Introduction

asanas-with-allieLeave a comment

Throughout this semester I bounced around with topics in hopes to find something that caught on. After exploring the benefits of yoga I jumped far to the attachment theory. Studying the attachment theory, I found that it was introduced by a lot of psychologists when understanding psychopaths. Thus, I finally found my niche. This work represents long hours of trying to discover the most valuable information possible on my main topic and confining it into different pieces to answer particular questions as well as show the knowledge I have gained overall. As a writer, I feel I have grown because of the fact that I have a better understanding of how to apply the research I find.

I think my best writing of the semester would have to be my proposal. The major reason I believe this is because it took me countless hours of revisions and research in order to try and create the best work that displays exactly what my idea was. I think I grew as a writer especially through this piece because I was able to explore a singular topic in depth and create what I thought would be the most important information about it to help my readers learn more. I think a statement I wrote that showed good integration of a source and explanation is from my proposal: “The nature side of it, argues the genetic makeup of an individual and quite possibly the knowledge of MAOA-L in their system which is a low level enzyme that affects endorphins such as dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine, thus, causes the inability to feel emotions and complicates their development. An article written by medical journalist Tabitha Powledge discusses how the warrior gene is linked to antisocial behavior and adult violence. Powledge states, “…intoxicants interact with MAOA-L to affect brain neurotransmitters and produce impulsive aggression” (Powledge). This is an important statement because it creates a correlation between genes and psychopathology…” 

For my final project I hope my reader sees how I tried to consolidate all the information I have gathered into a concise, clean website. I think it turned out well, I do wish I added more media into it in order to allow it to be more interactive for the reader. However, it was mostly everything I imagined it would be.

MegaBlog: How does one’s environment/upbringing in the adolescence stage correlate with their chance of developing psycho/sociopathy?

asanas-with-allie2 Comments

The environment, what one is surrounded by, is vital to how that individuals’ character grows. Thus, where one lives it can in many ways determine how they become. Psychopathy is a kind of disorder when one lacks empathy and a conscience. This tends to make them more manipulative and conniving toward others. So, when people grow up around an unhealthy environment in my mind, this is the easiest way for them to pick up these tendencies. In this link, they talked about the fact that poverty, education, and other factors directly correlate with criminal behavior. This kind of behavior, which is also correlated with psychopathy, is understood to be extremely impulsive. Aggressive behavior can also be a sign of psychopathy and this type of behavior can arise from environment and even the people that surround these individuals.

Another major factor when getting to the bottom of a psychopath’s tendencies is their upbringing. How one’s family helps or harms their character building is important. There are many theories that psychologists have come up with to explain the need for a solid family foundation for a child to develop socially acceptable personality traits. The nature vs. nurture theory is a good indicator on how to understand the make up of a socio/psychopath’s mind. The nature side has to do with the genetics and how some hereditary traits pass down and do not mix as positively as possible, and could affect the child in the long run. The nurture portion of this has to do with the fact that for a child to grow up with good intentions and normal tendencies, they need parents that give them love and care for them unconditionally. My best example of this would be that little girl named Beth that I mentioned in a previous blog post. She was a six year old that showed all sort of signs indicating that she was a psychopath. She was an adopted orphan, who wasn’t shown real love in the time necessary for early development. Thus, her psychopathic acts were more understood because she lacked the tools in early ages to feel things and to be able to think twice or three times about what came to mind.

Image result for genes

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/insight-is-2020/201402/the-sociopathic-child-myths-parenting-tips-what-do

http://livingamongpredators.over-blog.com/article-35527842.html

My Brain Made Me Do It: Psychopaths and Free Will

Is Psychopathy Genetic?

https://origins.asu.edu/blog/psychopathy-role-brain-and-environment

Tentative Topic

asanas-with-allieLeave a comment

Based on my previous blog post, I have a newfound interest in the mind of a psychopath. To me, the very make up of their hormones to how they react based on situations is intriguing. I am going to look into what happens from adolescence to adulthood that makes their way of thinking so different from a non-psychopath. I plan to try and analyze a few different cases such as: Gary Heidnik, Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy etc. I want to see if there is any sort of connection between genetic make up and psychopathy. As well as, which theories other than the attachment theory that have been brought up by psychologists in hopes to understand the minds of these people. The video about Beth that I mentioned in my previous blog post will most likely be the first story I begin with in order to start to understand the various reasons a psychopath is the way he is.

I would like to really understand how it is that psychopaths can commit heinous crimes yet, not feel any serious remorse. I think in order to understand their mindset it is important to realize that in some cases, they act out of pure impulse. Thus, after an act is made, they tend to not even know what they actually did due to the fact that they never once took a minute to actually analyze their idea or thought before putting it into motion. I have a feeling I may start look more into the minds of sociopaths and serial killers to find any sort of connection between them.

Image result for psychopath

Pre-Topic: Attachment Theory

asanas-with-allieLeave a comment

I stumbled upon a short clip of a documentary on a six-year-old that had showed numerous signs of psychopathy. Based on this, I am curious as to how the attachment theory is correlated with the upbringing of a psycho or sociopath. How does the attachment theory help or negate the emotions and actions of individuals that show signs of psycho/sociopaths.  And does understanding theories such as these actually help in the understand of psycho/sociopaths?

This link has the video attached and some information about psychopathic tendencies. The six-year-old, Beth, tended to stab objects, family members, and animals with pins in her own attempt to kill them. She had even once beat her brothers head against cement ground over and over again with no intentions to stop. In the video, she is speaking with a psychologist. It amazes me at how calm she was with owning up to what she has done. There was no remorse in her eyes or voice. To me, that seems like a direct trait of a psychopath.

Toward the end of the video it talks about how the parents sent Beth to a home directed by a woman that harbors these young minds and tries to mold them into more of a model citizen rather than a cold blooded killer. She explains how it has to do with the attachment theory and how the child is handled at a young age by the parents. Thus, my question arose. How exactly does the attachment theory correlate when it comes down to adolescents and their behavior within society? For those who don’t know, the attachment theory is the theory that a strong emotional and physical attachment to at least one caregiver is vital for development.

Now my main question due to more research has shifted. What characteristics do psychopaths show from an early-on age? So here, I dived into a little more research and what I saw was that psychologists have changed what they research. Rather than looking at the characteristics they lack, they focus on the ones they have an ample amount of. By doing this, researchers can understand how their brains work. A main characteristic that psychopaths show is impulsivity. Acting upon impulse is something that psychopaths do which leads them to make irrational decisions and causes them to not be able to stop themselves from acting out on ideas that could cause harm to others. Now, once something like this happens, psychopaths cannot feel real, serious remorse because they weren’t even able to evaluate the action that came to mind before actually doing it.

Here’s another link

Image result for psychopaths