Theresa Knorr Research Paper

Theresa Knorr is an American woman convicted of torturing and murdering two of her children during the early 1980’s and is now serving two consecutive life sentences at the Placer County/Sacramento County jail in California (Murderpedia, n.d.). After a series of marriages, childbirths, and divorces, Theresa Knorr and her children moved into an apartment in Sacramento, California and it was around this time that Knorr began abusing her children (Clarkson, 1995). Over the duration of approximately ten years, Knorr subjected her children to a variety of sexual, physical, and psychological tortures including violent beatings, force feedings, forced prostitution, and verbal attacks (Clarkson, 1995). In 1963 while married to her first husband Clifford …show more content…
Just one year later, Knorr married Robert Knorr and over the next five years, gave birth to Suesan Knorr (1966), Robert Knorr (1967), and finally Terry Knorr (1970) (Lohr, n.d.). Following the termination of her marriage with Robert Knorr, Theresa had many failed relationships and ultimately moved in to an apartment with only her children (Lohr, n.d.). Despite there being no evidence of Knorr abusing her children during their early years, (Clarkson, 1995), her failed marriages and relationships suggest that her abusive and violent personality manifested itself not only on her children during their adolescent years, but on her husbands and partners as well. Knorr’s first husband, Clifford Sanders, reported Knorr to be extremely possessive and accusatory and Robert Knorr left Theresa in 1969 claiming he could no longer handle her allegations and violent outbursts (Lohr, …show more content…
One theory of personality that can explain Knorr’s abnormal behavior is Alfred Adler’s approach of individual psychology as discussed in Theories of Personality by Schultz and Schultz (2013). In this book, Schultz and Schultz (2013), outline a variety of Adler’s theories including feelings of inferiority and superiority, the style of life, fictional finalism, and degree of social interest. Adler stressed the importance of the environment in which one is raised in determining future personality as well as the universality of inferiority feelings present in every human being (Schulz and Schultz, 2013). Feelings of inferiority begin during infancy, according to Adler, and can be a result of organic inferiority; or the desire to overcome disability, spoiling, or neglect (Schultz and Schultz, 2013). As one matures, the feelings of inferiority translate into the desire to overcome these feelings and to strive toward perfection or higher levels of development, a process in which Adler deemed compensation (Schultz and Schultz, 2013). The end goal of compensation represents what Adler called fictional finalism and the methods and patterns of behavior that one adopts to achieve this goal is known as style of life (Schultz and Schultz, 2013). Style of life varies among individuals and Adler argued that