Preview

Who Are Psychopaths Born Or Made?

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
319 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Who Are Psychopaths Born Or Made?
Abstract
Generally, when one hears the word psychopath they automatically think of someone who is cold and sinister a serial killer, pedophile an absolute monster. Perhaps, that’s due to the way they have been portrayed by the entertainment industry. Society fears and loathes these individuals, but are fascinated by them. Psychopathy has been studied for decades, yet we still know little about the disorder. What is a psychopath, and how and where are they created? Are psychopaths born or made After decades of research there are many theories about why psychopaths are the way they are, but still no concrete answers. Researchers argue whether psychopaths are born or made or perhaps whether

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Rebecca Taylor LaBrode discusses in her article, “Etiology of the Psychopathic Serial Killer: An Analysis of Antisocial Personality Disorder, Psychopathy, and Serial Killer Personality and Crime Scene Characteristic," LaBrode discusses the treatment available to individuals with psychological disorders, and she connects personality disorders that come from children with past traumatic events, but she also states that the disorder can be treated from an early stage in life. Labrode specifically says,…

    • 292 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Psychopathy is defined by three domains they are an interpersonal style characterized by arrogance, manipulation, and deceit; a behavioral style characterized by impulsivity and irresponsibility; and an affective experience characterized by shallow emotions and a lack of empathy (Sadhu, 2015). Neumann, Hare, and Newman (2007) suggest that psychopathy involves a four factor model which are an interpersonal factor that includes superficial charm, grandiosity, pathological lying and manipulation; an affective factor that includes callousness, lack of remorse, shallowness and failure to accept responsibility; an impulsive lifestyle factor that comprises impulsivity, sensation seeking and irresponsibility; and an antisocial factor that involves…

    • 138 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    What is a psychopath? How would we describe a psychopath? Although people may have a different opinion of the description of a psychopath, there are some aspects that most people will agree on. From our understanding, psychopaths are impulsive, ego-centric, and sometimes violent individuals, who lie and manipulate others for their own personal gain. At the same time, psychopaths can be charming which explains how they manage to easily manipulate others. The most intriguing characteristic, however, is the lack of conscience within a psychopath. We can all agree, it seems as if psychopaths feel no remorse or guilt after exhibiting their…

    • 788 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Cjs 200

    • 341 Words
    • 2 Pages

    There are many reasons why people commit crimes and most of them are likely wrong. Honestly there is no way of knowing short of having the criminal tell you his reason, and hope it is correct. There are however several theories as to what causes and makes a criminal. One theory is biological, basically saying that a psychopath could not help himself. There is another that points out where and how a child is raised will determine if they become serial killers or not. I personally disagree with both of these; I feel that the psychopath has made a conscious decision to do something that is wrong.…

    • 341 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    This article discusses psychopathy as a personality disorder and delves deeper into the understanding of the disorder. The article explains how it relates to forensic evaluations. This gives the support needed to show the connection between psychopathy and criminal profiling.…

    • 1865 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Modern society has many standards that people follow and accept: shake hands when meeting someone, do not pick nose in public, and bathe on a regular basis. Norms are just a few of the many different social needs in the world today. Abnormalities throw people through a loophole, cause confusion amongst each other, and contrast uniformity. Psychopaths lead to the death of individuals that conform to the standard and have no remorse for the action. They disrupt the flow of progress and end the life of another with no penalty of law. Psychopaths work to change how society thinks as a norm, such as a psychopath in “Cask of Amontillado,” “The Lottery,” and “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been.”…

    • 744 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The internal logic of how violent offenders decide to commit crimes, why they come up with their choice of crimes, and where it comes from ultimately leads to the question who. Who is a question Sigmund Freud pursued and is asked by psychologists today who evaluate cases. Do these serial killers learn how to manipulate their victims to their advantage from a young age? The term sociopath determines a person as one who is sane and brilliant and can even share a narcissistic personality. It’s not until science finds out a way to explain thoughts leading to an answer for all the why’s that go into murder that psychologists can know why exactly we think about killing and why serial killers…

