...J. Dotson MS, University of Phoenix, 2015 Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science Psychology University of Phoenix March, 2015 Abstract Psychopathic and sociopathic general characteristic traits are found in both genders in various populations. More research on the general characteristic traits of females is needed. Research for the female populations will give professionals information about the differences displayed between genders. Different applied sciences will also further their knowledge in treatment options for either tendency. The study used explored if any differences existed between genders with intensified levels of psychopathic traits in regard to psychopathy factor scores. The sample consisted of 2,500 people of both genders (52.6% women) (M=22.15; SD=1.38) from the generalized population, aged 20-24. Results displayed women with psychopathic personality traits had significantly higher levels of behavioral tendencies than men of the same. The genders did display a difference in aggressive behavior. The men showed a significant amount of aggressive behaviors compared to the women. The gender differences displayed in the seven psychopathic features show the variations needed for treatment options. Differences and Similarities in Generalized Characteristic Traits among Genders: The Sociopath and Psychopath by Evelyn J. Dotson MS, University of Phoenix, 2015 Thesis Submitted in Partial...
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...Themes and Practice in Psychology (Criminal Behaviour) “Criminal behaviour runs in families”. Discuss this statement in light of the nature-nurture debate and considering recent and relevant literature. For a number of years the dilemma of whether criminal behaviour is inherent in families or is triggered by various external factors in an individual’s environment has influenced and inspired an abundance of both criminological and psychological research. Many replicable studies have been conducted in an attempt to establish the core source of deviant and/or criminal actions , and whether such actions are to be attributed to genetics, or to one’s environment , nature or nurture. This paper shall seek to establish, where possible , the route to criminal behaviour and evaluate potential factors that could influence an individual to become delinquent . Gottfredson & Hirschi (1990) set forth a general theory of crime that identified low self-control as the main causal factor. Their theory also proposed the notion that parents play the decisive role in either nurturing or thwarting the development of self-control – dependant on the parent’s ability to monitor and supervise a child’s behaviour and respond appropriately to anti-social behaviour. They claim that parents are the sole contributors to the cause of low self-control and therefore they reject potential genetic contributions in their theory . Their theory illustrates that criminal behaviour is simply caused by one’s parental...
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...Serial Killer is born a killer not made into one Introduction: This essay will discuss psychopathy, by connecting an individual's criminal behaviour or psychopathic tendencies to their biological makeup. It will do so through analysing the theory of nature vs nurture and three experiments or research. The theory of nature vs nurture will attempt to provide a base for psychological understanding of serial killer tendencies. The essay will then attempt to reassert the nature aspect of theory as a reality through the three experiments that will be discussed. Thesis: In all, this essay will prove to link that biological deviations are the primary cause of criminal or aggressive behaviour in an individual. Paragraph 1: Experiment/ research...
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...Introduction Personality is defined as the consistent pattern of emotions, thoughts and behaviours that define a particular individual as well as the psychological mechanisms that bring about such aforementioned tendencies (McShane, Olekalns, & Travaglione, 2013). It also refers to individual reactions and interactions with others hence, it is an inner psychological feature as Hiriyappa (2012) describes. This predisposition explains behaviours and attitudes of employees hence a core determinant in organization behaviour as Kumar, Bakhshia and Rani (2009) explain. Personality results from an amalgamation of nature and nurture factors. In the latter, innate qualities such as brain and hereditary factors, determine personality forms. In the former, brain stimulation aspects that define personality occur through genetic transmission (Parikh & Gupta, 2010). In the latter, genetic and molecular structures found in chromosomes, determine individual personality. Nurturing factors that determine personality are sourced from personal experience, behaviour and empiricism. Physical factors regarding a person’s appearance define one’s personality when interacting with others (Jennifer & Gareth, 2008). The culture of societies determines its members’ personalities particularly on aspects of interaction, cooperation and coordination in relationships. Religious and cultural factors also shape up personalities. This is because norms, regulations and convictions determine individual...
