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Are psychopaths born or made?
The nature vs nurture debate has been in motion for decades, looking at the true origins of how some people are psychopaths when others are not. In this essay, I will explore whether psychopathy is a predisposed trait, or caused through upbringings containing trauma, learned behaviors that caused the development of psychopathy ‘ or perhaps, a combination. The neuroscientist Dr. James (Jim) Fallon’s experiment suggests that there is not one clear answer for this debate, similar to the hypothesis of the Diathesis-Stress Model. His research indicates that the brain varies from neurotypical people to psychopaths, therefore indicating they are born this way. However, in the trialing of this hypothesis, he discovered his own brain had the same abnormalities as prosecuted psychopaths, yet he showed minimal symptoms of psychopathy due to his ‘normal’ childhood. Thereby implying that psychopaths need a physical emotional push to be made into a psychopath. This idea is enforced by the Diathesis-Stress Model, a theory that proposes that disorders develop from a biological genetic predisposition that once it is combined with stressful events causes the full development of said disorder. Alongside James Fallon’s research that deals with questions regarding predisposition versus upbringing, other scientists’ studies (for example Dr. Kent Kiehl ) have also indicated a psychopath’s brain function and structure differs from regular brains. Murderers such as John Wayne Gacy, Brian Dugan, Ted Bundy, and Ed Rein have had varying upbringings which led to their actions in later life. Dugan’s brain has also helped to prove there is a combination of the two facts, born and made, Dr. Kent Kiehl showed that Dugan’s brain had abnormalities in his structure, not only this but his parents were alcoholics giving Dugan a challenging childhood too. Alongside Fallon’s research proving both born and made, there are other serial killers (like Dugan) who have proved that the answer is not definitive. Therefore, there is no single answer to this question as it is likely to be a combination of both born and made.
The argument that psychopaths are born the way they are is heavily backed by neuroscientists. An example of this is Dr. Kent Kiehl who studied Brian Dugan’s brain, a serial killer, to find that ‘Brian’s brain had very low levels of density in a system we call the paralimbic system, says Dr. Kiehl. Kiehl is a highly accomplished scientist, renowned in the sector of neuroscience and psychopathy making his research convincing in its findings. Dugan pled guilty to the brutal rape and murder of 10-year-old Jeanine Nicarico as well as several others, including a 7-year-old and a 27-year-old nurse. He showed no remorse towards his actions. Scientists have linked this lack of empathy to his numerous actions in crime. Dugan’s brain scan was a part of Kiehl’s project of understanding how anti-social behavior correlates with the offender’s brain structure. To back up the argument that psychopaths are predisposed and born as one, he states that ‘clinically, we define it as someone who scores high on traits such as lack of empathy, guilt, and remorse. This is a quote from one of Dr. Kiehl’s interviews where he directly says that in order to be clinically diagnosed as a psychopath there needs to be certain traits and features that the person has. This means that psychopaths could be predisposed to features and traits that are associated with psychopathy. Another person who argues for genetics is from the historical approach that was developed by Lombroso (1876). In this approach, Lombroso argued that there are physical characteristics (narrow sloping bow, prominent jaw, high cheekbones, facial asymmetry, dark skin, and physical irregularities like extra toes and fingers) arguing they were more primitive than non-offenders. This study moved speculations of causes of psychopathy to be more scientific but there are more modern-day skeptics due to this study being outdated and archaic. Lombroso helps to back up Kiehl’s argument for a genetic component in psychopathy. Although, even with his brain structures, Dugan’s upbringing still had an impact. This is due to the fact Dugan was brought up in the house with two alcoholic parents which led to him and a brother burning down the family garage and going on to complete burglaries and a supposed attempt to abduct a child when he was younger. His siblings have also suggested he was molested at a youth home, this possibly led to his future in raping young girls. The traits Kiehl says are necessary could have been gained from how he learned to gain attention as a child or simply because his parents showed no remorse for their actions which triggered his predisposition to psychopathic behaviors, much like the conclusion of the Diathesis-Stress Model. Therefore, even with Dr. Kent Kiehl’s brain scans showing neuro divergences in the structure of Dugan’s brain, there is evidence of Dugan’s childhood edges towards the conclusion that it needs to be a combination of born and made is needed for the birth of a psychopath.
