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Nature Vs. Nurture In Serial Killers

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Nature versus Nurture and the Role It Plays In the Development of Serial Killers Name Institution Nature versus Nurture and the Role It Plays In the Development of Serial Killers Nature versus Nurture is among the oldest debates in human psychology. It revolves around the influence of environmental factors and inherited genes on human development. The dilemma of whether or not people are predetermined at birth to take on the life of crime is a question that has been subject to debates for decades. Nature refers to the things and characters that are inherited such as hair color, some diseases and eye color among others (Berry-Dee & Morris, 2008). On the other hand, nurture refers to all the environmental influences that come after …show more content…

A section of psychologists believes that it is impossible for an innocent child to be born with the mentality and ability to commit horrendous acts such as murder. However, how can the people have corrupted the society so much as to turn children born innocent into bloodthirsty maniacs? (Soothill, 2007) Psychologists have unassembled the minds of serial killers to look for an answer as to what forces influence them to commit such heinous acts. The purpose of this paper is to argue whether it is nature or nurture that leads to the development of serial killers. It will look at the role that nature and nurture play in the development of serial …show more content…

However, nurture seems to play a significant role in the development of a serial killer. Nature plays a significant role in the creation of the serial killers and it is responsible for a large proportion of the process of development of serial killers but not to the degree that nurture is responsible. Nobody is born evil. It only takes traumatic experiences to turn innocent souls into evil maniacs. Children who are brought up in dysfunctional homes developed distantly and closed off personalities. Such children become violent, behave in radical ways, and even visualize about killing people. Many serial killers are emotional, mentally and in some cases sexually and physically traumatized during their young age. As a way of coping with these occurrences, they became violent, bitter and anti-social. Gradually, they developed into serial killers. Serial killers live through challenging childhoods that cause them to resent the world and humanity, making it easy for them to kill other

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nurture debate. Yet, he applies his reasoning not in a manner that concludes the prominence of one over the other, but in which Capote ultimately qualifies a murderer (or a mere criminal) as a product of the interaction between his environment as well as his genetics—consequently labeling this a seemingly tragic fate in itself. Amongst the world of psychology, the nature-nurture issue is defined as “the longstanding controversy over the relative contributions that genes and experience make to the development of psychological traits and behaviors,” in which today’s scientific minds see traits and behaviors arising from the simultaneous interaction of both nature and nurture (Myers 9). Rooted and intertwined into essentially every underlying concept and thought-process debated and agreed upon in the psychological sphere, scientists as well as ancient thinkers have long contested the prominence of one’s influence over the other.

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We can all come to an agreement that serial killers are both horrendous and unpredictable human beings. Most acts of violence we hear about are committed by serial killers. Unsatisfied with their previous actions, serials killers look to execute more victims. In most cases, the upbringing of the individual plays a huge role on the killer. Because of their twisted techniques and motives, some of these killers are infamously known to be the most frightening criminals in history.

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The typical childhood of a serial killer may involve abuse, bedwetting, drugs/alcohol, antisocial, interest with fire, and cruelty to animals. Serial killers get more aggressive as they kill more people because they get a thrill from it. Fantasies effect serial killers because they can trigger something in their minds that turn into actions instead of just thoughts.

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Most serial killers have stated that they have gone through psychological abuse, physical abuse, and even sexual abuse. Regardless of how bad

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In order for them to be considered a serial killer each kill has to be a separate event that is controlled by pleasure or psychological thrill (Research Guides: Serial Killers: Introduction, 2023). Serial killers most often become egocentric due to their lack of guilt and empathy, these classifications characterize serial killers as psychopaths (Research Guides: Serial Killers: Introduction, 2023). To hide their psychopathic tendencies and appear to be normal most killers wear a “mask of sanity”(Research Guides: Serial Killers: Introduction,

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According to the article Psychopathy: A Misunderstood Disorder, published in Science Daily, we don’t really know much about psychopathy at all! Instead of it being one disorder, it is actually many, that together form psychopathy, thus the countless studies that contradict each other. Lead author Jennifer Skeem, along with colleagues Devon Polaschek, Christopher Patrick and Scott Lilienfeld say that the seemingly small differences in psychopaths are often overlooked by policy-makers, when the differences can actually develop into serious problems down the road. Skeem wants to clarify the common misconception about how one becomes a psychopaths, if they are born that way or made that way, the common “nature v. nurture” dilemma. Research suggests

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Nature is the predetermined traits that people are born with, while nurture is the influence that affects people after they’re born. The debate surrounding Nature V. Nurture is how much of a person’s traits is predetermined and how much is influenced by the environment. Mary Shelley's believes in nurture more than nature. Victor Frankenstein has certain traits that he’s born with. Frankenstein is born into a prestigious, wealthy family.

