Nurture is Predominantly Responsible for the Making of Serial Killers.
Murder is when one human is killed by another human. Serial killers are people who have psychological disorders who commit murder with no specific intention or reason but have similar patterns of behaviour in every case of murder. Murderers are people who commit murder with intention. All those who kill are murderers but not all are serial killers. The experiences of a serial killer went through their lives helps shape a serial killer. Serial killers are psychologically disturbed in their lives because of the many events taken place in their lives, making nurture play a key role in the making of a serial killer. It will be proven through an examination of Serial Killer
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Carroll Cole’s environmental surroundings, abuses and harassments that all lead to shaping a serial killer, DNA being triggered by nurture, as well as looking into serial killers cases such as Nannie Doss and Marc Lépine. A serial killer is a person who murders three or more people, in at least three separate events with a “cooling off period” in between (The Brain of a Serial Killer, n.d., para 1&2). They often kill during their times of stress, anger or at the point of psychological trigger. After killing someone it gives them a sense of relief from their stresses (IBID). The victims of the serial killer have no connection with the serial killers themselves, and tend to brutally murder them or sexually harass them before the murder to relieve their anger from past experiences in their lives, specifically their childhood experiences. Abuse can come from wanting and gaining control over the person wanted to be controlled in a violent manner. It can come in the forms of Physical Abuse, Sexual Abuse, Psychological Abuse, and Emotional Abuse. Physical abuse can come in the form of hitting, pushing, punching or choking. One of the most common reasons to shape or make a serial killer is through psychological abuse which comes from threatening, throwing, smashing, breaking things, punching walls, etc. sexual abuse is caused by forcing sexual act on someone. Many are emotionally abused through cursing, swearing, criticizing one’s self-esteem, thoughts, feelings, etc. All of the mentioned forms of abuse play a key role in the way a serial killer behaves, and the way they murder their victims. Abuse in a child’s life, can lead to a dangerous, violent adult murderer. They come from a childhood of darkness, filled with neglect and abuse from parents, guardians or any other person. Serial killers all share a common motive of expressing their anger towards their victims which tend to resemble the one’s that had abused them as a child. It is the anger that slowly builds up when they are a child that tends to explode after they reach puberty, and they relive their anger by killing someone. The surroundings of a serial killer as a child can influence the wanting of killing and the way they kill. One example of a serial killer experiencing child abuse was Carroll Cole. He was the third child of five children and was raised by his mother because of how his father was called to go fight in World War II (Newton, 2012, p.6). While his father was fighting at war, his mother would make Cole watch her do sexual acts with other men (Newton, 2012, p.7). He was also psychologically abused by his mother to not to tell his father anything (IBID). Cole was abused by his mother leading him to become a serial killer. If Cole had tried to do something he would get a “special punishment” which is where he had to dress up like a girl and go in front of his mother, his mother’s friend as well as the men she was cheating with (IBID). The mother also allowed the men she was cheating with to beat up or physically abuse Cole (beating him, slapping him, etc.) (IBID). In response to that he strangled his family’s first puppy in thought of his mother for all the things she has caused him, the strangling helped him relieve his stress and anger (Newton, 2012, p.3). After the events Cole had gone through, it led him to specifically go after women who were married and were cheating on their husband which reminded him of his mother’s actions (Newton, 2012, p.7). He was a great example for nurture shaping an innocent child into a serial killer through traumatizing events. Children, who are abused, are serial killers who went through traumatizing events. They are neglected, abused at a young age where a child is not properly loved or taken care of at that age. The children were raised by those who don’t feel guilty for their actions and those who give no sympathy (Brogaard & Marlow, 2012, para.10). As young children, like Carroll Cole would resort to smaller animals like kittens and puppies to violently express their anger and stress out. The stresses are the feelings of low self-esteem, shame, feeling unloved, etc. The serial killers tend to express their anger and frustration to the animals and slowly express their feelings towards innocent humans resembling themselves or their abusers (McMahon & Harris, 2014, para 4). Serial killers resort to innocent humans to relive their anger, frustration and stress. Serial killers blend in with everyone; they seem like everyday normal individuals when really has a violent mind when they are triggered to be violent. Serial killers tend to have victims that have no connection with the serial killers themselves but may resemble an abuser and tend to be weaker. Choosing weaker and innocent victims give them confidence that they lack in. Serial killers tend to kill to satisfy themselves because of having control of someone’s life and death, playing “God” (McMahon & Harris, 2014, para 5&6). Serial killers once were victims as a child born into a home of physical, sexual, emotional, and psychological abuse. Serial Killers are made from child abuse, as well as factors of neurological damage and psychiatric illness (Nature vs.
