Nature Vs Nurture Essay

Even though psychopaths are fully aware of what behaviour is considered to be right or wrong, they lack the feeling of guilt and shame that comes with killing another human being, therefore do not have sympathy or consideration for them, which results in how they repeatedly ‘toy’ with their victims beforehand, and often classify them or interpret them as objects – objectifying them.

For us to fully comprehend the motivations which drive serial killers to commit this first degree murder, we must first be able to understand what causes humans to display this irrational human behaviour behind it; the ‘nature vs nurture’ approach. This idea is a very controversial debate which dates back from the 19th century. It is the debate which questions all

Most of the serial killers have similar circumstances – they come from a poor background, with extremely troubled families, and are therefore brought up with little knowledge of the rules for society. An example of this would be growing up without one or both parents, consequently growing up without a role model. Additionally, their families tend to have alcohol problems, which would usually transfer into abuse for the children, or if their mother abused alcohol while the baby was still in the womb, it would lead to having birth defects; affecting how the body works. It has been recorded that up to 70% of serial killers will have been affected by this. [9] Childhood trauma has also been linked to serial killers. Studies have revealed a number of significant statistics supporting the idea that mental and physical trauma may have long lasting effects upon an individual (Aynesworth 1999). 42% of convicted serial killers suffered from physical abuse as children 74% suffered from psychological abuse (Aynesworth 1999). [7] The IQ debate has been discussed significantly for serial killers characteristics. It has been found that famous serial killers usually have a high IQ – averaging at around 113 and the serial killers who usually have a lower than average IQ, are considered ‘disorganised’, having an average IQ of around 93, consequently, ending up in jail more often than those with a higher