How Psychopaths Use the ‘Pity Play’
Be on guard if someone, especially a woman, tries to make you feel sorry for her. This may be a predatory ploy of a psychopath in disguise. The female psychopath is a master at invoking pity. As psychologist Martha Stout aptly says in her book, The Sociopath Next Door, “Beware of the pity play.”1 Psychopaths seduce others with the “pity play” Of course, there are truly people who deserve our pity. Unlike them, psychopaths play the pity game to further their own selfish interests. The psychopath, first and foremost, is calculating and shrewd, knowing full well how to blend into the landscape of society. Psychopaths have an uncanny way of “seducing other people, figuratively or literally,”2entertaining others with humor and charm that can be disarming. In addition, psychopathic females have an aptitude for sizing up people, which helps them identify potential victims. They will size you up sooner than you will size them up. Shabby dress and self-deprecating humor can be telltale signs My mother, who demonstrated high levels of psychopathic traits, chose to dress …