    • 1256 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    These statistics illustrate the idea that nature rarely operates without nurture. Dr. J. Reid Meloy, author of The Psychopathic Mind: Origins, Dynamics, and Treatment, states “the psychopath is only capable of sadomasochistic relationships based on power, not attachment. Psychopaths identify with the aggressive role model, such as an abusive parent, and attack the weaker, more vulnerable self by projecting it onto others.” Dr. Meloy goes even further by saying that these environmental factors can hold sway over the predisposed, genetically different mind of the serial killer in infancy. An infant will start to look inward for after experiencing too many neglectful and painful experiences. In normal development a child bonds with the mother figure for nurturing and love, for a psychopath the mother is often seen as an “aggressive predator or a passive stranger.” This can be because she is overbearing and too protective, or because perhaps the father is abusive and she does nothing to intervene. Of course there are a plethora of reasons this could happen to the developing child, those are just a few examples. The father figure in a serial killers environment looms large too as…

    • 1005 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Are serial killers naturally, instinctive psychopaths or are they the result of a corrupt upbringing? Are you more at risk of becoming a smoker because of your genes or is it a result of the peers you socialize with? Now, these types of questions have instigated disputes among psychologists in determining who we are, whether it is a result of nature, such as heredity, or is it the outcome of the nurturing of one’s environment that shape our personality? In other words, were you born with a blank mind and over time you developed your characteristics or were you born with talents and characteristics since birth? Regarded as the oldest issue known in the field of psychology, nature versus nurture is and this debate centers on the question: How…

    • 1830 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Upbringing, I believe, has a heavy weight on shaping people's personalities. Addiction is a new way for me to look at the problem of serial killings and has explained some things for me, such as, why do they continue to kill even when the police are hot on their tracks? Sometimes it would be smart for a serial killer to lay low when they become high profile, but their addiction doesn't allow them to do this. We still might not have a complete understanding of how a serial killers mind works, but I believe we are slowly progressing. Recent confessions of serial killers has also given us a priceless tool for looking into the mind of these people. When BTK was taken into custody, he finally began to confess and didn't stop. He ended up spending thirty three hours in interrogation, walking investigators through his crimes and telling them what was going through his mind. John Wayne Gacy allowed psychologists to ask him questions up until he was put to death. These encounters gave what we call "normal people" a chance to look into the head of a psychopath. Maybe someday we can pinpoint the exact factors for creating a serial killer, and prevent them from a full…

    • 1470 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Psychopathy

    • 1852 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Blair, R.J.R., Jones, L., Clark, F., Smith, M. (1995a). Is the psychopath “morally insane?” Personality and Individual Difference, 19, 741-752.…

    • 1852 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In researching about serial killers the topic of nature vs. nurture is the question of debate. It is still to be determined whether or not they are born with the urge already…

    • 1628 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Psychopathy In Psychology

    • 1088 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Psychopathy is a personality disorder, mainly characterized by a lack of remorse or empathy, and is highly associated with antisocial behavior alongside other symptoms (Pozzulo, 301). Research shows that psychopathy can develop during childhood and adolescence (Pozzulo, 314). Psychologists are able to present to court the most probable criminal behavior of an young offender, as well as how specific models of psychopathy should be addressed, and how the offender should be punished including specific aspect of the sentence. However, psychologists’ expert testimonies labeling an offender as psychopath can lead to biased jurors’ sentences. Moreover, psychology is far from a perfect science and therefore contains many contradictions on psychopathy…

    • 1088 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Iago In Othello

    • 1152 Words
    • 5 Pages

    A psychopath is defined as “a person with a psychopathic personality, which manifests as amoral and antisocial behavior, lack of ability to love or…

    • 1152 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Evidence that was gathered from books such as “Inside the Minds of Mass Murderers” and “Inside the Minds of Serial Killers,” both written by Kathertine Ramsland, provide information and evidence that killers are in fact made, not born. Some of the reasons that people believe that killers are made and not born are due to research by many psychiatrists on serial killers and mass murderers who are on death roe that have committed some of the most heinous crimes. One argument is that there is a set of factors that make people kill which are neurologic damage, abuse, and paranoid thinking (Pincus, Base Instincts). Another argument that follows the same guidelines was perceived from examining the many murders and serial killings in American history. It is believed that the childhood that a psychopath had says a lot about the person they become because we as humans learn from the environment that we are constantly in (Kelleher, 127). Overall, though there are many arguments on this thesis there was a lot of proof that people kill due to a number of factors throughout their lives and are in fact not born as murderers.…

    • 1556 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays