Dr. Berit Brogaard Response Essay

This essay aims to examine weather serial killers are born a certain way and their genetics define their psychotic tendencies or whether they're a product of a bad environment that they grew up. This essay looks at recent killings in the late 20th century as there is more information on the killers from this period and it's easier to gain details about their childhoods. Whilst I will look at various different killers to reach more rounded conclusions (see appendix for comparison table), this essay will focus on four in detail to examine the debate; Ted Bundy (1946-89), Jeffery Dahmer (1960-1994), John Wayne Gacy (1942-1994) and Gary Ridgway (1949-present).

One of the first things that come to people’s minds when they hear the word psychopath is Ted Bundy. Bundy spent most of the 1970’s killing 30 or more young woman who happened to resemble his ex-girlfriend in some way. The exact time and number of Bundy’s kills will likely never be known. Ted Bundy is what is considered a successful psychopath. Psychopathy is a form of antisocial personality disorder (ASPD). Not every person with ASPD is a psychopath, but every psychopath has ASPD. No one knows exactly what causes this disorder, but there has been some speculation over the decades. The two main ideas is that an genetic influence causes psychopathy or an environmental influence causes psychopathy. The neurotransmitter MAOA has been linked to several brain structural differences in the brains of a psychopath when compared to the brain of a non-psychopathic person. Multiple studies have linked childhood abuse to the psychopathy development. Both of these causes have been shown to influence psychopathy development but it is my hypothesis that genetics hold

In an article called “The Traits of A Serial Killer,” by Simon (2004), psychopaths are not “created” over night, but rather their behavior can be connected all the way to their childhood. What trauma a child experiences plays a major role in the rest of his or her life. A serial killer, most of the time,

Genetics do play a part in psychopathic tendencies, but also the environment you grow up in and what you are exposed to plays a role in it as well. For example, Ted Bundy. Crime Feed Staff (2015) discovered many troubling details about the way he grew up. He lived a childhood full of lies. He grew up thinking that his birth mother was his sister and that his grandparents were his parents only later to learn that his sister was actually his mother and that his grandfather was possibly his father making him a product of incest. There were many things that Bundy did as a child that showed his strange attraction to violence (p.1). Bundy was exposed to pornography as a young age and became addicted, he needed to fuel his addiction and his fantasies became so unbearable he turned it into his reality. Dr. Al Carlisle, the psychologist who evaluated Ted Bundy, concluded that “Because they have painful memories from abuse, disappointment, humiliation, frustration, or being bullied, they have turned to fantasies

Psychopathy is an umbrella term that is both wide and varied. Much like the spectrum of light, there are numerous groups and subcategories. In this spectrum is Anti- Social Personality Disorder (referred to as ASPD in this essay); this condition unlike psychopathy is a recognized disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (referred to as the DSM). The term psychopathy and psychopath is used in both the media and everyday use as a disorder but this is untrue. Unlike a disorder, psychopathy is more of a series of traits that all individuals have. ASPD and psychopathy are used interchangeably in society, but the diagnosis for ASPD and psychopathy are quite different. Though similar in numerous ways, there are some key

When we look at how fragile each one of our lives are, we need to take a minute and realize the different characteristics that form us into who we are today. Studies have shown that there are characteristics within the behavior of an individual that can be linked to the specific behaviors demonstrated by an offender that would classify them as a psychopath. Along with other research that looks into an individual’s genetics to see if that plays a role in defining or making a psychopath. John Allen Muhammad, also known as the D.C. sniper, was labeled as a psychopath when he terrorized D.C. for two weeks, taking thirteen victims and killing ten of them. This paper will go over the behaviors that constitute psychopathy, and the behaviors that

Scientists who study psychopathic behaviors, otherwise known as psychopathologists, believe that there are two different kinds of models that lead towards psychopathy. This

Serial killers have always fascinated society because no one knows how they come to be. People tend to think that being a psychopath is the same as being a serial killer. The acts committed by serial killers are too heinous and horrifying for a normal person to understand. Which is where one of the theories of how serial killers came to be came from. Nature vs. Nurture has been a topic of debate when it comes to serial killers for centuries. The debate is about whether genetics or environment factors determine the behavior and personality of a person. Just like hair color is determined by genetics, Those who argue genetics are the main factor in behaviour believe that genetic determines a person’s ability to take life without guilt or remorse. Those who are the believers of nurture side disagrees by stating that environmental factors like family, faith, and society regulate one’s capability to take life without remorse. Society needs to refrain from thinking that serial killers are born because they are made through psychological trauma caused by abuse at an early age or brain damage.

