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Biology
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2001 Second Web Report
On Serendip
Serial Killers: Just trying to
feel normal, it's not my fault.
Ingrid Solano
"One must feel sorry for those who have strange tastes, but
never insult them. Their wrong is Nature's too; they are no more
responsible for having come into the world with tendencies unlike
ours than are we for being born bandy-legged or
well-proportioned". Marquis de Sade (1740-1814), "Dialogue
the Fifth" (1795).
If who we are and what we do originates in the brain, than the
structure of and the occurrences therein can explain for our entire
catalogue of personalities and behaviors. However, what about deviant
behavior and personalities? If deviation implies wrong or inaccurate
behavior, is there something wrong or inaccurate in the brains of
those who are devious? The possibility seems immanent, but also too
easy.
Surely there must be something wrong with someone who is extremely
violent, or hurts individuals in ways our society will not allow.
There are few things more repellent to 'human nature' and morality
than the concept of a serial killer. What is different about the
brains of these individuals whom our society finds unforgivable and
unredeemable predators? Society might find a biological reason for
such atrocities more comfortable than the prospects of 'good and
evil' or a mistake. This paper will catalogue and attempt to organize
the current biological differences between our minds and that of a
serial killer.
Can Biology make us Murderers?
Recent reports in science have found discrete locations in the brain
that are used in intricate systems that serve as the human moral
compass
(1).Changes in the brain have long been
known to change the behaviors of a man. In the famous example of
Phineas Gage, an accident at his job caused an iron rod to pierce
through Gage's skull. Gage was able to stand and speak a few moments
later. His intelligence was intact, but it soon became clear that
this once model young man had been changed by the incident. He now
cursed, lied and behaved horribly to people around them. Gage's
doctor, John Harlow, said that Gage was no longer Gage, and that the
balance "between his intellectual faculty and his animal
propensities" had been destroyed. Can this example of
brain-injury be used to explain the 'animal propensities' of serial
killers?
The concepts of morality and emotion are hard to wed to the notions
of science. Neurobiology seeks to find places in the brain where
these things exist. However, even neurologists don't necessarily
agree upon the dichotomy between 'passion and reason'. The complex
interdependence of the things humans think and feel are noticeable to
every individual. And this complexity seems to be further proved by
the complex organization of the brain. There may seem to be natural
dichotomies between thinking and feeling, but perhaps morality is a
complex system of inhibition and activation using portions of the
brain designated to both. Neurobiology has its work cut out for it,
and thus there may be many physical reasons for an individual to be
immoral. There may be a simple center that explains all, but more
likely there is an intricate system with multiple
vulnerabilities.
By finding places in the brain where behavioral traits lie we can
understand that there may exist people with neuropathological
disorders that can show 'rational-analytic behavior' that is
dysfunctional in that it lacks the social emotions that guide normal
human behavior. We may find a thinking individual without the portion
of his brain that elicits angst or disgust or the fear of social
retribution and social acceptance. Indeed, it has been found that the
prefrontal cortex, an area of the brain involved in long-term
planning and judgment, may not function properly in psychopathic
subjects who are said to be 'immoral'.
(5) (8) "To know does not necessarily mean to feel,
even when you realize that what you know ought to make you feel in a
specific way but fails to do so"
(3).Ted Bundy
'knew' what he was doing when he brutally murdered his victims, but
he may not have been able to 'feel' the moral emotions that such
brutality elicits from normal human beings.
Current research indicates that the serial killer has difficulty in
actually processing, understanding and using emotional material in
general.
(6) The material tested varies from
emotionally disturbing pictures to simply emotional words. Noting
that the right hemisphere of the brain is specialized for processing
the emotional significance of words, researchers speculated that
"psychopaths, who are unempathic, callous, and emotionally
shallow, would rely less than non- psychopaths on
right-hemisphere-based decoding strategies." Researchers
theorized that psychopaths may rely more on the left hemisphere,
which "uses a more verbal-analytic strategy." This was
found to be the case and indicates fundamental organizational
differences in the brain processes of psychopaths and serial killers.
(8)
Neurobiological disorders are alarmingly common among criminals. In
one study, 15 death row inmates were chosen for examination. In each
inmate, the researchers found evidence of severe head injury and
neurological impairment.
