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Asocial behavior, its causes and prevention. An asocial lifestyle is

In modern psychiatry, "personality" does not mean the same thing as in sociology, but a way of thinking, perception and behavior that characterizes a person in his usual way of life. It follows that personality disorder is some kind of disorder in behavior, intelligence or emotional sphere.

Personality disorders

ASocial personality disorder is just one of many. In general, all personality disorders have a variety of options. These are congenital psychopathies, which lead a person to all sorts of breakdowns, pathological reactions to ordinary situations, etc. Disorders that are weaker in severity are called character accentuation - these are breakdowns that manifest themselves in certain areas of life and, as a rule, do not lead to too destructive results, and therefore are not considered as pathology.

The main symptom of this type of personality disorder is neglect and sometimes violence against others. Previously, this disorder was called differently: and congenital criminality, and moral insanity, and constitutional psychopathic inferiority. Nowadays, this disorder is usually referred to as an immoral or deviant disorder, and in one word - sociopathy.

The asocial personality type is clearly different in a number of signs from the rest. First of all, in this case, behavioral disturbances are observed - social norms do not seem obligatory for a person, and the thoughts and feelings of other people are simply ignored.

Such people tend to manipulate others as much as possible in order to achieve some personal goals - power over someone gives them pleasure. Deception, intrigue and simulation are quite their usual means of achieving what they want. However, their actions, as a rule, are carried out under the influence of an impulse and rarely lead to the realization of a certain goal. An asocial person never thinks about the consequences of what he has done. Because of this, they often have to change jobs, surroundings and even place of residence.

When consulting asocial personalities, their excessive irritability, overestimated self-esteem, and insolence are usually noticeable. They are generally inclined to use physical violence towards loved ones. They are not interested in either their own safety or the safety of the lives of their loved ones - all this is not a value.

Human behavior is influenced by the norms and laws of the society in which he lives. Legal, moral, moral foundations govern the actions, way of thinking and actions of the individual. If a person ignores or deliberately violates generally accepted norms and demonstrates this to others (actively or passively), then his behavior is regarded as asocial, or deviant. It can be manifested by people of all age groups, regardless of gender, material wealth, level of education, professional activity.

Types and manifestations of asocial behavior

Asocial behavior in psychology is divided into 4 types:

  • illegal (violation of legal norms);
  • immoral (non-observance of the norms of morality and ethics);
  • addictive (escape from real life by immersion in one of the types of addiction);
  • criminal (commission of criminally punishable acts).

Illegal means committing petty thefts and robberies, hijacking vehicles without the purpose of theft, insult, humiliation of people's dignity, hooliganism, fights, attacks with the aim of scaring. Persons committing such misconduct are not criminally liable, but come to the attention of law enforcement agencies as potentially capable of a crime.

Immoral human behavior does not pose a direct threat to society, but is condemned and condemned by others as unacceptable from the point of view of morality. Asocial immoral behavior includes: promiscuous (promiscuous sexual) relationships, prostitution, homosexuality, transvestism, unwillingness to work, vagrancy, begging.

Addictive behavior is expressed in various types of addiction, with the help of which a person tries to escape from life's difficulties. These include: chemical addiction (alcoholism, drug addiction, substance abuse), food addiction (anorexia or bulimia), cult (participation in religious sects), other types (game, computer, informational, sexual).

Criminal behavior (delinquent) includes the commission of criminal offenses: burglary, rape, robbery, banditry, robbery, organizing mass riots, fraud, extortion.

Signs in children

In a young child, antisocial behavior is expressed in the inability to build relationships in the children's team, lack of interest in teaching activities, aggressiveness and cruelty towards family members, other people, animals. Such individuals are hysterical, rude, trying to solve conflict situations with shouts, fights, threats. Often, a child with this behavioral disorder steals money from parents, things of peers in kindergarten or school.

Younger students with antisocial behavior immediately receive the definition of difficult children, they are kept on a note by teachers and administration

schools, which aggravates the problem, since it causes a protest in the child, expressed in disobedience, refusal to complete tasks, and cooperate with the team.

