School Shooting Research Paper
Hailey
Ms. St. Hilaire
Research
7 December 2012
Psychological Profile of a School Shooter
Why would a student decide to shoot their own classmates? Often when a topic like this is talked about usually a stereotypical reason is valid, at the time, to explain why a student would perform an act like a school shooting. Often people jump to a stereotypical conclusion because violence is frequently found in games and further media. Stereotyping is a subconscious act when a person places someone into their custom arrangement of how they act, speak, and look. (Ann) Can there be a another reason other than a stereotypical one? Can it be possible that violent media and a different style of music are not the true reason for a school shooting? Well yes, a school shooter can be much more complex mentally than you would think. School shooters can be categorized into three physiological profiles; however, school shootings can not be classified through stereotypical reasonings. When a school shooting is vaguely talked about through much of media, it is thought the reason for the shooting is because of violent video games, TV, and even music. However, an abundance …show more content…
of facts prove stereotypical reasons to be incorrect. Violent Video games, like Modern Warfare, are commonly played by gamers grades 7-12. Modern Warfare is a violent game that involves shooting and war within the game. Playing a videogame is not the only way kids and teens will learn about violence. Education in school and what we are familiar with, while we are developing mentally, seems to focus on wars, accidents, and tragedies. Violence is a part of what we learn when we grow up. We also learn morals and obligations. We are able to learn what is bad and what is good by making mistakes and getting punished for wrong actions. Most people learn from their mistakes. A video game is merely entertainment for many kids and teens. It is a fact that some school shooters were gamers before the shooting, but the information that was left behind,from shooters in the past, does not indicate that the video games that were played caused them to shoot. (Langman)
Stereotypical reasonings are based off of incorrect facts. The reason why people often quickly think stereotypically is because our brains use shortcuts instead of thinking it out. The brain uses shortcuts so less energy is used and because it is fast at giving an explanation. As we grow up it becomes natural for our brains to use shortcuts. People tend to hang on to a stereotype once they have it in their mind because it makes sense to what they are applying it to, and because people tend to believe what they want to believe. (Ann,
Herbert) miricles
When a school shooter is profiled mostly the profiling is stereotypical; however, there is a psychological profile that can be more accurate. There are three possible classifications mentally, that a shooter can be categorized into. A shooter’s mental health can be evaluated even when the shooter himself is not present. The psychological groups that are under consideration when someone is being categorized are: Traumatized,
Psychotic, and Psychopathic. Each one of these mental statuses have different explanations. (WhatIsaPsychopath)
Traumatized is one of the three categorizations. To be classified as traumatized this means that the shooter has something altering or unstable happen in their life to make them traumatized. You can not be born traumatized. There are two diverse ways to become traumatized: prolonged trauma and singular trauma. Prolonged trauma is when the problem happens a repeated amount of times. Some examples of prolonged trauma are child abuse (physically or sexually), neglect, or deprivation. The shooter is the victim growing up in their own household if they are prolonged traumatized. When dealing with singular trauma this means that what traumatized the mind only happened once. Examples of singular traumatization are accidents, crimes, deaths, and natural disasters. When a traumatized youth is described usually the description involves having an explosive personality and being mean-tempered. (Giller) Psychotic is another categorization possible for a shooter. A psychotic shooter is not abused physically or sexually as a child. To be able to be under the definition of
Psychotic the person must have a schizophrenia-spectrum disorder or disorders. A
Schizophrenia-spectrum disorder is a chronic brain disorder with symptoms like feeling out of touch or distant with friends and family, lack of feeling emotion, or having less or no interest in everyday activities. A psychotic shooter has either one mental illness or can have a collection of more. Psychosis is not something that you are born with. It is a proven fact that someone can be born with vulnerability to psychosis, and once confronted with the right amount of stress, it can trigger psychosis. The psychotic mind varies depending on the mental illness the person has. (WhatIsaPsychopath)
The last categorization is Psychopathic. A psychopathic person is commonly known for being emotionless. However, there are four different subtypes of psychopaths: Primary,
Secondary, Distempered, and Charismatic. Primary psychopathics do not respond to punishment, stress, or disapproval since what they are doing suits their purpose at their time. Normal speech cannot be understood correctly to a primary psychopath. Meaning when something is said to a patient who does not have a mental illness, they can comprehend and understand what is being said to them. A primary psychopath can not comprehend or understand. Secondary psychopaths are described as stress-reactive, has a lot of worries, and are guilt-prone. Someone who is a secondary psychopath purposely exposes themselves to stress or other things that might make them angry, to make themselves feel bad and because they want sympathy. Also, they are daring, live by their own rules, and want to escape or avoid pain. Distempered psychopathics easily fly into anger and rage and enjoy doing illegal things. Lastly, charismatic psychopaths are attractive lairs and good at manipulating to use it to their advantage. (WhatIsaPsychopath) April 20th, 1999 the Columbine school shooting took place. Dylan Klebold and Eric
Harris were the two high-school seniors who performed one of the biggest schools shootings in American history.