(2) In many case studies,
offenders have been found to have had a history of head trauma and
abnormality on Computerised Tomography (CT) scans,
Electoencephalography (EEG) scans and neuropsychological testing.
(4) Some of the well known serial sexual murderers have
had such disorders and injuries. John Gacy had a form of psychomotor
epilepsy as a child. Arthur Shawcross, in addition to his psychiatric
disorder, had psychomotor seizures related to temporal lobe damage.
(2) Williams (1969) reports that habitually
aggressive prisoners (like serial killers and psychopaths) have a
greater incidence of EEG abnormality (57%) than other prisoners who
had perpetrated a single major crime (12%). The EEG abnormality
focused on the temporal lobe - an area associated with personality,
emotion and behavior.
(4)
Biological psychological theories in humans are often strengthened by
similar findings in animal research. Behavior models of serial
killers can be compared to the kindling phenomenon in animal
research. It was found that intermittent electrical stimulation of
the brain has the effect of altering brain excitability to the point
where repeated stimulation produces seizures. Over a period of time,
the brain becomes more and more sensitive to this stimulation, until
seizures are kindled spontaneously. In human beings, this model has
been applied to explain the escalation of mood disorders over time,
particularly manic-depressive disorder.
(2) This
would mean that repeated stressors may induce an initial minor
depression in vulnerable persons. This depression and vulnerability
causes the manic-depression to remit. This theory seems to be able to
explain the escalating pattern of killings, the relief that some
murderers feel after the killing, the quickening of the cycle, and
the out-of-control feelings. It may be that some serial killers have
an unrecognized, aberrant, or atypical form of mood disorder. One
forensic psychiatric expert who examined Ted Bundy made the diagnosis
of manic-depressive psychosis and attributed his murders to
"uncontrollable manic rage."
(2)
The idea of classical conditioning is familiar to psychology. It may
be possible for a brain to classically condition itself to enjoy or
attribute positive feelings to acts, behavior, or situations that
'normal' individuals would find aversive.
(4) One
theory is that the psychopathic brain is organized differently as the
result of imperfect socialization in the very early years -- arising
either from inherited deficits or from a pathological family
environment (or both). This could cause attributional differences to
occur in the mind of an individual who has been subjected to kindling
or other phenomenons.
(7) The anatomical basis for a
classical conditioning mechanism in the brain of these altered
individuals could be the proximity and interconnection of limbic
structures linked with feeding and aggression (the amygdala), with
structures controlling sexual functions (the hippocampus and septum).
(4)
There is also interest in the diencephalic structures of the thalamus
and hypothalamus, which have been suggested as having a direct role
in aggressive behavior, as well as a role in associating positive or
negative emotions with incoming stimuli. Abnormalities in the
thalamus might explain a serial killer's inability to maintain
personal relationships or display empathy for his victims (Sears,
1991). Also, the thalamus has been associated with pathological
activation of fearful and combative behavior (aversive experiences)
along with oral and sexual functions (pleasant experiences). When one
area is stimulated, arousal may extend to other areas, producing
pleasurable feelings associated with violent acts.
(4) Perhaps the behaviors that the brain rewards itself
for have been altered somehow in the mind of the serial killer. If
this is so, than the brain itself attributes positive responses to
negative actions. Could this slowly change any one of us into a
serial killer as we find that basic pleasure is only achieved through
acts denounced by society?
Another interesting finding shows that psychopaths have a greater
fear threshold, and are less likely to respond to fear-inducing
stimuli. This is not only true for complex situations, but sudden
loud noises that would be expected to frighten any individual. It
seems that the multiple physiological responses people have to
fearful stimuli don't occur as often in psychopaths. Psychopath's
heart rate and skin temperatures are low, and their "startle
reactions" are substantially less than the average person in
these situations. This would mean that psychopaths need more
stimulation in order to feel thrills, emotions or intense experiences
like you or I. The autonomic nervous system of intensely violent
people is intensely sluggish.
(5) This is a commonly
documented phenomenon in Antisocial Personality Disorder. If a person
finds pleasure only in extreme events, perhaps the individual has
been denied the pleasures of life that everyone else feels.
