Ted Kaczynski aka “The Unabomber”
The biggest manhunt against a criminal in U.S. history has been to catch serial killer Theodore John Kaczynski. Ted Kaczynski, sowed terror throughout the country for almost two decades. From 1978 to 1996, Kaczynski sent homemade explosive devices to various Universities, airlines facilities, and people related to those, as part of his anti-technological campaign. That's where he gets the nickname of "The Unabomber"; “un”-derivative from universities, and letter “a”- from airlines. The "Unabomber" killed three people and seriously injured other twenty-three victims, (Esoteric Nation, 2013; Winton & Scott, 2007). Something that had always been a mystery is why Kaczynski chose those particular places and people. Psychological analyzes suggest that the reasons for such actions can be traced to early life events, (Cooijmans, 2013; Winton & Scott, 2007).
Ted Kaczynski was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. His parents were Polish descents; they were hard workers who came to this country in search of the American dream and start a family with good values, (Esoteric Nation, 2013). Wanda Kaczynski, mother of Ted, described her son as a normal, loving, and playful child until the age of nine months. At this age Ted was hospitalized for having hives; during this time parents were not allowed to stay in the hospital with their children. Ted was in the hospital for ten days; upon returning home her mother noticed a radical change in him. The boy was no longer a joyful baby, did not establish eye contact with his mother, and showed retracted, (Winton & Scott, 2007).
David, Ted’s brother, in many occasions asked his parents why his brother was so different. David reports that his brother used to isolate mu...
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Cooijmans, P. (2013, May, 27). Psychological evaluation of theodore kaczynski. Retrieved January 19, 2014 from http://www.paulcooijmans.com/psychology/unabombreport.html
Esoteric Nation, (2013, July 1st). Ted Kaczynski AKA the Unabomber [Video file]. Retrieve January 20, 2014 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkJ506wmyvI
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The Lip TV, (2013, June, 12). Crime Time: FBI Linguistics Manhunt for the Unabomber, Christopher Dorner & DC Sniper [Video file]. Retrieve January 20, 2014 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9it0qezCWBo
Winton, D. (Writer/ Producer), & Scott, L. (Writer/ Producer) (2007). The hunt of the unabomber [DVD].
terrorist acts of a more homegrown variety. Stern interviews American terrorists here in the United
“Trayvon Martin 911 Call.” The Young Turks. YouTube. 19 Mar. 2012. Web. Nov 16. 2013.
... brother again. Ted can only sit in his cell and think about what if things would have turned out a different way. However, the most important fact points to the idea of how many more people like Ted Kaczynski who is just waiting to rage war against technology.
TEDSalon. (2014, June). Hubertus Knabe: The dark secrets of a surveillance state. TED. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/hubertus_knabe_the_dark_secrets_of_a_surveillance_state? on 11/17/2014.
In 1978, the Unabomber started sending his bombs. Only after 17 years of searching, was the Unabomber caught and charged for his crimes. Theodore (Ted) Kaczynski was arrested in April of 1996 after the investigators searched his tiny 10x12 foot cabin in the woods of Lincoln, Montana. Ted built the cabin in 1971 and lived there by himself, with his closest neighbor being 1/4 of a mile away. The cabin had no running water, no electricity, and no plumbing.
He was intelligent, articulate and handsome. During a gruesome killing spree, Ted Bundy slaughtered more than thirty five women within the span of five years, becoming one of the most notorious serial killers in American history. He grew up believing that his grandparents were his parents and his unwed mother to be his older sister. He was not very good at building relationships and had a lot of conflict with his stepfather and enjoyed the terms of violence and sex as a child. Ted shoplifted during his teenage years and enjoyed being above the law. He was generally very shy and gained a lot of popularity and self esteem in high school because of his good looks. It was there that he met his high school girlfriend Stephanie Brooks with whom he become obsessed, but the relationship did not last very long as she did not feel the same way for him so she broke up with him. Depressed by the break up, Ted dropped out of college and returned home with his family where he found out the truth about his biological mother. This left Ted in a state of confusion about his identity and he felt betrayed by the women in his life. He went back to high school where he and Stephanie got back together but right after she agreed to marry him, he broke up with her to seek revenge. After this charade his killing spree began, luring young women with lies, abducting, raping, physically abusing and killing them.
