Serial Killers: Nature Vs. Nurture Debate

One of the oldest debates in the history of Psychology is about Nature versus Nurture. Today, we know that both play a significant role in human’s life. Some people believe that it is genes which affects our way of life and some people believes that it is none other but our environment that greatly influences our lifestyle and some believe that both has tremendous impact on one’s way of life. Indeed in certain cases both our nature (our genes) and our environment roughly play an equal role in human life.

Ever heard of the zodiac killer? He was a serial killer who operated in northern California in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The killer's identity remains unknown. The Zodiac murdered victims in 5 states between December 1968 and October 1969. The general profile for a serial killer is a person who commits a series of murders, often with no apparent motive and typically following a characteristic, predictable behavior pattern. There are many types of serial killers. There are natural born killers who are born willing to kill someone, insane killers which have mental and physical disorders and criminaloids who do not exhibit specific traits. The childhood of a serial killer would typically be someone who is neglected by their family mainly their mothers. They tend to be antisocial and have anger issues. Poor families often cannot provide what the child always wants so they might commit crimes to get want they want. Abused children have a higher chance of being killers also because they have a lot of built up aggression and anger. All can lead to substance abuse which is never a good thing to mix in with a potential serial killer in the making. General behavioral progression from pre-crime to post-crime are that they use killing as a source of relief. Before committing a serious crime they could have built up anger and hatred. They is a high possibility that they are suffering from depression and anxiety too. After killing someone the killer feels relieved. They also feel

A serial killer is a person who kills multiple people in a certain manner, this might include raping, shooting, stabbing, choking, etc. Richard Trenton Chase, most known as “The Vampire of Sacramento” was an American, male serial killer who was responsible for the death of six people within a month in Sacramento, California. He was given the nickname of “vampire”; he was known for drinking his victims blood and even eat the remains. He was also guilty for going around neighborhoods and trying to open unlocked doors, claiming unlocked doors represented an invitation for the murderer to go in. It was also stated that he had a disturbing childhood which led him to become a sadistic and mental killer, also the cause for developing hypochondria

While watching the news a report comes in that a serial killer has been brought down and arrested. Later, a group of news reporters come up and start  talking about how this serial killer got his infamous past, killing five people in gruesome ways. One of the news reporters stated that this man become a serial killer because he was mentally handicapped due to his genes when another reporter states that it was due to the abusive environment the serial killer was in during childhood. These two reporters got into such a huge argument that the channel had to go to a break to cool them down.  These two reporters believe that they are right and the other is wrong, but what if both of them were right at the same time. The Nature vs Nurture debate all started at 1869 by the man named Francis Galton, where he proclaim the question  was human action due to the environment or genes of a human being. This argument has always been black or white, that it could only be  Nurture or  Nature. While this was true during the time, further research has shown that it is not just one but both looking through all the evidence. Human action is affected both by the environment and genes because of epigenetics and  evolution.

One of today's greatest areas of controversy in the study of human behavior is the nature-nurture debate. The nature argument is that human behavior is determined by our inheritance or genetic structure. The nurture argument is that human behavior is the result of learning and experience from outside factors such as family, religion, media and peers. A question that has been long debated by psychologist and criminologist is whether a serial killer has a weird fate to be a killer or inherently got passed these “evil genes”. This is so controversial because this is what is argued when convicting someone innocent or guilty. Is someone truly guilty of a crime if they are born with a mental illness? It's hard to understand what drives

“I don’t feel guilty for anything. I feel sorry for people who feel guilt.” Those are famous words of Ted Bundy. A serial killer. A serial killer according to the dictionary is a person who murders three or more people, usually due to an abnormal sense of gratification.

The term serial killer, as defined by Robert Ressler (1974), refers to a person who commits a series of murders, often with no apparent motive and typically following a characteristic and predictable behaviour pattern. Commonly used terms like sociopath and psychopath are no longer

nurture one would need to look at how the killer killed. When the serial killers victim is found the descriptions are not for the light stomachs. All serial killers have motives or certain actions that they perform with each crime for a certain reason. It makes them feel like it is their own world that they created in the environment where they are invincible. “At the time of his arrest, there was a human head found in his refrigerator, as well as a human heart and a biceps, which he planned on eating later.

Serial killers can be born pure with the same mindset as any other baby in the world, their upbringing in the world makes all the difference of who they will become in the near future. Although many people believe serial killers are born, it is their environment that shapes them into who they will become when they grow into adults.

Though wild children are not the only cases that bring up the nature versus nurture debate. According to the text, Psychology, authors Ciccarelli and Meyer state that the debate is “quite important. Are people like Hitler, the infamous serial killer Ted Bundy, and Timothy McVeigh (the man responsible for the Oklahoma bombing of the Federal Building) the results of bad genes? Or was it bad parenting or life-altering experiences in childhood?”

The debate over nature vs. nurture has been researched and studied today and as well in the past amongst many different scholars with different views. Nature defines the characteristics that we are born with, like our genetics, stable personality traits, and physical conditions. While on the other hand, nurture is when our environment determines who a person is and who they will become; the experiences that mold and change us throughout our lives are all examples of nurture. Today, within many types of research it has been proven that a person is not born as a killer, instead, they are nurtured into one considering the way their parents raise them, what they are taught at school, and their culture. (Examination of the Psychology of Serial Killers,

For centuries Stories about Serial killers have graced the covers of newspapers and magazines. Famous stories like “Jack The Ripper” and Edward “Ed” Gein, which influenced many popular films such as Psycho and The Silence of the Lambs. There are so many questions surrounding this topic one being: Nature versus Nurture? Is this need to kill a simply male completion in an effort to show status and be “The Alpha Male”? If this is true then why are there Female serial killers? Or is this just natures survival of the “fittest” like animals “kill or be killed”? Ultimately can this be broken down to a scientific explanation? Darwin’s theory of evolution of certain genetic traits that

Controversy arises when nature (inheritance) is combated against nurture (environment). This controversy began with the development of the behavioristic point of view. “Behaviorism arose as a protest against all form of “introspective psychology,” which was concerned with mental states such as consciousness and will”(Plomin 3). It led to an environmentalism that rejected the possibility of genetics influences on behavior. The burden of explaining individual differences fell completely to environmental factors. Genetics involve genes, which are chemical structures that control the production of proteins, thereby indirectly affecting

Scientists still agree that biology does play a part in human behavior, however. Nature and nurture do not oppose each other in every manner. Today, social scientists hesitate to choose one or the other. As humans, life depends solely on the operating of the body. This is seen especially in children. It is obvious that children share their biological traits, such as hair or eye color, with that of their parents. Heredity also plays a part in their intelligence, how artistic they are, and their overall personality. We all have “potential” inheritances, in which their full development depends on how we are all raised. Both sides

The major that I have declared here at Washburn University is Psychology. Psychology is the scientific study of the human mind and behavior. For years’ psychologist have researched and studied what factors influence development and behavior. One of the oldest and most talked about debates in the history of Psychology is the Nature versus Nurture argument. This debate goes back as far as the early Greeks but the phrase was first coined in 1871 by Sir Francis Galton. (Lewis) The controversial debate focuses on whether behavior, culture, and personality are mainly influenced by nature or nurture. According to Kendra Cherry, “Nature refers to all of the genes and hereditary factors that influence who we are—from our physical appearance to our personality characteristics. Nurture refers to all the environmental variables that impact who we are, including our early childhood experiences, how we were raised, our social relationships, and our surrounding culture” (Cherry).