Television shows like 'Dexter' and 'The Following' have given us a terrifying glimpse into the criminal mind of. We often catch ourselves asking, “Why do they kill?” “How do they pick their victims?” and “Why can’t they control their impulse to kill?” To answer these questions, has developed “The Brain of A Serial Killer” to explore the genetics, brain patterns, and childhood traumas that make up this profile.Dr. Helen Morrison, a Chicago-based forensic psychiatrist, has studied and interviewed 135 serial killers. She has found shocking similarities, and believes a chromosome abnormality is a likely trigger.
This chromosome abnormality begins to show itself during puberty, especially in men who display their homicidal tendencies. Show they never develop a sense of attachment and belonging to the world, meaning they don't empathize with their victims, which allows them to kill them.Neuroscientist Jim Fallon has studied the for over 20 years, and stumbled upon a shocking discovery in his research — he has the same low orbital cortex activity as a serial killer. This is the area that is believed to be involved with ethical behavior, more decision making, and impulse control. Low activity in this region means there's less normal suppression of behaviors, including rage, violence, eating, sex, and drinking.'
People with low orbital cortex activity are either free-wheeling types or sociopaths,' Fallon said.When it comes to childhood, serial killers are more likely to have experienced child abuse than society in general. In a study of 50 serial killers, researchers found about 70 percent experience some maltreatment and 50 percent go through psychological abuse growing up.
Fallon's research has led him to believe childhood experience could make all the difference when it comes to the making of a serial killer.Overall, the profile of a serial killer is a person who murders three or more people in at least three separate events with a cooling period between hits. They generally kill during a cycle when they're feeling stress, and feel temporarily relieved after they commit the homicide. The motivations of serial killers vary, but they often fall into these four categories: Obtaining money, experiencing the thrill, a sense of power, and a desire to rid the world of evildoers.View the infographic below to learn more about the making of a serial killer and the prevalence of homicides around the world.
The Psychology of serial killersThere are many different levels of criminal psychology. There are some criminal,or forensic, psychologist that focus mainly their research on serial killers. A serialkiller is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period ofmore than a month, usually with significant time (a cooling-off period) betweenthe murders. This time between the murders often makes the killings not seemconnected. Depending of course, on the method used to murder the victim.
Inmost cases the serial killer's victim don't personally know the killer. This impliesthat a serial killer's motive is more psychological than material. Studying the Brain of Serial Killers:As research continues in the field, it is more commonly believed that the symptoms manifested by serial killers - regardless of their classification - are the result of brainabnormalities. For instance, using medical imaging techniques, neuroscientists have discovered that the brains of psychopaths have noticeably thinner tissue in key subcorticalareas.These regions span what doctors call the limbic system. It also spans other structures, such as the orbitofrontal cortex and the temporal pole, that are adjacent to the limbicsystem. These regions of the brain are collectively known as the paralimbic system, and believe it may hold the key to understanding psychopaths.
This is because the paralimbicsystem controls basic emotions such as fear, pleasure, anger — and handles decision making, reasoning and impulse control. If this tissue is damaged or underdeveloped, thenthat person may have a decreased ability to register feelings or assign emotional value to experiences. It explains a great deal about the behavior of psychopaths, who havegreat difficulty feeling emotions.Freud, a more classic form of psychoanalytic theory, described the id as the part of the mind that regulates instinctive impulses and primary processes. The ego, Freud said,mediates between the conscious and the unconscious and is responsible for a sense of someones personal identity. And the superego acts as a self-critical conscience, reflectingthe social norms learned from parents, teachers and other authority figures.
In psychopaths, an abnormal paralimbic system could weaken the ego, which would allow the id todirect behavior, leading to the need for immediate gratification. Other abnormal brain functions could also compromise the superego, allowing an individual to harm others in theirpursuit of self gratification without experiencing feelings of guilt or remorse.The Serial Killer Environment:Everything we need to know about serial killers can't simply be explained by biology.
Jim Fallon Neuroscientist
Data shows that information hardwired in DNA only accounts for 50 percent of the variabilityamong people who exhibit adult antisocial traits. Basically, genetics can only account for so much.
A persons environment has equal importance in shaping how a persondevelops.Many, but not all, serial killers suffered some kind of trauma in their childhood. Childhood trauma played a key role in the lives of numerous serial killers., whomurdered 33 young boys, suffered greatly at the hands of his abusive father. Gacy was brutally beaten and saw his beloved dog shot while he watched. Aside from physicalabuse, he withstood verbal assaults, listening as his father called him 'sissy' and 'worthless.' , who was implicated in the strangulation deaths of 11 Boston women, also survived a horrible childhood. His father was cruel to the entire family, beating him witha pipe and breaking his mother's fingers as the boy watched. Some accounts say his father sold the children to a farmer in Maine.
