“Psychopaths know the words, not the music,” Dr. Robert Shug, professor of forensic psychology at CSULB, said as he went through the characteristics of psychopaths during his presentation on psychopathy and serial homicide.
The presentation was hosted by the Cerritos College Psychology Club last Friday.
Dr. Shug was invited by the Psychology Club to give a presentation on psychopathy, a personality disorder, and how misconstrued people make it out to be.
Psychopaths are not what everyone makes them out to be.
Dr. Shug was able to get the crowd laughing, while discussing serious misconceptions of psychopaths and why this is important in the psychology field.
In his presentation, Dr. Shug went through the diagnostic criteria of psychopathy by listing common characteristics found in psychopaths. These characteristics are used to diagnose a person with psychopathy.
Dr. Shug presented information about myths and truths about psychopaths, video interviews with psychopathic murderers, how to treat psychopathy and his own personal experiences with diagnosing convicted murderer’s with psychopathy.
“I had a great time, I thought the students seemed very engaged. I think the people going into this profession will become experts to some degree in these concepts, and that comes with a certain responsibility in terms of treatment and how you can use these concepts to help people,” Shug said.
Shug feels that in order for students to be seen as scientific practitioners in the psychology field, they need to understand the intricate differences in the research.
According to Carlos Osorio, psychology club vice president, approximately 90 people showed up to the event.
With a five dollar entrance fee, Osorio was surprised with the turnout.
“I wasn’t expecting anything like this and I’m learning from events like this,” Osorio said.
Osorio explained that the psychology club’s goal is not just to help psychology majors with these events, but to help anyone who is interested in psychology.
Once the presentation was over, Dr. Shug began to answer questions from those who attended in which he was further able to explain how to use science to understand people.
Students felt that they benefited from the information given, such as Nathan Sayok, psychology major.
“It’s pretty interesting. It’s cool to learn about how many people can be psychopaths and that not all psychopaths are necessarily serial killers. I also learned that sociopathy is apparently not a thing,” Sayok said.
