Jeffrey Dahmer: Serial Killer

The lives we live today greatly mirror our childhood. Adverse events taken place in one’s childhood often reflects poorly upon an individual's adult life but not all people who have had an atrocious childhood feel urged to kill. So why do serial killers exist? Throughout the lives of three very horrifying serial killers Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy and Edmund Kemper have proved individually that humans are nurtured into developing an antisocial personality.

Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer born on May 21 1960 was nurtured into his cruel fantasies leading him to become America’s most notorious serial killer. Jeffrey had a content childhood up until the age of about six years old when the value of life then began to depreciate. Jeffrey wanted to have a secure

relationship with someone but more importantly he needed to be in complete control. According to the social conditioning theory it is believed that children act the way they do after observing other’s actions. This theory explains why Jeffrey felt urged to be in control. Jeffrey would gain control of a person when he felt he was able to do whatever he wants whenever he wants and because a sensible person would not agree to this he would kill his victim to get what he desires. In an interview with Jeffrey it is explained that Jeffrey’s father was controlling while as Jeffrey was an adolescent, predictively making Jeffrey feel obligated to become controlling as an adult. And through the murders of seventeen men Jeffrey gained the sense of control he has been craving all his life.

Jeffrey often felt like an outcast during his childhood because his peers at school would deliberately make an effort to keep their distance from him.

He was the weird kid that no one wanted to be seen with and this made it nearly impossible for Jeffrey to learn any social skills. Dahmer grew up in a home full of neglect. His father worked a lot leaving no time for his son and at the age of six Jeffrey’s mother gave birth to his younger brother David, which turned all her attention to the newborn. In 1978 Jeffrey’s parents got a divorce. Both mother and father fought over who David would live with but neither cared where Jeffrey would go. This made him feel remarkably unloved. Years later Jeffrey was living in the basement of his grandmother’s house. His grandmother began to get sick of all of his absurdity resulting in asking him to move out. Once again Jeffrey felt unloved and rejected. Harry F. Harlow explains that children look to their caregiver for basic needs as well as to feel love, acceptance, and affection. After Harlow did the motherless monkeys experiment, it was found that the monkeys whose mothers did not meet the needs for their child constructed the children to grow to become violent and even kill their own children. Considering Jeffrey Dahmer had no one close in his life to give him a child's needs it could very likely be one of the reasons why Jeffrey felt urged to commit his murders. This also portrays certainty of being nurtured into inhumane

behaviour.

Ted Bundy an infamous serial killer was born on November 24 1946. Ted was Narcissistic, he always felt above the law which had led him to become a kleptomaniac. Ted grew up in Philadelphia, USA, where he lived with his two parents and siblings. During his highschool years he had few friends but was still an unpopular introvert. When he graduated high school he developed a new personality of a cool, popular, extrovert. His new personality helped him manipulate his victims into believing he was in need of their help. Eventually into Ted’s college years he had a girlfriend named Stephanie Brooks who ultimately broke his heart. Within that same month Ted discovered that his parents were actually his grandparents and his sister was truthfully his mother. This lie disturbed Ted for his life, giving a repulsion towards women, but more specifically the two women in his life who hurt him the most: his mother and his ex-girlfriend. According to Sigmund Freud people use a defense mechanism when something in life goes wrong. In Ted’s situation he turned to displacement; in truth he was mad at his mother and his ex-girlfriend but instead he violently took his anger out on innocent women. Non coincidently the women he killed wore their hair long and parted in the middle similar to the way Stephanie wore her hair. Although Ted did not have a rough childhood he still felt urged to kill because of an event taken place later on in life portraying that it does not only take childhood trauma to be nurtured into cruel fantasies later in life but an individual reacting to a situation in the wrong way amongst other issues can pressure someone to kill.

Edmund Kemper was born on December 18 1948 in California where his mother raised her son to become a serial killer.

Ed’s father abandoned him when he was at a young age, so he grew up with his mother and his two sisters. Although before his father left his mother always accused Ed’s father of being too nice to his son and not nice enough to his daughters. Ed’s mother was quite scared of him, so in order to protect herself and his two sisters she would lock Ed in the basement with the kitchen table dragged over the only exit. According to Charles Cooley “we actually become the kind of person we believe others see us to be.” Cooley explains this as Looking Glass Self because Ed grew up to believe his mother's opinion of him being a monster he grew to become a monster. Also, Ed shown a form of

displacement

In conclusion the three american serial killers Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy and Edmund Kemper have each displayed a specific example of why people feel urged to kill. Each individual experienced an event in their lifetime in which pushed them to take their anger out by committing murder.