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How Is The Silence Of The Lambs Related To Psychology

1971 Words8 Pages

Sophia Corey
Mr. Petty
AP Psych
22 May 2023
The Silence of the Lambs
Among the first fictional films featuring antisocial serial killers, The Silence of the Lambs caused controversy. The film is based on a psychopathic murderer and cannibal, Dr. Hannibal Lecter, who helps the FBI catch sociopathic and gender dysphoric killer Jame Gumb -- nicknamed Buffalo Bill. Throughout the film, the FBI agent in training, Clarice Starling, works with Dr. Lecter to gather information on Gumb before he kills his next victim. While he gives the FBI clues on how to catch Gumb, he has an agenda. Although Dr. Lecter and Jame both have antisocial personalities, they are not alike in their motives for crime as Gumb attempts to ease his gender identity discomforts …show more content…

Lecter and Gumb characterize antisocial personality disorder (ASPD), which is a mental disorder defined by a persistent pattern of disregard for the rights and feelings of others. Individuals with ASPD lack remorse and empathy and commonly manipulate others solely for their own benefit. In addition, they may behave impulsively or disregard laws, which can lead to criminal behavior. (Kiehl and Hoffman 355-397). Psychopathy and sociopathy are not clinical diagnoses but can be used to describe individuals with ASPD who also meet a distinct set of criteria. While not all people suffering from ASPD are psychopaths or sociopaths, all psychopaths, and sociopaths must have an antisocial personality type. There is considerable overlap in characteristics between ASPD, psychopathy, and sociopathy, with specific traits distinguishing each (Antisocial Personality …show more content…

Psychopaths tend to have severely impaired empathy and moral reasoning, which partly can contribute to their violent tendencies. While not all psychopaths commit crimes contrary to their portrayal in the media, they commit a disproportionate number of extremely violent and premeditated crimes. Psychopaths may appear superficially charming or charismatic, but they are highly manipulative and deceitful, with their behaviors driven by what is most advantageous for them. Their high capacity to control their behavior when necessary can allow them to function -- to an extent -- in society and sometimes hold successful careers (Kiehl and Hoffman 355-397). The limited emotional range of psychopaths extends to their capacity to feel fear and stress. Brain imaging reveals psychopaths have lowered levels of stimulation both at rest and during stressful situations. This constant state of under-stimulation can partly contribute to their aggressive and violent tendencies as that would provide stimulation. Their limited emotional processing can be attributed to their reduced limbic system activity and neural networking, especially in the amygdala. These regions are responsible for emotionally processing empathy, guilt, fear, and moral reasoning. Additionally, brain scanning has revealed psychopaths have decreased gray matter in their frontal lobe and increased white

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During the McCoy murder case he was formally diagnosed with an antisocial personality disorder. Antisocial personality disorder, also can be called sociopathy, is a mental condition in which a person constantly shows that they have no regard for right and wrong and ignore the rights and feelings of others. People with antisocial personality disorder tend to antagonize, manipulate or treat others harshly or with callous indifference. They show no guilt or remorse for their behavior. Gacy said that after his first killing

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( Armitage, page 7). In simpler terms, Moriwaki’s has a great lack of emotions and has been labeled a “psychopath”. A psychopath is defined as a person that suffers from a chronic medical disorder and has a violent or abnormal behavior. Psychopathic traits are often associated with criminal behavior. With this in mind, Moriwaki’s lack of emotions and psychopathic personality has lead to the murder of Kurose.

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When you have ASPD you won’t always end up being a serial killer, but in Gacy’s case he did. When you have ASPD you might be manipulative, deceitful and reckless, and most likely won’t care about other peoples feelings. People, like Gacy, might end up getting ASPD because of difficult family circumstances. There parents having misused alcohol, been abusive to their family, or said very hurtful things to them during their childhood. When you have these difficulties during your childhood you will end up having behavioral problems during adolescence and

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Sara Whobrey Professor McCrady English 102 24 January, 2023 The Psychopathy Behind the Columbine Killer, Eric Harris Psychopaths are people who are born unable to feel a strong emotion of humans, empathy. Empathy is the ability to understand and feel for others and their feelings. Lack of empathy is only one trait of a psychopath. According to Crego and Widiger, the trait most attributed to psychopathy are antagonism, manipulativeness, dishonesty, and callousness. (Crego and Widiger 1.)

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However, a serial killer suffering from psychopathy cannot control his or her impulses, identify with others and feel empathy, and cannot conform his or her behavior to social norms. Thus, proving he or she cannot possibly be completely competent and responsible for their actions, no matter how heinous” (Gay). However, there is a difference between someone diagnosed with psychopathy and someone with anti-social personality disorder. “Unlike serial killers with psychopathy, those with anti-social personality disorder should not be allowed to plead guilty by reason of insanity. They lack empathy but otherwise understand what they are doing.