There have been many studies conducted in the hopes of determining what makes serial killers do what they do. The study behind nature versus nurture when it comes to serial killers has become one of the most important studies for many social psychologists due to the curiosity behind these interesting people’s actions. From these studies, some have concluded that nature is behind their behavior, suggesting that their genes and DNA are to blame. Others argue that their actions are due to how they were brought up and how their environment impacted them. And lastly, there a few psychologists who have determined that it is a combination of both nature and nurture.

The first expalantion that comes to mind is that many serial killers and mass murderes share the similarity of having an unstable or abusive childhood. Research has validated that people who are exposed to violent behavior or experience it in an early age are often predisposed to acting out agressively later on in life. This also enables children to have great difficulty in emphatizing or connecting with other people resulting in complicated social communication. However, not every single murderer or serial killer is brought up in a rough childhood. Some murderes might have even grew up in a stable family environment with luxuries that "typical" killers do not even have. An important question to ask is whether or not genetics play a substantial

Michael H. Stone in The Anatomy of Evil states that there are several factors that influence a serial killer’s behavior. The factors that may influence behavior are presented in a nature versus nurture model with occasional factors falling into a category of mixed and/or unknown origins (201). The factors that Stone considers to pertain to an individual’s natural environment include mental illness that is coupled with psychosis, schizophrenia, manic-depression, autism, and Aspergers Syndrome. Also included in the list of natural factors are mental illnesses without psychosis such as ADD and ADHD, alcoholism, epilepsy, and an inordinate sexual drive (201). Personality disorders are considered to be inherent to an individual and are therefore considered to be a part of an individual’s natural environment; personality disorders include being antisocial, psychopathic, schizoid, sadistic, paranoid, and/or impulsive-aggressive (201). Stone identifies nurture factors as parental physical/sexual/verbal abuse, parental abandonment and/or neglect, the loss of a parent, absence of a father, separation and/or divorce of the parental unit before the child is 16, and brain disease or damage (201). The factors that Stone considers to be attributed to mixed or unknown origins include paraphilia, juvenile delinquency, substance abuse, alcoholism, conduct disorders that are committed in childhood, animal torture and arson,

The thought of murder and serial killers is a frightening topic. It is often wondered what leads these serial killers to doing such dreadful things. After an extensive amount of research done by psychologist it has been determined that they are lead to these horrible acts because of certain personality traits, the way they were raised, and mental illness. First and foremost is the certain personality traits and characteristics these murderers have that could be an indication of their actions. One important characteristic is high intelligence, as many organized serial killers are known to have above average IQs.

When you hear the words sociopath or psychopath you usually know right away that the person with that disorder is a killer and needs to be put away in jail. But have you ever wondered where that disorder comes from. Research shows that psychopath tends to be the result of genetics. Studies have shown that a psychopath usually has an underdeveloped brain that is responsible for impulse control and emotions. Sociopathy tends to come from a childhood trauma or some type of physical, emotional abuse, which is why sociopath is more of an environment disorder. When a sociopath commits a murder, it is usually a disorganized event or its rather spontaneous than planned. A sociopath can be really attached to a group or an individual which makes them dangerous because they have no regard for society or its rules. When it comes to the crimes of a psychopath they tend to be planned and they always have a contingency plan in place. Another major difference between a sociopath and a psychopath is that a psychopath is always cool and calm unlike a sociopath. This allows a psychopath to leave few clues when it comes to authorities investigating the crimes. When it comes to society psychopaths are more dangerous than sociopath. The reason for that is that psychopaths have no guilt when it comes to them committing their crimes. When committing a crime, they suffer no emotional repercussions and that allows them to continue with murdering people.

When most people hear the word psychopath their mind forms a picture of a wild-eyed, rambling, lunatic who is often restrained in a straitjacket. The media has helped this belief along the way with slasher horror films and grisly CSI episodes depict these strange humans. However, the average psychopath is much harder to spot than most people believe. In fact, most of them are extremely difficult to distinguish from ordinary humans. They outwardly appear normal and many do not find it difficult to blend into common society. They can interact with others, hold successful jobs, and effectively keep themselves out of trouble. Most are not the sadistic killers many people think they are. Psychopaths are people born with problems (Bartol 105) or

Thus we find that there are many arguments and opinions about whether a serial killer is born a killer because of bio-psychological