Watch Out!

When someone mentions the word psychopath, many of us are plagued with images of Ted Bundy and other notorious killers from the past. Immediately we imagine a crazy dark figure holding a bloody knife in his hand while walking down dark alleys at night. This flawed conception is further fueled by the media and news focusing on the rare horror stories of killer clowns and candy man who abduct and kill. Then we have a myriad of books, movies, and even television shows zeroing on psychopaths from Hannibal Lecture in the Silence of Lambs to the BTK killer and all the way back to Jack the Ripper. However, it is important to realize that these types of psychopaths perhaps make up only a smaller number of psychopaths and killers out in the real world.

            In fact, in his book The Psychopath Inside, James Fallon discusses how the general conception of a psychopath is skewed. In fact experts in the field do not even agree if psychopaths actually exist. Instead, there are set traits that set these people apart from the rest of the population which include a lack of empathy, being manipulative, lying, and disarmingly charming at times. While these traits describe the top notch serial killer psychopaths in history, interestingly enough, there are other people in the world who can qualify for these traits as well. In fact, James Fallon being a well-known and respected scientist himself was shocked when he discovered that his brain scans showed that he was lacking in certain areas such as empathy. In fact, his brain scans more or less showed signs that a psychopath’s brain would.

            An interesting finding is anyone from business men to street criminals can display psychopathic behaviors. However, the question becomes which ones become killers and murderers? The answer to this question is not so subtle and even John Fallon had difficulty explaining this. Originally John Fallon believed that psychopathic behaviors were 20% due to the environment and 80% due to internal biology. However, when he saw his own brain scan, he was forced to think otherwise. Environment may play a larger role in such behaviors than we think.

            For instance, criminologists believe there are environmental risk factors that significantly determine if one is to become a killer. These signs involve having a significantly lower IQ level and higher exposure to violence whether it theft or carrying around a gun. These individuals also live in neighborhoods infested with crime. When you combine these risk factors, you have the recipe for a youth who is more prone to commit homicide. The explanation behind this is that when such individuals live in those kinds of environments, they think it is okay to conduct violence and respond to situations in violent forms.

            Interestingly enough, many of these individuals are sometimes not even psychopaths- they are simply conducting such horrific acts due to the environment they are brought up in. Hence, we can sit back and relax as not every killer we hear about is a psychopath and vice versa.

Source:

University of Texas at Dallas. (2014, October 22). Criminologists try to solve murder mystery: Who will become a killer?. Science Daily. Retrieved February 24, 2015 from www.sciencedaily.come/releases/2014/10/141022093018.htm