Norman Bates Psychological Analysis

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A popular TV show Bates Motel features the story of a young boy named Norman Bates, a fictional character created by Robert Bloch. NPR describes Norman Bates as one of the first psychotic killers, even before Freddy Krueger (P.Breslow). The TV show is a sequel to the popular novel Psycho, both television show and novel characters were inspired by famous Wisconsin murderer Ed Gein as they portray similar characteristics and psychological problems as this killer. The popular show really puts in detail and helps explain how Norman suffered severe emotional abuse as a young boy from both parents. The main culprit of this abuse though was his beloved mother, Norma. His mother was constantly preaching to him that sexual intercourse was wrong and …show more content…
Norman was a child dependent of his Mother, Norma. She was an extremely possessive mother who brainwashed her son to think that nobody else in the world existed or mattered. When she began seeing another man, after her husband passed away, Norman became incredibly jealous of their relationship and killed both of them. After he killed both of them be began to develop dissociative identity disorder, by assuming his mothers personality to erase his awareness of her murder and to forget the feelings of absolute guilt for murdering her. As you look at Normans severe psychological disorder you can see that it is quite complex. Starting from a young age he was emotionally abused by his mother and then later in life killed her out of horrible jealously and rage. As we look through the different models of abnormality we can really narrow down the culprit to where his disease began, and how each model would describe this psychological problem. The Behavioral Model believes that a person’s thoughts and feelings are the absolute result of biochemical and bioelectrical processes throughout the brain and body (Comer, PG 35). This model believes that Norman’s thoughts, emotions, and behavior are in direct correlation with his biological basis, therefore an abnormal disease would be best treated in a biological …show more content…
The psychodynamic model would suggest that Norman’s abnormal behavior would be determined by underlying psychological forces that Norman would not be aware of. Psychodynamic theorists would look at Normans past experiences. They analyze these experiences and traumatic events and tie them into the present. These theorists believe that these experiences are in direct correlation to his behavior. This would make absolute sense in Norman’s case. The traumatic experience starting with his father passing away unexpectedly and soon after his mother brainwashing his thoughts and isolating him from his surroundings, this would absolutely explain the reasoning behind Norman’s behavioral issues. The third model would be the Behavioral Model, the book states that this model is very similar to what the psychodynamic model suggests. I believe that they go hand in hand, with both of them believing that your personality and abnormal behaviors are largely affected by our experiences in life. However regardless of how similar they are, the behavioral model also believes that a big part of our behavior has to do with environmental factors as

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