Ted Bundy Personality Vs Nurture Study

Another factor that is affected by genes is one's’ personality. Scientists have studied many sets of twins and came to the conclusion that personality is based on five traits: agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and how extraverted a person is (Bouchard). Recently in my psychology class, my professor mentioned a story that I found very interesting. She told us that researchers found that identical twins who were separated at birth, still developed the same likes and dislikes, dressed the same, and were interested in the same career paths. This suggests that a large part of a person’s personality is genetic. If personality was based entirely on someone’s genes, there would be no way that identical twins would still have

When looking at Ted Bundy, it’s obvious that his personality might have played a big part in his crimes. As a result of his unstable home environment, Bundy displayed over-attachment problems, which will also be discussed later on. In addition, he displayed aggression from a young age and a lack of caring about other people. If personality is determined by genes such as the study done in Finland claims, then would a child who was naturally optimistic and empathetic have ended up a serial killer had they been in Bundy’s home situation? It’s impossible to tell. Personally, I know a girl my age who grew up in a terrible home situation, much worse than Bundy’s. However, she decided that she wanted more out of life and is putting herself through college and has a very loving boyfriend. This would indicate that genes are a huge part of how a child ends up. It would also indicate that how a child ends up is largely based on the amount of self control someone has, which is a genetic and learned personality

This also goes back to the levels of self control. A child that is disciplined and taught to respect others is more likely to show signs of self control. It is a learned behavior. A child that is not taught to consider others or disciplined when he misbehaves, will act out and continue to test the limits of their freedom. This is purely genetic. Take ancient civilizations for example. Nowhere will you find an empire that had great power that had no leader. Lawless communities have no morals and go into chaos as a result. People, and children in particular, need rules. Despite the fact that Hitler was an evil dictator, he led a powerful infamous army. The people under his reign didn’t necessarily respect him as a person, but they respected him as a ruler and did as he wanted for fear of negative consequence. A child is much like that. A child that has a parent who sets down firm rules will turn out better behaved than a child raised in