This guy could very well be a psychopath. Two of the criteria that mental health institutions screen for are starting fires and torturing animals.
The following is an excerpt from changing minds.org
The psychopathic personality is a particularly antisocial and predatory one. Characteristics include:
A high need for control.
Arrogant and confident sense of superiority and entitlement.
Easily bored, seeking stimulation and lacking fear.
No loyalty, empathy or concern for other people.
Callous use of lies, manipulation and other abuse.
No conscience, lacking guilt or remorse for anything they do, no matter how bad.
Cunning image management and shifting of blame.
Intelligent psychopaths use this in their manipulation of others. They typically at first appear charismatic and empathetic, although it is really just an act. In practice they are emotionally shallow and are far less sensitive than others to signs of fear, distress or disgust (and may feel nothing at all around this).
Although they are often manipulative, they can also be impulsive and lacking in self-control. As children, they may have been classed as delinquent and shown significant signs of bed-wetting, animal abuse or fire-starting.
Psychopathy expert Robert Hare, defines psychopaths as:
…social predators who charm, manipulate and ruthlessly plow their way through life … Completely lacking in conscience and feeling for others, they selfishly take what they want and do as they please, violating social norms and expectations without the slightest sense of guilt or regret.
Sources include:
Babiak, P. (1995). When Psychopaths go to Work: A Case Study of an Industrial Psychopath, Applied Psychology, 44, 2, 171-188
Babiak, P. and Hare, R.D. (2006). Snakes in Suits When Psychopaths Go To Work, HarperCollins, New York
Cleckly, H. C. (1941). The Mask of Sanity: An Attempt to Reinterpret the So-Called Psychopathic Personality. St. Louis, MO: Mosby
Hare, R.D. (1999). Without Conscience, The Guilford Press
Mullins-Sweatt et al. (2010).The Search for the Successful Psychopath, Journal of Research in Personality, 44, 4, 554-558.
Meffert, H., Gazzola, V., den Boer, J.A., Bartels, A.A.J. and Keysers, C. (2013). Reduced spontaneous but relatively normal deliberate vicarious representations in psychopathy, Brain, 136, 8, 2550-2562
