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Psychology theories about serial killers
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What is a serial killer? Typically the average serial killer ranges between the ages of 20’s-30’s, usually male, and caucasian. During childhood they experience bedwetting past 10 years old, like to play with fire, are very cruel to animals, and experienced something traumatic as a child. There are four kinds of serial killer which include thrill seekers, mission oriented, visionary killers and power/control seekers. Serial killer's profile changes between these four options by the way they were raised and what they have been exposed to. The typical childhood for a serial killer involves physical and emotional abuse, a traumatic incident, and exploring sexuality. Serial killers are usually in and out of orphanages being considered the outcast …show more content…
Pre-crime they try to restrain themselves from it, fight the urges that are telling them to do it, but after the first strike they have to keep going. As they keeping killing the urge becomes stronger and stronger leading to horrific things like cannibalism and sexual urges with living and nonliving humans. They do it because they are searching for something to make themselves feel better whether it's the thrill, the power, their vision, or their mission. Serial killers have dream or fantasy that plays a role into their killings. Trying to redeem or fix what happen to them in the past. Urging them to push farther and farther into their dream. Criminologists base profiles of the killer on how they performed the murders, where they performed the murders, what was done to the victims, and how the victims were treated. They take all these factors to build up what they think the killer is like. The signature of the killer can say alot about him or her and will play a large role in the finding of the …show more content…
He came from a family that suffered from many mental illnesses. His father died at a young age and his mother would put him into an orphanage because she couldn't take care of him. We would be frequently be whipped and beaten there developing his sexual enjoyment for pain. He would be made fun of by the other orphans for this. His mother would obtain a government job which she could take care of him again but it was already too late because he had developed a homosexual relationship at the age of 12. His partner would introduce him to drinking his own urine and coprophagia. He would attend public baths where he watched boys undress. He would move to New York and become a male prostitute while also raping young boys. His mother on the other hand set up a marriage for him and he would be married in 1898. Albert Fish would have six kids. It wasn't long tho until he was arrested for embezzlement and would be sent to prison, where he would have plenty of homosexual relationships. His wife ended up leaving him in 1917. Due to the rejection it caused him to start hearing voices. Childhood set Albert Fish on a path of no return. With his father dying at a young age he had no father figure in his life but it didn't help that his mother gave him to an orphanage. This would lead him to developing is enjoyment when he was beaten, and his homosexual relationship at 12 years old. Alberts Adult life wasn't very successful due to
You’d be hard pressed to find one in a crowd. The average serial killer generally blends in with everyone else (Directory Journal, 2010). In fact, most are soft-spoken and even polite. Their monstrous nature only comes through when you dig deeper into their personalities, actions, and habits. Most seem to have come from dysfunctional family settings and were emotionally, sexually, or even verbally abused as children (Directory Journal, 2010). It is almost as if this background activates some psychological trigger that increases their feelings of inadequacy or worthlessness that led them to seek out their own heinous form of release.
The motives and backgrounds of serial killers is a vexing topic. Not two people are the same, so therefore their motives differ. The different types of serial killers are: hedonistic, power seekers, gain, mission oriented, visionary, psychopathic, comfort, medical, organized, and disorganized. Motives of these murderers range from fear of being rejected, to “getting rid of what they deem bad,” or even to get sexual satisfaction from the suffering of their victims.
In order to identify serial killers before they kill repeatedly, a person needs to study the characteristics that makes up this type of criminals. Most serial killers have been abandoned, by one or both parents, they are emotionally, physically, and even sexually abused by a family member, or relatives from unstable families who have criminal, psychiatric and alcoholic histories, or tend to have hate for their parents and people in general which makes them have antisocial personality disorder. They have conflicted pain or tortured animals at a young age and most are highly interested in gaining control over things. Even though not every serial killers posses these characteristics, but most share these characteristics the same way they share the psychological need to have complete control and power over people.
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.
Fish was born on May 19,1870 in Washington, D.C. and was placed in an orphanage at age five after his father passed away. During his stay at the orphanage, Fish observed and experienced numerous acts of perversions including forced masturbation in front of other children and brutal beatings. Albert would become sexually aroused by these acts, which helped to further his obsession with sado-masochism. Fish would later say, "That place ruined my mind." Finally, at age 7, Fish was reunited with his mother. Shortly thereafter, he fell from a cherry tree causing severe head trauma causing him dizzy spells and severe headaches. After graduating from high school, Fish started working odd jobs and traveling around the country. This gave him perfect opportunity to commit crimes.