Bibliography 3rd edition Psychology (Bernstein-Stewart, Roy, Srull, & Wickens) Houghton Mifflin Company Boston, Massachusetts 1994
Kaczynski was born on May 22, 1942 to Wanda and Theodore Kaczynski of Evergreen Park Ill, a tidy and middle class suburb of Chicago. The second son Ted’s brother, David was born in 1950. As children, both kids were very reclusive, not playing with any neighbor children and rarely seen outside of the house. At a young age Ted started to show signs of being a gifted learner, he skipped a year in elementary school and his junior year in high school. Ted spent most of his early life studying math and science alone instead of being social in any kind of way. Ted had a different side to him though, he had a love of explosives which he homemade with his know how in the fields that he studied. Kaczynski was accepted into Harvard at 16 years old but he was finished before turning 20. Next he became a professor at Berkley university. In 1969 Ted gave up the job to live with his parents. He became fed up with his family and left for Montana in 1971 to live on the 1.4-acre plot of land he and his brother had bought near Lincoln . Once there, Ted built a small one-room shack on this parcel of land surrounded by dense deciduous forest. The shack measured 10 feet by 12 feet and lacked electricity and plumbing. Kaczinski lived by farming a few vegetables in his small garden and venturing into town only when necessary.
Schacter, D. L., Gilbert, D. T., & Wegner, D. M. (2010). Psychology. (2nd ed., p. 600). New York: Worth Pub.
He also began shoplifting for expensive items and told his mom that they were gifts. He was picked up at least twice by juvenile authorities on suspicion of auto theft and burglary, but nothing came of it. While Ted was on death row, he once told an interviewer that he knew he was different from other people. He was quoted as having trouble knowing what appropriate social behaviors were. His own needs and desires were all that mattered.
Ted Kaczynski, The Unabomber, was one of the most prolific cases the FBI has ever worked. His bombing campaign and reign of terror lasted multiple decades until he was finally caught in arrested in 1996. His capture ended one of the more high profile reigns of terror ever perpetrated by an individual man.
Gall, S. B., Beins, B., & Feldman, A. (2001). The gale encyclopedia of psychology. (2nd ed., pp. 271-273). Detroit, MI: Gale Group.
The theories of political terrorism in psychology have been frequently observed and analyzed over the years. Media spectacle and observance of the political ideology of Muslims have been the focal point of much research, yet what has not received much insight is the psychological understanding and motivations of a terrorist as an individual. In understanding this concept, we may be...
The social development or structure of a terrorist does not reveal dominant features of psychopathology from an outside perspective. The psychopathology of terrorism has been interpreted as ‘unconscious motives and impulses’ that stemmed in childhood (Borum, 2004). A better example would be reactive aggression described through aggressive expressions and vengeful hostility with lack of impulse control commonly developed within an individual’s childhood. Many children who are humiliated at a young age for their beliefs or interest advance into adult terrorist (Spencer, 2009). The underlining fundamental build of a terrorist or terrorist organization is best understood by analysis of their history. If the psychopathological role of a terrorist leader or organization is determined or understood then law enforcement will have proper information to predict future attacks. Social disorganization is the best way to describe motivation for terrorist actions. Thus, bringing the relation to terrorist being inspired through their beliefs in justification and necessity to incorporate change through public fear. The understanding of a terrorist’s psychopathology helps reveal the relevance in understanding a terrorist’s individual
Edited by Raymond J. Corsini. Encyclopedia of Psychology, Second Edition, Volume 3. New York: John Wiley and Sons Inc.