The reasons for the manifestation of behavioral disorders of this type can be medical, pedagogical, psychological, social:

  1. 1. Medical factors are divided into congenital (fetal lesions of various etiologies during intrauterine development), hereditary (genetic predisposition to behavioral deviations), acquired (infectious diseases, traumatic brain injury, psychosomatic pathologies).
  2. 2. Pedagogical reasons imply mistakes in the upbringing of a child made in the family. A bad example of parents, excessive guardianship, neglect of parental responsibilities, unreasonable punishment, excessive demands, ignorance of the basic needs of the child leads to the development of various behavioral deviations.
  3. 3. Psychological factors are formed against the background of medical and pedagogical: pathologies of the brain and nervous system in tandem with an inadequate family atmosphere inevitably lead to negative changes in the child's psyche, which is expressed in an increase in the level of aggression, uncontrollability, unwillingness to make contact with adults.
  4. 4. Social reasons imply material and social inequality and related ridicule, bullying, bullying by peers, to which middle-aged children and adolescents react sharply. They also include living in a dysfunctional family with parents who are drug addicts, suffering from alcoholism, and leading a dissolute life.

Left unattended by adults, isolated manifestations of cruelty and aggression in children serve as a source of development of persistent behavioral disorders. In the future, this can develop into a propensity for pathological violence and crime. But until the age of 7-8, psychologists do not use the concept of "deviance", since it implies deliberately directed actions, which is not typical for a preschool child.

Deviant behavior is developed gradually, forming as a result of connivance on the part of adults, ignorance of the problem, or unwillingness to correct the child. By adolescence, individual deviations often develop into delinquent behavior - regular deliberate destructive actions.

Manifestations in adolescents

Asocial behavior is most commonly seen in adolescents. If at the preschool age the child was not corrected accordingly, covered up his misdeeds, allowed the use of insults and force towards family members and relatives, then by adolescence he will have a clear behavioral line that he will adhere to in life.

Often such adolescents flaunt their antisocial behavior, pride themselves on the impunity of their parents, and try to create and lead rebellious groups. Finding support among peers, they assert their exclusiveness, behave defiantly with adults, are rude, refuse to carry out assignments at school and at home. In the future, the level of aggression grows, the teenager can run away from home, get involved in fights, theft, engage in sexual and homosexual relationships, join criminal gangs.

Adolescents from prosperous families who do not have difficulties with adaptation, academic performance, and behavior can also start behaving antisocial. The reason for such changes is the influence of friends, the strictness of the parents, the romantic perception of the image of the "bad guy" and relationships with him (among girls), family problems. Other factors contributing to adolescent antisocial behavior:

  • degradation of personality against the background of poverty, wrong upbringing, bad example of parents;
  • influence of youth subculture (punks, hippies, goths, emo, etc.)
  • involvement in a religious cult (voodoo, satanism);
  • musical or sports fanaticism, accompanied by a defiant appearance and antisocial behavior;
  • the desire to assert itself, the inability to do this by demonstrating knowledge, skills, talent, material acquisitions;
  • susceptibility to one of the types of psychological dependence;
  • physical problems due to illness.

Often, a teenager directs aggression at himself, inflicting wounds, scratches, burns, cuts on various parts of the body. Experiencing physical pain, he tries to drown out emotional suffering, therefore, having noticed characteristic injuries on the child's body, it is necessary to come to his aid in time. The extreme manifestation of autoaggression is suicidal tendencies.

Deviant behavior of a teenager is often provoked by the actions of another person. Various types of violence (sexual, physical, emotional) lead to the desire for revenge, which is not only projected onto the offender, but also directed against the society or the system as a whole. Physical punishment in the family forms the type of an angry, insecure, intimidated and aggressive personality, and the emotional alienation of parents - a notorious person with an immature psyche.

A child of any age who has suffered sexual abuse, in most cases, remains prone to depression, personality disorders, and increased sensitivity to stress.

Asocial adults

Asocial behavior in older people is either a continuation of habits rooted in childhood, or is provoked by mental illness, brain damage from chemicals due to the use of narcotic, psychotropic drugs and alcohol. Such individuals do not take into account the norms of society, do not have a sense of shame, and are liberated.

They do not see the need to work, obey the laws of the country, fulfill parental responsibilities, maintain marital fidelity, treat people with respect, follow the rules of society and communication. Often, such individuals find themselves on the street, becoming vagabonds and beggars. Alcohol, drugs, casual sex, petty crimes - this is their life, for which they are not ashamed.

