Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us (Paperback)

by Robert D. Hare (Author) "Over the years I've become accustomed to the following experience..." (more)
Key Phrases: adult psychopaths, psychopathic subjects, Psychopathy Checklist, The Profile, White-Collar Psychopaths (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
"Psychopaths are 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..." In Without Conscience Robert Hare argues convincingly that "psychopath" and "antisocial personality disorder" (a psychiatric term defined by a cluster of criminal behaviors) are not the same thing. Not all psychopaths are criminals, he says, and not all criminals are psychopaths. He proposes a psychopathy checklist that includes emotional/interpersonal traits such as glibness, grandiosity, lack of guilt, and shallow emotions, as well as social deviance traits such as impulsiveness, lack of responsibility, and antisocial behavior. His writing is lucid and illustrated with numerous anecdotes. The final chapter, "A Survival Guide," is especially recommended: as Hare writes, "Psychopaths are found in every segment of society, and there is a good chance that eventually you will have a painful or humiliating encounter with one." --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly
This work of pop psychology merits attention because Hare has pioneered in the field of psychopathy, which is still in a formative state. Psychopaths, he asserts, are neither sociopaths nor psychotics but rather are people who are well aware of the difference between right and wrong and ignore the distinction. Additionally, they are egocentric and have no feelings of empathy, guilt or remorse. They view others as potential victims, and they leave a trail of unhappiness behind them in those who have succumbed to their deceitful manipulations. Whether nature or nurture underlies their aberration is still uncertain; they are almost impossible to treat, according to Hare, because they are convinced that they have no psychological or emotional problems. Although, as he notes, much of the literature on psychopathy is scientific, Hare here presents material in a form accessible to lay readers.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 236 pages
• Publisher: The Guilford Press; 1 edition (January 8, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1572304510
• ISBN-13: 978-1572304512
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (124 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,776 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

257 of 273 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating look at the psychopaths among us, May 28, 2002

By	dropin'em - See all my reviews

Psychopaths are social predators severely lacking in conscience and empathy. The view promulagated by popular media (especially works of fiction) is that all psychopaths are bizarre serial killers, perhaps indulging in some grandiose ego trip. The reality is that there are only an estimated 75 serial killers in the entire world, compared with several millions of psychopaths in North America alone. THESE PREDATORS LIVE AMONG US, YOU INCLUDED.

I have read much literature on the subject ranging from case studies to complex psychodynamic analysis. Without conscience is the first to paint the portrait of the psychopath in a way that is palatable to the lay reader. In this book, Robert Hare (the leading researcher on the topic and arguably the most knowlegable in the world) describes the inner and outer world of the thieves, con artist, murders, rapist, child abusers, corporate crooks and career exploiters of others that make up the most depised class of human beings known to the world.

He passes through the outer image of "nice guy" charm and brings to light the deceit, manipulation, lack of feeling and utter selfishness that mark such individuals.

Here is a quick breakdown of whats discussed in the book:

* "Experiencing" the psychopath- In the opening chapters and throughout the book Dr. Hare describes the intial reactions that occur when one first interacts with a psychopath. Psychopaths often have an ability to make a huge first impression

* The lifestyle and relationships characteristic of the typical psychopath- Here you learn about specific psychopathic traits; such as the charming personality, hugely inflated sense of self worth, manipulation, dishonesty and the generally predatory nature of psychopathic behavior.

* Hare uses examples of real life psychopaths to illustrate the behaviors and traits he describes throughout the book. He discusses why psychopaths are "naturals" at committing crimes. He also addresses the common question "why are some people like this."

I strongly feel that this book is a good purchase for anyone. If you have never been up close and personal with a psychopath, you will feel like you have gotten to know one through those portrayed in this book.Those involved in any aspect of the criminal justice system or mental health industry will without a doubt come in to contact with many psychopaths and will need to be familiar with the traits therin. Psychopaths are ubiquitously as a class extremely poor canidates for rehabilitation or therapy and will try to use the system to their advantage much as they do their victims.