Nurture. Are serial killers born or created? n.d., para.1). One main psychiatric illness is the inactivity of the orbital cortex in the frontal lobe that holds the capacity to stop the urges to be violent to someone (IBID). The frontal lobe is where the responsibility of the behaviour of the person is located in (Rutigliano, n.d., para. 3). It is responsible for the behaviour of violence, self-control, planning, judgment, social needs, and many other social needs of a human (IBID). The orbital cortex inactivity is common in almost all serial killers (The Brain of a Serial Killer, n.d., para 4&5). This explains why serial killers tend to make bad decisions when it comes to violence …show more content…
specifically. It is believed that the orbital cortex is a common nature influence where it is actually triggered by the nurture influence, which will prove by the famous case of James Fallon. James Fallon is a neuroscientist who has been studying psychopaths and serial killers for over 20 years (IBID). At first during his research he was trying to prove that nature influences the making of serial killers (IBID). He was studying how brains of serial killers were actually different from other normal brains (IBID). He had actually found that he was part of generations of serial killers (IBID). It has also been shown that his orbital cortex also is inactive, as of a serial killers is (IBID). He found this out when he was scanning and checking various brains of psychopaths that he was studying, and later compared it with his own brain showing little difference of the orbital cortex (IBID). He had also compared his brain with his son’s brain which had normal orbital cortex activity that he indeed did have a brain of a serial killer (IBID). Jim Fallon had found many things during his research on serial killers brains and whether it was triggered by nature or nurture. He has discovered that the orbital cortex is where all the ethical behavior is controlled in, so moral decision making and impulse control (IBID). He also stated that low orbital cortex is the less control over rage, violence, eating, drinking and sex (IBID). According to James Fallon, “People with low orbital cortex activity are either free-wheeling types or sociopaths” (IBID). He also came to a conclusion that psychopathic behaviours and structures can be passed down generations but can only be activated based on the nurturing styles(IBID). James Fallon’s research made him change his mind on how nurture is actually predominant in shaping a serial killer. He thought that genetics and brain function could determine someone without the consideration of the surrounding environment (IBID). He now thinks that it is actually the childhood experiences that determine how one in the future using himself as an example becomes. He had a caring and loving childhood and has never killed anyone. Today he is a successful neuroscientist. He has stated if genetics determined everything, he would be considered a serial killer automatically, but since that is not the only key factor he is not a serial killer (IBID). He came to a conclusion that anyone can have orbital cortex inactivity and still be not a serial killer. Although it can be triggered by the nurturing of their childhood, so abuse is plays a key role in determining whether or not one becomes a serial killer even if they are born with a orbital cortex inactivity (IBID). Dr. Helen Morrison studies serial killers and had interviewed 135 serial killers (The Brain of a Serial Killer, n.d., para 2&3). She noticed many similarities between serial killers even if their lives were drastically different. They all have very similar brain functions and chromosome numbers (IBID). She has stated that when they reached their puberty their violent acts started to get expressed, which is often triggered because of their childhood experiences (IBID). She had also found out that Psychological and Physical abuse were the most common abuse experienced at a young age as well as maltreatment playing a key role (IBID). She showed that serial killers don’t have and never developed a sense of attachment or belonging to the world, society, etc. (IBID). Due to the lack of sympathy, care, etc. they don’t feel guilty or pity for their victims, which also allow them to not to develop an emotional attachment to their victims allowing the serial killer to do whatever they want with the victim (IBID). Nannie Doss is another great example of how childhood depicted her becoming of a serial killer. She grew up in a home filled with anger and abuses both from her father, who is supposed to be a loving father to their child (Examination of the Psychology of Serial Killers, 2014, para. 8). Nannie Doss wanted happiness and the ideal man for her that would take care of her and lover her; this came due to the lack of love and hatred from her father (IBID). She was forced to go to do harsh labour work by her father; she did not have the time of playtime and care a child needs (IBID). Her father was abusive to her and showed no form of love to her. Doss grew up in an abusive environment, making her seek a man who would care and do anything for her, her little fantasy.
