Sociopath or Narcissist? Here’s How to Tell the Difference

The Subtle Differences Between A Narcissist And A Sociopath

Afshara
2 min readNov 8, 2022
Photo by Mohamad Khosravi on Unsplash

When it comes to narcissists they

  • are self-centred
  • could experience regret or empathy
  • uses people to boost their ego
  • emphasis on appearing successful
  • are anxious about other’s opinion

On the other hand, Sociopaths

  • takes pleasure in manipulating people
  • are anti-social
  • have legal and personal problems because of their actions
  • has no compassion and respect for others

When it comes to differentiating narcissists and sociopaths, it is important to consider a key factor which is the “motivations behind their actions”.

For example, narcissists employ scheming, complementing and other types of manipulation tactics to boost their ego and provide them with a sense of importance. As narcissists are egoistic, they only consider themselves as important. This is why they don’t think twice to hurt other people and use them as collateral damage to have personal gains.

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Afshara

Ph.D. (Management)| Educator | Content Writer | Writing about things that intrigue my curious mind | https://beacons.ai/afshara17