If you have been sucked in by the charm, fake concern and elaborate stories of someone whom you believe could be one of these individuals then by all means, buy this book. It will empower you and give you an action plan for getting them out of your life.

The type of people described in this book will make a victim out of anyone in a instant. Along with being an intensely fascinating read, this book will help you end up "safe" rather than "sorry" if your time comes.

45 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't be devastated by one of these people - READ, June 3, 2006

By	M. Clifton - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Without Conscience: Without Conscience (Mass Market Paperback)

Without Conscience has a lot of information that will help someone distinguish an everyday Psychopath from the rest of the population. Yes it speaks of famous cases, it speaks of prison inmates, but it also covers the ground that most of us walk on every single day. Grocery stores, work, church, school, etc.

Not all Psychopaths are criminals, nor do all of them turn physically violent. In truth most of them are our neighbors, friends, family members, spouses, and even our own children. Most Psychopaths stay so low key that it's hard (next to impossible) to pick up on what is happening until it's too late. By then you are in over your head, financially and emotionally devastated. I know, because I was a target of one of these people.

If I had known what a Psychopath was, and had already read this book, I would have known to avoid the individual at all cost. This book covers every thing to help us make an intelligent decision about the type of person we may be dealing with. If you have doubt of any person in your life, read this book. Better safe than sorry. Believe me, the Psychopath won't care about what he or she does to you. You have to protect yourself from them.

This book will put you on the right path. Always remember 1 out of every 25 people have this mental disorder, so your chances of meeting or already knowing one are very high. Take precautions now before it's too late.

105 of 120 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No, YOU'RE not crazy! Great for figuring out what hit you!, May 25, 2005

By	Sinead NiC "American & Irish expat" (Germany) - See all my reviews

I had the misfortune of having a psychopath wreak havoc in my life and the lives of my friends and family a few years ago. This followed an incident in the 1990s, where a group of us at an Ivy League university were scammed by a beautiful con artist.

I asked a friend who works for the FBI how this could happen twice in a relatively short time period to a group of pretty darn smart people. His response: 1 out of every hundred people is a psychopath. They are not all murderers and they are not all in prison - they live among the rest of us and are often charming and interesting, at least on superficial acquaintance.

We had the misfortune of running into two of them in a decade because we were living in places that psychopaths often target: where people with money and power are. These people THRIVE in transient communities, especially in RICH, transient communities. The university town and the ski resort where we met these folks both have wealthy, transient populations. Apparently, we lived in a dream destination for con artists. (Later, when speaking to long-time residents of the ski resort about what I learned from my FBI pal, I was amazed to hear that they also had learned - with hard experience - that this gorgeous little town had attracted far more than its fair share of really awful people who stole and lied and cheated their way into big money, and then disappeared, with hearts broken, bank accounts empty, and other people holding useless contracts and big debts.)

Normal people give most people they are getting to know the benefit of the doubt, so when things said by these two people didn't add up, we all kind of blew off that troublesome "hey, wait a minute!" feeling. THAT was our mistake, both times. If we'd paid attention to that niggling "something doesn't add up" feeling, we wouldn't have had money and credit cards and jewelry - and a Mercedes! - stolen, reputations and credit ratings (thankfully only temporarily) smudged, and - for a few of the people - there wouldn't have been broken hearts and sad days and weeks of wondering, "how could s/he have deceived me so when I was so good to her/him??"

Strangely enough, after their stories were blown, family members of both of these folks admitted that the behavior of their psychopaths had driven them to depression and other problems; in both cases, therapists had told the family members that these con artists were most likely psychopaths!

If you've had a psychopath in your life, this book will really help you. Somehow, once you know that what you've lived through is part of a larger pattern that also happens to other decent, intelligent, hard-working, and honest people everywhere, then it's easier to gain some distance -- and more importantly, to actually listen to your instincts the next time you have a "hey, wait a minute" moment, when you think, "something doesn't add up here!"

Listen to your instincts. They're right more often than you'd think.