She was married to her first husband; she was unhappy because of how he and his mother resemble the abuses that her father put on her (Examination of the Psychology of Serial Killers, 2014, para. 9, 10). Due to this, she had many affairs to get some form of feeling loved even for a little bit of time (IBID). She had two children with the man, and a newborn, her husband left her with the newborn (IBID). It is been reported that the children were killed by her poisoning them in anger of her husband’s thoughts (IBID). After her husband returned, he came back with a women and child of theirs (IBID). Nannie Doss couldn’t take this pain and left her husband with her child (IBID). She was seeking to find a man that fulfilled her needs of
love. She thought she had found her new perfect man, but soon found out that he was a heavy drinker with a criminal record (Examination of the Psychology of Serial Killers, 2014, para. 10). Her new husband abused her and her children, but for some reason she had decided to stay with him for 16 years (IBID). Nannie Doss killed her husband by putting rat poison in his liquor jar which then he died quickly as she strangled her (IBID). She later married a third man in search of man that would fulfill her wishes of being loved. But the third man also was a womanizer and a heavy drinker (IBID). She also later killed her newborn and her first husband (IBID). He was also brutally murdered by Nannie Doss. Nannie Doss had a very depressing life shaping her as a serial killer. Her childhood had consisted of cold and darkness. Her father did not show her daughter love, happiness but rather hatred, anger, and abuse. All of this triggered her anger, stresses and frustration by brutally killing the man that did not satisfy her needs, as well as killing their children. Her childhood had determined her future of becoming a brutal killer with those who did not fulfill her wishes of feeling loved. Marc Lépine's, a one-time serial killer who murdered many females at École Polytechnique at the University of Montréal. He became a serial killer because of the many influences in his childhood creating a hatred towards specific people, women. When he was younger he was physically and psychological abused by his father (Ramsland, n.d., pg. 9, 10, 11). He was abused by his father until Lépine was bleeding (IBID). His father would often yell against women and feminism, say harsh things about women and his (IBID). Lépine’s father would often say that his mother is weak and how she doesn’t do anything about his father brutally abusing her son (IBID). As well as the fact, that later in his life he was rejected to attend Polytechnique, he blamed the females of the university for not being able to get accepted when really the majority of the school was males (IBID). On December 6, he went to the school and murdered the females only, leaving the men alone (IBID). The events that happened in his life, the abuse, and the events relating to how women ruined his life triggered him to go on a killing rampage. The idea of females and feminism lead to murdering innocent females who have no connection with Lépine, but murdered simply because they were females. Serial killers are psychologically disturbed in their lives because of the many events taken place in their lives, making nurture play a key role in the making of a serial killer. The darker and more abusive, violent environment or surrounding a young child is experiencing can lead to shape and create the steps to forming a serial killer. The orbital cortex, part of the premade DNA does play a role in the making of a serial killer but not a predominant one. It is rather only triggered from childhood abuse, only through nurture that further creates a serial killer. From the examinations of various case studies of serial killers you can see that nurture in all of them played a key role in shaping a serial killer. Thus, nurture plays a predominant role in shaping, creating a serial killer than nature does.
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
Serial killer is a type of murder which can categorized as a crime and deviance. Serial killer can defined as individual who performed a murder or kill one and above in a separate and more events (Siegel, 2011). According to Siegel , he argues that some experts try to seek classifactions of serial killers based on their motivations and offense patterns for instances,thrill killers,mission killers,and expediences killers. But according to Egger (1984),he postpulated that meaning of the serial killer not only heart in numbers of people have been kills by murder and duration of the time for each of the murder take place nevertheless must take consideration the attitudes of deviant.We can divide serial killer into two types such as male and
The brain scan of a killer often lacks this, meaning that the activity in the frontal lobe is minimal. Without the activity, people often have emotional problems, personality changes, and trouble with their social behavior. Just because a person has frontal lobe damage doesn’t mean that they will grow into a cold blooded killer, there is often other factors that play into it, “Research shows that serial killers have long histories of violence, beginning in childhood with the targeting of other children, siblings, and small animals. They maintain superficial relationships with others, have trouble relating to the opposite sex, and have guilt feelings about their interest in sex” (Siegel 295). Abuse as a child or neglect can also play a role in shaping a killer ("What Creates Serial Killers and Psychopaths: Genetics or Environment?"). With seeing the abuse so much as a child, the person may accept violence into their everyday life and may think that it is
A serial killer is a person who murders three or more people over a period of more than 30 days, with a "cooling off" period between each murder, and whose motivation for killing is largely based on psychological gratification. Most people do not understand what can make a person want to kill multiple people for no reason other than their own satisfaction gain. In actuality, serial killers have been studied for over hundreds of years, and the information that has been documented continues to grow. The research that I have gathered about serial killers focuses on their childhood development, the differences and similarities between male and female serial killers, and finally general information on how their brains operate and their motives for committing such harmful acts. There have been many theories over the years about how a person becomes a serial killer, and how having an unstable childhood affects a person.
It is almost difficult to give a generalized description to profile all serial killers, nor is it easy to give an specific explanation in their motive to kill—varies in every serial killer experiences. Still, researchers introduce multiple typologies based on developed databases using past cases of serial killing. This is to help law enforcement authorities give possible idea by following patterns aiding to profile the serial killer(s) and the public to understand psychological these behaviors. Furthermore, Researchers, Ronald M. Holmes and James De Burger has presented four types of serial killers, classifying him/her based on motive and on characteristics of the victims. The four typology is as follows:
Serial killers are defined to “be driven by instinct and desire to kill.” In a study done in 2000, Dr, Richard Davidson says, “people with a large amount of aggression – in particular people who have committed aggressive murders or have a social disorder – have almost no brain activity in the orbital frontal cortex or the anterior cingulated cortex while activity in the amyglade continued perfectly. The orbital frontal cortex and the anterior congulated cortex control emotional impulses while the amyglade controls reactions to fear.” Davidson concludes his research claiming that although environment can and will affect a serial killer’s thoughts, it is a killer’s genetic makeup that inevitably creates murderous thoughts.
