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Psychology of serial killers
Psychology of serial killers
How domestic abuse effects childs behavior in early years
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The Urge to Kill: Development of a Murderer The majority of society would consider a psychopath as a criminal, but not all psychopaths are criminals (Brogaard, 2012, para. 5). Psychopathic traits could exist since the University of Wisconsin scanned the brains of psychopaths that committed crime and all had similarities, their brains had a lack of negativity stimuli (Brogaard, 2012, para. 3). But murderers are not considered psychopaths they are just murderers, they just have traits of a psychopath. They manipulate with people, they make others think that they are normal (Woollaston, 2015, para. 51). There is always a cause to a situation, so what is the cause for a murderer to kill a person? Although killing a person is very cruel, the …show more content…
Serial killers are known to manipulate people with their feelings (Woollaston, 2015, para. 13). They know how to do this so well because their emotions have been triggered, so they know the feeling. Growing up with bad role models, they led themselves to that way of life. Psychopaths who commit murder have no remorse for their victims (Woollaston, 2015, para. 57). They have no emotions because they were raised without the right emotions. While they are adults, some commit murder to get a desire they never got. A serial killer, Ed Gein, harmed girls to get their body parts so he could use them for a sex change or according to Brogaard he did it to replicate his mother (Brogaard, 2012, para. 11). So as adults, they finally get the thrill to commit murder to get what they always wanted; attention from …show more content…
There are some murderers who had no trouble with their family (Brogaard, 2012, para. 8). They have a bad damage in their brain, which causes a mental issue. So a person cannot be blamed for what their body decides to do. There are psychotic diseases like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder (Brogaard, 2012, para. 12). Some murderers harm others because they cannot control themselves. Which leads to saying some of these murderers or serial killers have a mental illness.
The beginning of a person’s life will reflect towards their future. Their childhood being chaotic, not getting the right attention for a child. It leads to having a desire that has not been sparked causing them to seek it out on others. As adults everything is “controllable”, now they get to do what they want, according to them. They could have been stopped when they were young if they got the right help. There would have been a lot of lives that could have been saved. There are a lot of reasons for a person to be a murderer or a serial
The most obvious perspective is the perspective of a serial killer as a psychopath. Serial killers often kill due to things they themselves cannot acquire. Fourteen percent of serial killings are caused from greed. Most cases are for wants of life insurance or fortune from relatives and wealthy citizens (Newton 17). Killers will begin to first kill for money off relatives. When they receive the “rush” they obtain from taking a human life they intend to continue on. The first kill is out of greed and jealousy, but the rest of the killings are out of a rush. In Truman Capote’s novel In Cold Blood, he talks about the people on death row and their reasons. Two of those men were Ronnie York and James Latham. They went on a killing spree because of one opinion- “the world was hateful, and everybody in it would be better off dead” (Capote 322-323). Killers like these two men are great examples of psychopaths. They have a poor motive to kill and their brains clearly aren’t working properly. Most people experience depression and self-hatred at points in their life, but most don’t deal with their problems by killing innocent people on a pointless motive. Revenge is another motive that serial killers use to gain a rush. One percent of all serial killings are inspired by revenge. Most consist when losing jobs or relationships (Newton 17). Everyone will experience lows in their lives and deal with them in different ways. Serial killers are just psychopaths because they deal with these problems very poorly. When losing a partner or spouse, killing them is not the answer, but serial killers think this is the only way to even out. They harvest this feeling of taking a human life and begin to go on a rampage and continue this horrible addiction. While many think serial killers are just evil or insane psychopaths, people sometimes rarely believe they are adults with mental
Common psychological disturbances in the stages of making a serial killer are seen in childhood and are usually based upon mental and psychological abuse endured by a child.
Taking the life of another person is one of the worst infractions of the law to commit. The Bureau of Justice defines serial killing as “[involving] the killing of several victims in three or more separate events” (“Michigan” 1). Serial killers often commit extremely violent crimes; they usually become infamous for these crimes. The first recorded serial killers are probably Jack the Ripper in 1888 and Fritz Haarmann in 1924 (“Michigan” 1). Jack the Ripper is also one of the most well-known criminals, almost everyone knows who he is or has at least heard of him. Most people know what he is famous for and associate him with being a bad person. Serial killers are typically sadistic and sociopathic, meaning that they are unable to feel empathy for people who are suffering (“Michigan” 1). Whimsical sociopaths who have sadistic tendencies are very dangerous. They inflict pain because they do not care that someone else is suffering, they only care that it makes t...