This shooting came with a big question, why did Dylan and Eric decide to do it? Both of these teenagers were intelligent and lived in solid homes. Eric and Dylan worked together, attended the same school, both were active in school play productions, and were computer assistants at their school . In January of 1998 the two boys broke into a electrical equipment van and stole computers (This day was later called “The January Incident”). Eric and Dylan were charged with breaking and entering, mischief, trespassing, and theft. Both left good impressions on the juvenile officers, who offered to discard their criminal records if they attended a diversionary program to include community service, receive psychiatric help, and obey the law. It is believed that The January
Incident is what sparked their plan to seek revenge for getting caught stealing equipment from the van. (Emerson) One year before the shooting is when written proof was able to agree that the massacre in fact was premeditated. Eric Harris kept a journal of all of the plans and fantasies that Dylan and him had. As well as Eric’s website, The site openly exposed hatred for the people of their neighborhood and the world in general. When they started experimenting with pipe-bombs, they posted results of the explosion on the website. In
March of 1998 the Jefferson County Sheriff 's Office investigator, Michael Guerra, looked at
Harris’s website after the parents of a fellow student discovered Harris was making threats aimed at the student. The investigator, Michael Guerra, wrote a statement for a search warrant but the warrant was never filed.(Harris) Eric and Dylan classified into different categories. Dylan was easier to comprehend; he was depressive and suicidal. Dylan blamed himself which meant he was guilt-prone. Thus, Dylan was a mild secondary psychopath. Dylan is a secondary psychopath considering his urge to blame himself (found in personal journals and home videos), his suicidal thoughts, and depression. Being stress reactive plays a part in being a secondary psychopath. Stress is caused by different things for different people. Hard cold evidence if Dylan was stressed is hard to prove. Dylan did not have a mental illness and he was aware of his actions at the time. Eric was more complex than Dylan mentally. Eric’s plan was to punish the whole human race. Eric was later classified as a psychopath. He was classified as this because he was aware of his actions, what he was doing, and where his actions were going to take him. His journal was the proof needed to indicate his classification. (Rosenberg,) It is also possible for school shooters, who were not partners, to be connected. On
April 17th, 2007 Seung-Hui Cho was the shooter of Virginia Technology college. It was later discovered by psychiatrists, that Seung-Hui Cho was a psychotic. Cho was recommended for counselling but never attended. He was classified as a psychotic because of his mental illness. Cho had Paranoid schizophrenia, A mental disorder that has effects of anxiety, hostile fantasies, and violence. (Seung) Connections between the
Virginia tech massacre and Columbine are apparent through Cho’s interest in Columbine.
In Cho’s suicide note and video Columbine is mentioned. He wanted to be like Eric and
Dylan and almost recreate what Eric and Dylan called “Zero day” (Another name for the day of the shooting at Columbine.) Cho looked up to Eric and Dylan; he wanted to be famous and gain power. Both shootings were premeditated, and neither had preferred targets.
Mentally Eric Harris, Dylan Klebold, and Seung-Hui Cho were classified into different categorizations but there were still similarities. (Seung)
The sixteen year old gunman, Jeff Weise, was the shooter of the Red Lake High
School shooting. This shooting happened on May 21st, 2005. Jeff also wanted his actions to turn out like Columbine. Also, like the Columbine shooters, Jeff had much interest in
Natzi’s, often wore a trench coat, the attack was premeditated, and he committed suicide during the shooting. Jeff wanted the same fame that the shooters of Columbine received.
