What Is the Difference Between a Psychopath and a Sociopath?

This is a very interesting question (I wrote a paper on it for my Abnormal Psychology class). If you look in the DSM IV, revised, the term psychopath is no longer used. It was discarded in favor of sociopath, and now it is called Anti-Social Personality Disorder. People with this disorder are reckless (they care little about their own safety or that of others, spend too much money, gamble too much, have unprotected sex even when they know they are infected, and so on). They also see everyone around them as fools and suckers, who are there expressly to be used and abused. They love lying and cheat at everything. They are extremely impulsive and lack long term goals or a life plan. They are insensitive to the suffering of others, and often are sadistic. In short, they are criminals, and our prisons are stuffed with them.
Since they crave adventure and new stimulation, they find it very difficut to work or to live in the same place for very long. They also have a very high incidence of drug abuse and alcoholism.
Psychopaths, on the other hand, like to adopt a false identity, a mask that hides their true nature. The BTK killer in Kansas was a prominent member of his church and cultivated the persona of a really decent guy. John Wayne Gacy also was known in the community (he worked as a clown and killed lots of boys). Ed Gein (look him up on the web – his crimes were unbelievable) lived in the same place all his life, and was rather shy and reticent. Countess Erzbet Bathory was an aristocrat in Hungary who kidnapped girls and bled them into a tub so she could bathe in their blood. (It was good for her complexion, so she said.) Gilles de Rais was a nobleman and a war hero in the 100 Year’s War. When the war ended he kidnapped lots of boys and disembowelled them for his sexual satisfaction.
Both these types are downright scary, and there are a lot of them: they constitute some 4% of the population (3% men and 1% of women). In our population of 280 million, that’s 11,200,000 people! And that’s just in the USA.