Similarly, the hypothalamus plays a role in the reticular activating
system, which may block otherwise stimulating activity from reaching
the judgement-related cerebral cortex. It has been suggested that
such a mechanism may be what is responsible for chronic underarousal
in the psychopath, leading to antisocial behavior in an attempt to
increase cortical levels of arousal (Bartol, 1980). This seems to be
able to explain the thrill-oriented serial killer who increases the
frequency of his murders.
(4)
There are several other brain related theories that may explain some
of the complex behavior characteristics of a serial killer.
5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA), a metabolic bi-product of the
neurotransmitter serotonin, may have an abnormally low concentration
in the cerebrospinal fluid of persistently aggressive and anti-social
males. If a neurotransmitter plays a role in aggression, than perhaps
it can one day unlock a key to the violence of a serial killer.
(4) The brain has many ways of regulating aggressive
behaviors. It is too early to tell which aspects, functions,
chemicals or portions of the brain can cause the difference between a
man who gets into fights at bars and another man who murderers
several people.
Hormonal factors may also play a role. Androgens, like other
hormones, may either have a direct influence on physiological
mechanisms governing behavior or organize the developing human brain
to make particular behavioral responses more likely. Females exposed
to excess androgenic activity show male characteristics such as
increased aggression.
(4) However, such effects may
be due to differential treatment during upbringing. Yet, prenatal
exposure to androgens may also cause the same behaviors. All of these
differences in chemical makeup could cause or effect other aspects or
differences in the serial killer's brain. For instance, the effects
of androgens on the organization of the brain could effect the
aforementioned tendency for psychopaths to use the left hemisphere of
the brain. Using case studies, it is impossible to tell which comes
first, the psychotic tendencies, or the abnormalities in the
brain.
Serial killer Carl Panzram himself wrote: "All of my family are
as the average human beings are. They are honest and hard working
people. All except myself. I have been a human-animile ever since I
was born. When I was very young at 5 or 6 years of age I was a thief
and a lier and a mean despisable one at that. The older I got the
meaner I got." German child killer Peter Kurten had drowned two
playmates by the tender age of nine.
(5) Are the
psychopathic criminals really different from birth?
Some of the differences in the brains of these 'monsters' are clearly
stated above. Yet, noting these biological differences in the immoral
and criminal brain makes punishment and treatment of these
individuals a difficult situation. It was suggested that perhaps the
'accountability' of serial killers may be able to be determined by
brain-scans once the differences were catalogued. If these
differences are detectable, than perhaps we can know who is a serial
killer and who is not. However, would this indicate whether the
serial killer was born this way rather than having willfully trained
himself to enjoy the 'feelings' that his crimes elicit?
Does society have the right to impose the death penalty upon those
who are biologically malformed? Biology implies that these
individuals suffer from something as simple as a birth defect, or
something strange that has happened to or been transcribed in their
brains. The 'insanity defense' clearly states that we can not punish
a person who does not understand what they have done as being wrong.
However, changes or abnormalities in the brain, as exposed above,
indicate that serial killers do not understand the world as you or I.
As science begins to unravel personality, accountability unravels
with it. "The person becomes his parts - some working, some
defective through no fault of his own."
(1)
Could serial killers simply begin as individuals looking for
activities that will allow them to enjoy and take pleasure in life
like you or I? Perhaps they've learned that for their 'pursuit of
happiness' they must trade in what society imposes upon them as
'morality'. A concept they may not even be capable of
understanding.
WWW Sources
2)
Sexual Serial Killers, Forensic information with a little bit
about biology and how it can corroborate with the more common
psychological findings.
3)
Darwin Right?, A long article that brings up implications
of 'reason' and 'desire'.
7)
Towards a
Unified Theory of William Jefferson Clinton, It was tough sifting
through all the sites on serial killers that offered no real
information (and there were a Lot of them seeing that there is a
strange subculture around the topic). Strangely enough, I found many
sites that showed up on search engines under the word 'psychopath'
that focused on the Clinton Administration. I was surprised (as much
as a Republican can be.) Needless to say, the more intelligent ones
had information that pertained to my topic. This was one of
them.