ABSTRACT
Sociopathy refers to a cluster of characteristics associated with the chronic occurrence of antisocial behaviors. Although this term has been and continues to be used interchangeably with psychopathy, there is a movement in psychiatry to subsume both terms under the diagnostic category, Antisocial Personality Disorder (DSM-II, American Psychiatric Association, 1968; DSM-III, American Psychiatric Association, 1980). However, given the frequency of current usage of sociopathy relative to the other synonymous concepts, this term is used throughout the chapter.
