Chris Wattts is a narcissist. He was a selfish man who thought only of himself.
Chris Watts is a sociopath. He showed no remorse, and no emotion.
This seems to be the expert consensus by mainstream pundits. Dr. Phil said it. Lena Derhally said it. Catherine Townsend, expert Private Investigator, said it. That must mean that’s precisely who Watts is – a sociopathic narcissist.
True Crime Rocket Science disagrees with this assessment as crude and simplistic. What it shows is a facile disregard for the details. That’s not a defense of Watts, by the way. Saying he’s not a narcissist or a sociopath isn’t rushing to his defense. Watts and only Watts committed stone cold premeditated triple murder, and also destroyed the life of his unborn child. But almost two years later, when so many have spent so much time regurgitating the Watts case, recycling the same tired aphorisms, it’s perhaps also time to think a little more scientifically about the case, including about the psychology. And criminal psychology isn’t the same as psychology. Criminal psychology and psychology aren’t interchangeable.
On the surface, if you don’t know this case very well, the narcissistic sociopath or “covert narcissist” seems like an elegant sounding fit. It’s a great label, innit? It is a really elegant fit if you know very little about Watts, and even less about Shan’ann Watts.
If Watts was so selfish, why didn’t he go to trial like 99.9% of other high-profile criminals, and do what he does best – lie and pretend and play at being Mr. Nice Guy? If narcissists are identifiable by the key trait of lying, why did Watts admit – ultimately – to all the charges against him? Why did he admit the truth ultimately, telling investigators where the bodies were, and eventually confessing to their murders too? Isn’t he supposed to be a habitual liar? I mean, look at OJ, Scott Peterson, Casey Anthony – all of whom were partying up a storm right until the moment they were arrested. All of them went to trial and pled not guilty. Is Chris Watts exactly like them? Are they exactly like Chris Watts? Then why didn’t he go to court, roll the dice and put on a smug, conceited defense?
If Watts is a prototypical narcissist, why was this murder trial wrapped up in super quick time? And before you knew it, Watts was in prison, and had turned to God for redemption, seeking forgiveness. Why would he turn to God if he didn’t feel bad about anything he’d done? Whether you believe that’s genuine or not, that’s completely different from someone never pleading guilty, and never asking for forgiveness, and never pretend-turning to God.
If Watts had no emotion, why did he need to become standoffish before committing murder. And if he had no feelings, why did he commit the crime while he was in love?
The experts will tell you Watts is a selfish, self-centered, self-involved man who thought only of himself. Those who knew Watts, inside the family, and as friends, knew him as a considerate dad who did his family’s laundry, gave away his paycheck, babysat, even did his children’s hair. His wife, at the time of her murder, wanted to stay married to him, wanted to have his child and so did his mistress. His mother in law and father in law liked him up until the moment he committed murder.
Errr. which “personality type” are we talking about her?
It feels good to separate Watts from ourselves. He’s bad, has zero emotion and is a monster with a particular personality trait and disorder. We’re fine of course, and nothing like him. When we’re on our phones, and on social media, we are still very sensitive to the world around us, and not a narcissistic bone in our bodies. Well, except…
Is There a Link Between Sociopathy and Social Media?
It seems you’re hesitant to criticize Shannan Watts, but you do seem to hint at her culpability in what ultimately happened to the Watts family. Although there is no excuse for Chris Watts’ choice to annihilate his family, if one truly wants to understand why this tragedy occurred, Shannan’s personality and behavior must be addressed. Because of her exorbitant social media presence, we have more evidence of her personality and the dynamic of their relationship than in most cases. A good place to begin is by researching Histrionic Personality Disorder.
Um. you don’t know shanann watts. Amazing how strangers that observe from afar blame the victim. Unbelievable! There are many cases where men annihilate their family to start a new life somewhere else. They have a narcissistic personality disorder/ anti personality disorder . The Chris watts case isn’t an unusual. There has been many cases. There was one off the top of my head where a quiet meek mild accountant murdered his wife, mother and 4 of his children. He did it one by one as they came home. He disappeared and changed his name. They found him 20 years later. Remarried and everyone in his community thought he was a lovely man. He was diagnosed with ocd and narcissistic disorder. Just because Chris comes across as this meek and mild guy doesn’t mean he has the capacity to love or have empathy for people. Chris himself said that he was happy in his marriage and nikki came along and he felt with all the attention and idolisation he was getting from this new woman he can discard the old . Shanann and the children served a purpose. He had the image of perfect husband and father. The nice guy image is so important to Chris. But with a blink of an eye he can switch off his attention he had for his family and refocus on someone new and become obsessed. He was obsessed with shanann to begin with. While people want to focus on the fact that shanann was that type A personality type like it’s a negative. Everyone that knew them said it just worked. The dynamics between them just worked. Chris likes that personality type. But he doesn’t know how to love. People are just objects to him. His children lost their value once nikki said she didn’t want to be involved with a man with a ready made family. To him murdering them was a easy solution and now he can focus on nikki and start a new life.
Also I forgot to mention that the reason I think he didn’t want to go to trial is because of the shame. He had crafted this perfect image and now people see him for what he is. O.J is a psychopath. Even though he knew he murdered he also knew that he had money to get good lawyers and he had admiration from fans. Scott Peterson did have a good chance of being found not guilty as they didn’t have a lot. He still holds out hope. And Casey Anthony well we don’t know exactly what her diagnoses is. She wasn’t concerned about her image. She seemed to seek attention . I don’t think a girl image was really what concerned her.
Chris was the golden child while growing up. He could do no wrong. That was his worth as a human being is this good man image. Chris at the time of the murders thought he could manipulate people into believing that shanann just went off with the kids in a huff and to be never seen again.didn’t understand human emotions. Her family and friends wouldn’t just except it and move on with their lives like she didn’t matter. Just because shanann lost her value to him doesn’t mean she meant nothing to everyone else but when you are a narcissist you only see your own point of view. He even took shanann’s wedding ring off her hand and put it on the dresser to indicate she has left him. But the police were alerted early thanks to Nicole and everything unravelled. Shanann phone , wallet, bag , her everyday walking shoes , kids epipens , car along with kids car seats were all still at the house. Neighbours security camera also made Chris look guilty as he was the only one to leave the house. Chris failed his lie detector test. So the police gave him a way out. Did shanann do something to the kids? Putting it out there that she had murdered the kids and Chris murdered shanann. It sort of fitted into his nice guy image still. The police only concern was to firstly recover the bodies. So Chris gave them what they wanted. Chris knew the gig was up. He is now trying to show everyone that he is a man of god now. Back to proving he is this nice guy still that just made a mistake. He wouldn’t do this again. Even his lawyers said that to him apparently. It must be the devil that took over him. It was nikki fault that she seduced him. It was everyone’s fault but his. He even blamed on shanann by saying she said she would take away the kids. So that would cause him to then murder his kids so he never see him again? But within all the lies there are nuggets of truth. When he was with nikki while shanann and the girls were away he never thought of them. They didn’t exist to him. Nikki was giving him loads of narcissistic supply and so he was thinking of upgrading. After all the woman shanann was a wealthy woman when he first met her and now they are facing bankruptcy. Money and image was important to Chris.