“The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) has various characteristics [of sociopaths], but one of the most crucial things you see is the superego lacuna, which is a term for a gap in the superego. It helps to conceptualize how an area of conduct can be outside of the internalized morality of an individual,” says Dr. Caroline Blackman Coakley, a psychiatrist trained in talk therapy and medication management. “This means that [sociopathic] people have no conscience. The ‘shoulds’ don’t exist. The moral codes that guide the rest of us don’t apply to them, either.”