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Psychology of a serial killer
Child sex abuse and the affects into adulthood
Child sex abuse and the affects into adulthood
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Serial killer is a person who kills three or more people with a cooling off period between murders and these murders may go on for a period of months or years. The murders that this person commits may have similar fashion or the victims may have something in common, for example, occupation, race, appearance, sex, or age group. Psychology is the science and study of human behavior and mental processes. Moreover, it is the study of human minds and its function. Krafft-Ebing (1886) found that the serial killer had been through cruelty of animal; enjoy the torture and the pain of their victim during his or her childhood period. Moreover, the mothers of these serial killers were most of time working or doing other things and usually the father were absent. These children experience rejection and lack of attention, therefore, this child grows up having low self-esteem. Research show that adults that gone through abuse and violent behavior during their childhood were three times more likely to become violent as adult more than the non abused adults (Dutton & Hart, 1992). 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). To take off the aggression and need to compensate the horrible memories of the childhood explain the reason why serial killers abuse animals during their childhood. When they were children they control pets and they can harm them knowing that the animals can fight back. Therefore, they feel themselves as if they were in absolute power. This animal torture later will turn in to human victim torture. Charister Clause and Lars Lidberg (1999) used five characteristics from Shahriar disorder that are common among serial killers.
Serial killers are a type person who commits a series of murders, often with no apparent motive and typically following a characteristic, predictable behavior pattern. Most of the time something triggers them and then they go on their serial rampage. Some things that can be part of a serial killer's profile is they are normally white males, late 20’s early 30’s, kills with in own race, method of murder is hands on, and their victims are selected because they share specific characteristics. The types of serial killers are disorganized asocial and organized nonsocial. The different types of serial killers are: missionary killers, power seeking, lust killing, visionary killer, thrill killing. The profiling of a serial killer's changes upon the
Knight, Zelda G. "Sexually Motivated Serial Killers And The Psychology Of Aggression And "Evil" Within A Contemporary Psychoanalytical Perspective." Journal Of Sexual Aggression 13.1 (2007): 21-35. Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection. Web. 1 May 2014.
According to the article “10 Most Common Traits of Potential Serial Killers By Hestie Barnard Gerber
Hickey (1997), in his trauma control model of the serial killer, argues that various factors can contribute to criminality and in particular to serial homicide. These factors can be biological, developmental, demographic or familial, including childhood trauma (Hickey, 1997, as cited in Miller, 2014, p17). Hickey’s model includes 8 elements – Predispositional factors, Traumatic events, Low self-esteem and fantasies, Increasingly violent fantasies, Trauma reinforces, Facilitators, Dissociation and Homicidal behaviour (Hickey, 2016, p149).
In many cases, serial killers began their lives as remotely normal human beings. Most, however, have detectable characteristics of murderers before they hit puberty. Otis O’toole, for example, started a neighbourhood fire when he was six. George Adorno was even younger when he first displayed his pyromaniac tendencies by setting fire to his own sister when he was four. Along with pyromaniac behavior, other often-cited warning signs are enuresis (bed-wetting) and cruelty toward animals. Often, serial murderers are abused physically, psychologically, and sexually as children, sometimes from a stranger, but in most cases from a trusted family member or friend. Typically, they come from broken families, usually...
A serial killer is a person who has killed three or more people over a month apart. Their motivation for killing is usually based on psychological issues. (Sanmartn,2001) In the U.S, the most reported serial killers are lower middle class white males, usually in their late twenties to early thirties (Skrapec,2001). Serial killers, often, are liars.