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Serial Killers: Nurture vs. Nature Family members are clueless about a possibility that one of their loved ones could be a serial killer. A young girl in Wisconsin had no idea about her father being a serial killer until she put the puzzle together years later. The family moved every six months with no reason and with a limited time to pack. There was a murder at every place they moved from. After the young girl was around the age of forty she told the police that she believes her father was a serial killer.

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Most of the literature excludes childhood characteristics and focuses on definitions and adult motivations of serial murder. It is said that it is a combination of factors that create a serial killer. Despite this there is still minimal research available on the particular factors that impact serial killers. One of the main

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One of the most debated topics throughout the world is nature versus nurture. When psychologists debate this topic, they are studying what influences a person’s personal development. Some say that a person’s nature influences personal development while others say a person’s nurture influences personal development. A lot of people spend time contemplating which one actually does the influencing but what some do not realize is that, perhaps, both nature and nurture help shape a person’s personal development. One topic that comes up quite often is whether or not a person is born a criminal.

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“Many serial killers are survivors of early childhood trauma of some kind- physical or sexual abuse, family dysfunction, emotionaly distant pairs. Trauma is the single recurring theme in the biographies of most killers. (Central Community College) People who experience this upbringing never learn appropriate responses to trauma, and never develop other emotions which is the reason they can't sympathize with others. “Serial murderers are distorted reflections of societies own values.” (Berkeley Scientific) Society and its values and evil intentions affect a serial killer, because it's all about the serial killer's

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Criminal behaviour has always been an interest for psychologists, for they could never quite come to a conclusion between nature and nurture. Research concerning this topic has been organized for many years and due to the never ending debate, is still being conducted. I have decided to read and write about this myself, for I was genuinely curious about the matter and wanted to be a part of the research, as I felt responsible to do so. I believe that in order to stop something, it must be discussed and scrutinized. What effects do genes have on criminal behaviour, why do peer pressure and habitat influence a person to commit crimes and are men really more violent than women?

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A lot of serial killers have an aversion of rejection that is often irrational. 3. Power is a huge one. According to Twisted Minds the power to cause pain is the only power that matters(2007). C. Fun fact, the stereotype for a serial killer is a white middle age man who has no military background.

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The “Nature” part of the debate states that genes determine an individual’s personality and the actions they take towards the world, while the “Nurture” part claims that the environment one grows up in determines their development and the person they grow up to be (Nesterak, 2015). Although a lot of scientists believe that serial killers are born with a predisposition to kill because of their genes, according to psychologists and criminologists, there's a lot more evidence of there being environmental factors such as trauma in one's childhood, dysfunctional families, and exposure to violence whether in real life or in the form of media that lead to someone committing these heinous

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The nature vs. nurture debate centers on whether human behaviour and personality are inherited (nature) or acquired (nurture); in other words, whether a person’s environment or a person’s genetic inheritance determines their behaviour and personality. Goldsmith and Harman (1994) adopt a neutral position, in which both nature and nurture influence people, stating that they “believe that the fundamental issue concerns the interplay between characteristics of the individual and of the relationship” (54). Goldsmith and Harman discuss temperament and attachment for infant, with temperament being linked to the nature side of the debate and attachment being linked with the nurture side; as a result, the infant’s temperament influences the attachment bond between the infant and the mother, but the attachment bond influences the temperament of the child as well. Therefore, both nature and nurture interact with each other to produce people’s behaviour (Harman et al. 54). Andersen and Berk (1998) take on the nurture perspective, while Leary (1999) claims that nature is the determining factor of a person’s personality.

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