http://phys.org/news/2012-04-children-humanoid-robot-emotional-moral.html

Perhaps this explains why Tamogotchi were so popular; the kids thought of them as things with feelings.

It is interesting to contrast that behavior with the slavery found (until very recently) in nearly all human societies. E.g. we have modern Sudanese Arab slave owners, and in the past had, Roman, Greek, Jewish, Arab, Chinese, etc. slave owners.

. . .He’s not necessarily even aware what he’s thinking or feeling, because he’s not good at introspection. . . .

The impaired introspection could have an anatomical correlate: Brain regions relating to introspection identified.

Introspection also relates to how in-control you think you are over things, versus what you think others are doing to you (paranoia?) A recent report is that schizophrenia involves mistakes in determining when you are in control or if there is external control over something. (Here)(paywall). That’s an interesting paper: people were subject to a video game where they tried to click on x’s as they fell down the screen, but avoid the falling o’s. Sometimes the test subjects were in control over the screen display, sometimes there was a millisecond lag or some other distortion. Control, healthy subjects could recognize when they were in control and when the game was randomly distorted; schizophrenia patients had a tougher time recognizing “agency”: “. . .The patients, unlike the healthy controls, used only publically available external cues about performance in making judgements of ‘agency’ and did not rely on any additional access to internal self-relevant cues that were diagnostic in indicating whether or not they were, in fact, in control.”

If you go to a party, you’ll see women compulsively checking out other women, to see who is prettier, who is acting unacceptably slutty, etc. You’ll see women in cliques making catty comments about enemy women.

Are they doing that to avoid pain or to seek thrills? I suspect you are just seeing habits. Women see enemies and they feel fear/envy. In response to the emotions, they feel a compulsion to say something catty to their girlfriend(s), so they say it.

A narcissist goes out. He has the catty dialogue in his head, in a not-quite-conscious sort of way. He’ll appraise people (the way you’d appraise goods at a flea market) and then have an ongoing dialogue about how he’s better than everything else. He’s not necessarily even aware what he’s thinking or feeling, because he’s not good at introspection. He’s too busy making comparisons (and coming out on top) to notice what he’s doing.

I think a lot of the commenters at sociopathworld are a bunch of nuts living in their moms’ basement. I have no idea what’s wrong with them, but they seem very disturbed. I wouldn’t want to have anything to do with them.

I only referred you to that so you could see that those people are quite able to study others so that they can hurt them when they want to. So not only are they able to read peoples’ emotions, but they are good at “figuring out” people. That’s stunning and terrible: they “know” other people intimately and hurt them anyway.

. . .I can’t typically feel good without the contempt & hubris – the satisfaction that comes from that trumps all other sensations (e.g. eating a good meal, enjoying a spring breeze, etc). . .

Is this like an addiction? Is it like pain avoidance? Or is it more like dopamine hit/thrill seeking?

Incidentally, we noticed some remarks on Sociopath World that the sociopaths would like “empaths” to make more efforts to be around sociopaths. We don’t get that. Why would you want us around if we’re objects of contempt? (Making generalizations, not specifically “you”). Is it so that you (collective “you”) can feel good/not feel bad?

If I see a guy who is better dressed, or more jacked, or somehow better than me (e.g. he’s like me but younger), I get upset and engage in a bunch of rationalizations (e.g. he’s stronger but probably stupider).

That’s how a narcissist thinks. Fundamentally, there’s a huge amount of self-delusion going on:

* finding fault in others

* finding ways to excuse my own faults

* experiencing negative emotions (upon seeing my own faults or inferiorities) and trying to hide those from myself

I’ve got a much better sense of what I’m thinking about and how I’m spending my life, and I’m purposefully choosing to do different things.

Also, narcissists are disgusting hypocrites (dish it out but can’t take it), and malignant narcissists like myself are the worst (all that, plus cruel & paranoid – and able to endlessly justify their terrible behavior with “he made me do it”).

So it is no surprise that narcissists walk around being disgusted yet being awfully disgusting at the same time. That’s what self-delusion gets you.

I’m not sure narcissists suck at reading emotions. Here’s something to suggest some of them might be a bit better at it: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/beautiful-minds/201202/are-narcissists-better-reading-minds

If you read stuff like this, it is clear that these guys (the sociopaths, not narcissists) are really in to intentionally studying people so that they can hurt them when needed: http://www.sociopathworld.com/2012/04/confronting-sociopath.html