Are psychopaths necessarily bad people?

A psychopath is a person who has no empathy and feels no remorse for causing bad things to happen. So some people would certainly say they're bad people. But a bad person is someone who does bad things. Not someone who COULD do bad things or who thinks about them, but someone who actually does them. A lot of empathetic people who feel remorse have done bad things. And they're not exempt from the bad person label, are they? If you hurt someone, it doesn't really matter whether you cry about it afterwards- you hurt them. So if I felt no remorse or empathy but I was a productive member of society who never hurt anyone, would I be a bad person? I don't think so. The point is, the majority of psychopaths are not Ted Bundy. They're not going to kill you, and while they might freak you out or annoy you, they're essentially decent, normal people. Fear empathetic people just as much as those without empathy.

There is a general misconception that psychopaths are mindless freaks, courtesy the Hollywood. To clarify that we need to bring one more personality type: sociopath. The difference between these 2 personality types should bring about some clarity in the outlook towards them. Psychopaths are generally born i.e. it is mostly genetic. Research has shown psychopaths have underdeveloped components of the brain responsible for emotion regulation and impulse control whereas a sociopath is born as a result of his environment, such as emotional and physical abuse, negative household to name a few. Psychopaths do not feel emotions the way a normal person does. They do not think with the heart. To them everything is logic and causality. This leads them to have a hard time forming emotional attachments. But psychopaths can often be seen as charming and trustworthy, holding steady, normal jobs. Some even have seemingly-loving relationships with a partner. Sociopaths, on the other hand, tend to be more impulsive and erratic in their acts. They too find it hard to deal with attachment. Unlike psychopaths, most sociopaths can't hold down long-term jobs or a normal life. These should give a better picture regarding psychopaths and sociopaths. To answer the question from my personal experience, psychopaths are not always bad. They can't understand what normal people see as a relationship. To them everything and everyone is a means to their goal. Emotions do not play a role in their thoughts.

They are not, they are just going through worst of times and its not their fault. Life make them that way and they may get better with love and affection

No, psychopaths are not necessarily bad people. A psychopath can still make a positive contribution to society. They can make good surgeons, doctors, lawyers, judges, and CEO's. Their objectivity can be beneficial to both them and society.

A Psychopath is someone who displays anti social behaviour and lacks strong feelings I.e. Guilt or remorse. But this does not make them a bad person - being different from people doesn't make you bad. It is only when a psychopath hurts someone, that they can be considered bad.

I googled psychopath and it says: a person suffering from chronic mental disorder with abnormal or violent social behaviour. I think not necessarily a psychopath may be bad, but it is difficult to judge whether someone is bad anyway. Do we judge based on their actions? Their motives? What made them that way? At any rate, I would say no psychopaths are not necessarily bad people.

Psychopaths are not necessarily bad people. Its how they use their skills that make them good or bad

No, psychopaths have their brain "wired" a bit different than most people. That doesn't mean they are all bad or mean people, but due to their condition it's better if they have a support system with them to learn how to control different sensations they get that are not ordinary for the rest. What makes you good or bad are the choices and actions you make.

Definitely not! I was diagnosed with psychopathy when I was 10 years old, and though I can't really say about myself, I don't think of myself as a bad person. I do everything I can to help others, and I'm studying child developmental psychology for my future profession. In a support group I hosted, I met others with the condition, and yes, there's always going to be a few bad apples, but being a bad person doesn't really have to do with being a psychopath. We tend to see psychopathy in criminals, and we view it as a negative or dangerous illness, but trust me, you've walked by many regular, good people with psychopathy and not even known it. Psychopathy is a very misunderstood mental disorder, and I hope society someday breaks the stigma.

As a Criminal Justice and Criminology major, no, psychopaths are not necessarily bad people. Psychopaths have been going through many tests under the CJC system and psychology, and it's been seen that their brains are wired differently than what we consider a 'normal' person's brain. What this means is their emotions work differently. For example, a psychopath cannot "feel" love, but they know what it looks like - and therefore they can make it appear in their voices, facial expressions and body language. The statistic is about 1/100 people is a psychopath. While that number seems small, we are in a world with them in our every day lives. Another example is they're very charming, so they'll most likely become a CEO for a bank or large industry. What someone is diagnosed with doesn't determine if they're a bad person or not -- their behavior will show the real character. It's important to keep in mind when talking about psychopaths that they're also people - people need the benefit of the doubt first. It's also important to know that not all psychopaths end up in the Criminal Justice System, meaning that each individual is a case by case.