WHY IS IT SO HARD FOR OTHER PEOPLE TO DO WHAT RACHEL JUST DID? She called a liar a liar.

[Shirley0401]

93. i wonder..

...if there's any data out there showing a correlation between inherited wealth and sociopathic behavior.
It would make sense, when looked at through the lens of lifespan deveopment theory, as I understand it. As we pass through different stages of life, we gain new insights and skills as we're faced with new challenges and increased responsibility.
If you think about it, infants are essentially sociopathic. As much as most parents would be loath to admit it, they don't even "love" anyone in the sense that an adult can love someone--they depend on and NEED their parents.
Anyway: it's only as we develop and mature that we learn things like empathy, compassion, and sacrifice. If you grow up with a small cadre of people (often of a different race) whose sole responsibility is to care for you, and you never have to struggle for anything--other than the approval of your possibly sociopathic family members--it's plausible to me that you would simply never have the need or opportunity to develop a lot of the traits that are contrary to sociopathy. Of course, when you got to a certain level of education, you'd be expected to pay lip service to kindness, sympathy, etc, but by then you would have learned how to feign these qualities. Sociopaths can be extremely intelligent, and are generally gifted manipulators, as there are no actual feelings of sympathy, compassion, or empathy to cloud the execution of their plans.
Their defenders, of course, will point to the "good" their candidates have done. But wouldn't any fantastically wealthy sociopath with designs on the presidency sprinkle a little here and a little there around as they climb the ladder, knowing full well that any kindness shown will end up paying a huge return on their investment when they can later use them as evidence for their compassion, empathy, and humanity?
A good sociopath doesn't care about other people, but they generally do care about getting what they want, and that can include the approval of others. And a sociopath knows a big part of getting what he/she wants is making sure nobody knows he/she is a sociopath.