In our society, mostly we are influenced by the fantasy based on serial killers, showed in literature, movies, TV Series etc. Not informing the audience with the depth of the serial killer psychological mysteries hidden behind the character’s actions and which led them to where they are. However, In Real-Life Monsters: A Psychological Examination of the Serial Murderer. The author Stephen J. Giannangelo takes an original approach describing the psychological explanation of these criminals instead of repeating the theoretical explanation of these criminals who committed horrific crimes. This book included the author’s personal observation about serial killers and Psychopathology. In the beginning of the book, the author examines the past psychological,
Several serial killers have a definitive and common personality profile. Almost every major social, biological, psychological behavioural influence that has been seriously suggested as playing a role in causing crime has been thoroughly thought as potentially contributing to the behavior of serial killers (Levin, 2008). The time period and amount of killings fluctuate depending on the individual committing the crimes. Usually, the murders happen in different geographical areas. A mass murder has a separate definition than a serial killer, because a serial killer has a “cooling off” period, where mass murders kill several individual in a single event.
Miller, Laurence. "The predator's brain: Neuropsychodynamics of serial killers."Serial offenders: Current thought, recent findings, unusual syndromes (2000): 135-166.
'Serial murder'; has long been a term used to describe those human beings that repeatedly commit heinous crimes. It is rare that the average person probes the mind of a serial killer without bias. However, what lies behind the eyes of a serial killer deserves more than the cold hard look that society so often gives (Aaronson, Inter...
Ever wondered if there is a serial killer in your community? The characteristics of a serial killer may shock you or be surprisingly familiar to some of you. It is important for society to get informed about the various types of serial killers that are out there. It is essential for families to educate their children about strangers, to be careful with everyone they encounter on the streets, store, and even in their neighborhoods. A serial killer is defined as a person who murders three or more people in at least three separate events, with a "cooling-off period" between the kills. The big question is, what makes a person do these atrocious killings? We will analyze personal histories, categorized serial killers,
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).
No need to fear, in following article “Serial Killers: Nature vs. Nurture”, an articled posted by the National Center For Crisis Management American Academy of Experts In Traumatic Stress, a site dedicated to improving support for victims before and after a crisis has occurred, researchers debate whether serial killers are products of a nurture or nature environments by assessing the works of Sigmund Freud and sociologist Arnold Arluke. According to the article Freud provides two theories, from his publication of Beyond the Pleasure Principle (1920), for the aggression human nature demonstrate, by creating the death instinct, which Freud coins as “the most destructive form of behavior” (“Serial Killers: Nature vs. Nurture”), based off of his observations with people who’d experienced unpleasant experiences in throughout their lives, and the life instinct, which Freud argues, is a microcosm of “[our obsession with maintaining] a better life and [trying to achieve bigger goals…]” (“Serial Killers: Nature vs. Nurture”). Arguing that a combination of both of these instincts plays a part in the conditioning of serial killers, who is aware their actions are immoral. In contrast from Freud’s theory, sociologist Arnold Arluke “[compares] the criminal records of one hundred and fifty three animal abusers with one hundred and fifty three non animal abusers and [finds] that those who [abused animals] were five times more likely to commit acts of violence such as assault, rape, and murder against others” (“Serial Killers: Nature vs. Nurture). Implying that children, who take pleasure in harming animals to exert their dominance and power because they feel powerless against their parents, will most likely become serial
...iments of low self-regard, disgrace, and deficiency. This is the point at which the seed of retribution is planted. From an early age serial killers vent their fury, jealousy, and dismissal from an early age towards defenseless casualties, for example, creatures, as they become out of this stage they swing to vent toward honest people that look like the tormentors of their initial life. Pre-oedipal in the family unit is the thing that separates serial killers structure other physically manhandled youngsters; this is the key element to maniacal fury. Serial killers make their casualties feel what they felt as youngsters, henceforth the examples of slaughters from a little child to a grown-up. In the wake of being de-railed as kids, the enslavement of control in playing "GOD" in another person 's life is the thing that drives serial killers into an extreme force rage.
Everybody’s childhood is an important time in their lives. It’s when knowledge is absorbed like a sponge and our character or personality is formed. Every serial killer has a childhood too. Three studies were taken to determine what the cause was and the first examined the effect that sexual abuse had on children. This study compared seventy five children who were never abused and sixty eight who were. The children who were previously abused showed more poor behavior then those who weren’t. It is very common to see a serial killer with depression, low self- esteem and problematic behavior and having prior abuse contributes to behavioral issues. Th...