Another group of people with antisocial behavior are individuals with a high material status, leading a life that is not typical for other people, earning money in ways that cause condemnation of the majority. This group includes expensive prostitutes, porn site creators, homosexual men, transvestites, brothel keepers, drug dealers, scammers, extortionists and other criminals.

However, not all deviations are negative. There is a separate group of people - geniuses, whose behavior is significantly different from the rest, but it cannot be called antisocial. The lifestyle of some gifted individuals can cause confusion among others, since many of them spend time alone, refuse coziness and comfort, are too capricious, picky, shocking. Classic examples of such deviations are Albert Einstein, Salvador Dali.

Prophylaxis

Treat antisocial behavioral abnormalities only when they are caused by a physical or mental illness. The main way to correct deviations is their prevention, which must be carried out from early childhood. Its guarantee is the correct upbringing, a positive example of parents, care for the satisfaction of the child's material and emotional needs.

Psychologists give several tips to help children form an adequate attitude towards themselves and those around them:

  1. 1. Deserved praise. Children need to be encouraged, but only when they really deserve it. If the praise addressed to the child sounds constantly without a reason, then selfishness and narcissism develop, which in the future entails problems with adaptation and deviations in behavior.
  2. 2. Correction. Negative character traits, bad habits, unseemly actions should not be ignored by adults. It is necessary to consistently and calmly explain to children what behavior is unacceptable and why.
  3. 3. Open communication. The child must be sure that the family will always understand and support him. Fear of punishment makes him deceitful, quirky, withdrawn, so the problems of a son or daughter need to be discussed and resolved calmly, then they will learn to trust their parents.
  4. 4. Joint activities. Children of any age value the time spent with their families, so even a busy father and mother should plan family vacations, entertainment, and holidays.
  5. 5. A positive example of parents. A friendly atmosphere, mutual respect, understanding, love between spouses form a healthy self-esteem in a child, which affects his behavior and adaptation in society.

To prevent behavioral disorders, schools conduct various educational programs aimed at promoting a healthy lifestyle, talk about the dangers of alcohol and drugs. Teachers encourage schoolchildren to realize themselves in sports, music, creativity, intellectual competitions, games, team competitions.

The joint efforts of children's institutions and families help many children find themselves in life and embark on the path of correction.

Dissocial personality disorder is expressed as an unstable psychopathy, people with such a disease (sociopaths) lead an asocial lifestyle, are deprived of higher moral feelings and do not obey generally accepted laws. They are aimed only at self-gratification, while neglecting the possible consequences.

The hallmark of sociopaths is the inability to control and limit their actions and emotions due to insufficient willpower.

The male sex is most susceptible to this pathology. As a rule, they come from dysfunctional families and the lower strata of society. Many people who are "behind bars" have a dissocial personality disorder, who got there because of the need for thrills, their impulsiveness, irresponsibility and indifference to generally accepted social norms. And, despite the repeated commission of illegal activities and the punishment of some individuals for them, they do not learn the lessons from negative experience.

Antisocial personality disorder, concurrently with other types of mental illness, such as schizoid or paranoid personality disorder, can lead to more serious disability in modern society.

Development stages and causes of antisocial disorder in humans

Individuals with this type of disorder, from an early age, are distinguished by selfishness, immorality, cynicism, they have no spiritual interests. Such individuals are very cruel and deceitful, they often mock those who are weaker, younger and defenseless animals. Early on, they develop a hostile attitude towards family members and people in their inner circle. During puberty, antisocial personalities openly show their deviant behavior, for example, they run away from their home, do not go to classes in educational institutions, commit cruel acts, set fire to or damage property, steal, and engage in vagrancy.

When communicating with other people, they show irascibility, which sometimes leads to aggression and anger. With peers, and not only, they arrange fights, use foul language. They cannot stand a permanent place of activity. Their track record includes multiple absenteeism and constant job changes.

Such individuals are devoid of emotional experiences, do not value traditions and foundations, have no attachment to family and friends, disrespect the family, violate generally accepted norms and laws. After some time, such people end up in prison. In some individuals, upon reaching the age of 40, antisocial behavior decreases, while in others the entire life cycle continues to persist.

