The term psychopath was established in the 1800’s to signify a personality disorder which is characterised by anti-social behaviour, lack of empathy, care and bold behaviour. Throughout history the world has witnessed a countless amount of horrifying psychopaths, but the infamous Edward Theodore Gein was a perplexing psychopath who was known for his unorthodox crimes. His real-life cases has influenced media and the creation of several fictional characters like Leather Face from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Norman Bates from Psycho. Edward Theodore Gein better known as “Ed Gein” was an American murderer, psychopath and body snatcher famous for his sick crimes of carving out people’s faces, collection of human skulls and remains, including
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Geins behaviours can be explained from the perspective of nurture using Erik Erikson’s and Sigmund Freud’s theories of personality and behaviour development. Erik Erikson’s theory of development brings insight into Ed Geins life and how having no relationships has affected his life. This theory of development is a successive one, meaning failure to complete one stage could potentially affect the person mentally. Edward Gein was Isolated his entire life and never had any relationships; therefore he was stuck in the stage of Intimacy vs isolation. When Ed Gein mother died “Eddie had lost his only friend and one true love. And he was absolutely alone in the world having never enjoyed the company of the opposite sex, he would quench his lust by visiting graves at night” (Blanco, 2013). Since Edward never really had any relationships other than his mother’s during his life it affected him in a way that drove him into doing whatever he wanted when his mother died. After Ed Gein’s one and only real relationship ended he was all alone and did not make any friends. He was stuck in the stage of intimacy vs isolation as he was unable any to make any long-term commitments to others. He was unable to have relationships and if people cannot form these intimate relationships then it is believed that a sense of isolation may result. That is exactly what happened to Ed Gein after his mother died, he became isolated and boarded up his mother’s house. Ed Gen then decided to live there where he had no outside interaction; this is then where he began reading about Nazis, South Sea head-hunters and shipwrecks. This can be seen as a stage in his life where he was stuck in due to his mother brainwashing him into believing the only relationship he needed was hers. Furthermore, another great theory that can used to explain
Geins behaviours can be explained from the perspective of nurture using Erik Erikson’s and Sigmund Freud’s theories of personality and behaviour development. Erik Erikson’s theory of development brings insight into Ed Geins life and how having no relationships has affected his life. This theory of development is a successive one, meaning failure to complete one stage could potentially affect the person mentally. Edward Gein was Isolated his entire life and never had any relationships; therefore he was stuck in the stage of Intimacy vs isolation. When Ed Gein mother died “Eddie had lost his only friend and one true love. And he was absolutely alone in the world having never enjoyed the company of the opposite sex, he would quench his lust by visiting graves at night” (Blanco, 2013). Since Edward never really had any relationships other than his mother’s during his life it affected him in a way that drove him into doing whatever he wanted when his mother died. After Ed Gein’s one and only real relationship ended he was all alone and did not make any friends. He was stuck in the stage of intimacy vs isolation as he was unable any to make any long-term commitments to others. He was unable to have relationships and if people cannot form these intimate relationships then it is believed that a sense of isolation may result. That is exactly what happened to Ed Gein after his mother died, he became isolated and boarded up his mother’s house. Ed Gen then decided to live there where he had no outside interaction; this is then where he began reading about Nazis, South Sea head-hunters and shipwrecks. This can be seen as a stage in his life where he was stuck in due to his mother brainwashing him into believing the only relationship he needed was hers. Furthermore, another great theory that can used to explain