Heritability of sociopathy

What Is the Heritability of Being an A--hole?

To quote:

"3) What is the heritability of sociopathic behavior? According to The Sociopath Next Door by Martha Stout about four percent of the U.S. population has strong sociopathic tendencies*. While this seems high, keep in mind that slightly over one percent of the U.S. population is schizophrenic--and schizophrenia is arguably far more debilitating. And as Stout points out, in 'limited doses', sociopathic detachment can be useful (both "clinical detachment" and military training are exercises in learning how to reduce empathy). If this is a quantitative trait, which manifests itself in a lack of empathy for others, to what extent is this genetically controlled?"

There's a few different "kinds" of sociopaths. Basically, there's three kinds that i consider to be interesting:

1. Those that score high on the "lack of empathy" test
2. Those that score high on the "lack of control" test
3. Those that score high on both

If you score high on #1, you're going to end up an asshole, but not a serial killer or a bank robber. If you score high on #2, you'll end up a loser in life - always making stupid choices and doing stupid things. If you score high on both? You're probably in prison, how are you reading this?

But the thing is that often times people confuse "sociopathy" with other, similar things. Schizoid personality disorder can manifest as somewhat like sociopathy, in terms of lack of empathy and understanding. Narcissism is a *dead ringer* for "sociopathic" behavior in most contexts that don't involve actually killing people. To the average laymen, a narcissist and a sociopath are interchangeable concepts. We'll stick to true sociopaths though - the few, the proud, the emotionally blank.

It's pretty much an accepted fact that sociopathic behavior is a dual-component trait. You have a genetic seed, and you have an environment that stirs that seed to bloom into something more then potential. My family's a good example of this in action.

Our family history is full of interesting markers for sociopathic behavior. We've got a long history of drug abuse, murder, and remorseless killing following us. One of my uncles, when asked if he ever had nightmares about the combat he faced in korea, said that no, killing those people didn't bother him any at all. My paternal grandfather was a sadistic and cruel man, who was notorious for beating peoples heads off the floor (mostly children) as a form of discipline. Several uncles have been implicated in shootings. It's a picture that says my DNA may very well spell DOA on some level.

All my brothers display some level of behavior that boils down to "very low empathy". Our concern for outsiders extends exactly so far as we know them or we need them. A close friend may warrant so much concern as to stir us to actual action to aid them. But someone we do not know can suffer any given fate and we feel nothing over it. My brother, upon seeing a man severely burned in a house fire, turned to me and said, matter-of-factly: "it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy, fucking drunk" and went back to his house. Another once showed up covered in blood - not his own - and expressed dismay that he'd injured his hand in the scuffle; literally, his skinned knuckle was cause for more concern then the other boy's severe injuries.

Now, one could debate that it was purely our environment that caused this condition, and i suppose there may be validity to that. But, people in our acquaintance - even our long acquaintance - do not adopt our views or behaviors. In fact, people who've known us a long time tend to think of us as a little off, on the whole, and a little strange to be around. So i have to assume there's something fundamentally going on there that people pick up on.

As to if this could be reversed by early childhood intervention - who can say? Maybe? It's not a disease, it's a personality defect; you would have to be willing to intervene VERY early - maybe as young as 3 or 4 - and keep up that intervention all the way through their entire youth. That's a pretty big commitment and a pretty big invasion of privacy for the parents - you might well have to take the kid off them full stop. It'd be a difficult decision - especially since victory is by no means assured.