Asocial personality disorder is explained by several theories: behavioral, psychodynamic, biological, and cognitive. Let's consider in more detail:


Other behaviorists believe that some parents inadvertently develop antisocial behavior in their offspring, constantly reinforcing the hostile behavior of their children. For example, when a child is distinguished by bad behavior (ignores the requests of the father or mother responds to them with violent methods), in order to achieve reconciliation, the parents make concessions. By this action, they develop stubbornness, or even rigidity in their child.

The possibility of the development of this mental disorder as a result of past diseases and head injuries is not excluded. In this case, the patient has neurological disorders.

Clinical manifestations

In a sick person, dissocial personality disorder is manifested by obvious self-righteousness, a firm conviction in oneself in the rightness, supported by a lack of criticism towards oneself. Any of his censure or condemnation is regarded negatively.

Such individuals are negligent about finance. As a result of drinking alcoholic beverages, they become vicious towards others, arrange conflicts, often leading to fights. People with this disorder are prone to robbery, theft, violent acts, and fraud. At the same time, they are driven not only by self-interest, but also by the desire to humiliate other people.

Individuals with such a pathology will do anything to get their own benefit. They lack compassion, conscience, and a sense of remorse. Because of their selfishness and inability to empathize and empathize, they often manipulate loved ones and those around them.

Individuals with dissocial personality disorder, in order to achieve their goal, can lie, threaten suicide, and mimic the signs of fictitious somatic diseases.

People with this pathology always try to get as much out of life as possible using prohibited methods.

They do not care about the possible negative consequences, since the feeling of anxiety and guilt in them is suppressed. If their unscrupulous misconduct is revealed, then they can easily find an excuse for their actions.

The famous psychotherapist and psychologist - Eric Berne identified two types of people with this disorder:


Individuals with an active type of mental disorder openly demonstrate their asocial character, while passive ones are deceitful and secretive.

Diagnostics

Dissocial personality disorder is expressed in the following behaviors:


In addition to the listed signs, individuals with this type of disorder are characterized by excessive nervousness. In early and puberty, in many cases, pathology is diagnosed as a result of conduct disorder.

Treatment and prognosis of dissocial personality disorder

About one third of the population is treated for this disease. Patients with such a pathology in rare cases seek qualified help, since they believe that they have no reason for this. But even if a person with this personality disorder feels that he does not find a common language with other people, and comes to consult a psychotherapist for advice, then the likelihood that his condition can be improved is small. It depends on the fact that asocial individuals are not capable of experiences and stable interaction with a specialist.

Often, the initiators of the treatment of such a disease in humans are law enforcement officers, employees of educational institutions and others. But the effectiveness of such therapy is small than independent treatment, since in this case a person experiences not only a reluctance to establish contact with a specialist, but also develops internal resistance to such an action. An exception to this treatment is self-help groups, in which patients are not afraid to be convicted and hope for the support of the participants.

Therapy of this type of mental disorder will be effective if the treatment is carried out by an experienced specialist - a psychotherapist who will not succumb to the provocations and manipulations of the patient, as well as a positive result will be achieved if a small number of driven patients participate in complex therapy.

Medicines are indicated if the patient has pronounced impulsivity and anxiety or depression. In view of the high probability of the formation of a dependent state for drugs, and as a result, a decrease in the motive for the psychotherapeutic process, small courses with small doses are prescribed.

The prognosis of such a disease in many cases is negative, since such a personality disorder is almost not amenable to complete cure.

The term given in the title is quite common, used both by specialists who are faced with such behavior in the nature of their work, and by ordinary people. However, none of the dictionaries - psychological, sociological, philosophical, ethical - contains it, and this applies to all Soviet-Russian editions of the 20th century. Paradox! But this happens when a word seems so clear and unambiguous that no one bothers to clarify its definition ... Let's try to deal with this mysterious and mystical concept.

Human behavior in a broad sense is his way of life and actions, the way he behaves in relation to society, ideas, other people, to the external and internal world, to himself, considered from the side of their regulation by social norms of morality, aesthetics and law ... It is axiomatic that all our behavior is socially conditioned and therefore, naturally, all of it is social, but it can also be asocial.

