Abnormal psychology and the study of psychopaths Essay

Being raised in this society, we subconsciously study human behavior so we can understand one another on an effort to conform in this way I believe we are all psychologists. As a social species, the lives of human beings revolve around the exchanges we have with one another, so obviously an interest in people and their conduct is a natural curiosity. For some, the insight into the human psyche is only as deep as their own experience, but for me the exposure to psychology provided by everyday life is not enough. The human mind is too intricate of a puzzle to be left unsolved. I wish to seek a greater understanding of this fundamental part of our nature. Due to the unpredictability of society and the adaptability of human behavior, there are no fixed theories in psychology. This means that there will always be something new to study, analyze, and modify in this field. I find this dynamism both exciting and interesting.
The branch of psychology that I find especially fascinating is abnormal psychology and the study of psychopaths. Psychopaths aren't much different from everyone else, and often many go on living their lives undetected. They, however, have one thing missing empathy. Empathy is the trait required to be raised with morale. As kids, we are told not to hurt others. Each time we hurt someone, that person's pain becomes our pain, and we start to associate our vicarious pain with harming others. Violence, consequently, starts to feel intrinsically bad. Helping others, on the other hand, makes you feel their happiness and that feels good. If we were to lack empathy, this would never happen. Psychopaths are numb to emotions such as fear and distress. During a community service event over the summer at a nursing home, I had the opportunity to meet with a clinically diagnosed psychopath. He had been through many clinical trials to test his response to unpleasant stimuli and each trial concluded that he had little to no reaction to any of the said stimuli. What was most striking to me about this acquaintance, was how charming and welcoming he was. After further research on this topic, I learned that psychopaths do not simply have no empathy, rather they can control whether to use it or not. Could this be a mutation in the gene that will eventually, through natural selection, be common amongst all humans? This ability to turn off one's emotion and essentially humanity, after all, does have clear evolutionary benefits like for example if you need to defend your family from an attack, you cannot afford to empathize with your killer. Psychologists are still unsure of how some people can simply 'choose' to not have any emotions.
Psychology is a fairly new science but a very dynamic one. For this reason I wish to major in psychology, so I can enhance my knowledge of this subject and play a part in the discovery of all the unknown aspects of the complex human brain.