For most people, the word psychopath triggers thoughts of blood-sucking, flesh eating, serial killers commonly portrayed in horror movies. Therefore, it may be quite disturbing and extremely surprising to hear that 1 out of every 25 individuals is a psychopath. Yet, before you freak out and decide to hide under your bed for the remainder of the day (or the rest of your life), understand that psychopaths display different levels of intensity, and most are nothing compared to the horrifying monsters portrayed in the movies. On the other hand, it’s important to gain at least a basic understanding of certain psychopathic tendencies’ just in case you're faced with having to deal with one (whether it be a corporate, familial, or friendly situation).

Psychopathic tendencies are extremely complex and often hard to identify. My best friends father worked in human resource departments of many globally-recognized companies for years. Even he admitted that many of the extremely powerful CEO’s he worked with, who had been in leadership roles for decades, were complete psychopaths. That being said, I want to start off with a real-life story involving a powerful CEO, two of his female employees, and his wife and children (all names have been changed for the sake of privacy).

James is the CEO of a large company. Most of his employees find him charming, smart, and admire his quick wit. It’s interesting because in the last six months, two of his female employees have accused him of both physically and sexually assaulting them. Not to mention that fact James is married with two children. One woman said James allegedly broke her arm after she refused his multiple attempts to pull her onto his lap during a private meeting he had asked her to attend in his office that day. Similarly, the other woman claims to have been fired by James after his attempt to physically force her to get in his car after, a long night of meetings during a business trip they were both on. Ironically, James many powerful connections managed to “‘prove’ him innocent in both cases. James denied having committed either acts to wife and children, seemingly “offended” that they would even ask him such a thing.

Is your neighbor a psychopath? 10 Red Flags:

Because I do not believe in labeling a category of people based on a series of black and white tendencies, I have instead listed 10 quotes describing common feelings and reactions that occur when dealing with psychopaths (aka sociopaths).

1. “If, instead, you find yourself often pitying someone who consistently hurts you or other people, and who actively campaigns for your sympathy, the chances are close to 100 percent that you are dealing with a sociopath.”

― Martha Stout, The Sociopath Next Door: The Ruthless Versus the Rest of Us

2. “...You are ambitious, yes, and in the name of success you are willing to do all manner of things that people with conscience would never consider, but you are not an intellectually gifted individual. Your intelligence is above average perhaps, and people think of you as smart, maybe even very smart. But you know in your heart of hearts that you do not have the cognitive wherewithal, or the creativity, to reach the careening heights of power you secretly dream about, and this makes you resentful of the world at large, and envious of the people around you. As this sort of person, you ensconce yourself in a niche, or maybe a series of niches, in which you can have some amount of control over small numbers of people. These situations satisfy a little of your desire for power, although you are chronically aggravated at not having more. It chafes to be so free of the ridiculous inner voice that inhibits others from achieving great power, without having enough talent to pursue the ultimate successes yourself. Sometimes you fall into sulky, rageful moods caused by a frustration that no one but you understands.”

― Martha Stout, The Sociopath Next Door

3. “About one in twenty-five individuals are sociopathic, meaning, essentially, that they do not have a conscience. It is not that this group fails to grasp the difference between good and bad; it is that the distinction fails to limit their behavior. The intellectual difference between right and wrong does not bring on the emotional sirens and flashing blue lights, or the fear of God, that it does for the rest of us. Without the slightest blip of guilt or remorse, one in twenty-five people can do anything at all.”

― Martha Stout, The Sociopath Next Door

4. “The panicked feeling of a guilty conscience never squeezes at your heart or wakes you in the middle of the night. Despite your lifestyle, you never feel irresponsible, neglectful, or so much as embarrassed, although for the sake of appearances, sometimes you pretend that you do. For example, if you are a decent observer of people and what they react to, you may adopt a lifeless facial expression, say how ashamed of your life you are, and talk about how rotten you feel. This you do only because it is more convenient to have people think you are depressed than it is to have them shouting at you all the time, or insisting that you get a job. You notice that people who do have a conscience feel guilty when they harangue someone they believe to be “depressed” or “troubled.” As a matter of fact, to your further advantage, they often feel obliged to take care of such a person.”

― Martha Stout, The Sociopath Next Door

5. “Maybe you cannot be the CEO of a multinational corporation, but you can frighten a few people, or cause them to scurry around like chickens, or steal from them, or—maybe best of all—create situations that cause them to feel bad about themselves. And this is power, especially when the people you manipulate are superior to you in some way. Most invigorating of all is to bring down people who are smarter or more accomplished than you, or perhaps classier, more attractive or popular or morally admirable. This is not only good fun; it is existential vengeance. And without a conscience, it is amazingly easy to do. You quietly lie to the boss or to the boss's boss, cry some crocodile tears, or sabotage a coworker's project, or gaslight a patient (or a child), bait people with promises, or provide a little misinformation that will never be traced back to you.”

― Martha Stout, The Sociopath Next Door

6. “And sociopaths are noted especially for their shallowness of emotion, the hollow and transient nature of any affectionate feelings they may claim to have, a certain breathtaking callousness. They have no trace of empathy and no genuine interest in bonding emotionally with a mate. Once the surface charm is scraped off, their marriages are loveless, one-sided, and almost always short-term. If a marriage partner has any value to the sociopath, it is because the partner is viewed as a possession, one that the sociopath may feel angry to lose, but never sad or accountable.”

― Martha Stout, The Sociopath Next Door

7. “Controlling others—winning—is more compelling than anything (or anyone) else.”

― Martha Stout, The Sociopath Next Door

8. “when confronted with a destructive outcome that is clearly their doing, they will say, plain and simple, “I never did that,” and will to all appearances believe their own direct lie.”

― Martha Stout, The Sociopath Next Door

9. “Sociopaths have no regard whatsoever for the social contract, but they do know how to use it to their advantage. And all in all, I am sure that if the devil existed, he would want us to feel very sorry for him.”

― Martha Stout, The Sociopath Next Door

10. “Sociopathy is the inability to process emotional experience, including love and caring, except when such experience can be calculated as a coldly intellectual task.”

― Martha Stout, The Sociopath Next Door: The Ruthless Versus the Rest of Us