The Mind of a Serial Killer
According to the FBI, a serial killer "means a series of three or more killings, not less than one of which was committed within the United States" (Morton, 2005). In the research of Ph.D Berit Brogaard, it is discussed that the term serial killer is problematic for many reasons that some people will not be able to understand based on the situation at hand. Since the 1980's in the United States there have been 87 classified serial killers per year and of today there are 35 active serial killers that can appear at any given moment. Some people find self-control and binding temper unchallenging, where others succumb and let the instinct take over and commit the crime they could have avoided. Anyone can be a serial killer, not many can tell by simply taking a glance since they can hide in plain sight. The one way they can be unmasked is after the police catches them. Until then, it can be anyone.
The mind of a serial killer is difficult, terrifying, and yet interesting. Serial killers are interesting because of the ability to shut down their natural human instincts of caring and nurturing. In the article "The Psychology of Killing" Dr. Stella Dickson states that the pattern towards killing is a role that all humans interact. "If one is loving, the other feels loved. If one is rejecting, the other feels rejected. If someone is behaving in an attacking way, someone feels attacked." One of the most terrifying killers was a man named John Wayne Gacy, he was the mask of total sanity. In the research gathered by Crime Museum, "To many people, John Wayne Gacy was a friendly man who loved to entertain children...By 1978 public precipitation of Gacy would change forever, and he would earn the ominous nickname of "The Killer Clown"" (Crime Museum,2017). Any type of killer can be successful to hide in plain sight for those that are able to play with people's trust to make themselves viewed as a trustworthy person towards society.
When there has been reports on serial killers the first thing that comes to mind is that the attacks are on random strangers meaning that anyone can be a part of the serial killer motive. The common motives in a serial killer is by their fears and desires. Every human being have experience the feeling of urges, but most of the time people do not act on those urges because of the suffering consequences that can occur to harm others or themselves. Dr. Helen Morrison has stated "No matter what country ethnicity, race, socioeconomic background, education, familial background, they are all exactly the same" (Rogers, 2012). The research into studying a serial killer is based on interesting explanations and fascinating insight of the killers' mind.
Serial killers are in every part of the world, murdering anyone that gets in their way. It can be justified how serial killers are handled in today's psychological field. With all the studies and research that had been down towards serial killers should point out some warning signs before a killing spree occurs. Viscous killers are all violent and brutal monsters and have urges to kill.
You have great information in your post about serial killers motives and who is a serial killer but while reading your post I was wondering a few things:
ReplyDelete1) What percentage of serial killers are mentally ill?
2) How many killings are in a given year?
3) You talked about how many serial killers are in the United States, but how many are in the world? Maybe you can divide the serial killers according to country.
4) Another thing you could do is divide the number of serial killers according to state in the US.
Another thing I noticed in your blog post was that you stated that being a serial killer was problematic for many reasons. While reading your post, I was wondering what are those reasons, so I looked up your Brogaard source and I came across that many experts believe that being a psychopath may be a connection from abnormality in the brain because many psychopaths have a disconnection from the amygdala and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. I read farther about the connection between the two and I came across "When the connectivity between these two regions is low, processing of negative stimuli in the amygdala does not translate into any strongly felt negative emotions." Is this the cause of Ted Bundy saying "I don't feel guilty for anything. I feel sorry for people who feel guilt."???
Last thing I wanted to do was to suggest more sources for you. While searching I came across the countries that have the most serial killers by country. (https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/countries-that-have-produced-the-most-serial-killers.html)
Another one that I came across was some theories that make people into serial killers. One theory was environmental stresses. Another thing that I learned from the site was that 90% of serial killers are males, usually from 24-35 years old. (https://www.atmostfear-entertainment.com/health/psychology/the-serial-killers-psychological-motivation-for-killing/)
Overall, great job with your research and keep up the good work!!
I think the risk of asking about "mental illness" (see comment above) goes into the same question of blaming mental illness on the act and not the actions on the act. Perhaps instead of using the blanket statement of MI, what about "sociopathy" for serial killers? Narrowing the field will help limit the blame on others with MI. Eighty-some serial killers a year is a frightening proposition in America--that data is shocking. You said that "Any type of killer can be successful to hide in plain sight for those that are able to play with people's trust to make themselves viewed as a trustworthy person towards society." This behavior does signify a sociopathy, right?
ReplyDeleteWhat do you mean when you say that anyone can be involved in a serial killer's motive?
Great post, easy to read and good information throughout the post. A couple things that i was wondering is when you say that they’re 87 classified serial killers each year how many of those suffered from a Mental illness and how many serial killers do you think get away from the cops, that are never found? 80 plus is an astonishing number for the United States and I don't believe that just because your a serial killer you can shut out instincts of caring and nurturing. Many soldiers have killed three or more and don't lose their ability to care and nurture. If the killer is a sociopath then i could understand that they don't have the ability to care for someone or nurture them. My finale question is who do you think are manly serial killers male or female and why?
ReplyDeleteYour research is fascinating! I definitely agree when you said the mind of a serial killer is difficult, terrifying and interesting. I have my fair share of knowledge on serial killers from a Psychology course last semester. In class we also learned about killers ability to shut down their natural human instincts of caring and nurturing. One question i did have is about serial killers worldwide? Is serial killing something more prominent in the united states? Does it have something significant to do with mental illness? is mental illness more prominent in the United states?
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post, your research is impressive! I noticed that you tend to generalize your ideas and it would be even more interesting if you can specify and break down your points. You mentioned that serial killers kill not because they think differently, but it is based on what they feel, I didn’t understand what you tried to imply but I think killers have different thinking and perspectives on how they see things around them than people who don’t kill as you mentioned on your post to kill they must shut down their natural human instincts and I believe our natural human instinct is responsible for so many of our choices.
ReplyDelete