Psychopathic behaviors could just be learned and assimilated during childhood or later life, for example, trauma or parents displaying these behaviors. Someone who argues that DNA isn’t always the deciding factor is psychologist, Dr. Perpetua Neo, who argues that epigenetics play a large role in the creation and development of psychopathic behaviors. Epigenetics is the study of how your environment can affect the way your genes work, these changes are reversible but can impact your actions, showing an argument for how psychopaths are made. Neo states negative behaviors are learned and rewarded in households where parents display narcissistic or psychopathic tendencies which children pick up on and are taught that this is the correct way to behave. The child may grow up thinking that the only way to get resources’ attention is by exhibiting manipulative inclinations. Perpetua Neo is a blatant example of psychologists and people who argue that psychopaths can be made, however, she also says that we are predisposed to act a certain way which contradicts her prior argument. Neo’s research and evaluation of both born and made are highly convincing and trustworthy due to her specialism in dark triad personality types. In the field of psychopaths, she is renowned, and her view is highly regarded amongst her colleagues making her opinion and theories plausible as to how they are able to dictate the idea that there is not one clear instigator of psychopathy. It is a combination of internal (predispositions) and external (epigenetics and childhood) factors that cause these behaviors really. Perpetua Neo’s research and studies consolidate the idea that the answer to ‘Are psychopaths born or made,’ is subjective without a definitive answer, it is a combination of factors. Neo’s research gives a balance of born and made through her work in epigenetics and that people are predisposed to act in certain ways which indicates the necessity for both factors.
Source A:
The scientist Dr. James Fallon, much like Neo, is able to argue for both sides of the argument as well as conclude that the answer to the question ‘Are psychopaths born or made,’ is a combination of factors. Fallon conducted an experiment where he took brain scans from prisoners, Schizophrenic, depressive, and normal brains (including his family and his brain) all to hopefully find patterns in brains that are home to a psychopath. At the time of this study Fallon was also doing research into Alzheimer’s where he had a pile of his family’s scans, due to his interest and study into the brains of psychopaths he noticed the abnormalities in a family member’s brain. The brain had low activity in the frontal and temporal lobes, these areas are linked to empathy, morality, and self-control meaning that with the lack of activity, a member of his family was risking psychopathy. The brain scan is shown in Source A, the lit-up sections show brain activity, and the bottom scan shows Fallon’s brain where it is clear there are abnormalities and a lack of activity. From there he discovered this brain was that of his own. This astonishing discovery led to James Fallon temporarily rethinking his hypothesis stating ‘I’ve never killed anybody or raped anyone. So, the first thing I thought was that my hypothesis was wrong and that these brain areas are not reflective of psychopathy or murderous behavior.’ Suggesting that even with the abnormal structures he showed minimal to no behaviors and traits that you would typically see in a psychopath. Fallon called himself a ‘pro-social psychopath,’ due to him keeping his behaviors socially acceptable but, like a regular psychopath, he struggled to feel empathy. In an interview, his wife also mentioned he experienced some narcissistic tendencies, but it was never bad enough to link this to psychopathy. Fallon mentioned how his childhood was ‘normal’ and he experienced minimal hardships, this is what he used as an explanation for his lack of psychopathic symptoms other than his lack of empathy and narcissism. This experiment initially supported the idea there are genetic predispositions involved in the causations of psychopathy. However, James’ unearthing of his brain insinuates that by adding a harsh childhood to structural abnormalities in the brain psychopathy can truly happen showing that it is a mix between predispositions and upbringings that causes psychopaths.
Source B:
Another thing that comes to the same conclusion is that psychopathy is a biological condition that is triggered through upbringing or stressful events. The Diathesis-Stress Model, a study helped and influenced by ADr.ian Raine, theorizes that psychopathy and mental disorders are predisposed but are set off by unsettling and traumatic events. Raine (1997) said that there are four main roles in making a violent offender, he mainly looked at the role of the pre-frontal cortex, corpus callosum, amygdala, medial temporal lobe, and thalamus to see if there were differences in the brains of murderers and non-murderers. At the end of his experiment, he concluded that brain functions did impact and possibly translate into anti-social behaviors. Raine stated ‘Early health intervention and prevention studies may provide the most effective way of reversing biological deficits that predispose to antisocial and aggressive behavior in children and adults,’ which implies that childhood is detrimental to developing psychopathy. The Diathesis-Stress Model, an example shown in Source B, can be used to explain how Dr. James Fallon’s biological susceptibility didn’t fully affect his personality due to it not being activated by trauma. This model can also explain how Brian Dugan began his anti-social behaviors at such a young age, Dr. Kiehl showed his biological issues and Dugan, and his siblings explained the trauma he endured from a young age which Diathesis-Stress Model suggests was the trigger to his killings. This theory is highly important in the development of discovering how psychopaths are created, psychologists and neuroscientists have studied the brain and conclusions for how psychopathy can be prevented (upbringing). Childhoods have a dramatic impact on the person one becomes in adolescence and adulthood, this theory agrees that actions a parent or role model takes towards their chilDr.en will affect what happens to them in later life. Diathesis-Stress Model explains how psychopathy is caused by a combination of born and made.
