(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); During a psychology lesson of mine we had to evaluate the psychological profile of a serial killer. It was a very interesting lesson and was a very difficult subject to understand; as was the subject of "Why do people commit suicide". We can't judge the latter as we have never been to as dark a psychological state as somebody with suicidal tendancies, but murder is a whole different ball game.

Murder has been illustrated as "the unlawful killing of a human being by another" where-as Serial killings on the other hand, is not so simple to define, for it takes on many different forms, and is brought on by many different states of mind. Holmes and De Burger have attempted to define serial murder as consisting of repetitive killings which are one-on-one with rare exceptions, where the relationship between the victim and the offender is that of a stranger or slight acquaintance, and the motivation to kill and apparent motives are lacking.

This is not an extremely accurate description, because the motivation and motives are not lacking at all, but are just shrouded. Rarely do any of these killers act for money, instead they do it for the thrill, sexual satisfaction and/or dominance they achieve in their own world.

A more specific profile of a serial killer has been presented by Apsche (1993) stating that most are white males in their twenties or thirties, who target strangers near their homes or places of work. "According to criminologist Eric Hickey, who has assembled the most extensive database on demography of serial murder states that, 88% of serial killers are male, 85% are Caucasian, and the average age when they claim their first victim is usually around 28.5. In terms of victim selection, 62% of the killers target strangers exclusively, and another 22% kill at least one stranger.

Finally, 71% of the killers operate in a specific location or area, rather than traveling wide distances to commit their crimes". Also, the F.B.I claims that to be classified as a serial killer, the person must first complete 3 separate murders, that are spaced by a duration they call "the cooling off period" which can vary from a few days to years. But one thing that very few definitions include is that for a killer to be known as a "serial Killer", they must have a particular method to their killings. For instance, Wayne Gacy, had the trade mark of gagging victims with their own underwear so that they would die by choking on their own vomit.

To discover what makes a serial killer function, it is necessary to look back into their past, particularly their adolescent life. By looking at many and varied cases, it is evident that virtually all serial killers come from dysfunctional backgrounds involving sexual or physical abuse, drugs or alcoholism and their related problems. Many traits that seem to be universal in all these serial killers, though in varied amounts, include disorganised thinking, bipolar mode disorders, a feeling of resentment towards society brought on by their own failings, sexual frustrations, an inability to be social or socially accepted, over bearing parents and a wild imagination that tends to drag them into a fantasy world. In a chart of serial killer - childhood development characteristics - created by Ressler, Burgers and Douglas,the three most frequently reported behaviors included day dreaming, compulsive masturbation, and isolation.

The daydreaming, which is brought on by an over productive imagination, tends to lead the way into the general fantasy world that the serial killer begins to live in to protect himself from any isolation he is faced with. At an early age, if a child is left alone, or forced to live in isolation whereby little attention is given to them for long periods of time, their minds become the object of their company, and thus begin the daydreams and the fantasy world (Ressler, Douglas and Burgess, 1990)

.This kind of isolation tends to breed feelings of inadequacy in some way or other in all serial killers. These feelings maybe masked by numerous artificial successes, but these feelings run deeper than the normal neurotic feelings of not being good enough. Essentially, these early life attachments which are known as ‘bonding’, set up a map by which the child will in later life react to others. In such cases, the children do not learn how to interact properly within their society, and at best, turn into mirror images of their isolators. A prime example of this can be seen in the case of Ed Kemper, whose mother condemned him to the basement of their home at the tender age of ten in fear that he would molest his younger sister (though he had not given his mother any reason to think this). Confused and angry as to why he was suffering this punishment, he turned to his fantasies, which may have started out as ‘normal’, but with the continued isolation they quickly became his dominant world.



Now, I tried to condense this as much as possible, but I want your opinions. Is it something your born with? Is your psychological mindset based on your upbringing/social life/family etc? Secondly, don't assume I'm a weirdo, It's a very fascinating subject. I personally think it's a mixture of the two. What do you think?

its definately how your brought up, im not sideing with killers but you'll find most serial killers have very difficult upbringings usually involving beatings,rape,molesting this is bound to screw anyone up, that said it can happen anytime unfortunately i know someone i went to school with that has killed someone else just because of a girl and drink was involved, he got 25 years for it, it should be life as the guy he killed did nothing wrong really unfortunate,

anyway my point is its an upbringing thing mainly but i believe if pushed hard enough it could happen to anyone

But not only the upbringing affects it.

Mental illnesses such as schizophrenia can be the cause of such murders.

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getting really pissed.