Although they were rescued by their mother,the trama they shared from the incident must have been significant.Sometimes, the abuse isn't so obvious., murdered 17 people in the late 1980s and early 1990s, seemed to have a normal childhood. He was described as happyand bubbly, although court records state that Dahmer was a withdrawn child who was fascinated with dead animals. Something happened to turn Dahmer into a sadistic killer.Reports say he may have been sexually molested by a neighbor boy in 1968.
He also may have also been traumatized, at age 4, by an operation for a hernia.Most children can endure such abuses without suffering long-term psychological damage, others can't. Those who can't, often fail to develop an appropriate 'attachment' totheir caregiver.
Without that connection, children may never learn to trust the people around them. Instead, they turn inward, creating a fantasy world that becomes theirsource of gratification. Usually when challenged, they react violently and never feel sympathy or remorse for the harm they cause.The FBI conducted a three-year study of 36 sexually motivated killers, including 29 serial killers, the following statistics were reported:69 percent of killers studied reported family histories with alcohol abuse.53 percent listed relatives with psychiatric problems.46 percent admitted family sexual problems.33 percent described histories of familial drug abuse.These numbers don't explain everything.
But if you combine severe childhood abuse and isolation with certain neurobiological defects, it becomes much more clear how achild could grow up to become a vicious and heartless killer. Organized vs.
Disorganized KillersThe FBI, in 1974, formed the Behavioral Science Unit (BSU). One of the firsttasks of the BSU, was to interview 36 serial murderers in an effort tounderstand their motivation and psychology. After these interviews it wasdetermined that serial killers could be classified into three groups:1. Organized: Organized killers plan their attacks methodically, where theplanning process itself becomes part of a consuming mental fantasy. Theychoose their victims carefully and may stalk them for extended periods oftime. They carry, weapons and restraints with them and very rarely kill at thescene where they encounter the victim. Instead, they transport their victimsto another location, commit the murder, and then dispose of the body in athird location.
This makes it difficult for investigators to collect evidence. Aftera killing, they often follow the investigation in the media.2. Disorganized: Disorganized serial killers plan nothing and often attacksuddenly, without notice. Their victims hold no symbolic value and have themisfortune of being in the 'wrong place at the wrong time.' They don't bringa weapon to the crime scene, instead use a weapon they find. I.e.: rock,rope, metal pipe.
They don't dispose of bodies, although they often take'souvenirs.' Their disorganized behavior makes it easier for law enforcementto track and find them.3.
Mixed: Some serial killers defy classification. Perhaps they kill occasionallywhile intoxicated or on drugs. Or, perhaps they fall in with other criminalswho are quick to kill. Whatever the circumstances, the FBI created a thirdcatch-all category for serial killers who can't be classified neatly as eitherorganized or disorganized.Using this system, the psychology of serial killers becomes a bit moremuddled.
Organized killers, for example, are classic psychopaths andmeticulously plan their crime and usually kill in a cold-blooded fashion.Disorganized and mixed-category killers can be psychopathic, but can also bepsychotic. People who are psychotic lose contact with reality and may havehallucinations or delusions.Experts consider Ted Bundy as the perfectexample of an organized killer.
His methodof killing worked so well he may havemurdered up to 100 women. The techniquewould approach a young woman and ask forcar. The woman would then follow Bundy tothe car, and when he had the door open, hewould attack and restrai her, then drive toanother location to play out the finalfantasies. Bundy was very charming,charismatic, and had good looks.
Whichusually put his victims at ease, although afew sensed the evil that was below the lessorganized. Florida police captured him inFebruary 1978 after a sloppy killing spreethat left three more people dead. OnJanuary 24, 1989 at 7:06 a.m.
Local time,Ted Bundy was executed in the electric chairat Florida State Prison in Starke, Florida. The Holmes and Holmes Serial Murder TypologyA lot of professionals in the field of criminal psychology argue that the BSU'sthree tiered scheme has many limitations. Holmes, authorson numerous serial killer and violent crime books, proposed a new serialmurder typology, which organizes killers into 4 main categories:1.
Visionary killers: feel the need to murder because of visions or messagesthey receive from angels, demons, Satan or God. Their victims are not relatedand have no connection.2.
