The Sociopath Next Door: The Ruthless Versus The Rest Of Us

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of mental illness and emotional abuse.

“No other diagnosis raises such politically and professionally incorrect questions, and ASPD, with its known relationship to behaviors ranging from spouse battering and rape to serial murder and warmongering, is in some sense the last and most frightening psychological frontier.”

Stout introduces the subject of ASPD with a dramatic tone and a sense of urgency that speaks to what she considers to be a major issue plaguing human society. She uses parallelism to emphasize the many ways in which people with ASPD can harm others and then puts a twist on the old adage “the last frontier” to explain how mysterious and mystifying this disorder can be. Stout appeals to pathos (emotion), particularly fear, by calling the study of this disorder “frightening.”

“Why have a conscience?”

Stout raises this rhetorical question early in the book and explores it throughout. A key theme for Stout is The Importance of Conscience in Human Interaction, and she urges the readers to consider the practical and moral purposes of conscience and how it adds meaning to their lives. Because the conscience is something most people take for granted, understanding its value requires effort and heavy reflection. The minimalistic phrasing of the question creates a sense of universality, as if the question could be posed to anyone, in any