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Denise Mann dictated that “Psychopaths have low autonomic arousal. They don’t react and don’t show a lot of affection or emotion” (Mann 7). The narrator showed the many signs of low autonomic arousal such as motive for murder, no emotions, and he was cold and callous. Subject A exclaimed crazily “How then, am I mad? Hearken!

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Ted Bundy 9 U.S. History- Period 6 Mr. Karasek March 15, 2024. Ted Bundy is known to be one of the most prolific serial killers in American history. Bundy confessed to killing thirty women from the years 1974 to 1978. Most of Bundy’s victims were college students, however, he did murder as young as twelve years old. He committed these acts of terror in the states of Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Utah, and Florida.

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Because of a weak conscience many sociopaths also struggle to tell the truth consistently (“Profile of the Sociopath”). Although sociopaths can become very hostile, they are not the most dangerous out of all antisocial disorders. Psychopathy, the most dangerous of all antisocial disorders (Bonn), is very different from sociopathy. Different from the cause of sociopathy, psychopathy is caused by genetics. The part of the brain that is responsible for emotions is underdeveloped in most psychopaths (Bonn).

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A person may hear the word Sociopath and anticipate that they are a serial killer. However, not every person who is diagnosed with Sociopathy has the urge to dispatch all that they encounter. For example, an article was printed about a woman who was scrutinized for having Sociopathy, but she was never a serial killer. She was visiting Washington D.C. one year when she confronted a man who was inflicting her. She felt the excitement and adrenaline rush through her body as she thought the thought of choking this man to death, but she never did.

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Sociopaths can also have chemical imbalances or areas of the brain with lesions. Sociopaths are usually a bit more impulsive than psychopaths. Sociopaths may be able to create some genuine relationships with people that think like them, but normally have more trouble even having false relationships with others. They have more difficulty maintaining a job or healthy relationships. They are less strategic when they commit crimes and often times will get caught either during the act or shortly after.

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The journal article provides an outline of the concept of psychopathy that underlies their research and describes the procedures used for the assessment of psychopathy in criminal populations (Hare & McPherson, 1984, p. 35). Their findings showed that psychopaths are more likely to commit crimes, be more prone to recidivism, be more likely to use violent and aggressive behaviors, and be more likely to use a weapon than criminals in general. These findings are not surprising since most psychopaths do not feel guilt or remorse. For example, in the book Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of Psychopaths Among Us, Hare states “When asked if he had any regrets about stabbing a robbery victim who subsequently spent three months in the hospital as a result of his wounds, one of our subjects replied ‘Get real! He spends a few months in a hospital, and I rot here’”

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In the movie, “Silence of the Lambs” there is one psychological disorder that is being depicted throughout the movie is “Antisocial Personality Disorder.” This disorder has a common definition of “To have complete disregard for other human beings.” The people afflicted with this disorder commonly tend to break the social norms and laws, act impulsively, and generally have no regard for safety of the self or of others (Lenzenweger, 2007.) It is also referred to more commonly as ‘sociopathy”, and can be caused by numerous things. For causes, they can range anything from child abuse, to having parents in jail or who are antisocial, or even just having it in the genes.

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In the same article mentioned above, most serial killers have two brains that coexist where one is rational and able to navigate appropriate social behavior. While the other is capable of doing the most deviant and unspeakable things. In the same article it mentions that there is less connectivity between the amygdala and their prefrontal cortex. When the connectivity between these two areas is low, it doesn’t translate into negative emotions, which allows them to kill without feeling bad or think they are doing something wrong. They also have an enhanced emotional drive to hurt or kill others.

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THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS BY JONATHAN DEMME In many ways, ‘The Silence of the lambs’ is different from its predecessors in the Hannibal cannibal novel series. A 1991 horror-thriller movie directed by Jonathan Demme and starring Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, and Scott Glenn. In the film, a bright, young FBI Trainee Clarice Starling is chosen by Jack Crawford of the FBI’s Behavioral Sciences Unit to interview Hannibal Lecter, a former psychiatrist and the cannibalistic serial killer whose insight leads to the pursuit of the serial killer named ‘Buffalo Bill’, who skins his female victim corpses. Compared to its immediate predecessor ‘Manhunter’ of 1986 movie, ‘silence’ is very much a skillful adaptation and brilliant execution of the plot taking an advanced step from the ‘Manhunter’.

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Silence of the Lambs Mental Health Analysis Silence of the Lambs explores the life of a psychiatrist with antisocial personality disorder who has a connection to a serial killer that is under investigation. While some of the characteristics presented in this movie correlate to those on the DSM-V for a person with antisocial personality disorder it creates a stigma and fear against people with mental illnesses. During the interviews Hannibal Lector shows many symptoms commonly observed in people with antisocial personality disorder and the facility shows the lack of resources and therapy for antisocial personality disorder (ASPD). Main Characters and Their relationship in the Presented Environment Lecter was interviewed by a training FBI agent Starling in a case of an old patient of

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