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series_hybrid t1_iwloend wrote

Reply to comment by stlfiremaz in Psychopathic tendencies are associated with an elevated interest in fire, study finds by chrisdh79

I have a theory that it doesn't do much involve a fascination with fire per se, but rather that a child who is evolving as a sociopath and possibly a psychopath, seeks power over others.

Guns are unavailable to most children, and even readily available knives leave fingerprints and blood.

A fire is powerful and destructive, and children would easily see how they could set a fire and "get away with it".

The question then becomes...if a psychopath had fire available plus other methods of striking fear into others, would they still choose fire?

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agumonkey t1_iwo1col wrote

> "get away with it".

that's an interesting model. Kids early on want to get away with it, they can resort to lies very very young.. so fire as a free escape trick would tap into the same logic.

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series_hybrid t1_iwo5oe3 wrote

I think everyone has heard of an example similar to the child who ate the oreo cookies, and when the three kids were asked who ate them, they all three said "not me" but...one of them has black cookie crumbs between their teeth.

Even a "good" kid is curious about how to exert some little bit of control in their lives, and getting away with some minor offense can be exhilarating.

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agumonkey t1_iwpienz wrote

yeah but in a way "fire" would just be "the ultimate control" and this is also a very recurrent desire in humans. We all want to have silver bullet solutions, infinite money, eternal youth, invicibility

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Icy_Presentation9229 t1_iwo1jth wrote

A true psychopath doesn't want to use a gun. When people see a gun, they want to scream and guns are inherently too load. Also, you don't have power over a gun, the gun does. "what am i without this machine but flesh?"

With a knife, no one screams when they see a knife. With a knife you have full power over the individual. It is raw physical strength with an object that is merciless and silent.

That's what I've gathered, anyways.

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series_hybrid t1_iwo5z5b wrote

That makes sense. If some children were terrorized when they were small and helpless, sometimes one of them can develop a desire to find out what it would feel like to be the person wielding the power of terror.

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Strazdas1 t1_iwpesu8 wrote

>With a knife you have full power over the individual.

Unless he carries mace.

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CarlPeligro t1_iwpl5iw wrote

For future reference, there is no difference between a sociopath and a psychopath.

Per psychologist (and psychopath!) James Fallon, the only difference between the two is that sociologists prefer the term "sociopath" and psychologists prefer the term "psychopath." But the two words describe the exact same phenomenon.

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