That's like having a memorial for Mohammad Atta.
I feel a smidge of compassion for Dylan Klebold but ZERO for Eric Harris.
The boy was a psychopath who would have likely gone on to kill many innocent people anyways.
And unlike some on this thread, I am not so sanguine about the effects of "loving parenting" on potential or born-psychopaths.
The idea probably frightens many people that psychopaths are born, or at least develop at a time when blame cannot be put on the parents. Their particular fantasies and conduct may, though not always, reflect their upbringing, but they will always be psychopaths.
ANTISOCIAL PERSONALITY DISORDER seems to be the preferred term currently, according to the text I last taught from:
You wrote:The idea probably frightens many people that psychopaths are born, or at least develop at a time when blame cannot be put on the parents. Their particular fantasies and conduct may, though not always, reflect their upbringing, but they will always be psychopaths.
I'm not at all sure that the current level of research would be near so adamant on that score.
INVITATION TO PSYCHOLOGY 2nd Ed Carole Wade, Carol Tavris
pp347, 348, 349:
"Throughout history, societies have recognized and feared the few members in their midst who lack all human connection to anyone else--who can cheat, con, and kill without flinching. In the 1830s these individuals were said to be afflicted with "moral insanity," and in the twentieth century they came to be called "psychopaths" or "sociopaths." The DSM, trying to avoid such emotionally charged terms, refers to antisocial personality disorder (APD). By any name, this condition is fascinating and frightening because of the great harm these people inflict on their victims and on society. "
"According to the DSM, people diagnosed with APD must meet at least three of seven criteria: (1) They repeatedly break the law; (2) they are deceitful, using aliases and lies to con others; (3) they are impulsive and unable to plan ahead; (4) they repeatedly get into physical fights or assaults; (5) they show reckless disregard for their own safety or that of others; (6) they are constantly irresponsible, failing to meet obligations to others; and (7) they lack remorse for their actions that harm others."
"Lacking conscience and remorse, people with APD can lie, seduce, and manipulate others and then drop them without a qualm. They can steal your heart and your wallet in a minute. If caught in a lie or a crime, they may seem sincerely sorry and promise to make amends, but it is all an act. Some are sadistic, able to kill a pet, a child or a random adult without a twinge of regret. Others direct their energies into con games or career advancement, abusing other people emotionally or economically rather than physically (Robins, Tipp, & Przybeck, 1991)."
Antisocial personality disorder occurs in only about 3 percent of all males and less than 1 percent of all females. Yet people with APD may account for more than half of all serious crimes committed in the United States (Hare, 1993). Terrie MOffitt (1993), who observed the development of APD over time, reported that remorselessness and lawbreaking start early and take different forms at different ages: "Biting and hitting at age 4, shoplifting and truancy at age 10, selling drugs and stealing cars at age 16, robbery and rape at age 22, and fraud and child abuse at age 30 . . . [people with APD] lie at home, seal from shops, cheat at school, fight in bars, and embezzle at work."
"Researchers studying APD, like those studying other mental disorders, are investigating possible biological and social factors that contribute to antisocial personalities.
. . .
1 Abnormalities in the central nervous system Antisocial individuals do not respond physiologically to punishments the way other people do; this may be why they can behave fearlessly in situations that would scare others to death. Normally, when a person is anticipating danger, pain, or punishment, the electrical conductance of the skin changes, a classically conditioned response that indicates anxiety or fear. But people with APD are slow to develop such responses, which suggests that they are unable to feel the anxiety necessary for learning that their actions will have unpleasant consequences (see Figure 10.3) [not included for this post]. Their inability to feel emotional arousal--empathy, guilt, fear of punishment, anxiety under stress--suggests some abnormality in the brain and central nervous system (Hare, 1965, 1993; Lykken, 1995; Raine, 1996).
