons.

*** [[Don'tExplainTheJoke That's the joke.]] [[IncrediblyLamePun Such as it is.]]

*** This isn't to say the conditions are mutually exclusive, however. [[ImAHumanitarian Jeffrey]] [[DepravedHomosexual Dhamer]] was diagnosed with Asperger's by at least one forensic psychologist.

{{Jerkass}}es, {{Complete Monster}}s and TheSoulless tend to express this trope. When taken to its logical conclusion it leads to ItsAllAboutMe. Often an integral part of ComedicSociopathy.

**** [[{{Sonichu}} Chris Chan]] also displays some sociopathic tendencies in addition to his Asperger's Syndrome.

* A good amount of the characters in ''{{Texhnolyze}}''. Even the most sympathetic characters in Lux skirt close to being Villain Protagonists at times. Yoshii is definitely this. He came down from the Class in order to instigate a massive war between the groups. He states that his goal is to awaken the people from their sleep in order to build leaders of them, or in other words, to help them realize their full potential, even if they don't want him to. This involves him murdering innocent people and starting gang wars because he finds it "interesting", all with a [[DissonantSerenity pleasant smile on his face]]. While he may have an ideological purpose behind it all, it is so obscure that it only makes him look all the more hysterical.