@DrALJONES ...sounds plausible to anyone who has met a teenager before.
Teens can be a pain in the ass, but psychopathic traits? Not the kids I'm around.
@marq @DrALJONES Do you remember what it was like to be a kid? Most of the now well-adjusted adults I know were *absolute psychopaths* while under the influence of puberty hormones and daily endless crushing peer pressure.
Maybe my parents got something right because myself and my friends didn't exhibit psychopathic traits. My teens don't, either.
Saying the normal attitudes and behaviors of adolescents involves psychopathy is frankly disturbing, if that's where you're going with this.
@marq Yes, that's pretty much where I'm going with it. Teenagers, especially boys, are in a period of their life where they're encouraged to push limits by their peers, while simultaneously they don't have fully-developed senses of empathy. That leads to behaviour that can easily be described as "psychopathic". That's why the cruelest bullying and harassment and trolling comes from teenagers, and so many are involved in mass shootings. It's a trope as old as time (see Lord of the Flies).
It's not an absolute; not all teens follow this pattern. But I'd argue such behaviour is far more common in teens than adults, and that many outgrow it as their sense of empathy develops.
@LouisIngenthron
"A Clockwork Orange" springs to mind.
I feel lucky. I do remember peers acting like that, but they weren't my friends.