Kent Kiehl from the University of New Mexico, says, “one in one hundred people is a serial killer” A deep experiment and deep understanding definition of a serial killer varies from brain functions, and how the different compartments work with each other to make the person who they are. From a start the separation from a serial killer to an average person begins with the Amygdala, two nuggets of tissue one at each half of the brain, this is the Brains Central Command Center, yet they are no bigger than a thumbnail, and is what processes the emotions of any act the human has committed. Research has now proven that there is another part of the brain that helps the Amygdala processes and respond to the actions, Is called the Frontal Lobe, one out of five lobes and this lobe helps to reason, make judgments, make plans for the near and far future, take action and problem solving. When the Amygdala and the Frontal Lobe work together, they send out signals to the body to react to certain situations, which not only varies from Serial Killer to an average person, it also varies from people to people. The function of these two parts of the brain, is what causes a person to feel guilty when they did something wrong, from stealing a cookie from the cookie jar to the first time skipping school and get caught. For example, if somebody had purposely broken a window, a state of panic comes into play and the person feels guilty, no matter how much they apologize, they still have the constant thought of “oh no, what have I done?”, however Serial Killers don’t have the state of panic. The Studies have shown that the Amygdala and the Frontal Lobe of the body, don’t necessarily communicate as properly like those of average people and that a Serial Kil...
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.
Nature versus nurture has been argued in attempt to understand how criminals behave. The theory of what influences psychopath and serial killers’ violent and destructive pathways has not been agreed on till this day. Criminals such as psychopaths and serial killers have been researched for the past two decades. Scientists have found that genetics is a determining factor of who becomes a serial killer. It is important to understand the determinants involved within a serial killer, because if these social and environmental causes are discovered, they can be altered and controlled to reduce crime (Lykken, 1993). With more studies, we would therefore prevent mass murders and could assist in significant reductions of crime within society.
Most people who become serial killers have some type of psychological disorder. Other possibilities would be a bad childhood that raised an anger tow...
A murderer is defined as someone who has committed the crime of taking the life of an individua.l Murderers are usually triggered by an event and are harder to profile, as murders aren’t likely to commit the crime more than once. A serial killer; however, is someone who kills more than three times within a relatively short interval of time and are more easily identified through their similar characteristics. Although, murderers may not have committed the crime more than once does not mean that they don’t have a similar general characteristics. In Crime and Punishment by Fydor Dostoyevsky, Raskolnikov shares similar psychological characteristics including isolation, narcissism, and higher IQ’s with a general profile of murderers, which ultimately was what led them to murder.
Since the United States was founded, serial killers have crept their way into the nation. To understand the science behind these serial killers, one must first have a basic idea of criminology. Criminology is defined as the scientific study of crime and criminals. A big part of criminology when it comes to serial killers is psychology or the mental or emotional factors governing a situation or activity. To understand a serial killer, one must understand the motivations behind what lead them to their illegal behaviors, also known as a trigger. In SERIAL KILLER FILES THE WHO, WHAT, WHERE, HOW, AND WHY THE WORLD’S MOST TERRIFYING MURDERERS it states that “ Psychoanalysis is based on the belief that you can explain an adult’s troubled behavior by tracing the causes back to his childhood experiences.” There have been many serial killers, but three of the most famous are: H.H Holmes,
Serial killers are possibly the most evil form of human life in existence. They find joy in inflicting pain in others and will find grotesque ways in manipulating and hurting people to gain satisfaction. The general profile for a serial killer is shown through a few common traits. Serial killers typically are power hungry, manipulators, egotistical, charming, and good at blending in. Serial killings are separated from mass murder by a cool-off period and the crimes being committed over several locations. Not all serial killers are the same, they all have different motives for their senseless killing. Thrill seekers, power/controllers, lust killers, visionaries, and mission-oriented killers are the main people who kill with these motives. Thrill
Psychologically, the serial killer is a sociopath, which is a disorder of character rather than the mind. "The serial killer lacks a conscience, feeling no remorse and caring exclusively for his own pleasures in lif...
Serial homicide is triggered by different desires which depend on the personality of those who are involved. Most of the cases are found to be sexually motivated whereby after being assaulted the victims are mercilessly murdered and the information hidden completely from the society. However, in sexual acts, homicide can occur in any of the stages, during before or after. This is because the victims may be very resistant to withstand the act happening to them and due to fear of being known, those involved go ahead and kill them. The serial murders tend to be committed by people in places where they are not well known and the society has built a lot of confidence in them.