The Diabolical Mind Essay, Research Paper

Ted Bundy killed at least 30 women, Adolf Hitler was behind the killing of millions of Jewish people, and Saddam Husaine attempted the takeover of Kuwait. What is going on in the minds of these men? If people knew, possibly these psychopaths could be dealt with. But before it is known why they do what they do, it must be learned what makes them psychopaths. Some people believe psychopaths are created by their childhood environment, others believe they are born with a chemical imbalance in the brain, but either way there are tests that can help detect whether or not a person is a psychopath. Childhood problems is one of the most common theories about what makes a psychopath. A good example is Ted Bundy. His grandfather, who was a very violent man, raised him. When angry, his grandfather would pick the cat up by its tail, then swing it around and throw it against the wall. Many people believe Bundy’s grandfather’s actions are largely responsible for the behavior or Bundy many years later. Similar cases of this are Adolf Hitler and Saddam Husaine. Both of these men did not bond with their respective parents. It is said that once the person subject to this grows up, they have a need for power and control. They believe the best route to their beloved power is through violence. Obviously this theory is very applicable to these cases however there could be more behind this, something beyond the pasts of these men, and into their brains. A second theory about why psychopaths are the way they are is that there is a chemical imbalance in the brain. Scientists think that in psychopaths there is a lacking of neurotransmitters which allow information to be transferred between the parts of the brain that control long term planning and the parts which control emotion. Tests were performed on diagnosed psychopaths that discovered when psychopaths are told about emotional subjects, they do not show brain activity in the part of the brain that controls emotion. This proves that the workings of the brain are different for psychopaths than for non-psychopaths, however the nature of this difference has not yet been discovered for certain. Many tests are used to research and diagnose psychopaths. One of the more common ones is performed like this:

The subjects were asked to perform a simple task: hit a button as soon as they recognized a word flashed on a computer screen. While monitoring the subjects’ brainwaves, the researcher alternated nonsensical strings of letters with neutral words such as “table,” and emotionally evocative words like “maggot” and “cancer.”What researchers found was that the non-psychopath subjects spent a greater amount of time before pressing the button when emotional words popped up, while the psychopaths reacted no differently to those words than the words like “table.” The reason the non-psychopath subjects took longer is that when they saw the words, they thought of something that would correspond with the word, such as “death” with “cancer.” The psychopath subjects viewed the two types of words no differently. Radioactive tracers can be used in the brain along with this test to monitor brain activity so psychopaths can be even more accurately diagnosed. Whether or not we know what makes a psychopath tick, we can always find out what people are psychopaths through tests. People view psychopaths as being totally bad, but they are wrong. If psychopaths are put to jobs suitable for them, they could be very useful to society. Put in jobs such as being a judge would be good for them. They would not become biased by the content of trials, because they would not be emotionally charged by trials dealing with rape, murder and abuse. People should think harder about what places certain people could fit into before they judge one another.Whether or not we know what makes a psychopath tick, we can always find out what people are psychopaths through tests. People view psychopaths as being totally bad, but they are wrong. If psychopaths are put to jobs suitable for them, they could be very useful to society. Put in jobs such as being a judge would be good for them. They would not become biased by the content of trials, because they would not be emotionally charged by trials dealing with rape, murder and abuse. People should think harder about what places certain people could fit into before they judge one another.