Some psychologist believe that if a serial killer displays or kills his victims in such a way then it qualifies as fulfilling as sexual desire. These killers are usually diagnosed with a mental disorder referred to as sexual sadism. Psychologists refer to serial killers who kill in this manner as sexual sadist. A sexual sadist enjoys the ‘suffering or embarrassment of others to the point of arousal’ (Serial Killers and Sexual Sadism). Sociologists believe that a serial killer needs to “fulfil a sexual desire by turning a fantasy into a controllable reality” (Serial Killers: Nature vs. Nurture). Sadist crave the dominance and control over their victims because they feel as if they cannot control other aspects of their life. Another biological factor derives within the DNA of the person. Many killers have the “MAO-A gene (monoamine oxidase A). This gene, which has been the target of considerable research, is also known as the "warrior gene" because it regulates serotonin in the brain. Serotonin affects your mood — think Prozac — and many scientists believe that if you have a certain version of the warrior gene, your brain won't respond to the calming effects of serotonin (A Neuroscientist Uncovers a Dark Secret).” With this gene psychologist and scientist alike believe that this can foretell a serial killer before he becomes a serial
Most serial murderers have been deprived of any control over their home, their body, and their entire life. “Psychokillers take their fantasies and make them a reality living their dreams” (Serial Killers: Nature vs. Nurture 2). Both physical and especially emotional abuse is the consistent, reoccurring factor among a majority of serial killers. Traumatic abuse in childhood has long been viewed as a primary cause of violent behavior in adulthood (Dolan 24). Abusive parents do not generally vent their anger equally on all their children. Such parents tend to unleash the anger and negative emotions on their more difficult children; this potential aggression and physical and emotional abuse of the child shapes the future criminal. “Most serial murders are not classified as psychotics, but rather as psychopaths- their perception of reality is clear except that they feel no social or moral obligations” () Killers are taking control of their own lives through their fantasies in the only way they know fit, through
As participants in today's information obsessed society we are constantly being bombarded with the brutal actions that mankind is capable of. One watches the news and hears about a murder, or reads a book about a mysterious killer. The only time that the New York Daily News has ever outsold the New York Times was when the headline claimed the letters that proved the 'real' identity of Jack the Ripper. As you wade through these bits and pieces of reality, one can't help but be struck by the thought-- what causes a person to actively commit such horrendous acts? There have been many different studies done in hopes of finding an answer. For a crime such as serial killing there are two main schools of thought. The first idea is that serial killing is caused by an abnormality in the frontal lobe region of the brain. Another theory is that serial killers are bred by circumstance. However, I believe that with some analysis the evidence for both theories can serve to prove that serial killers are genetically different. Thus demonstrating that serial killing can find its origins in genetics.
Freud (1940) was the first to do the link between sexual abuses during the childhood and adult abnormal behavior. As a result of that serial killer uses sex as a way to let out his or her anger and aggression. The sexually acts of the serial killer is not only about sex, but it is about revenge, power, and control. “Serial killers are unconsciously trying to kill off their repressed sexual pain and powerlessness. Every stab into the victim’s flesh is a stab against their own childhood sexual terror and pain, and the rage that accompanies it is a rage against those who tormented and terrorized” (Knight, 2006, p. 1199-1200).
There have been many theories over the years about how a person becomes a serial killer, and how does having an unstable childhood effect a person. It has been proven by psychologist and stated by serial killers that their childhood is one of the many problems they faced that led them to become a serial killer. The childhood of a typical young boy would consist of loving parents, a stable home and having friends. As for serial killers this is not typical at all. During the childhood of a serial killer it is not uncommon that he or she was abused, raped, or even attempted suicide along with many other harmful acts that a child should not be faced with. There have been many studies on the childhood of serial killers, and how they grew up compared to other young children. Some of the traits most male serial killers have as a child would include killing animals, auto-erotic activities, physical head injuries, and even bed wetting.
Serial killers are people who kill three or more people. They don’t have a close relationship with their victims. They are mostly white, younger males, but this might not always be the case. Many serial killers have specific childhood experiences that contribute to their urge to kill. Genetics can play a role, for example; specific patterns of genes found in serial killer’s brains. Many serial killers do at least one of these things as a child: wet their bed, set fires, and torture animals. Child who have problems; for example, being abused either physically or sexually, parent troubles, and school problems can lead to someone being more likely to be a serial killer.