The psychological profile that Jeff classified into was traumatized. Reasons for his classifications were mainly because of his past life. His dad commited suicide in 1997, and his mother was placed into a nursing home in 1999 due to head injuries received in a car accident. Jeff did not attend any form of counselling before the shooting. As stated earlier, traumatization is caused by either a prolonged problem or a singular problem. Jeff experienced more than one singular problem, meaning that the issues in his life were not the same issue repeatedly but were a collection of singular problems. (Gunderson)
When deciding how to categorize a school shooter it is more factual to use the three potential psychological profiles. A stereotypical profile is less accurate, and can lead to different assumptions of why the shooting happened. Jumping to a conclusion through the appearance of how a person acts, speaks, and looks is inaccurate. By thinking deeper into the psychological aspect of the shooter this will open doors to discovering how the shooter’s mind works and what really caused the shooting. Next time you are informed about a school shooting do not jump to the stereotypical conclusion, think about what was going on in their head.
Work Cited Page
Ann, Olivia. "Stereotypes vs. Human Nature ." TEEN INK. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Dec. 2012. .
Emerson, Cal. "The January Incident." DylanKlebold.com. N.p., 11 Jan. 2012. Web. 5 Dec. 2012. .
Gunerson, Dan. "Who was Jeff Weise? ." Minnesota public. MPR, 23 Mar. 2005. Web. 4 Dec. 2012. .
"Harris, Eric and Dylan Klebold ." Wikipedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Dec. 2012. .
Herbert, Wray. "The Neurology of Stereotypes ." association for physical science . aps, 24 Apr. 2008. Web. 4 Dec. 2012. .
Langman, Peter. "Rampage School Shooters: A Typology." Articles and files. N.p., 2009. Web.27Nov.2012.
Rosenberg, Jennifer. 20th Century History. Columbine Massacre, n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2012. .
"Seung-Hui Cho biography." bio. TRUE STORY. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2012. .
"What Is a Psychopath?." N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Dec. 2012. .
Ms. St. Hilaire
Research
7 December 2012
Psychological Profile of a School Shooter
Why would a student decide to shoot their own classmates? Often when a topic like this is talked about usually a stereotypical reason is valid, at the time, to explain why a student would perform an act like a school shooting. Often people jump to a stereotypical conclusion because violence is frequently found in games and further media. Stereotyping is a subconscious act when a person places someone into their custom arrangement of how they act, speak, and look. (Ann) Can there be a another reason other than a stereotypical one? Can it be possible that violent media and a different style of music are not the true reason for a school shooting? Well yes, a school shooter can be much more complex mentally than you would think. School shooters can be categorized into three physiological profiles; however, school shootings can not be classified through stereotypical reasonings. When a school shooting is vaguely talked about through much of media, it is thought the reason for the shooting is because of violent video games, TV, and even music. However, an abundance …show more content…
of facts prove stereotypical reasons to be incorrect. Violent Video games, like Modern Warfare, are commonly played by gamers grades 7-12. Modern Warfare is a violent game that involves shooting and war within the game. Playing a videogame is not the only way kids and teens will learn about violence. Education in school and what we are familiar with, while we are developing mentally, seems to focus on wars, accidents, and tragedies. Violence is a part of what we learn when we grow up. We also learn morals and obligations. We are able to learn what is bad and what is good by making mistakes and getting punished for wrong actions. Most people learn from their mistakes. A video game is merely entertainment for many kids and teens. It is a fact that some school shooters were gamers before the shooting, but the information that was left behind,from shooters in the past, does not indicate that the video games that were played caused them to shoot. (Langman)
Stereotypical reasonings are based off of incorrect facts. The reason why people often quickly think stereotypically is because our brains use shortcuts instead of thinking it out. The brain uses shortcuts so less energy is used and because it is fast at giving an explanation. As we grow up it becomes natural for our brains to use shortcuts. People tend to hang on to a stereotype once they have it in their mind because it makes sense to what they are applying it to, and because people tend to believe what they want to believe. (Ann,
Herbert) miricles
