As a self-proclaimed true crime expert, I know a thing or two about psychopathy (And also being a psych major but like, we all know watching Investigation ID on the discovery channel when you’re like 8 is where the REAL experts come from). The basic lack of human emotions tied to those of others is something many can’t even fathom. I cry at pictures of puppies so the idea of not having any regard for feelings towards others or anything is mind-boggling to me. Yet in our videos this week we see psychopaths at work, at least kind of, it’s a weird gray zone, let’s get into it.
Guilt is intertwined with empathy, without one the other is not present, by nature. If a psychopath goes on a murderous rampage, they feel no remorse or guilt because they lack empathy. They have a problem with their prefrontal cortex that causes them to feel no empathy, almost as if somewhere along the lines, whatever thing in the universe creates us, accidentally turned their empathy switch off. And yet things are a bit more complicated for our friend Tas over here. Her problems are so far-reaching that I don’t even think my therapist could fix her issues, and trust me he’s good, he fixed a lot of mine lol. Killing for a living must always weigh heavy on the mind of those who feel some semblance of empathy, but to not only murder but also kill the host body of an innocent person to cut all ties and make the murder untraceable to you, well that damn near inanity provoking. And we see with Tas that she does feel empathy. She felt guilt for the butterfly she pinned to the board when she was a child. She believes her murder and we see it causes her to feel physical pain and anguish from remembering. It’s easy to see why she fights so hard to push these emotions down, to smother them underneath a blanket of apathy. Yet that’s not who she is until she became one. She would be a perfect candidate for the nurture side of nature vs. nurture let me tell ya.
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After losing all that she loves and murdering her husband and child in cold blood, plus some casual brain damage from being inside Tates body too long, we see this shift at the end. She no longer feels guilty for killing the butterfly and shows no emotions of regret or remorse for ruining the lives of so many people. And the premise actually brings into question, well how does this relate to embodied cognition? In Tas’s case, she is actually physically “living through” the body of another, yet she is not sensing their emotions. She is actively blocking out the emotions of Tate, trying to keep him in line. She is actively pushing down her emotions the whole film, and at the end, whether through actual brian damage or forced suppressed emotions, Tas has become a bonafide psychopath, free to wander around killing as she pleases with no ties and no pesky emotions bringing guilt upon her conscious. Pretty depressing I know. How about we lighten the mood with a cute photo of me as a kid, Enjoy!
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Now that the depressing part is over, why don’t we venture onto Futurama, a favorite of mine, thanks professor for having immaculate taste in media. Now Bender, being a robot, is already fairly close to humans who have psychopathy. He has no remorse for his negative actions of hurting Leila or Nibbler. He acts based on his own needs and wants, and when Nibbler got in his way, he didn’t feel any hesitation to dispose of him. Pretty dang psychotic if you ask me. Yet the interesting part is when he is in tune with Leila’s emotional frequency he is hooked directly up to her emotions, essentially giving him empathy. This empathy is borrowed, but he still feels the effects. He no longer only cares for his needs, he now is driven and pushed along by the emotions of another and their sadness for the loss of Nibbler. Only after removing the emotion chip do we see him revert back to his old self, as apathetic and self-centered as before. He’s kind of a prick, but a funny one at that.
It’s actually a really interesting take on psychopaths. If psychopaths had the ability to have a chip placed on them and feel the emotions of another, they still wouldn’t be able to learn a “lesson.” Once the chip is off their brain, the hardwiring is still wrong. They can not just spend a day in someone else’s body and suddenly have their pre-frontal cortex fixed. That’s why Bender goes back to his old ways, his old hilarious ways.
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Now let me be very, very clear, being a psychopath does not make a person bad, there are still moral compasses in the vast majority of psychopaths, they just don’t feel empathy towards others. But if true crime has taught me anything (besides always lock your doors and never get into a white van, EVER) it’s that it’s easier for psychopaths to push aside their taught morals if it helps them in any way. And that’s why I’m glad I am an empath who cries at the drop of a hat.