The Brain of a Serial Killer

What is the Issue? Kills more than three people at different occasions with the same method Kills people at random or with a certain pattern Murder for a variety of reasons Takes a break after each murder to avoid being detected Blame others for their own problems

Common Symptoms A few characteristics or symptoms of a serial killer could be: Antisocial behaviour Arson Torturing small animals Poor family life Childhood abuse Voyeurism Intelligence Shiftlessness

How Do People Researchers discovered many reasons on why a person may become a serial killer Want to have the power to control people, which influences them to kill Their horrible childhood experience can trigger them to do harm to others Researchers believe chromosome abnormality could be a factor since serial killers are mainly males Horrible family life triggers them as well Become Serial Killers?

Areas Affected in the Brain Common areas affected include the amygdala, temporal lobe, frontal lobe, and the limbic system The damage of these parts of the brain tend to be due to either the way the person was brought up or a genetic flaw

Amygdala Regulates emotions and motivation Serial Killers have less control over their emotions Differs from a regular brain because we have some control over emotions A regular brain is able to suppress extreme feelings

Temporal Lobe Processes sounds within brain Bad childhood experiences that involve sound can lead to aggressive behaviour later on Regular people may associate memories with sounds as well, but can control their emotions

Frontal Lobe Regulates emotion, judgement, reasoning and voluntary movement Also deals with processing emotions and speech Has to do with serial killers feeling no remorse ( not feeling any guilt after doing harm to another human being)

Antisocial Personality Disorder- strongly related to psychopathy Borderline Personality Disorder Narcissistic Personality Disorder Schizophrenia Personality Disorders Associated With Serial Killers

Case Study Ted Bundy

A Brief History Born to a young unwed mother and was raised by his grandparents who told him his mother was his sister. Moved away with his mother when she remarried and had more children with her new husband. He fell in love with a girl in university, fell into depression and dropped out of school when she broke up with him. It was during this time that he found out the truth about his mother. He returned to school, earned a degree in psychology, and met another woman, becoming involved with her even after reuniting with his old lover.

After acquiring a steady job, Bundy began kidnapping and killing college-aged women. Bundy continued to kidnap, rape, and murder young women for years; he was arrested in 1975 but escaped in 1977, only to be captured a week later but escape prison. His rape and murders of college-aged girls continued until he was arrested in 1978 and finally executed in A Brief History

Connecting the Case to the Brain Life began with several common contributing factors to serial killers: a poor home life, an unusual upbringing, and a history of mental illness in his family As a child, Bundy was shy and had few friends, and was interested in odd things. As a teen he began watching people through their windows and stealing things. Radical personality changes - depression after his breakup, and extreme bravado when he returned to school - as a child and teen he was isolated, shy, and self-doubting, but as a young adult he became confident and outgoing.

Connecting the Case to the Brain Deficit in the frontal lobe, lack of emotion kept him from forming relationships and feeling remorse Highly intelligent but most likely had Antisocial Personality Disorder and Psychopathy due to his inability to feel remorse, as well as his violent tendencies. Killed in a pattern - each victim was a college-aged girl with long hair.

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