Serial killers are the byproduct of many different things: trauma, death of loved ones, abuse, neglect, adoption, and even witnessing abuse (Are Serial). Serial killers have had to endure a massive amount of something such as trauma or abuse to an unimaginable extent to become what they are; the extent of the abuse, the trauma, the psychological damage they endure is incomprehensible to many. The destruction of one’s innocence can occur at any given time in his or her life, but he or she is more impressionable in his or her youth by the negativism of someone else’s actions (Scott, Shirley L. What Makes Serial Killers Tick ~ Childhood Event). People are susceptible to what they endure in their adolescence, and cruel upbringings, such as that of a serial killer’s, are possibly the determinant of their future.
Serial killers have many frightening facets. The most frightening thing about them is that experts still do not know what makes a human become a serial killer. Many experts believe serial killers become what they are because they have a genetic disposition or brain abnormality while other experts believe that a serial killer is created by childhood abuse; and some other experts believe that it is a combination of both brain abnormalities and abusive childhood experiences that creates a serial killer. A murderer is considered a serial killer when they “murder three or more persons in at least three separate events with a “cooling off period” between kills” (Mitchell and Aamodt 40). When defining a serial killer, their background, genes, and brain are not mentioned; perhaps one day those aspects of the serial killer can be included.
The earliest warning signs of serial killers can be traced back to their childhood. It is believed that the mind of a murderer is charged with a turbulence of emotions stored from early childhood (Abrahamsen 18). When these often repressed emotions are activated, the mind, particularly when aroused or frustrated, becomes violent, and so it is that a person who may appear quite normal and well adjusted on the surface, becomes possessed by a mind that murders (Abrahamsen 18). The study of 36 incarcerated killers by Robert Ressler, Ann Burgess, and John Douglas, which can be found in their book Sexual Homicide Patterns and Motives, found many common behavior indicators in their childhoods. These behaviors include daydreaming, compulsive masturbation, isolation, chronic lying, bed wetting, rebelliousness, nightmares, destroying property, fire setting stealing, cruelty to children, poor body image, temper tantrums, sleep problems, display assault toward adults, phobias, running away, cruelty to animals, accident prone, headaches, destroying possessions, eating problems, convulsions, and...
Raine states: “ So, in the 1950s, little toddlers were playing outside, putting their fingers in dirt, putting their fingers in their mouths and absorbing the lead. Twenty years later, they became the next generation of violent criminal offenders because violence peaks at about 19 or 20. Then what happens is in the 1990s violence begins to come down, as it's been doing. What's partly explaining that? The reduction in lead in the environment (Raine, NPR).” This shows a biological connection to serial killer behavior. Temporal lobe or amygdala damage can show signs of psychopathy, which can lead to serial killer behavior (Kiehl, Bates, Laurens, Hare, & Liddle, 2006). Violent behavior has also been linked to deficiency in serotonin and high level of testosterone. Growing up in an unhealthy environment is also common in most serial killers. Sexual abuse, physical abuse, and mental abuse in a childhood home breeds serial killers. If someone grows up witnessing violence, it ingrains in their minds that violent behavior is okay. Before a serial killer commits a crime, they may be quiet, reserved, and keep to himself. In this stage, they are usually going on with their regular lifestyle. After a crime, they may taunt the media/police with notes and clues, as well as go on a killing spree. This is because some killers become obsessed with the urge to kill. Some may go as far as contacting the victim’s family. A fantasy is an elaborate
Serial killers murdered because they are insane or evil geniuses. In fact, this is another misassumption about serial killers. Maybe they have been neglected or abused in their childhood? Well, it could be. According to Freeman, most serial killers have similar patterns of childhood neglect. Serial killers tend to grow up without a sense of empathy and love toward other people either because they were often physically or sexually abused as children. At the same time, however, many neglected and abused children do not become serial killers. Researchers have been working for many years to figure out what causes a person to become a serial killer or a psychopath, but they find no answer. Serial killers, in fact, are always psychopath, but not all psychopaths are serial killers. All psychopaths are not insane, and they tend to have many common traits. These traits involve family history, or genetics, as well as environment and experience (Freeman). Most research can show that there is no one cause for violent behavior. Although serial killers and other psychopaths may have brain abnormalities or dysfunctions, personal experience and environment also play a large role in how they become serial
So what makes a serial killer? Levin points out that contrary to popular belief, serial killers don't just 'snap'; or 'go crazy'; (Douglas, p. 137). Many of the serial killers have been the victims of childhood abuse. Jack Levin stated 'Research shows many serial killers suffered abuse, incest or neglect as children and develop poor self images'; (Douglas, p. 137). Serial killers often have a childhood marked by the absence of any nurturing relationship. 'They often come from families where the parents were absent or ineffective, where authority was not defined, and where they could engage in destructive behavior undeterred-violent play, cruelty to animals, and incidents of arson being some of the childhood behavior patterns noted among many serial killers'; (Clark, p. 206).