#5 Nurture is much more important.

After many hours of reading and researching to find out if psychopaths are born that way or made, I am definitely closer to fully answering my own questions. However, it will be exciting to explore this subject more in depth.  I find it very interesting that both nature and nurture play such important and extremely unique roles in the development of a psychopath.  Learning that psychopath’s exhibit very distinct personality traits was intriguing as well.  It was shocking to find that the actual brain matter is different from a normal individual to someone classified as a psychopath.  

Functioning psychopaths is something I would like to dive into. When it comes to nurture, what specific environments affect whether a psychopath functions through life normally or drives them to criminal behavior? Are there ways to accurately label a seemingly normal person a psychopath?  What concrete diagnostic tools are out there to fairly diagnosis someone with such a critical and lastly diagnosis? 

I would also like to examine how psychopaths relate to their family.  How does their psychopathic behavior affect their children and spouse whether it becomes criminal or not?  Are defined psychopaths safe to have relationships with and have children? Included in my blog were some staggering statistics of psychopaths and men.  The last piece of this puzzle I am interested in has to do with women.  What are the statistics for women and why such a huge difference?  My first thought is it has to be genetic. Men and women are wired so genetically different. 

Having discovered that nature and nurture both play a role in the development of a psychopath, my argument is that nurture plays a more critical, longer lasting role on whether a person turns into a cold-blooded criminal psychopath. I plan to argue that the social and family environments that a clinically born psychopath develops in are the most influencing.  

How can you tell?

#4 The Criminal Aspect of Psychopathy

Along the way I discovered in my research, Nature and Nurture both play a role in the making of a psychopath.  I have also explained that people can be born with psychopathic traits but their behavior never turns violent.  Psychopaths show themselves in all races, ethnic cultures, socioeconomic backgrounds and ages.  Although it affects both men and women, you will see men clearly outnumber women in psychopathic criminal behavior.  I really have to wonder why it affects men more than women.  Does that have to do with Nature and Nurture? The FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin on Psychopathy states, “they exist in all lines of work, from executive to blue-collar professions.  Some are intelligent, while others possess average or below-average intelligence” (5).

When I read the staggering numbers that pertained to criminal psychopaths, I was shocked.  According to “The Criminal Psychopath: History, Neuroscience, Treatment and Economics,” less than 1% of all males 18 and over not in prison are psychopaths.  Today in the United States that would amount to approximately 1,150,000 adult males matching the criteria for psychopathy.  Taking it a step further, there are about 6,720,000 males incarcerated, on parole or probation of which 16% or 1,075,000 are diagnosed psychopaths.  When all is said and done, it turns out approximately 93% of adult males in the US are in jail, prison or are being monitored already. (1-2)

As quoted in the FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, “Psychopathy is the most dangerous of the personality disorders” (3). Psychopaths’ crimes are different then the majority of criminals in that their crimes are predatory in nature. Crime scenes are different, police interrogations are different; their behaviors after they commit the crimes differ, even down to the language they use during questioning.   “Psychopaths see others as either competitive predators or prey” (4).  When talking about the crimes they commit, they are well planned and thought out.  They are driven by a purpose, they didn’t just get caught up in emotions and lose control.  Psychopaths know right from wrong, they commit crimes because they think they don’t have to follow society’s rules.

There seems to be some misunderstanding whether psychopathy is treatable or not. At this point, medical professionals have not found a cure.   I have to wonder if it depends on the level and depths that an individual is affected by it.  Adult psychopathy didn’t just happen to an adult, it started as a child and manifested itself. We as society need to pick up on the sign at an early age so intervention can happen before it’s too late.

Works Cited

Kiehl, K. A., & Hoffman, M. B. (2011). THE CRIMINAL PSYCHOPATH: HISTORY, NEUROSCIENCE, TREATMENT, AND ECONOMICS. Jurimetrics, 51, 355–397

U.S. Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin on Psychopathy July 2012 Print.

