Arrigo (2001, n.p.) defined psychopaths as “an elusive and perplexing psychological construct”, which across history has experienced several degrees of social condemnation. Similarly, the public’s perception of a psychopath, such as Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer, is someone who has committed such horrific violent crimes as a serial and mass murder. As explained previously, a psychopath does not need to express violent tendencies to have developed a lack of emotional attachment, which many have viewed as central and critical to psychopathy (Edens, Skeem & Kennealy 2009).
Psychopathic individuals walk amongst society everyday – the negative traits that have helped distinguish a psychopath from a normal individual are also seen as positive traits …show more content…
Firstly, society’s intake of news and information is largely fed from media resources, predominantly the Internet, television and radio. Through this media lens, individuals are expected to believe the information that comes across these sources as true and reliable. In the context of psychopathy, film industries in particular characterise psychopaths as individuals who display a psychotic and crazy look, act in an unordinary manner that is either unsocial or show violent streaks and is often due to the result of an abusive childhood. This affects the perception of a psychopath and fixes a particular belief about them, when as mentioned previously, not all psychopaths are successful in terms of being a vehement killer. Secondly, stigmatising a label on a psychopath can have the opposite effect. Instead of determining who is a psychopath, the label can act as a trigger to individuals with psychopathic differences in their brains. As such, differences and similarities exist and crossover from what is society knows and depicts psychopaths to be like compared to the traits of a real murderous …show more content…
Studies have been designed to monitor periods of when particular areas of the brain undergo developmental vulnerability in order to determine the best time to introduce changes in the environment to lessen the genetic risk of developing antisocial behaviour. Children who show behavioural problems at an earlier stage in life are at a greater risk for persistent antisocial behaviour into adulthood, potentially developing violent tendencies. The use of identical twins allows for the opportunity to provide information on separate environmental influences on the brain and cognitive function, which are crucial for the development of antisocial behaviour. The benefit of using identical twins also allows for the chance to monitor individuals with the same degree of genetic risk, but different levels of environmental risk. This change in condition would provide scans of the brain at the significant developmental stages to document developmental processes, cognitive functioning and the emergence
Psychopathic individuals walk amongst society everyday – the negative traits that have helped distinguish a psychopath from a normal individual are also seen as positive traits …show more content…
Firstly, society’s intake of news and information is largely fed from media resources, predominantly the Internet, television and radio. Through this media lens, individuals are expected to believe the information that comes across these sources as true and reliable. In the context of psychopathy, film industries in particular characterise psychopaths as individuals who display a psychotic and crazy look, act in an unordinary manner that is either unsocial or show violent streaks and is often due to the result of an abusive childhood. This affects the perception of a psychopath and fixes a particular belief about them, when as mentioned previously, not all psychopaths are successful in terms of being a vehement killer. Secondly, stigmatising a label on a psychopath can have the opposite effect. Instead of determining who is a psychopath, the label can act as a trigger to individuals with psychopathic differences in their brains. As such, differences and similarities exist and crossover from what is society knows and depicts psychopaths to be like compared to the traits of a real murderous …show more content…
Studies have been designed to monitor periods of when particular areas of the brain undergo developmental vulnerability in order to determine the best time to introduce changes in the environment to lessen the genetic risk of developing antisocial behaviour. Children who show behavioural problems at an earlier stage in life are at a greater risk for persistent antisocial behaviour into adulthood, potentially developing violent tendencies. The use of identical twins allows for the opportunity to provide information on separate environmental influences on the brain and cognitive function, which are crucial for the development of antisocial behaviour. The benefit of using identical twins also allows for the chance to monitor individuals with the same degree of genetic risk, but different levels of environmental risk. This change in condition would provide scans of the brain at the significant developmental stages to document developmental processes, cognitive functioning and the emergence