Models of Abnormality: Bellatrix Lestrange Beloved Harry Potter series villain Bellatrix Lestrange’s behavior is nothing short of heartless. Her criminal history is extensive and full of some of the worst actions known to the wizarding world, including murder and torture (Rowling, 2003, p. 544). Her deranged behavior has no canonical explanations, but there are many speculations. Using the behavioral model of abnormality, we can guess that her family’s classism and devotion to evil dictators influenced Lestrange from a young age to believe such twisted things. The biological model follows up on this by suggesting that her depravity is caused by a genetic disorder, which would explain her family’s behavior. Lastly, we could explain her behavior using the sociocultural perspective which insinuates that her family’s belief of superiority was her motivation to continue committing such crimes. Bellatrix Lestrange’s behavior may be unforgivable, but fans may have just given an …show more content…
She was one of three sisters, two of whom went on to follow the supervillain of the series like their family did. Narcissa eventually married Lucius Malfoy and had a son, and Andromeda was disgraced from the family for not marrying a pureblood. Using the behavioral model of abnormality, this alludes that Lestrange learned her deranged behavior from her even stranger family (Comer and Comer, 2022, p. 48). Given the little backstory we have, it is assumed that her family has been followers of Voldemort since the very beginning of his reign. This would create a chain of events leading up to the sisters’ generation, where every child is raised to be a follower of evil. There are eight people known to break this chain, including Andromeda and major character Sirius Black. This chain could be a form of operant conditioning, as the children would have learned their behavior from the generations before