Are you a Psychopath? Take the test.

#3 Nature vs. Nurture

The Nature vs. nurture philosophy has been explored for hundreds of years and we are still no closer to knowing exactly what drives people’s behavior.  How much does biology or nature affect our behavior as compared to nurture or the way we are raised?  I think it is safe to say that both play active roles in how we behave.  How much of our behavior is genetic and how much is learned?  As stated in the Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology, ”The genetic foundations of behavior are much more difficult to identify. Scientists continue to study how much of personality and cognition, or thinking and reasoning ability, are linked to the X or Y chromosomes.” (Longe, pg 797)

As for learned behavior, there are many factors that make up why people do the things they do.  The home environment has to be the critical piece.  Educational experiences, social interactions and the various personal relationships are important aspects as well.  All of these pieces added to how a person is predisposed creates the perfect storm of a Psychopath.

“Not only genetic make-up, but environmental factors also influence human behavior. It is well known that early-childhood environment also influences the later-life predisposition toward violent behaviors. Longitudinal studies assessing the development of psychopathology have replicated the strong influence of adverse parental rearing on externalizing and aggressive behavior in children.” (www.nature.com)

After doing quite a bit of research on this controversial topic, I have concluded that both nature and nurture make up a psychopath. I agree with both the authors of these articles, Psychopath are made up of both. And there are very specific scientific clues to what makes up a psychopath. Nobody is born evil, just predisposed to violent behavior. And if that is fostered in a young child, they are more likely to act on Psychopathic behavior. Nurture then comes into play to determine how a person deals with their psychopathic personality traits.  I wonder how many people are just ticking time bombs waiting to go off?  What are the statistics of Psychopaths that have been caught and are incarcerated?  Who is really walking around in our society? It’s very scary to think about.

Work Cited

Nature-Nurture Controversy. (2016). In J. L. Longe (Ed.), The Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology (3rd ed., Vol. 2, pp. 796-798). Farmington Hills, MI: Gale.

#2 The Truth is in the Matter

I have always wondered if Psychopaths were born or if they were made?  After reading a couple of articles I am starting to understand that it could be both.  It appears that scientific studies of the brain show Psychopaths share similar personality traits and physical brain abnormalities.   According to Lead researcher Dr. Nigel Blackwood at King’s College London’s Institute of Psychiatry, “We describe those without psychopathy as ‘hot-headed’ and those with psychopathy as ‘cold-hearted.’ The Medical Daily As a part of their research they measured the volume of gray matter in criminals.  The findings showed that psychopaths had less grey matter in areas of the brain that are related to understanding the emotions of others. 

After reading the article The Criminal Psychopath: History, Neuroscience, Treatment, and economics from the National Center for Biotechnology Information, I am convinced more than ever Psychopaths are born first and then made by their environment.  These specific people are genetically predisposed to Psychopathy and their lack of parenting and positive relationships, poor social interactions and failed learning experiences drives them to psychopathic criminal activity.  “Psychopaths’ lack of moral cognition, as well as the studies showing trauma to the frontal regions being associated with aggression, led early researchers to surmise that psychopathy may be rooted in defects to the frontal cortex.” (14)  Having less gray brain matter leads to a decreased level of neural activity in those regions of the brain.  Using MRI’s are helping to solve the mystery to Psychopathy because it is showing how the brain of a psychopath lacks interaction with human beings, not interacts.  

I think it is fair to say that psychopaths lack empathy, good moral judgement, compassion and feelings towards others.  Once I did some reading on the issue, I’m really excited to see how Nurture affects the predisposed Psychopath.  Are the characteristics genetic or can it be learned behavior? 

Work Cited

Kiehl, K. A., & Hoffman, M. B. (2011). THE CRIMINAL PSYCHOPATH: HISTORY, NEUROSCIENCE, TREATMENT, AND ECONOMICS. Jurimetrics, 51, 355–397.