Psychopathy: Antisocial Personality Disorder
Psychopathy, also known as antisocial personality disorder (ADP) “is a disorder that is characterized by a long-standing pattern of disregard for other people’s rights, often crossing the line and violating those rights.” (Bressert, 2016). Someone who is diagnosed with ADP is likely to feel little to no empathy towards the people around them and sees no issue with breaking set rules or laws to obtain what they desire.
Empirical Article for Psychopathy
Wiley Interscience, published a study that was conducted by Davi DeMatteo, Kirk Heilbrun, and Geoffrey Marczyk. Their study was based upon a population in the Greater Philadelphia Metropolitan area and consisted on 54 adult men aged 19-52. They recruited their participants by placing ads in the …show more content…
When taking these seven symptoms into account, I can easily apply them to the case of Ted Bundy. For instance, Bundy failed to conform to social norms as he repeatedly performed illegal activities. These include all of his robberies, kidnappings, rapes and murders. He also falls into the category of irritability and aggressiveness as this encompasses “repeated physical fights or assaults” (Bressert, 2016). The third symptom that applies to Bundy is his reckless disregard towards the safety of himself or others. Upon kidnapping his victims, Bundy would knock them unconscious and would proceed to kill them. He also made some irresponsible choices within his lifetime such as dropping out of post secondary school. Because of this, he worked a job where he worked for minimum wage which lead to the separation between himself and his girlfriend. He also proved to show a serious lack of remorse as he never expressed any form of apology for his criminal actions and he continued to repeat them a countless …show more content…
The stressors in Bundy’s life that were talked about in the Strain Theory section may have played a role in his diagnosis with psychopathy. The development of psychopathy typically manifests at an early age, and the unstable home environment, antisocial behaviour with peers and finding pleasure in violent activities all could have played a role in his diagnosis of Psychopthy. I believe that those who commit crimes similar to Bundy’s need to be kept under close observation as they are a danger to society. I am also of the opinion that they should attend rehabilitation sessions to potentially help them get back on track. For future research, I think we need to consider more cases across all crime types and age groups to get a better understanding of serial
Empirical Article for Psychopathy
Wiley Interscience, published a study that was conducted by Davi DeMatteo, Kirk Heilbrun, and Geoffrey Marczyk. Their study was based upon a population in the Greater Philadelphia Metropolitan area and consisted on 54 adult men aged 19-52. They recruited their participants by placing ads in the …show more content…
When taking these seven symptoms into account, I can easily apply them to the case of Ted Bundy. For instance, Bundy failed to conform to social norms as he repeatedly performed illegal activities. These include all of his robberies, kidnappings, rapes and murders. He also falls into the category of irritability and aggressiveness as this encompasses “repeated physical fights or assaults” (Bressert, 2016). The third symptom that applies to Bundy is his reckless disregard towards the safety of himself or others. Upon kidnapping his victims, Bundy would knock them unconscious and would proceed to kill them. He also made some irresponsible choices within his lifetime such as dropping out of post secondary school. Because of this, he worked a job where he worked for minimum wage which lead to the separation between himself and his girlfriend. He also proved to show a serious lack of remorse as he never expressed any form of apology for his criminal actions and he continued to repeat them a countless …show more content…
The stressors in Bundy’s life that were talked about in the Strain Theory section may have played a role in his diagnosis with psychopathy. The development of psychopathy typically manifests at an early age, and the unstable home environment, antisocial behaviour with peers and finding pleasure in violent activities all could have played a role in his diagnosis of Psychopthy. I believe that those who commit crimes similar to Bundy’s need to be kept under close observation as they are a danger to society. I am also of the opinion that they should attend rehabilitation sessions to potentially help them get back on track. For future research, I think we need to consider more cases across all crime types and age groups to get a better understanding of serial