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...Case Analysis: Aileen Wuornos Tiffin University Samantha M. Rippey Do you believe a person’s genetics or environment most influence their psychological development (behavior, habits, sexuality, personality, etc.)? This is the nature versus nurture psychological debate. The nature argument believes that a person’s genetics determine their development. An example of this would be someone extremely successful in school crediting their academic success to a family of intelligent people (genetic predisposition). The nurture argument believes that people are products of their environment. If a child grows up surrounded by criminals and continuously observes their behaviors, it may not be a surprise when they enter a life of crime. It would be safe to say that they were a product of their environment. Background Information Aileen Wuornos was an American serial killer who killed seven men in the state of Florida from 1989-1990. Aileen Carol Pittman was born in Rochester, Michigan on February 29, 1956. Her biological father was Lee Dale Pittman, who was a psychopathic child molester. Lee Pittman committed suicide by hanging himself in a prison cell in 1969. Unfortunately, Aileen never really got to know her father. Aileen had an older brother named Keith who was born in 1955. Aileen and Keith were abandoned by their parents in 1960 and adopted by their maternal grandparents, Lauri and Britta Wuornos. Aileen and Keith did...
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...It was hypothesized by John Locke, that an individual begins life as a tabula rasa or ‘blank slate’. Locke presented in 1690, Essay Concerning Human Understanding, which argued an originary state of formlessness (R. Duschinsky), whereby the mind is receptive to learning, but experience is the determinant in attaining knowledge. Locke’s behaviourist perspective favours the role of experiential growth (nurture), over genetic predisposition (nature), in the development of human behaviour. This notion is inaccurate, as in actuality, the shaping of human behaviour does not rely solely on learned experience. Human behaviour is in fact a mutual interaction of both genetic and environmental factors, with genetic predisposition playing a substantial role. It was argued by G.W Leibniz that an individual inherently contains the sources of various notions which external objects merely rouse up on suitable occasions. This essay will concur with Leibniz’s philosophy that in fact it is the interplay of individual nature and nurture which drives the development of human behaviour, in particular, antisocial behaviour, to in turn, contradict John Locke’s tabula rasa hypothesis. Antisocial behaviours are disruptive acts characterised by hostility, intentional aggression towards others and destructive behaviour. The behaviour includes repeated violations and definance of social rules and authority, and a reckless disregard for self and others. It is characterised by deceitfulness and theft, and...
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...to determine possibly because many serial killers turn out to be the people who you would least likely suspect. In this paper I will take a look as to whether serial killers may suffer from psychopathy. I will also attempt to focus on one particular serial killer – Dennis Rader – BTK. Psychology Of A Killer Many psychologists believe that psychological disorders are the only reason for the killings while other psychologists believe that the reason is the environment that they are raised in and/or are currently in. Seeking help when a person is young, if sadistic or animal cruelty behavior is caught early by their caregiver, can reduce the factors of becoming a serial killer. There also may be factors with nature and nurture and how that may have affected them in the creation of a future serial killer. According to my research, the most successful serial killers are people who blend into society who possibly could be a neighbor or a trusted friend. The psychology of a kill and the method of the kill may be a factor also. Psychopathy is not only about the bad things that people do, but have their own set of personality traits. These traits might include deceitfulness, superficial charm, impulsivity, manipulation, unreliability, emotional shallowness, and lack of empathy. Psychopathy is most often...
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...The basic definition of the word criminal is someone who commits offending behaviour within society (Harrower, 2001). The crime may range from petty theft to murder. Criminals are born not made is the discussion of this essay, it will explore the theories that attempt to explain criminal behaviour. Psychologists have come up with various theories and reasons as to why individuals commit crimes. These theories represent part of the classic psychological debate, nature versus nurture. Are individuals predisposed to becoming a criminal or are they made through their environment. There are various theories within the biological explanation as to why individuals commit criminal behaviour, these include: genetic theory, hereditary theory, psychosis and brain injury theory. In the next few paragraphs examples of each will be shown. The first theory to be explored is the hereditary theory, which stems from Cesare Lombroso (1876) father of criminology, (Feldman, 1993) whose studies were carried out by morphology. Lombroso tried to show a relationship between criminal behaviour and physical characteristics. Lombrosco suggested that an individual was predisposed to becoming a criminal, as a result of internal or innate characteristics, rather than environmental factors. Lombroso observed both criminals and non- criminals by their physical abnormalities, such as physical measurements and examinations. He concluded that most prisoners show the same physical abnormalities, which...