Missionary killers: murder strictly a particular group, class, or race ofpeople in an effort to eliminate them.3. Hedonistic killers: get intense sexual gratification from their acts. Thesehedonistic killers can be further divided into two categories: lust killers, whoderive pleasure before and after the victim is dead, and thrill killers, whoseexcitement fades as soon as the victim is dead.4. Power or Control killers: who desire to master and control their victimscompletely, including when and how they die.Several researcher professionals have analyzed the Holmes and Holmes SerialMurder Typology and questioned whether it is valid or not. For example,British scientists at the University of Liverpool did an empirical study of thetypology and found that the attributes of power/control killers actuallyapplied to all of the other listed types of killers. According to theseresearchers, in other words, the power/control category should be removedcompletely.
Still, the Holmes typology remains a very useful tool in helping tounderstand the motivations and psychological processes of serial killers.When psychologists interviewed DavidBerkowitz after a year long shootingrampage that left six people dead andseveral more wounded, they diagnosed himas a paranoid schizophrenic. Based on thestyle of his slayings, he seemed like aclassic visionary killer. He claimed he wasdriven by demons, saying his neighbors dogtold him to do the killings. He eventuallygave a full confession, but a few questionsremain. Some investigators theorize thatBerkowitz belonged to a satanic cult andmay not have acted alone. Maury Terry, anewsman who worked the Son of Sam case,believes the attacks were carried out by fivegunmen, including Berkowitz.
Definitions often associated withserial killers and the mentally ill.sociopatha person, with a psychopathic personality,whose behavior is antisocial and who lacksa sense of moral responsibility or socialconscience. A trait often seen in serial killers.psychopathA person suffering from chronic mentaldisorder with abnormal or violent socialbehavior.Anti Social Personality disorderusually beginning in childhood and oftenaccompanied by a lack of remorse and adisregard of punishment. Also referred to associopathic personality and psychopathicpersonality.delusion1. A false belief or opinion: delusions ofgrandeur.2.
A fixed false belief that isactual fact: a paranoid delusion.schizophrenia1. Also called dementiapraecox. A severe mental disordercharacterized by some of the followingfeatures: emotional blunting, intellectualdeterioration, social isolation, disorganizedspeech and behavior, delusions, andhallucinations.2. A state characterized by the coexistenceof contradictory or incompatible elements.schizoid1.
Of or pertaining to apersonality disorder marked by dissociation,passivity, withdrawal, inability to form warmsocial relationships, and indifference topraise or criticism.2. Of or pertaining to schizophrenia or tomultiple personality.narcissist1. Extreme fascination with oneself;excessive self-love; vanity.2. Erotic gratificationderived from admiration of one's ownphysical or mental attributes, being anormal condition at the infantile level ofpersonality development. (Often called 'theGod Complex' when in reference to rapistand serial killers.hallucination1. A sensory experience of something thatdoes not exist outside the mind, caused byvarious physical and mental disorders, andusually manifested as visual or auditoryimages.2.
A false notion, belief, or impression;illusion; delusion. Psychopathy vs. Antisocial PersonalityDisorderMental health professionals refer to the (DSM)Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of MentalDisorders, to help guide in the treatment of theirpatients.
It describe antisocial personalitydisorder, or ASPD. This condition describesmany serial killers.The most obvious indicator of the disorder is atotal disregard for laws and the social norm.People with ASPD usually have a long history ofarrests and are often involved in physical fights.Some are capable of lying so skillfully it's hardto know when they are telling the truth. They willalso act impulsively, with little care to the safetyof themselves or others. Symptoms sometimesbegin to appear in their early teens.
Adults withASPD struggle to stay employed according tothe DSM. The manual also mentions that thedisorder is more common with men thanwomen.Experts describe psychopathy as a severe formof ASPD. The difference is, psychopaths havethe antisocial behaviors mentioned, but alsohave additional traits such as lack of remorse orguilt for their actions. They also tend to behighly paranoid, and suspicious. Dennis Rader: aka BTK, or'bind, torture, kill' is theepitome of a psychopath.Between 1974 and 2005,Rader killed 10 people inWichita, Kan.
On the surface,he seemed completelynormal. He was married, hadtwo kids, served in the U.S.Air Force and held severalgood jobs. All of that was afacade for the true monsterhe was. When he confessedto the horrific murders incourt, he had no remorse,which stunned observers inthe courtroom. Rader iscurrently serving 10 lifesentences in a Kansas prison.There is a diagnostic tool for psychopathy. The tool is a check list of sorts, of 20criteria that measure a person's antisocial behavior, and other factors. Thehighest score is 40, but even at 30 point someone is considered a psychopath.The average score is 4.
That means psychopathy is a continuum, the way manydisorders are. It also means most psychopaths are not violent or destined tocommit murder. A few, however, are at the far end of the scale and are violent.This group may include serial killers.