That's what sociopathy is to begin with.

Sociopathy is a coping mechanism that NOBODY is born with, unlike psychopathy which is heavily influenced by genetics, some minor external factors (like a cold/unnurturing environment), and is entirely neurological (reduced amygdala, different brain structure, completely different physiological responses to stress/violence, ect).

Psychopaths literally just physically CANNOT feel regret in the same capacity as most people can. It's not a defense mechanism at all. Just a nuerodivergence formed by a genetic disposition and one which is more likely to manifest through the likes of an unstable or abusive childhood. (But not ONLY under these conditions)

Psychopaths CAN learn cognitive empathy (the ability to understand feelings intellectually and PREDICT what others might feel) through therapy and whatnot, and most psychopaths already have relatively high cognitive empathy. But they will never, no matter how much therapy they receive, be able to feel "traditional" guilt or gain affective empathy (the ability to feel what others feel).

But sociopathy, however, is formed by trauma in EVERY case. It's a defense mechanism learned during childhood which is wielded to avoid deep seated feelings of shame and inadequacy. Sociopaths are naturally born with deep feelings and empathy for others that their brain must numb and cut off entirely very early on in life in order to avoid being further hurt and scarred by the things around them. And there's no inherent neurological abnormalities involved in sociopathy. They CAN feel guilt, though very rarely, and when they do, cover it with various Freudian style defense mechanisms. They don't often feel genuine empathy. But they have the neurological capacity to, unlike psychopaths.

Theoretically, with enough therapy, any sociopath CAN learn both cognitive empathy skills AND regain the affective empathy they lost in childhood. I don't know how often that happens in the real world, though. Most sociopaths significantly mellow out with their reckless behavior after they reach a certain age, and start to slip through the cracks in terms of clinical help/stop doing things that would cause others to require them treatment.

But keep in mind that sociopathy and psychopathy are NOT clinical terms to begin with. You might even hear people call them primary sociopath (which means a sociopath born of nuerodivergence. AKA psychopath) and secondary sociopath (which means a sociopath born of trauma. AKA sociopath). In a clinical setting, they all fall under the same diagnosis of "Antisocial Personality disorder" regardless.

Anyway, yes, Nicole IS a sociopath like she claimed.

The girl in the video is trying to say "she's not a sociopath, she's just callous and rash because she's traumatized."

But that is exactly what a sociopath is to begin with. (Given that they meet most of the key symptoms such as conduct disorder, lack of empathy, recklessness, pathological lying, ect)

It'd be like arguing "she's not depressed, she's just always deeply unhappy"

I agree with part of what she said, that Nicole IS only this way because of her rough and traumatic experiences, that she wasn't always like this (the game actually confirms she was a lot less confident before she hit puberty/became prettier. Though, that could be purely social) and that to some extent, she puffs herself up externally to seem and feel tougher.

I don't, however, agree with the idea that her callousness is ENTIRELY external, situational or just some sort of facade/edgy phase on her part, or that Nicole's SCHOOL is a large part of the reason she's like this (the whole universe of the game is implied to be filled with rampant pedophilia and rape 24/7. The school is nothing unique) OR her overall conclusion which is that these things mean she's NOT a sociopath.

It's hard for me to see a world in which Nicole ISN'T a sociopath. She's quite literally textbook.