Ted Bundy and Alfred Adler's Theory - Case Study Example

Case Study of Ted Bundy Through Alfred Adlers Theory On January 24, 1989, the nation executed one of the most chilling and gruesome serial killers ever known. He was charming, at times fascinating and hiding behind a mask that would prove to keep him hidden while he killed 35 women over the course of six years, and he did it from coast to coast to the United States. Bundys story was on every radio and television station, on every newspaper and magazine and today the story is still being studied by law enforcement agencies and others. The question on everyones mind was "Why?" Although the answer to that question was never found, many people have had their own theories. This paper will study Ted Bundy through the theory of Alfred Adler. It is not enough to study him only through the birth order part of Adlers theory because his family situation was complex and complicated. He fits many pieces of Adlers theory that is more relevant than birth order. In fact, Adler himself said that the birth order theory was a "heuristic idea" that was part of an answer to understanding people but it should not be taken too seriously (Boeree, 2006). Ted Bundy was an only child who grew up within a second family. His mother raised him as her "brother" in his grandparents house. He was to refer to his mother as his "sister" and to his grandparents as his "parents." (Rule, 2000, p. 8) Bundy described his early childhood as a good one and said that his grandfather was loving, but a psychiatrist at one of his trials said that the grandfather was "an abusive brute and worse" (Michaud and Aynesworth, 2000, p. 18). The reason for this charade was that Bundy was an illegitimate child. In 1946 in any town in any state, this was a taboo subject. His mother had become pregnant by a sailor who was never involved with Teds life and in her seventh month, she went to an unwed mothers home to have him. Ted was born November 14, 1946 and the lies began. Her parents helped her keep up the lies but as he grew older the lies became more complicated and many people in the town by now knew what had happened. His mother/older sister decided that the town knew too much and it was time to take Ted to another place so she and he could start over. They had family in Tacoma, Washington so everyone felt this would be a good place to go. At that time his mother changed his name to Theodore Robert Nelson to keep him from being stigmatized by other children and to give him anonymity; Ted was four years old when they moved (Rule, p. 9). While in Washington, his mother joined the Methodist church and attended regularly. Ted would say later that they were not "overly religious." While there, she met a man named Johnny Bundy who she eventually married. Bundy never officially adopted her "brother" Ted attended the wedding in 1951 as the "younger brother" of the bride (Rule, p. 9). Bundy never adopted Ted so his brothers and sisters were only half brothers and sisters. Teds mother gave him Bundys last name so there would be no questions as he started school. With the older Bundy, Teds mother had four other children, and the youngest was born when Ted was 15 (Michauld and Aynesworth, p. 18). Teds first friends were his cousins who were close to his age. Ted was often asked to babysit his half siblings and he did so without complaint. This did not allow him to go to activities with other kids his age but by this time he had become a loner and shied away from contact with other people. Ted never accepted that this new guy Bundy was his father, nor did he acknowledge that this man had anything to do with him; he was a Cowell, which was the name of his grandparents and the other family members. By the time Ted graduated from high school he had bee in trouble with the law twice as a juvenile. He later was in love with a woman named Stephanie but he was jilted by her initially (Rule, p. 16); later he would court her, become engaged to her, then jilt her in return. As Ted went though high school he realized that his mother had lied to him about his father and he went on a search to find him. From his birth certificate he found out that the father was "unknown" and that his "sister" was really his "mother." (Rule, p. 17). He was confused and hurt about his identity and it is not certain whether this was a major problem for him throughout his life. Ted stayed to himself and no one ever knew anything about his except for those things that people will tell another superficially. He was very careful not to let anyone know him except for the mask that he wanted to show. Bundy became active in the community, in politics working for Republican political campaigns, studied the law intensely, especially rapists and people with felony charges, and he worked a crisis hotline for a time. He was not good at sports and he was awkward with people. Everyone said that he usually was very shy and introverted. Alfred Adler Alfred Adler was the third child and second son in his family. As a child he was sickly and nearly died of pneumonia. He decided to become a doctor because of his illnesses and first studied ophthalmology. Some of his first clients were circus people and he found strengths and weaknesses within this group. With them, he gained insights into "organ inferiorities and compensation" (Boeree, 2006, p2). From this point he went into psychiatry and joined with Freud in one of his groups. His early beginnings towards what would become his birth order theory, was his work on aggressive instinct and the fact that children had feelings of inferiority. This was one of the first people to