Psychopathic behaviors can be traced back to Ancient Greek times, however; such behaviors did not become well known until about the 1870's. There has been a great discussion to whether such people are born with these acts or if it grows onto them. Through the late years of the 1900's, child upbringing and deprivation became a big problem. Many people choose to believe that psychopaths, murders, rapist, etc., are born with an instinct to harm people, but most behaviors developed through children who experienced a rough childhood. For instance, not only does a lack of childhood develop s behaviors, but had parents that took hold of your childhood as
This is one of the oldest arguments in the history of psychology. Each side indicates valid points, making it difficult to fully decide whether the motives of serial killers and criminals lie behind a subconscious intention routed from trauma over the course of their life, or if it is predisposed in their DNA. When nature and nurture outweigh other types of psychological trauma, a criminal can turn into a killer. These ideas can trigger psychopathic, sociopathic, and narcissistic behaviour (“Traumatic Experiences in Childhood and Psychopathy” 1). Analyzing these concepts help give probable reasoning for criminal actions.
A psychopath has always existed, for many, many years. They have existed in many forms and fashion so most people would never know who is a psychopath, until he or she has encountered one. Although there are four different types of psychopaths, they lack empathy for others and are incapable of feeling remorse for anything or anyone. Psychopaths view the world by, being selfish and not showing any concerns for the safety or welfare of others, they do not care about anyone even friends are family.
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,
“Psychopathy is a personality disorder characterized by an inability to form human attachment, aggressive narcissism, and antisocial behavior defined by a constellation of affective, interpersonal and behavioral characteristics, most of which society views as pejorative” [1]. Some of these characteristics include irresponsibility, grandiosity, cunning, deceitfulness, selective impulsivity, sexual promiscuity, lack of empathy, etc. People who are psychopathic display not only antisocial behavior but also emotional impairment such as the lack of guilt. They are able to prey on others using their charm, deceit, violence or any other methods that allow them to get what they want. A strong feature of most of the behavior
In “The Making of a Serial KIller” Dr. Berit Brogaard writes about the causes of psychopathy and studies done to determine them. The article goes in depth about if psychopathic tendencies are genetically determined or caused by social factors, such as a broken family. According to Brogaard, and many other studies, there is a large difference between psychotics and psychopaths. I believe that Brogaard’s article is nicely written and satisfactorily informed, although she does show insensitivity to minority groups.
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
Psychological factors also play a role in these disorders. According to Rosenberg and Kosslyn (2011), classical and operant conditioning do not seem to have the same effects for persons with psychopathic traits. If one is unable to learn from
Scientists who study psychopathic behaviors, otherwise known as psychopathologists, believe that there are two different kinds of models that lead towards psychopathy. This
Review of literature indicates that there have been, and still are sociopathic children who kill, and commit sadistic crimes in this world. Is it possible that such young people can develop sociopathic traits? This paper intends to prove so. Sociopathic children display certain archetypes that can either be taken as a warning, or something to go off of when getting the child help. Children who develop sociopathic traits at a young age can most likely be treated with the help of psychologists, and constant encouragement from parents. However, some children do not take to the treatment and do not feel empathy, or remorse to those around them. If these children are not treated for their behavior, problems are more than likely to
The field of forensic psychology is ever-changing as is the world around us. There is a persistent need to evaluate rules and procedures to keep up with the societal needs. A major area that is evolving within forensic psychology is the health care field and the usable technology. This new and advancing technology is allowing for the diagnosis of some very specific mental disorders, including the intriguing diagnosis of psychopathy. Until recently, very little research has provided conclusive evidence in makes a psychopath, a psychopath. Questions have been surfaced regarding the possibility of detecting psychopaths and preventing their trail of destruction
Of all the psychiatric disorders, none are more chilling to the world then the psychopaths and sociopaths. These two disorders, categorized as antisocial personality disorders, bring about the absolute worse people and killers that the world has ever known. The infamous serial killers, the people who do the unimaginable, were all psychopaths. The ability of these people to do what they do and know that what they are doing is wrong, is perhaps one of the most chilling and shocking characteristic of these people. Psychopaths and sociopaths are very often thought by most to be the same disorder, yet they are different when classified by many psychiatric researchers. The people classified as psychopaths and sociopaths are separated by one main difference, and that is if they were born with a lack of the ability to empathize or if they were affected as children in a traumatic environment. Although both of these horrible disorders derive from a different area, the reality is that they are unpredictable, undetectable and most importantly, they can be very dangerous.
Psychopaths are prevalent in almost every aspect of life. They are at school, in the office, and at the grocery store. People view psychopaths as socially removed and isolated, but many with psychopathic traits lead normal lives with their own quirks. Functional psychopathy has become more and more normalized, as it has been featured in different aspects of pop culture. Many people hope to break the stereotype associated with psychopathy in order for society to become more inclusive of mental disorders, and also to educate more people about psychopathic behavior through popular shows and movies.
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
This literature review focuses on serial killers from a psychological viewpoint while trying to answer the question, “Are serial killers born to kill or are they bred to kill?” Firstly, this review will define a serial killer and the different kinds of killers, then it will take a look at different case studies of children who fantasized about mass killing and identify similarities between the cases attempt to find a way to possibly prevent their fantasies from becoming reality. The debate of nature vs. nurture is also discussed as psychologists and researchers come to the conclusion that environmental factors play a bigger role in the developmental character of a person than genetics, but there is still no definite answer as to why some individuals grow up with the urge to murder other people and/or animals.
Sociopathy is a definitive wayward behavior that is considered to be strayed from the norm. Sociopaths are understood to behave in ways that are out of the ordinary or outside of the acceptable norm (Eiseberg, 1995). In essence, sociopaths are overbearingly preconditioned to perform excesses of certain behaviors. Sociopaths often fall under the category of moral outlaws (Joana & Abigail, 2014). Psychologists have noted that psychopathic tendencies are inert. They can be triggered by brutal upbringing, or life-threatening or -changing experiences (Marsh, 2013). For a trait that is so mystifying, it leaves to ask, how are sociopaths created? How do people with this trait get to become this way? A major theme of this literature review finds that there are still large gaps of understanding when it comes to the clinical study of what makes a sociopathic mind work.