Asocial (from the Greek "a" - a negative particle) - a characteristic of a person or a group, their behavior contrary to generally accepted norms. Hence, antisocial behavior - behavior that violates social norms (criminal, administrative, family) and contradicts the rules of human life, activities, customs, traditions of individuals and society as a whole. It turns out that we are talking about a violation of legal and moral norms, but the trap is that legal norms, even if they are violated, are always clearly spelled out and in each state there is a single system of legal norms. Moral norms are not written, but implied, they are enshrined in traditions, customs, religion. That is, there is a fan of ideas about moral norms, and there can be as many of them as there are carriers of these ideas. The situation is similar with the concepts of morality - morality and asocial behavior. Everyone knows them, uses them, but it is impossible to find a clear difference between them in any work on ethics, not to mention the fact that these concepts themselves also do not have clear definitions. Morality is a kind of combination of "I" and "You", the possibility of dialogue, unity. Society isolates, and morality acts as a kind of compensation for alienation. This is a value that has its own importance for each of us. For example, hedonistic morality, where the main principle is pleasure, selfishness, is not social. Why? A person is concerned only with himself and strives to get a maximum of positive emotions and a minimum of negative ones. Sounds tempting. Why should we strive for negative emotions? The catch is that there is only self-concern here, and the interests of the other are simply not taken into account. Hence the basic contradiction. Within his morality, a person retains ideals and values, and morality acts as a way or form of their implementation. When interacting with other people, whose interests he voluntarily or involuntarily ignores, his behavior will be perceived as antisocial.

If we consider in a historical perspective the idea of ​​\ u200b \ u200bthe rules of human behavior, then the ancient Greek views, which have become very popular in our time, explained the conditionality of the norms of human communication by universal, cosmic processes and orders. Aristotle considered positive behavior that establishes order, and negative - violating, while the main concept for him was the dichotomy "fair-unfair". And asocial behavior for him acted as unfair. In the future, ideas about right and wrong in human relations and actions were accompanied by the formalization of some rational rules, but initially it was about the social regulation of behavior, carried out with the help of these rules.

You can look at antisocial behavior from the point of view of adaptation - maladjustment. Then social behavior will be regarded as adaptive, and asocial as maladaptive. But will it help? After all, it is generally known that it was maladaptive behavior that led to the progress of mankind. So, ritual burials, rock paintings did not have any utilitarian, adaptive purpose. Hence, it is quite obvious that maladjustment can also be with a plus sign. Of course, asocial behavior is maladaptive behavior, but, unfortunately, apart from an obvious statement, this does not give us anything due to the vague concept of maladjustment, which aggravates the ambiguity of the original term.

Closest to the concept of "asocial behavior" is the term "deviant", that is, abnormal behavior that deviates from the social norm. Deviation from the norm is called asocial primarily because the norm itself is social.

The well-known lawyer VN Kudryavtsev uses the concept of "socially negative behavior" as an analogue of the term "asocial behavior", which is a relatively common phenomenon; therefore, it presupposes, as a rule, the development and implementation of organized forms of struggle against it. This behavior "harms the entire people, negatively affects the development of the individual, prevents the forward movement of society" 2. The legal literature emphasizes that a clear separation of different types of social deviations is not always possible, for example, the same behavior may include violation of administrative, moral and aesthetic norms. At the level of the individual, socially negative behavior manifests itself in crimes, offenses, immoral offenses, violations of the rules of human society.

The term “criminal” or “criminal” behavior is also close to antisocial behavior, but in terms of volume, criminal or criminal behavior is much less common than antisocial, which includes other forms of offenses and immoral behavior.

