Made or Born a Serial Killer
Lexis Munoz
Professor Miller
English 5B
23 April 2013
Are Serial Killers Born or Made? Psychologist John B. Watson expressed in his scientific studies of human behavior that emotion is learnt and as humans we are highly social creatures, and by integrating those two ideas it signifies how much we, as the human race, are influenced by others as well as with the environment causing our behavior to be similar to the ones around us. A study conducted by American psychologist Albert Bandura in 1961 called the Bobo Doll experiment in which Bandura studied on small children between the ages of three and five. Each child was placed in a room with an adult and multiple toys including a bobo doll which is an inflated doll, soon after the adult would then hit, kick, and scream at the doll. Bandura used his theory of social learning to “stress the importance of observational learning, imitating, and modeling.” During the experiment the adult later would leave the room while the child would remain there. Bandura continued observing what the child did to the doll after seeing how the adult treated it and of course the child did exactly what the adult did; imitating everything from what the adult used to hit the doll with, the kicking, and the hitting. Humans cannot control their behavior because it is learned along with the emotions that come with it. Children that are brought up in an unloving, abusive, and neglected environment are later on in their adulthood emotionally scared for life and can soon become psychopathic serial killers at an extremely young age as four or even five. In an interview with a young child named BethThomas this little girl talked about her background of abuse and molestation. Her mothers death lead to the horrific abuse her and her younger 3 month year old brother at the time in the hands of their father. The abuse and molestation happened at a very young age but still stuck with her as she got older. While growing up her and her brother
Professor Miller
English 5B
23 April 2013
Are Serial Killers Born or Made? Psychologist John B. Watson expressed in his scientific studies of human behavior that emotion is learnt and as humans we are highly social creatures, and by integrating those two ideas it signifies how much we, as the human race, are influenced by others as well as with the environment causing our behavior to be similar to the ones around us. A study conducted by American psychologist Albert Bandura in 1961 called the Bobo Doll experiment in which Bandura studied on small children between the ages of three and five. Each child was placed in a room with an adult and multiple toys including a bobo doll which is an inflated doll, soon after the adult would then hit, kick, and scream at the doll. Bandura used his theory of social learning to “stress the importance of observational learning, imitating, and modeling.” During the experiment the adult later would leave the room while the child would remain there. Bandura continued observing what the child did to the doll after seeing how the adult treated it and of course the child did exactly what the adult did; imitating everything from what the adult used to hit the doll with, the kicking, and the hitting. Humans cannot control their behavior because it is learned along with the emotions that come with it. Children that are brought up in an unloving, abusive, and neglected environment are later on in their adulthood emotionally scared for life and can soon become psychopathic serial killers at an extremely young age as four or even five. In an interview with a young child named BethThomas this little girl talked about her background of abuse and molestation. Her mothers death lead to the horrific abuse her and her younger 3 month year old brother at the time in the hands of their father. The abuse and molestation happened at a very young age but still stuck with her as she got older. While growing up her and her brother