Most brains have strong connections between one nerve to the next. The connection of a serial killer’s brain is poor. In spite of all the research completed at the University of Wisconsin, other brain studies were done by different organizations. BBC News reports that Professor Adrian Raine found a decreased amount of activity in the prefrontal cortex and too much activity from the amygdala (BBC 1). Positron-emission Tomography (PET scans) were done to compare serial killers and normal, controlled subjects.
The words “psychopath” and “sociopath” are thrown around quite often and commonly confused, but please bear with me as we dive deeper into the true meaning of the words. In the early 1800s, doctors who worked with mental patients began to notice that some of their patients who appeared outwardly normal had what they termed a “moral depravity” or “moral insanity,” in that they seemed to possess no sense of ethics or of the rights of other people. The term “psychopath” was first applied to these people. The term was changed to “sociopath” in the 1930s to emphasize the damage they do to society. Modern researchers and doctors have returned to using the term “psychopath”.
Psychopathy is measured with a tool called PCL-R which has 4 dimensions: affective, antisocial, lifestyle and interpersonal (Mulcahy M., Cutinelli P., Warner J. and Woodruff T. (April 01, 2011). As a result you can see that Gary Ridgway is a serial killer and is a psychopath to a large extent because his psychopathy is evident in all areas of the PCL-R.
In the American society, things are more often than not exaggerated to make things more interesting; leave us ignorant with fantasy of crime, horror, romance, action, and adventure. Psychopaths and sociopaths are often confused with each other, and people believe that the two aren’t any different. In the entertainment business, psychopaths and sociopaths are made out to seem ruthless, violent murderers, rapists and more. While they can be all of these things, the media and entertainment business makes things seem different than they really are. According to definition, a sociopath is a person who lacks empathy, but a psychopath is one that has a complete lack of it.
( 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.
Depending on who you talk to, Adnan Syed could be referred to as a psychopath. Although Adnan wanted to share his innocence, his defender told him not to otherwise he would make matters worse for himself. During the case, Adnan’s defence attorney asked for the jury to consider it a crime of passion, rather than intent to kill. However, the judge disagreed and said that Hae’s murder was planned and that Adnan used intellect and charisma to manipulate Hae and took her to her
A psychopath is classified as someone who shows no remorse and has no conscience, while a sociopath has some sort of conscience and sometimes shows some guilt or remorse ("What's the Difference Between a Sociopath and a Psychopath"). Psychopaths do not feel sorry for other people (“What’s the Difference Between a Sociopath and a Psychopath”) and Kuklinski certainly did not feel sorry for any of his victims (“Married to The Iceman”). During an interview with HBO, Kuklinski stated that he probably could have killed his father and wouldn’t have felt bad about it ("Richard Kuklinski The Iceman Mafia Hitman HBO Interview 2001 (Part 1)"). Richard Kuklinski also showed sociopathic traits. He only showed remorse when talking about his wife and kids ("Richard Kuklinski 'The Iceman' Part 12 of 12").
Evidently, there are many things wrong with someone if they are able to commit murder. A killer can range from a seemingly normal person, to an obviously deranged looking psychopath. Although, it does not matter what is on the outside, but more what is happening internally. Killers usually have a childhood trauma in their lives, are depressed, and are also psychotic. There has always been an argument about why killers decide to kill.
Psychopath and sociopath are two terms classified as antisocial personality disorders in the world of psychology. Although many people have heard of these two terms, quite often people do not know what sets them apart from one another. A sociopath is defined as a person with a personality disorder manifesting itself in extreme antisocial attitudes and behavior and a lack of conscience. The definition of psychopath is similar in being a person suffering from chronic mental disorder with abnormal or violent social behavior. By looking at the definitions, these personality disorders appear very similar; however, there are specific attributes that are more specific to one of the two.
While most men are serial killers, Aileen Wuornos wasn’t. Sociopaths are not someone you want to be messing with. Sociopaths don 't necessarily have malicious feelings toward others, so they tend to treat others as objects. Sociopaths have a sense of rage and they often feel angry with themselves and others so they will act out. They don’t think before they act, and there’s no limits
Introduction I. Look around this school and think about exactly how many students are here daily. How would you feel if I told you that one out of every twenty five people are sociopaths(Pratt 2006).The fact of the matter is that not everyone who is a sociopath is a serial killer but oddly enough it has been proven that all serial killers are sociopaths. II. I have chosen serial killers that I found intriguing and that I thought not many people would know a lot about.
As societal crime rate continues to escalate, the epidemic of homicides and mass murders remains a prevalent social problem. Thus, the emergence of serial killers has caused alarm among many criminologists and psychologists. Serial killers usually have an impulsive desire to kill for no particular reason, which makes it difficult for law enforcement and criminal professionals to understand their motives.
Is it the nature of their lives and their surroundings? Is it their family genes and the way they grew up with their family? Many serial killers are affected differently. They aren’t all driven by the same thing though. There is something in each serial killer that makes them different.
The show dramatizes the lives of many real cases where the majority of viewers are familiar with. For example, many people know about the case of the Zodiac the serial killer, Robert Berdilla, one of the most aggressive, bloody and torturing assassins who used to take photographs of his horrifying acts, and many other cases which are narrated in this show. According to the author of the book “The forensic psychology of criminal minds” Ramsland mentions that, “in criminal minds, we see not only the activity of crime scene analysis and reconstruction variety of criminal psyches.” (8) On the show psychopathic murders are portray as cold-blooding, lacking of rumour, and emotionless.
In her memoir, Confessions of a Sociopath: A Life Spent Hiding in Plain Sight, M.E. Thomas presents an objective view on the daily functions of a person diagnosed with an antisocial personality with the aid of modern research as well as her own experiences with her disorder. By utilizing anecdotal evidence as well as varied tone, Thomas effectively portrays an accurate representation of the life of a sociopath. Much of Thomas’s evidence is presented in the form of her experiential stories.