Asocial behavior is considered as a kind of aggressive behavior. Aggressive behavior is a manifestation of aggression, expressed in destructive actions, the purpose of which is to cause harm. It is expressed in different ways in different people: physically or verbally, actively or passively, directly or indirectly, but the reality is that there are no people who would not have it completely. People differ only in the volume and proportion of aggressive patterns in their behavioral repertoire. Numerous theories of aggression reveal and explain the origins of human aggression, its mechanisms, but none of them suggests that its complete absence is possible, although all possible ways of its control and correction are proposed. Humanistic psychologists speak directly about aggression as a form of natural energy, recalling the energy of the wind, sun, water, which can kill or help. A person can suppress the energy of aggression, and then it is fraught with disease. Another option is when a wave of energy bursts out in the form of words and deeds, sometimes constructive, sometimes not. There is no general rule for expressing aggression. The question is about its transformation, about changing the target and form of manifestation. That is, aggressive behavior can be destructive and constructive or creative. One of the founders of the American wing of existential psychotherapy, Rollo May, associates aggression with the manifestation of strength, with each person potentially having five levels of strength. The first level is the power to live, it manifests itself in how the child cries, achieving what he wants, from which he draws his strength and how he realizes it. If the child's actions do not evoke a response from those around him, then he does not develop, and the extreme manifestation of such powerlessness is death. The power to live is not good or evil, it is primary in relation to them. And it must manifest itself throughout life, otherwise psychoses, neuroses or violence await a person. The second level is self-affirmation. We not only live, but also need the confirmation of our being, defending our significance and thereby gaining self-respect. The third level of power is to defend your “I”. This form of behavior is characterized by greater strength and outward orientation than self-affirmation. We have a reaction to an attack, and we are ready to react to it. A person defends his own and others' interests, and often others with more energy than his own, but this is also a form of defending his “I”, since he defends these interests. The fourth level of strength is aggression, which appears when there is no way to defend your “I”. And here a person penetrates into someone else's space, partially taking it for himself. If we are deprived of the opportunity to throw out aggressive tendencies for some time, it will result in depression, neurosis, psychosis or violence. The fifth level of strength is violence, it occurs when all other ways of defending one's strength are blocked. Thus, each of us has a negative side that contributes to the potential for good and evil, and without which we cannot live. It is important, though not easy to grasp, is to accept the fact that much of our success is due to the contradictions generated by negative moments. Life, R. May believes, is the achievement of good not aside from evil, but in spite of it.

Hence, it is clear that aggressive behavior is a much broader concept than asocial behavior; on the other hand, they may overlap. Over the 20 years of its existence at the Faculty of Psychology, specializing in legal psychology, a solid array of data has been obtained on the characteristics of aggression in persons with both social and asocial behavior. So, in the diploma study of E.P. Bulachik, the features of aggressiveness were compared in persons with different types of asocial behavior, namely: persons who committed thefts and murders. It turned out that murderers have a much higher level of aggression, especially directive-type aggression, which manifests itself in the establishment of superiority over other people in the expectation that others will behave in accordance with their interests. At the same time, the killers completely lack the need to reckon with other people, to take them into account. Similar results were found when comparing minors with the same types of antisocial behavior. When such a type of asocial behavior as prostitution was investigated (thesis by I. Volkova, 1994), it turned out that, in terms of the level indicators of aggression, the differences between female students and representatives of one of the most ancient professions were found precisely in the directive type of aggression, and among female students directivity is much higher. Thus, one cannot equate the severity of directive-type aggression and asocial behavior. Moreover, studies carried out among teachers and kindergarten teachers, whose behavior is absolutely social, show that their indicators are much higher.

Often, the level of aggression in persons with antisocial behavior is higher than with social behavior, but it was also revealed that the “share” of aggression in the behavioral repertoire is much more important than the absolute indicators of aggression. Schoolchildren of ordinary and elite schools, students of various universities, including the St. Petersburg Institute of Theology, teachers, doctors, kindergarten teachers, bank employees, lawyers, psychologists - all have a certain level of aggression. Someone has it higher, someone lower, but there were no such subjects for whom indicators of aggression were completely absent! And of course, as a rule, the difference between persons with antisocial and social behavior was not in the level indicators of aggression, but in its weight, in the volume and place that it occupies among other behavioral patterns.

Several studies of individuals with antisocial behavior have shown that there is a relationship between such behavior and impulsivity. Impulsivity is understood as behavior without first considering its consequences. Back in 1934, D. Guildford, within the framework of the factorial approach to the study of personality, was the first to single out the factor of impulsivity. Later, G. Eysenck undertook a special study of the factor structure of impulsivity on a large sample of subjects. Correlation of impulsivity with the main personality factors revealed that the impulsivity factor positively correlated with such factors as psychopathy and neuroticism, and was weakly associated with the extraversion factor. These data allowed G. Eysenck to consider the factor of impulsivity as carrying a high psychopathological tone, which can cause the emergence of asocial behavior. The conclusion of G. Eysenck was confirmed in a number of works by other researchers, who noted that pronounced impulsivity was closely correlated with various pathopsychological symptoms (hyperkinesis, etc.), as well as with a tendency to antisocial behavior regardless of age. So, in 1987 in the USA S. Hormuth conducted a study, during which 120 criminals (who committed crimes of various gravity), 90 soldiers and 30 workers were studied. The research was aimed at studying the influence of antisocial behavior, on the control of impulsive tendencies and on the personality in general. The results showed that criminals, compared to soldiers and workers, show less control of impulsive tendencies, are more aggressive, prone to depression and neurosis, and are more open and emotionally unstable.