When a school shooter is profiled mostly the profiling is stereotypical; however, there is a psychological profile that can be more accurate. There are three possible classifications mentally, that a shooter can be categorized into. A shooter’s mental health can be evaluated even when the shooter himself is not present. The psychological groups that are under consideration when someone is being categorized are: Traumatized,
Psychotic, and Psychopathic. Each one of these mental statuses have different explanations. (WhatIsaPsychopath)
Traumatized is one of the three categorizations. To be classified as traumatized this means that the shooter has something altering or unstable happen in their life to make them traumatized. You can not be born traumatized. There are two diverse ways to become traumatized: prolonged trauma and singular trauma. Prolonged trauma is when the problem happens a repeated amount of times. Some examples of prolonged trauma are child abuse (physically or sexually), neglect, or deprivation. The shooter is the victim growing up in their own household if they are prolonged traumatized. When dealing with singular trauma this means that what traumatized the mind only happened once. Examples of singular traumatization are accidents, crimes, deaths, and natural disasters. When a traumatized youth is described usually the description involves having an explosive personality and being mean-tempered. (Giller) Psychotic is another categorization possible for a shooter. A psychotic shooter is not abused physically or sexually as a child. To be able to be under the definition of
Psychotic the person must have a schizophrenia-spectrum disorder or disorders. A
Schizophrenia-spectrum disorder is a chronic brain disorder with symptoms like feeling out of touch or distant with friends and family, lack of feeling emotion, or having less or no interest in everyday activities. A psychotic shooter has either one mental illness or can have a collection of more. Psychosis is not something that you are born with. It is a proven fact that someone can be born with vulnerability to psychosis, and once confronted with the right amount of stress, it can trigger psychosis. The psychotic mind varies depending on the mental illness the person has. (WhatIsaPsychopath)
The last categorization is Psychopathic. A psychopathic person is commonly known for being emotionless. However, there are four different subtypes of psychopaths: Primary,
Secondary, Distempered, and Charismatic. Primary psychopathics do not respond to punishment, stress, or disapproval since what they are doing suits their purpose at their time. Normal speech cannot be understood correctly to a primary psychopath. Meaning when something is said to a patient who does not have a mental illness, they can comprehend and understand what is being said to them. A primary psychopath can not comprehend or understand. Secondary psychopaths are described as stress-reactive, has a lot of worries, and are guilt-prone. Someone who is a secondary psychopath purposely exposes themselves to stress or other things that might make them angry, to make themselves feel bad and because they want sympathy. Also, they are daring, live by their own rules, and want to escape or avoid pain. Distempered psychopathics easily fly into anger and rage and enjoy doing illegal things. Lastly, charismatic psychopaths are attractive lairs and good at manipulating to use it to their advantage. (WhatIsaPsychopath) April 20th, 1999 the Columbine school shooting took place. Dylan Klebold and Eric
Harris were the two high-school seniors who performed one of the biggest schools shootings in American history.
This shooting came with a big question, why did Dylan and Eric decide to do it? Both of these teenagers were intelligent and lived in solid homes. Eric and Dylan worked together, attended the same school, both were active in school play productions, and were computer assistants at their school . In January of 1998 the two boys broke into a electrical equipment van and stole computers (This day was later called “The January Incident”). Eric and Dylan were charged with breaking and entering, mischief, trespassing, and theft. Both left good impressions on the juvenile officers, who offered to discard their criminal records if they attended a diversionary program to include community service, receive psychiatric help, and obey the law. It is believed that The January
Incident is what sparked their plan to seek revenge for getting caught stealing equipment from the van. (Emerson) One year before the shooting is when written proof was able to agree that the massacre in fact was premeditated. Eric Harris kept a journal of all of the plans and fantasies that Dylan and him had. As well as Eric’s website, The site openly exposed hatred for the people of their neighborhood and the world in general. When they started experimenting with pipe-bombs, they posted results of the explosion on the website. In
March of 1998 the Jefferson County Sheriff 's Office investigator, Michael Guerra, looked at