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...The biology of leadership The relation between leadership, psychopathy and hormones Master thesis Economics and Business 8th of August 2012 Name student: Ricardo Westendorp Student number: 294819rw Supervisor: Wouter van den Berg The biology of leadership PREFACE Around October, 2011, I started looking for a subject to graduate on, when a neuro-economical subject, involving the connection of leadership to psychopathy and hormones, crossed my path. I had to jump into it, because this subject matched the field I am interested in. Now, 8 months later, I present you my final work and I have enjoyed working on it. I have to be honest, this product would not have been able to be written if it wasn’t for the help of certain people. Therefore, I would like to use this section, to show my gratitude to some people, that helped me along the way. First of all, I thank the Erasmus School of Economics, for providing the financial support for this research. This research would definitely not have been possible, without the financial support of the ESE. Secondly, I would like to thank my supervisor, Wouter van den Berg, who has supported me, guided me and who has contributed intellectually. I would also like to thank Kashin Hau, who has made great contributions to the construction of the leadership questionnaire. Also, I would like to thank Sarstedt, who provided 500 saliva tubes. I am very thankful for the help of my parents. A great contribution has been made by my parents, Wim Westendorp...
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...Nature vs Nurture is often a big topic of debate for people. This is the idea that people may be born one way or they were taught to be this way through their environment. It’s seen as a debate in many cases, but one specifically is the topic of children killers, kids who before they became adults did the unimaginable and killed another person. There are many different examples of this happening and many people say they were born or made this way. Two examples of this are Mary Bell, and Daniel Bartlem. In certain children killer cases there will be rulings saying that they had certain psychological problems, but not in all. The question is then raised, where these kids born this way? Or have they been made to act out this way due to things in their lives? The first example is Mary Bell she was an eleven year old girl, who was originally sentenced to a life sentence in jail. She killed two boys one the age three and the other the age four and said she did it “purely for excitement”. Her mother was a prostitute and said to often not be home, and her father was thought to be Bill Bell who was a criminal charged with armed robber, Mary was born when her mother was only seventeen. It was said that as a kid her mother tried to kill her more than once...
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...There are numerous debates in regards to developmental psychology. One of the main debates to begin with is nature vs nurture; some individuals believe that we are products of our environment while others regards us while others believe that we are products of our genetics. John Locke believes that when we are born we are a “tabula rasa” a blank slate which means that he supports the idea that we are products of our environment and also supports behaviourism. Another debate is continuity v discontinuity, some individuals have created continuity theories and others have created discontinuity theories. Continuity theorists believe that the development of an individual is constantly continuous while discontinuous theorists believe that there are specific periods where individuals develop. For example Freud’s psychosexual stages are a discontinuous theory. There is also an issue of nomothetic vs idiographic; some theorists adopt a nomothetic approach while others adopt an idiographic approach. Individuals that adopt a nomothetic approach create theories based on what we share with others, and find general laws that can be applied to large groups of people, for example behaviourism is a nomothetic approach. On the other hand the idiographic approach goes into large detail for the individual to investigate why we are unique, for example Freud’s theory is an idiographic approach. There are six principle psychological perspectives which are applied to the understanding which includes;...
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...In this essay I will explain Bowlby’s theory of attachment were Bowlby argues that a baby goes through a certain amount of stages to form an attachment with its primary caregiver and then multiple attachment. I will explain the stages throughout my essay. To begin, Bowlby argued that attachment is a type of mechanism that ensures the survival of the child. In other words, forming a bond with someone, often the child’s primary care giver is the most essential in order to survive. According to Bowlby which is why they strive to maintain close proximity to the significant adult. He argued that babies have abilities such as crying and smiling to encourage the primary care giver to look after them, and vice versa, the parents, particularly mothers, possess instincts designed to protect their child from harm. Bowlby presented his theory which comes under five sections, firstly being adaptive where babies have an attachment gene ensuring that the infant stays close to the caregiver for food and protein. As this is innate, the baby has social releasers (physical characteristics and behavioural characteristics) which are adaptive because a child’s behavioural characteristic helps the baby to survive. They are innate because survival of a baby’s life is naturally selected. Without any carte from the primary caregiver the baby will not be able to survive on its own. The second stage is Bowlby’s concept of monotropy, which the theory consists of a number of essential factors. Which he...
