![Bundy as a high school senior](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_uMD2r-LYDfBqPN_293Qk3hRuiR02B8TGd0CRGFGQkFszStpUHFVketJQLlOj7-YJB3xh6Xswgq7sDZn2azHX86yL504kiyza70W3R9SO_o9I0nyVzJzftZgLvW8zn00mSDaZ_yUJf3OClOZa6W3LJ8=s0-d) |
Bundy as a high school senior |
As discussed in our most recent introduction to the topic of emotions, the concept of our reason as an element of control is only a momentual perception. In fact, emotions have a much larger impact on us than reason, despite their lack of precision and accuarcy. Thus, reason is something that we actively pursue, thinking of it as the most effective way to make our way through the day whilst achieving the most profitable result. At this point, the emotions jump in, generally interfering with reason or differing our perception of our reasoning. For the majority of humans, this is the norm, for we in the intercourse of our life, we learn how to deal with emotions and how to manage a life in some sort of symbiosis with them. Yet, this is a hasty generalization, for there are the ones who are not able to emphazise as the majority of our society. These individuals are generally classified as either psycho- or sociopaths, depending upon the state that the mind is in. A psychopath by definition is a human who suffers under a personality disorder characterized by enduring antisocial behaviour, diminished empathy and remorse or bold behaviour. Psychopathy is divided into criminal psychopathy and Cleckleyan psychopathy; the first is the more prominent these days, since we hear of murderers showing the so-called triarchic symptoms, being boldness (low fear including stress-tolerance, toleration of unfamilarity and danger, and high self-confidence and social assertiveness), disinhibition (poor impulse control including problems with planning and foresight, lacking affect and urge control, demand for immediate gratification, and poor behavioural restraints), and meanness (lacking empathy and close attachments with others, disdain of close attachments, use of cruelty to engain empowerment, exploitative tendencies, defiance of authority, and destructive excitement-seeking). Thus, we can generally conclude that a psychopath is a human being not able to find the balance between accepting his emotions and dealing with them, but being overwhelmed by them and allowing desires - often referred to as compulsions - to take over. The most extreme examples of psychopaths are usually serial killers such as the man known as Ted Bundy. Born into a "strong christian family", Bundy had a regular childhood, except for a factor which he referred to as "the trigger to his compulsions", this being violent pornography that he picked up from trash barrels. Soon, he would realize as an adolescent that he did not understand the concept of interpersonal relationships, cutting off himself from everyone and thus isolating himself. In the course of being a serial killer, Ted Bundy killed, decapitated and disgraced (after their death) assumingly thirty people; however it is not confirmed for though this was the number he agreed upon, yet he himself said he could not recall every murder that he commited. In his very final interview, mere hours before his execution, he said that he would feel truly sorry for the relatives of the victims, and even seemed emotionally touched by what he had done, stating that he would feel remorse every time after commiting a murder, yet incapable of stopping the compulsions that raged within him. Bundy personifies the struggle of overcoming one's own emotions - unstable and constantly on the edge of gaining power over these compulsions, yet falling back and succumbing to them. Before his execution, he stated that it was not an execution, but a suicide because he had made peace with the world and would await the judgement that would come after. Consequently, we can conclude that Bundy either was a brilliant actor, for he seemed rather clear and very analytical in his interviews, or he was in fact telling the truth all along.
Another famous example of a subvariant of psychopathy is the so called sociopathy. Bluntly described, a sociopath distinguishes himself from a psychopath in being emotionally blank, not able to empathize at all, whereas a psychopath can to a certain extent. However, a sociopath, who is in a general state of neutrality, suffers under extremely intense emotions, for he perceives them way stronger than the average human, and only on a limited amount of occasions. A research has given the result that ninety percent of all sociopaths show the triarchic symptoms to the extreme, thus proving that suffering under sociopathy is not only a subcategory of psychopathy, but takes it even further. A psychopath could, enough training and education provided, manage to gain control (only if he is not beyond the measure of therapy, which is quite rare). For a sociopath, there is no such chance since it is something that is not controllable, since they can not understand even such a simple thing as a smile. They do not possess the innate understanding for emotions, and it is incredibly difficult for them to integrate themselves into our society.
Consequently, we can come to the conclusion that our emotions do in fact rule over us, and in some rare cases go beyond what we think them capable of. I used this rather extreme example to show that through factors, be they genetical, environmental or biochemical in nature, our capability of dealing with emotions and keeping them in check can be vastly disrupted.
