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In psychology, serial killers are people who believe to murder/kill people for the satisfaction of their minds. They also have a psychiatric urge to advertise their murders on media by filming or taking pictures of their victim during and before murder. From childhood we see movies about these horrifying people who kill others for fun and mental satisfaction. It not only creates fear but also creates interest regarding the thinking of serial killers. Factors that make a normal person a serial killer are also quite interesting for psychiatrists all over the world (Larson; NCCM).
There are many researches done on the psychology of serial killers by various researchers all over the world. It is amazing to note that causes of serial killing come forward more often in western societies as compared to eastern societies. There are two main ways to investigate about the psychology and thinking of serial killers. One is to study solved cases by police and experiences of investigating officers. Information provided on the basis of evidence and proper investigation gives a good way to do research on the topic of serial killers or serial killing.
If opportunity is available one should try to meet/interview a serial killer. Thoughts of serial killers regarding sex, objectification and mutilation are important psychiatric points that can be analyzed during interview and whole research (TRUTV; Vaknin). Most of the serial killers think that to kill and to be got killed is one of the basic instincts that a human has. Early found skull of humans had traces of being attacked by some weapon. According to them, if chance available every person would kill someone.
Serial killers are often regarded as people who believe that killing is a part of ritual and considered as objectifiers. Objectifiers are the people who treat other people as their subjects, most of the rulers, leaders political or military are often regarded as people that have fallen in the category of objectifiers (Vaknin). Difference between simple murders and serial killers can be explained by a known fact. A simple murderer kills due to some needs like sex, property, conflict that exists between him/her and other people.
On the other hand the people called as serial killers are driven by continuous urge that is present in them from birth. Eric Hicky concluded in his research that about forty eight percent of the serial killers available to him as subjects were refused by their parents as children. Most of the serial killers live in their own world of fantasy considering themselves as ruler or dominant figure in their own created world. They try to bring these dreams into reality and to attain that level of satisfaction they have in their dream they kill other people.
It is amazing to note that most of the people that are considered as serial killers were victim of sexual abuse and rejection at some time of their age. This abuse and rejection lead them to the thinking of killing of other people. Majority of serial killers are males and their victims are females. These types of serial killers try to overcome their sexual weakness through this dreadful action. Serial killing is a rising crime in western world (Macalester; Vaknin). Proper focus on the psychiatric development of minds of children will improve the situation greatly in my opinion.
References:Larson. "Serial Murderers: The Construction." Untitled Document. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.Macalester. "mindhome.html." Macalester College: Private Liberal Arts College. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.NCCM. "Serial Killers: Nature vs. Nurture." National Center for Crisis Management. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.TRUTV. "Stories About Serial Killers and Related Investigations from the Crime Library on truTV.com." truTV. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.Vaknin. "Object Relations - The Psychology of Serial and Mass Killers.
" Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD), Self-love, Narcissism, Narcissists, Psychopaths, and Relationships with Abusers, Stalkers, and Bullies - Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Re-Visited. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.
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