A person who commits a series of murders, often with no apparent motive and typically following a certain characteristic, predictable behavior pattern, is known as a serial killer. No one grows up thinking that one day they're going to become a serial killer. Everyone has their reasons for doing what they do, most of the time it is based off of how you were brought up. Were they neglected? Were they sexually harassed or watched someone be harassed? There is clearly something that was brought out in them, that lead them into falling through with these actions.
Research and observations show that the general profile of a serial killer is a white lower to middle-class male from 20-30 years of age. Over 90% of serial killers are men. They are most often single and have unusually high IQ’s. Most children who become serial killers wet the bed past age 12. They will torture animals or have an obsession with starting fires. They come from abusive families, families of a single mother, or an absent father. They suffer mental and physical abuse and attempt suicide regularly. Types of serial killers are medical killers, organized, and disorganized serial killers. Medical serial killers commit their crimes in hospitals or through fatal medicines because they think it is easy to blame a death on an overdose
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 own satisfactional 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 men and female serial kills, and finally general information on how their brains operate and their motives for committing such harmful acts.
What goes on in the minds of a serial killer is all-dependent on the upbringing at an early age, and some are born with mental illnesses. All in all you never know who can become a serial killer, because they could seem completely normal, and most blend into society so well, that you never know who’s going to be a serial killer and who isn’t. Sometimes it just takes that one moment where there is a switch in that person brains clicks and turns them into a monster. All in all, you never know what someone is going to become and that’s what fascinates psychologists is finding what that trigger is and what turns that person into a serial killer and discover the true Makings of a Serial Killer.
According to our textbook, a personality disorder stipulates that a person’s personality pattern is deviated significantly from the expectations of his or her culture by their styles of thinking either about oneself, others, or events; emotional experiences and expression; social functioning; and/or impulse control (Nolen-Hoeksema, 2014). Antisocial personality disorder and borderline personality disorder both fall into Cluster B under dramatic-emotional personality disorders. People with these mental illnesses tend to be controlling, unpredictable, and insensible in social relationships. They are inclined to imprudent, often violent behaviors that show minimum regard for their safety or needs of others (Nolen-Hoeksema, 2014).
A person who commits a series of murders, often with no apparent motive and typically following a certain characteristic, predictable behavior pattern, is known as a serial killer. No one grows up thinking that one day they're going to become a serial killer. Everyone has their reasons for doing what they do, most of the time it is based off of how you were brought up. Were they neglected? Were they sexually harassed or watched someone be harassed? There is clearly something that was brought out in them, that lead them into falling through with these actions?
A serial killer is to be known as a killer that will pause for a long period of time before killed more peope. After a serial killer killed one person, they would wait months or years before they killed another and pause after that and they did that till they were caught. But, a man or woman doesn’t just decide one day that they will kill people, it all starts when they were a child. What makes a person want to kill and why can’t we get into a serial killers mind? It may be the way they were raised. It also might be that they were beaten as a child, or their parents abused them, or maybe they were being bullied because they were different from the others. Most of these caused one thing prior to them wanting to kill, and that is because of their mental state of mind. Some of these killers were tormented so much that it changed them mentally and emotionally. Some of the killers were also driven by sexual pleasures. The reasoning is that they were driven down by everything that was around them and it caused them to have issues and things that would make them later have a “tick” and cause them to go on their psychotic rampages.
A majority of these individuals are linked through commonalities of their childhood as well as their personality traits and behaviors. The serial murderer’s personality is an intricate recipe of biological, environmental and social circumstances. Though early abuse can cause feelings of aggression and delinquency, childhood experiences alone cannot be to blame. Many people are abused early on as children, and never become killers. Similarly, biological issues, such as brain abnormalities, as we as certain personality disorders would not individually create a murderer. Rather, a distinctive combination of psychological issues, impairments in the brain, and personality disorders help mold a brutal serial killer. Killers cannot be simply born into this world, but under the right circumstances, they will be created.
“The disorder that doctors fear most,” or borderline personality disorder as it is known throughout the medical community, is only one of several personality disorders plaguing society today (qtd. in Aldhous). Unfortunately most people suffering from personality disorders do not attempt to seek psychiatric help and go undiagnosed and the bulk of those who do contact medical professionals are already in the midst of a problem or only search for help following a reckless act (Aldhous). Personality disorders are one of the most prevalent diagnoses of the psychiatric community, with thirty-six to sixty-seven percent of patients in psychiatric hospitals or facilities diagnosed with some sort of personality disorder (Yeandle 21). Even in an age full of so many technological advances in the psychiatric field, an understanding of personality disorders is not common among non-medical personnel, and it is important for people to take a closer look at the types of personality disorders and their respective symptoms, the diagnostic process and its need for reform, and the existing therapies and treatments available for those living with the heavy burden of a personality disorder.
Serial killers always have aroused the curiosity and concern of the public. People seem to be both fascinated and repulsed by their horrendous crimes. The stories make newspaper headlines, and their gruesome murders are the subject of popular movies and best-selling books. In this paper, I will discuss what causes a human being to become a serial killer. Although social scientists have developed many theories to explain the mind of a serial killer, the scientific evidence supports the theories of sociopathy, psychopathy, sadistic fulfillment, childhood abuse, and genetics.
The general profile for a serial killer is an intelligent white male in their mid to late 20’s and 30’s. Many serial killers begin their life with an unstable childhood. The lack of loving and nurturing relationships plays a large role in this. Physical and emotional abuse during childhood is a common trend for children who grow up to be serial killers. Abusing animals, bedwetting into a late age, and exposure to alcohol/substance abuse are also common in a serial killer’s childhood. Not all serial killers are the same, one type of serial killer is a visionary killer. These people are psychotic (schizophrenia and paranoia) and believe they are being told to kill by a greater force such as God. Mission oriented killers believe they are doing
The FBI defines a serial killer as someone “who has killed three or more people who were previously unknown to him or her, with a ‘cooling off’ period in between each murder”(Ellerbrok, 2017). Serial killers have been active for about as long as modern societies have existed. They have killed thousands of people for reasons that are not always clear. Many are psychopathic or sociopathic killers, who lack empathy for others and are therefore unable to understand the consequences of their killing. The difference between psychopathic and sociopathic killers is a subject of debate, however research shows that sociopathy “is believed to be a product of childhood trauma and abuse “(Bonn, 2014) while psychopathy is usually caused by genetic factors. Serial killers are monsters of society, they hunt their
A serial killer is a person that has killed three or more people withing a period of time, then they take a some time off which is called the “cooling period”. Some people say that serial killers kill because of a psychological gratification. Serial killers are people who suffer from psychotic breaks, they believe that they are another person and might also hear voices. There are two most common sub groups which are “Demon Mandated” They kill because a demon ordered them to do it, A “God Mandated” kills because god sent them to do it because the person wasn’t doing holly things. Serial killers face many problems in their childhood, trauma can create a deviant behavior in adulthood. The family or environment plays a big part, when children are rejected or neglected they are unavaible to create social relationships. Which will lower their self esteem , this will help them start developing their fantasies. Children don’t have the power to control the mistreatment that they suffer so they create a new reality , one that helps them escape from what they’re living. This reality becomes their fantasy , one that they have total control off and during this time the child becomes sociopathic. In their world a person doesn’t do any harm and the pain of others had no consequences when it is providing satisfying needs to the person, they lack empathy for their victims. If they...
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.
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.