Almost all people know who serial killers are, but what exactly defines a serial killer. The FBI defines serial murder as “a minimum of three to four victims with a ‘cooling off’ period between, the killer is usually a stranger to the victim, the murders reflect a need to sadistically dominate the victim, and the murder is rarely for profit.” (Vronsky, 2004, p.36) Serial killers are usually a white male from a lower-to-middle-class background typically in his twenties or thirties. Also, 85% of the world’s serial killers live in America, with at least twenty to fifty unidentified active serial killers plotting another one of their killings. On average, every person has seen or met at least 37 serial killers in their lifespan.
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.
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.
Serial killers kill because of three patterns we see develop throughout their lives. These patterns are the development of youthful characteristics and habits, abusing events in their lives, and the final push. To be qualified as a serial killer one must murder more than three victims, one at a time, in a relatively short time period. The most common serial killers are white, heterosexual, sexually frustrated, young adult males with low self-esteem. Lester Ballard, the main character in Child of God, by Cormac McCarthy, displays these patterns as I have found it described in texts on serial killers.
Serial killers differ from other types of murderers. The number of serial killers in the U.S. is staggering. Differences are clear between serial killing and conventional murders. Serial killing can be classified as either motive based or organizational and social based. The Holmes Typology helps to understand the motivations behind serial killing. Serial killers may be even motivated by fame as part of their motivation for killing. John Wayne Gacy could be seen as evil due to his repeated violent acts. Jeffrey Dahmer was also evil by committing his acts of serial murders. Both Gacy and Dahmer had police records prior to their arrests for serial murders. Serial killers are poor candidates for rehabilitation. Their acts are evil.
Serial killers can go on for months and years before they are usually caught. The victim is usually the same for every killer - prostitute, hitchhiker etc. Their victims may also have the same or similar attributes in gender, age, race, general look, residence etc. Serial killers also stick by their modus operandi very closely and may change it with experience. Most murders occur by strangulation, suffocation, stabbing etc. Serial killers act by a sex-murder fantasy based with their control, they usually live in this dream world in their teens until they act it out for real when they get into the adult stage. As each murder occurs a serial killer may be disappointed by his murder fantasy and may act it out again to achieve it to there own satisfaction. CHARACTERISTICS OF A SERIAL KILLER: 1. Killings are separate ('serial'), occurring with greater or less frequency, often escalating over a period of time, sometimes years, and will continue until the killer is taken into custody, dies, or is himself/herself killed.
Psychiatrists say that this tends to happen when the child is being deprived of nurture, and parents have been absent in their lives or has neglected them. As well as wanting to control, and by an early stage have shown violence towards animals, and others. To become a serial killer, all traits must be present, not just one specific trait. To conclude, Ted Bundy, called this as an addiction. After killing, he wanted to do it all over, which cause the killings of many innocent women. He came from an unstable family, and proved to want control over others, which he demonstrated by only killing women. Psychiatrists or psychologists want to understand why people become serial killers, and although there are some traits that might already explain it. In the end, on those serial killers will know why and what really caused their actions. To understand why they do it, they must first do the crime, something that society has done over time. Serial killers committed their crimes, and right after people approach them to ask them questions to understand why did they
...who most likely have had some kind of childhood problem such as divorce or lack of a parent. They might be thinking that they are doing the world a favor, or in search of power of people, or just simply just find pleasure in killing. As to why serial killers have been increasing over the past thirty years, there is no certain answer to it, but hopefully it stops increasing soon and decreases instead.
There really isn’t a set definition for the term “serial killer.” “The term ‘serial killings’ means a series of three or more killings, not less than one of which was committed within the Untied States, having common characteristics such as to suggest the reasonable possibility that the crimes were committed by the same actor or actors.” (as quoted by Robert J. Morton and Mark A. Hilts 5) At first, some psychologists thought it was a series of two to ten murders, each with a cooling off period in between; this cooling off period is used to recover both the emotional and physical mindsets of the killer; his period of time is also used to determine between mass murder and serial murder. (1c: SV; SV; SV.) This has been the method for determining the definition of “serial killer.”
There are many genres of serial killer, but not one is lesser than the other, they are all dangerous and they are normal everyday people that one could not recognize. “We serial killers are your sons, we are your husbands, we are everywhere. and there will be more of your children dead tomorrow. ” – Ted Bundy. They are many in number and in type. They are creative in their killing ways, whether they admit to knowing what they are doing or not. So whether they kill for mercy, the thrill, or even for religious purposes, they still kill without boundaries and that is why they have fascinated the cultures and plagued them since the beginning of time.