However, not only foreign, but also some of our researchers noted that impulsivity is characteristic of those who commit asocial actions. Thus, a study conducted by V.P. Golubev and Yu.N. Kudryakov of persons who committed robberies and robberies showed that they are characterized by: impulsiveness, stuck affect (rigidity), a tendency to suspicion, rancor, aloofness, withdrawal into oneself, a desire for maintaining a distance between yourself and the world around you.

Studies carried out among criminals (murderers convicted of mercenary and violent crimes, thieves, thieves) conducted by Yu.M. Antonyan and others have shown that the leading personality traits of most of them are impulsivity, high aggression, antisociality, hypersensitivity to interpersonal relationships, alienation and maladjustment. The highest impulsivity with low self-control was observed in those convicted of mercenary and violent crimes.

One of the most recent studies of impulsivity and antisocial behavior was carried out in the framework of the diploma work of I. Yu. Vasilieva (2001). We studied adolescents with antisocial behavior (petty hooliganism, leaving home, a tendency to alcoholism) at the age of 15 in the amount of 60 people, equally divided by gender. As a result, it turned out that there were no significant sex differences in the level of impulsivity among the subjects. The study also showed that the impulsivity of adolescents with antisocial behavior is interconnected with such personality traits as aggression, directiveness, anxiety, egocentrism, high levels of tension, fear, a tendency to open aggressive behavior, hostility, high self-esteem, and high energy levels.

So, by asocial behavior we mean socially negative behavior that violates legal and generally accepted moral norms, related in content to the concept of “deviant behavior” (which, most likely, is more voluminous), characterized by a high probability of aggression in open behavior, its high specific weight among other behavioral patterns, unformed attitudes towards social cooperation, egoism, egocentrism and impulsivity.

Asocial personalities and their problems

"Sow character - reap fate"
(popular wisdom)

Let's try to consider a special group of people who are called "asocial personalities" (sociopaths). They are irresponsible, they have no morality, they are completely uninterested in other people. They have ugly behavior aimed solely at their own needs... Ordinary people already from early childhood know the norms of behavior and understand that sometimes it is necessary to sacrifice their own interests for the sake of the interests of another person, but not in the case of asocial personalities. They never take into account the interests or desires of other people, they only care about their own desire. They try to immediately satisfy their needs, no matter what.

It should be said that the term "asocial personality" does not apply to people who commit any antisocial actions. The reasons for asocial behavior, of course, can be criminal groups and some kind of criminal company, but there are people who are not able to control their impulses at all. Asocial personalities have no feelings for other individuals: no compassion for the pain they have caused, no remorse.

Another characteristic of an asocial personality is that they can lie easily, they get themselves excited, and do not change their behavior at all. After being punished, they sincerely ask for forgiveness and swear that they will never do this, but these are all just words. When meeting, they can most often be mistaken for an intelligent, attractive personality, they easily contact others. They can easily get a job, but, as a rule, they do not stay there for a long time, as they are betrayed by impulsiveness and irascibility. Such people do not sympathize with other people at all and do not show any interest in them, they have absolutely no sense of guilt and shame.

Currently, there are several groups of factors that form an asocial personality: biological determinants, parent-child relationships, and style of thinking.

The causes of antisocial behavior can be considered at the genetic level. For example, twin children are very likely to inherit criminal behavior.

In children with problematic behavior, mental disorders were identified, caused by the consequences of drug use by the mother, malnutrition during pregnancy, and so on. These children are irritable, impulsive, they are very active, and at school, as a rule, they are inattentive and lag behind their peers in school. Poor academic performance increases the risk of poor parental attitudes towards these children.

The third factor is the individual psychological characteristics of children. These children in relation to themselves expect only aggressive behavior and behave in the same way, moreover, such children believe that the aggression directed at them is not at all accidental.

Have you had any experience with pronounced sociopaths?