criticize and challenge Freuds theories. Adlers work with children led him to examine birth order and aggressive behavior in children. Adlers Theory As It Relates To Ted Bundy Adler believed that everyone was born with an inherent sense of inferiority and they tried to get to a place of superiority over time. He said that this motivation was the driving force that controlled peoples thoughts, behaviors and emotions ("Alfred Adler", 2004, p. 1). If an individual goes throughout their life with only minimal success, they may develop an inferiority complex. This can create a self-esteem that says the individual is "less than, hopeless, helpless and unmotivated to strive for the superiority that would make us complete" ("Alfred Adler", 2004, p. 1). Adler looked at parenting styles and saw that parenting styles that were overprotective would cause a child to become unsure of themselves and look to others to make them feel safe. A child that is neglected will grow up to learning to do things for themselves, will have difficulty forming intimate relationships and a strong sense of mistrust with other people ("Alfred Adler," 2004, p. 2). He also believed that the birth order of the child may bring certain issues to the forefront of a childs life. The story of Ted Bundy and the way that Adlers theory fits him is somewhat complicated. He grew up thinking that his "mother" was his "sister." He was abused by his "father" (grandfather) who suggests that he was a neglected child. He was tolerated in the Bundy household though never adopted. It is not know whether the family loved him at all but looking at Adlers theory he was not loved enough. Ted never knew how to associate with people and he was a characteristically an only child: he stayed to himself, he appeared very shy and withdrawn and what one would expect from an abused child. Because he was illegitimate, he was always secreted away in his early years because his "sister" (mother didnt want anyone to know the truth). Ted said he always "had a feeling" about it and this is why he went to find his birth father. A psychiatrist that examined Ted stated that he was "a private person who does not allow himself to become known very intimately by others. When one tries to understand him he becomes evasive…" (Larsen, 1980, p. 158). He goes on to speak about the air of confident and security that Ted showed to the world but said that this was a mask; underneath the mask he showed a latent insecurity. Adler spoke about aggression and said that everyone is born with an "aggressive instinct." Aggression is not something that people talk about and according to Adler "aggressiveness comes from a fragile ego, from an ego that has to fight for its structural power preeminence" (Yuksel-Sokmen, 2007). As a neglected child a child turns to aggression because they are told as a child that they are shown or told as they are being neglected and/or abused that they do not matter. The fragile ego will often tern to delinquency as a way to seek attention(Yuksel-Sokmen, 2007) . Teds ego was fragile and when he found a situation that made him feel inferior he often strove to "get even" to make other people notice that he was an upstanding person. An incidence with Stephanie, the only women he loved is one example. He wooed her for six years after she initially rejected him. Once he finally won her and they became engaged, he dropped her. He did the same thing when he went to law school. The first school he tried to enter rejected him because his LSAT scores were too low. The second time he applied, he wrote a large paper that said "why" they should admit him and once they did, he rejected the opportunity and went to a different school (Rule, p. 46). Adler also created the idea of "fictional finalism" in which an individual describes certain fictions about themselves that are not based in reality. They use these beliefs as a way to deal with the world ("Alfred Adler, 1986, p.1). Ted developed fantasies and absolutes that fit this concept. He believed he would never be caught by the police because he was smarter than they were and knew the law better than the police. In a sense he believed he was invisible because of all his many disguises. In fact, he was able to make small modifications to his appearance to throw the police off his tracks. It is clear that Ted Bundy was clever and that he was a "victim" of the uncertainty he grew up within. He had a lack of self-confirmation so he went out to find it and as Adler points out, he kept a balance between the power that he had for the killings and the need for acceptance by others. References "Alfred Adler in Personality Synopsis." (2004). ALLPSYCH Online. Retrieved April 26, 2009 from http://allpsych.com/personalitysynopsis/adler.html. "Alfred Adler - Family Constellation and Fictions (1986). Retrieved April 29, 2009 from http://www.infinityinst.com/articles/alfred_adler_family.html Boeree, G.C. (2006). Alfred Adler 1870-1937. Retrieved April 23, 2009 from http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/adler.html. Larsen, R.W. (1980). Bundy: The deliberate stranger. NJ: Prentice Hall. Michaud, S.G. and Aynesworth. (2000). Ted Bundy: Conversations with a killer, the death row interviews. Updated Edition. TX: Authorlink Press. Rule, A. (2000). The stranger beside me: Ted Bundy the shocking inside story. Updated 20th Anniversary Edition. NY: Signet. Yuksel-Sokmen, O. (2007). The Balance of Power, Ego & Aggression: Deprivation leads to Delinquency. CUNY, John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Retrieved April 29, 2009 from http://www.kon.org/urc/v7/yuksel-sokmen-3.html Read More