Jonas Dollwet
Do you think Ted Bundy - with the correct therapy and perhaps medication - could have been cured? It is intriguing when serial killers, like Bundy, seem to be able to 'watch' and even 'understand' themselves whilst still unable to stop. One might even say they illustrate the divided self that constitutes any human being. In other words, we are both rational and emotional - and our lives show us endlessly negotiating between the two - but not really ever in control of ourselves, or truly understanding why we do what we do….
ReplyDeleteI expected that question to a certain extent, Mrs Mkinsi, and there is no particular answer, or furthermore, there is no RIGHT answer. Until today, it is a highly discussed topic whether a therapy could diminish the mentioned "compulsions" that the subjects are referring to. In the earliest days of so called treatment, there were even attempts to lobotomize the subjects, however, this theory is now (fortunetaly) widly regarded as ethically wrong. It does not truly matter which point of view we try to justify concerning this topic, for there are some believe that it is possible, yet there had been no official case of a cured psychopath. Also, we have to consider the natural state of a psychopath and the origins of his psychopathy, since it can have many reasons that this emotional defect expresses itself. A psychopath is usually an extreme of both reason and emotion, and that makes this psychological issue so hard to treat, since every psychopath has individual needs that can not be generalized on a broad scale. The medication which you mentioned is no constant solution, since it serves as a suppressing element and not as a real cure.
DeleteFrom Lauren Hazel: "Most commonly known for their charm, narcissism and lack of conscience, the term ‘sociopath’ is associated with criminals such as serial killers and corporate frauds. The ‘poster-child’ of sociopathy is widely known as Ted Bundy, a serial killer who brutally murdered and mutilated 30 girls. His most apparent psychological features according to the investigators of his motives (as seen in this documentary) were his narcissistic attachment to tangible possessions and money, as well as his ability to charm and manipulate interviews with the media. These are very common attributes to the sociopathic conditions; however that does not mean that all sociopaths are Ted-Bundy-in-training. In two articles, one by National Public Radio and the other by The Daily Beast, however, the finger is pointed at Bernie Madoff as the most clean-cut sociopath publicly known. Madoff was a ponzi scam artist who stole $65 billion dollars during the financial boom of the 1980’s and 90’s in the USA. His most defining feature according to researchers was his charm and charisma as well as his ability to manipulate people’s emotions using social feedback. His biggest successful tactic was the way he went about accepting clients. He made it seem as if investing with him was a privilege; you had to know people in high places to invest with Bernie Madoff.
ReplyDeleteThese are classic examples of a sociopath. The biggest ‘red flag’ however is definitely the lack of remorse or guilt. In the final interview of Ted Bundy he does not state that he is sorry for his crimes, nor does he acknowledge his thought process in murdering his victims. Instead he blames it on his ‘addiction to hard core pornography’. This is an example of not only lack of remorse but also his ability to manipulate the media. The only journalist he agreed to interview with was a Christian Evangelist named James Dobson. Dobson and some of his associates were very against pornography and this incredibly sensitive “confession” of Bundy’s core motivation to commit these violent sex crimes was only released to the other media if they agreed to play the full interview unedited. There was, immediately following this release, a surge in the popularity of opposing pornography. This was largely due to the fact that people wanted something to blame for the crimes that were committed because they did not want to believe a human being could be as incredibly violent and ‘sick’. The same sort of instance happened with Bernard Madoff. In footage of Madoff being arrested and transported to prison, in and out of the courthouse he had a facial expression similar to pride and indifference combined. People were infuriated and could not believe a human like themselves could be so heartless. This relates back to the idea that hatred and anger is the emotion of fear directed outwards. The families of the victims of both the Ted Bundy crimes and the Madoff ponzi scheme were scared for a plethora of reasons and that fear, when given a person or subject to focus on, turned to hatred. Families who had lost life savings went to Madoff’s residence shouting hate filled words at him and demanding him to come down and face what he had done. These notorious examples of sociopathy, however, are not the whole picture. Not all sociopaths act on fantasies they envision on how to harm or kill other people, however the fantasies are incredibly common. Studies have shown that 4% of the people in the United States are sociopaths. One example of an ‘everyday sociopath’ is M.E. Thomas, a pen name for the author of Confessions of a Sociopath. She is a successful lawyer and in the interview explains her fantasies of ‘ruining’ other people, but never acting upon her fantasies of murder."