. . . "2 Problems with impulse control. People who are antisocial, hyperactive, addicted, or impulsive may share a common inherited disorder involving an inability to control responses to frustration and provocation (Luengo et al., 1994; Raine, 1996). The biological children of parents with antisocial personality disorder, substance-abuse problems or impulsivity disorders are at greater than normal risk of developing these disorders themselves, even when these children are reared by others (Nigg & Goldsmith, 1994).
3 Brain abnormalities. Psychopaths show abnormalities in left-hemisphere activation when they are processing information, a fact that apepars to be related to their impaired ability to regulate their behavior (Bernstein et al., 2000). Damage to the prefrontal cortex may also be implicated in some cases of APD. One PET-scan study found that cold-blooded "predatory" murderers had less brain activity in this area than did men who murdered in the heat of passion or controls who hadn't murdered anybody (Raine et al, 1998). These brain abnormalities may result from genes, birth complications, or physical abuse and neglect. High percentages of violent teenagers--those who have been arrested for vicious assault, rape, or murder, in contrast to those who just get into fistfights or normal teenage trouble--have a history of physical neglect, battering, and head injury (Lewis, 1981, 1992; Milner & McCanne, 1991; Moffitt, 1993).
4 Vulnerability-stress explanations. Brain damage or genetic predispositions alone are rarely enough to create a violent or antisocial individual. But according to the vulnerability-stress model of APD, when biological vulnerability is combined with physical abuse, parental neglect, lack of love and contact comfort, environmental stresses and a larger culture that rewards ruthlessness and hard-heartedness, individuals are far more likely to develop the disorder. [Qx emphasis]
"For example, a study of more than 4,000 boys, followed from birth to age 18, found that many of those who became violent offenders had experienced two risk factors: birth complications that caused damage to the prefrontal cortex, and early maternal rejection. Their mothers had not wanted the pregnancy, and the babies were put in institutional care for at least four months during their first year. Although only 4.4 percent of the boys had both risk factors, these boys accounted for 18 percent of all violent crimes committed by the sample as a whole (Raine, Brenan, & Mednick, 1994)."
"It seem, then, that several routes lead to the development of antisocial personality disorder: neurological abnormalities; a genetic disposition toward impulsivity, which leads to rule breaking and crime; brain damage, parental neglect or rejection; and a cultural environment that rewards and fosters antisocial traits. These multiple origins may explain why rates of antisocial personality disorder vary across societies and history." [end of text excerpts.
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Qx comment:
I don't think anyone has mentioned another aspect which I have observed to usually bear a significant portion of the etiology. The Bible says the sins of the fathers can be visited upon the sons to the 3rd and 4th generation afterward. This could be by demonic oppression or possession following down through the generations. Certainly Antisocial Personality Disordered people are quite in step with satan's work of stealing, destroying and killing.
Usually extended group prayer and fasting and deliverance is necessary in many such cases.
Then, another route of being handed down through the generations is the habits, stinkin thinkin, stupid actions etc. that parents pass down to their children.
I guess I've personally not ran across any APD people who were so strictly on genetic or brain damaged causes.
Certainly I've seen more than I'd liked to have seen of those triggered by parental neglect, lack of love and lack of contact comfort/affection.
The studies of learned helplessness come to mind. The way one triggers learned helplessness/hopelessness in a dog, is to teach the dog to turn left, say, for a food pellet. Then teach him to turn right. All the while shocking it for contrary moves.
Then after several iterations of different behaviors, begin to shock it irregularly no matter what it does. Eventually, the animal will feel damned if he does and damned if he doesn't and will cower in the corner. In my experience APD's have been THAT frustrated and often from similarly destructive negative double binds from one or more parent--but they have a very different response than cowering in the corner.
Anyway--I think APDS are a very special case. And a lot of children not quite as horribly mangled as APD's can be also almost as challenging to rear well. I don't make a lot of heavy pronouncements about super tough cases.
I do say, I've seen a lot of super tough cases where parents paid incredible prices to help the kids to very good results. And other parents didn't to horrible results.