Most people are surprised by this truth about psychopaths

So people who are highly psychopathic genuinely don't care about other people's welfare. That doesn't mean they can't be nice sometimes, and this is one of the most tricky things about psychopathy. People have a stereotype that people who are psychopathic are going to look obviously deranged, obviously malign.

Right, and you think about characters like Hannibal Lector, you think about the Joker, or you think about Voldemort, all of whom have excellently depicted and portrayed psychopathic personalities. Clearly, none of them seem like they might actually be a nice person, and you can't really tell either way.

That's not the reality of psychopathy. People who are psychopathic actually have a very narrow set of differences compared to other people. They can often appear to be sort of even supernormal, very charming, very kind even.

Because if you want to get things out of other people, if you want to manipulate them, if you want them to do what you want them to do, one of the best ways to do that is to be really nice.