Harris’s website after the parents of a fellow student discovered Harris was making threats aimed at the student. The investigator, Michael Guerra, wrote a statement for a search warrant but the warrant was never filed.(Harris) Eric and Dylan classified into different categories. Dylan was easier to comprehend; he was depressive and suicidal. Dylan blamed himself which meant he was guilt-prone. Thus, Dylan was a mild secondary psychopath. Dylan is a secondary psychopath considering his urge to blame himself (found in personal journals and home videos), his suicidal thoughts, and depression. Being stress reactive plays a part in being a secondary psychopath. Stress is caused by different things for different people. Hard cold evidence if Dylan was stressed is hard to prove. Dylan did not have a mental illness and he was aware of his actions at the time. Eric was more complex than Dylan mentally. Eric’s plan was to punish the whole human race. Eric was later classified as a psychopath. He was classified as this because he was aware of his actions, what he was doing, and where his actions were going to take him. His journal was the proof needed to indicate his classification. (Rosenberg,) It is also possible for school shooters, who were not partners, to be connected. On
April 17th, 2007 Seung-Hui Cho was the shooter of Virginia Technology college. It was later discovered by psychiatrists, that Seung-Hui Cho was a psychotic. Cho was recommended for counselling but never attended. He was classified as a psychotic because of his mental illness. Cho had Paranoid schizophrenia, A mental disorder that has effects of anxiety, hostile fantasies, and violence. (Seung) Connections between the
Virginia tech massacre and Columbine are apparent through Cho’s interest in Columbine.
In Cho’s suicide note and video Columbine is mentioned. He wanted to be like Eric and
Dylan and almost recreate what Eric and Dylan called “Zero day” (Another name for the day of the shooting at Columbine.) Cho looked up to Eric and Dylan; he wanted to be famous and gain power. Both shootings were premeditated, and neither had preferred targets.
Mentally Eric Harris, Dylan Klebold, and Seung-Hui Cho were classified into different categorizations but there were still similarities. (Seung)
The sixteen year old gunman, Jeff Weise, was the shooter of the Red Lake High
School shooting. This shooting happened on May 21st, 2005. Jeff also wanted his actions to turn out like Columbine. Also, like the Columbine shooters, Jeff had much interest in
Natzi’s, often wore a trench coat, the attack was premeditated, and he committed suicide during the shooting. Jeff wanted the same fame that the shooters of Columbine received.
The psychological profile that Jeff classified into was traumatized. Reasons for his classifications were mainly because of his past life. His dad commited suicide in 1997, and his mother was placed into a nursing home in 1999 due to head injuries received in a car accident. Jeff did not attend any form of counselling before the shooting. As stated earlier, traumatization is caused by either a prolonged problem or a singular problem. Jeff experienced more than one singular problem, meaning that the issues in his life were not the same issue repeatedly but were a collection of singular problems. (Gunderson)
When deciding how to categorize a school shooter it is more factual to use the three potential psychological profiles. A stereotypical profile is less accurate, and can lead to different assumptions of why the shooting happened. Jumping to a conclusion through the appearance of how a person acts, speaks, and looks is inaccurate. By thinking deeper into the psychological aspect of the shooter this will open doors to discovering how the shooter’s mind works and what really caused the shooting. Next time you are informed about a school shooting do not jump to the stereotypical conclusion, think about what was going on in their head.
Work Cited Page
Ann, Olivia. "Stereotypes vs. Human Nature ." TEEN INK. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Dec. 2012. .
Emerson, Cal. "The January Incident." DylanKlebold.com. N.p., 11 Jan. 2012. Web. 5 Dec. 2012. .
Gunerson, Dan. "Who was Jeff Weise? ." Minnesota public. MPR, 23 Mar. 2005. Web. 4 Dec. 2012. .
"Harris, Eric and Dylan Klebold ." Wikipedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Dec. 2012. .
Herbert, Wray. "The Neurology of Stereotypes ." association for physical science . aps, 24 Apr. 2008. Web. 4 Dec. 2012. .
Langman, Peter. "Rampage School Shooters: A Typology." Articles and files. N.p., 2009. Web.27Nov.2012.
Rosenberg, Jennifer. 20th Century History. Columbine Massacre, n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2012. .
"Seung-Hui Cho biography." bio. TRUE STORY. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2012. .
"What Is a Psychopath?." N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Dec. 2012. .