There are many murderers that had both a negative childhood as well as brain abnormalities James Fallon, Kent Kiehl, and Raine highlighted. It is incredibly common for infamous killers to have had uneasy childhoods. These killers include Ed Rein, Ted Bundy, and John Wayne Gacy. To start with Gacy, Gacy’s father was an abusive alcoholic and a fervent homophobe often calling Gacy effeminate and sissy. Gacy Dropped out of high school and struggled to come by work, he then enrolled in business school, and he supported an array of organizations where he dressed up as a clown to entertain sick children. At the age of 11 Gacy supposedly had a blow to the head during an accident where he periodically blacked out. Possibly adding to his psychotic behaviors and 33 confirmed murders of young men and boys. However, this façade of living ‘the American Dr.eam’ was destroyed in 1968 when Gacy was accused of molesting a teenage employee, he argued that these actions were consensual. Gacy sent someone to beat this teenager into stopping the allegation which ended in Gacy undergoing a psychiatric evaluation and 10 years in prison, in which he was released on parole in 1970 (after 18 months). After prison, Gacy moved towns, and his neighbors were oblivious to his prior actions. In 1972 Gacy began his second marriage, his wife was charmed by his generosity and charisma, she believed Gacy was a reformed character. These characteristics are similar to Ted Bundy, he was commonly called charismatic which was how he gained the trust of his victims and lured them in. Both Bundy and Gacy were abused as children, enduring violent and verbal abuse. This possibly, as said by Perpetua Neo, triggered them into showing psychopathic behaviors such as lack of morality guilt, narcissism, and irresponsibility all of which Gacy experienced. Gacy was beaten by his father to the point where he and his siblings learned to ‘toughen up’ and that Gacy would not cry this indicates that John Wayne Gacy no longer felt hurt by these actions but found them to be his norm. It is possible to argue psychopaths are predominantly made by looking at the vast list of killers whose early years were filled with abuse or head injuries. The University of Glasgow found that 21% of those who were eligible to kill suffered a head injury as a child. The damage people like Kiehl and Fallon saw in the frontal cortex can result in changes in behavior, change in morality, and aggression this damage can arise from injuries and not just biological predisposed abnormalities. The researchers at Glasgow said that by saying that by mixing this damage with trauma has led killers to take out their anger on their victims. Ed Rein was beaten by his father till his ears rang causing brain damage, Dennis Rader was Dr.opped on his head as a newborn he turned blue and stopped breathing but was not taken to hospital and David Berkowitz suffered multiple head injuries one where he was hit by a car then ran into a wall and then he was hit on the head with a pipe leaving a four-inch head laceration. These are more examples of notorious killers who suffered childhood head injuries that led to a change in behaviors as well as they all experienced hard childhoods showing that a combination of brain injuries and trauma can lead to different actions and developing psychopathy. However, to argue against this ‘made’ argument a study conducted by the REUTERS Institute of Psychiatry King’s College found serial killers have a ‘distinct brain structure.’ The brains the scientists scanned were of men who were convicted of rape, murder, and violent crimes this found that the psychopaths have structural abnormalities in their brains. Nigel Blackwood led the study that found psychopaths that experience less empathy have less grey matter in areas of the brain important to understanding people’s emotions, this study is incredibly important to arguing the side for innate behaviors arguing otherwise to the list of killers with traumatic childhoods and brain damage. Overall, the combination of convicted killers’ brain scans and childhoods has shown that both are colossal factors in the making of psychopaths. Looking into the early life of killers it is clear that their upbringing played a role in how they became who they are known for. Similarly, King’s College’s study shows how genetics correlate with behaviors in later life. This therefore shows that in order to create a psychopath a genetic predisposition and upbringing are both needed.
Overall, the answer to the question ‘Are psychopaths born or made?’ is that both facts work together to create a psychopath. This essay has explored all sides of the argument, looking at psychologists, scientists, and neuroscientists’ studies that have argued for both born, made, and combination. As well as looking at professional opinions this essay looks at infamous serial killers and how they endured accidents and stressful childhoods. Looking at all the possible explanations for psychopathy has led to the conclusion that it is primarily a combination of born and made that leads to psychopathy.
Bibliography
- Dodgson, L., 2017. Both DNA and upbringing can determine whether a child will grow up to be a psychopath- here’s how. [Online] Available at https:www.businessinsider.comhow-to-make-a-psychopath-2017-8?r=US
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