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...VOLUME EDITOR S. WALLER is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Montana State University Bozeman. Her areas of research are philosophy of neurology, philosophy of cognitive ethology (especially dolphins, wolves, and coyotes), and philosophy of mind, specifically the parts of the mind we disavow. SERIES EDITOR FRITZ ALLHOFF is an Assistant Professor in the Philosophy Department at Western Michigan University, as well as a Senior Research Fellow at the Australian National University’s Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics. In addition to editing the Philosophy for Everyone series, Allhoff is the volume editor or co-editor for several titles, including Wine & Philosophy (Wiley-Blackwell, 2007), Whiskey & Philosophy (with Marcus P. Adams, Wiley, 2009), and Food & Philosophy (with Dave Monroe,Wiley-Blackwell, 2007). P H I L O S O P H Y F O R E V E RYO N E Series editor: Fritz Allhoff Not so much a subject matter, philosophy is a way of thinking.Thinking not just about the Big Questions, but about little ones too.This series invites everyone to ponder things they care about, big or small, significant, serious … or just curious. Running & Philosophy: A Marathon for the Mind Edited by Michael W. Austin Wine & Philosophy: A Symposium on Thinking and Drinking Edited by Fritz Allhoff Food & Philosophy: Eat,Think and Be Merry Edited by Fritz Allhoff and Dave Monroe Beer & Philosophy: The Unexamined Beer Isn’t Worth Drinking Edited by Steven D. Hales Whiskey & Philosophy:...
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...Psychosocial Development Through the Play Years Portland Community College Table of Contents Introduction 3 Stages of Psychosocial Development 3 The First Two Years 3 The Play Years 4 Psychosocial Developmental Challenges 6 Possible Causes: Maltreatment 6 Possible Causes: Family Structure 7 Possible Causes: Environmental Adversity 8 Influencers of Child Psychosocial Development 9 Teachers 9 Gender Roles 10 Child’s Play 11 Conclusion 11 References 13 Introduction Psychosocial development looks at the emotional and social development processes. There are many theories when it comes to how psychosocial development occurs, including the two most well-known theories by Sigmund Freud and Erik Erikson. For the purpose of this paper I will be focusing on Erikson’s psychoanalytic theory of development for children through the play years, or age six. In addition to theories of development I will take a look into developmental challenges and the factors that affect development and the possible effects they may have. I will do this by taking a look at applicable case studies presenting their findings. The possible causes of developmental challenges that I will focus on are maltreatment, family structure and environmental adversity. I will also look into the influencers of psychosocial development on children and the impact they have on a child’s psychosocial development...
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...A Jeffrey Dahmer Story Tyler Jones Understanding Criminal Minds December 2, 2014 Jeffrey Dahmer Fantasies can be strengthened by great amount of sex drive that assists in unusual behaviors; sexual murders are based on fantasies. The purposes of the fantasies are to take control of the victims; the killer wants the control because he/she has sought it since childhood. It is known that very few serial killers have healthy relation with their parents. “Jeffrey Dahmer was born on May 21,1960, in Milwaukee; his parents were Lionel and Joyce Dahmer. Joyce had problems during her pregnancy and started taking drugs to treat her sickness” (Fischoff, 1996). After Jeffrey was born he had difficulties with his legs and needed help with his legs for four months. Despite this problem he seemed to grow up as a healthy beautiful child, but at one point his mother started to refuse to breast-feed him. Since she could not handle breast-feeding, this increased her consumption of antidepressant and psychotropic drugs. “After a few years the couple moved six times in their first years of marriage. In 1962, the family moved to Iowa. Lionel had been accepted to a doctoral program in chemistry; in this period Jeffrey got sick very often and required several injections to treat the infections” (Fischoff, 1996). “When he started preschool his interest for insects and animals was starting to take form, in fact, he helped his father in nursing a owl they found. When Jeffrey was...
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