Columbine, By Dave Cullen

“Psychopathy is a personality disorder characterized by an inability to form human attachment, aggressive narcissism, and antisocial behavior defined by a constellation of affective, interpersonal and behavioral characteristics, most of which society views as pejorative” [1]. Some of these characteristics include irresponsibility, grandiosity, cunning, deceitfulness, selective impulsivity, sexual promiscuity, lack of empathy, etc. People who are psychopathic display not only antisocial behavior but also emotional impairment such as the lack of guilt. They are able to prey on others using their charm, deceit, violence or any other methods that allow them to get what they want. A strong feature of most of the behavior

A child psychologist Peter Langman wrote Eric’s personality matched the typical shooter profile today. He is now diagnoses as, “a psychopath—rage-filled, egotistical, lacking conscience “. (Associated Press, 2009) However, “The biggest eye-opener was the extent to which Dylan Klebold really was mentally disturbed. That was not in the literature, not in the media accounts. To realize that, you had to see his journal,” says Langman. (Associated Press,

On April 20, 1999 every American life was changed forever as the news broke of what would come to be known as the Columbine High School Massacre. Immediately reporters and psychologists alike began to ask the question; why? What could cause Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, eighteen and seventeen respectively, to go off the deep end and commit one of the worst mass shootings in history? Both seniors had less than two months left in their high school career, why would they choose to commit this crime instead of graduating, moving on with their lives, and leaving their classmates to do the same? Although there were two clear killers at Columbine what many people don’t know is the theory that Eric Harris was the true mastermind behind the plan. “To understand Columbine, we have to understand Eric Harris, “(Langman, 2009). Many people who knew the boys say that Dylan Klebold was a follower of Eric Harris and that he would have never constructed a plan like this on his own (“Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold The killers of 13 students and a teacher at Columbine High School – Littleton, Colorado”). Regardless of whether Dylan followed Eric or if he had his own reasons for murder, it is clear that Eric was the one with deep rooted psychological issues. However this makes Dylan Klebold harder to understand, was he a follower or just good at hiding his emotional turmoil? Why did Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold commit one of the most well-known school shootings and what effect has it had

The phrase ‘serial killer’ might as well be a synonym for evil. Even the mention of names like Jeffrey Dahmer and Ted Bundy can induce chills down one’s back. People like these two show no remorse for planning out and executing multiple murders for reasons as simple as personal satisfaction. However, an unseen force other than Evil works on the minds of people like Jeffrey Dahmer: Mental Illness. The brain holds immense potential, but it’s dark side

In the documentary “BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE”, Michael Moore uses the South Park cartoon “A brief history of the United States” to momentarily illustrate how fear has driven the history of the United States. The narrator of the film is a bullet cartoon character and he explains how the Pilgrims were afraid of being persecuted and sailed to the New World. When they arrived in the New World they encountered Natives and were again afraid of them so they killed them all. After the Pilgrims killed all the Natives, they got afraid of each other, burned witches, and killed the British in the Revolutionary war, but they were still afraid. The Pilgrims then created the 2nd Amendment, giving every white man the ability to keep their guns.

It's believed they are born with a psychological defect where the impulse control and emotion part of the brain is underdeveloped. Early in childhood they begin showing signs such a theft, cheating, vandalism, bullying, and even setting fires. They have psychological brain differences. They have a hard time forming real emotional connections with others. They make artificial relationships that they use to benefit themselves. They also refuse to believe that anything is there fault. Someone else is always the cause of something never them. Their image of themselves is very high. They refuse to take on responsibility so they are very dependent on others because they’re not motivated enough to do it themself. When committing crimes they think their decisions through and don't act so impulsively. An infamous psychopath is Jeffrey Dahmer. He was found to have human remains of the victims he murdered in his house. He raped them stored them in acid and sometimes would even eat the flesh and organs of his

This author uses the definition provided by the Oxford Dictionaries Online for psychopath: a person suffering from a chronic mental condition with abnormal or violent social behavior. This author has chosen to use the criteria provided by Dr. Hervey M. Cleckley, an American psychiatrist and pioneer in the field of psychopathy. His book, The Mask of Sanity published in 1941, details his research into the realm of psychopathy, his assertion that psychopaths are capable of providing a charming and benevolent face to the world while hiding a mental disorder, and the criteria by which he (Hervey) determines the psychopathy. Cleckley’s book became a seminal work on the subject, and his criterion is still used today. Cleckley’s list includes: Superficial charm and good intelligence; Absence of delusions and other signs of irrational thinking; Absence of nervousness or psychoneurotic manifestations; Unreliability; Untruthfulness and insincerity; Lack of remorse and shame; Inadequately motivated antisocial behavior; Poor judgment and failure to learn by experience; Pathologic egocentricity

Michael Moore suggests that the Unites States has a high level of gun homicide due to the “culture of fear.” In class, we discussed another factor of the high level of gun violence was due to the high rates of racism in the United States. I believe Michael Moore presented a good argument because crime rates have been decreasing each year. In the film, Bowling for Columbine, Moore explains that mainstream news network has increase the report of crimes about six hundred percent. Moore compares two countries, the United States and Canada to dismissed the hypothesis that the more citizens of a country own guns the higher the gun homicide. He uses the gun ownership in Canada as a control variable. He is comparing to control his results. He uses

A psychopath does not view a human being as anything other than an object that they can use to get what they want. They do not have any empathy or sympathy,

The most prevalent deficiency psychopaths are diagnosed with is lack of empathy. Non- violent psychopaths in particular are master manipulators when it comes to getting something they want by not caring about who they climb over or put down. There are two types of empathy, cognitive (which is knowing what other people are feeling) and emotional empathy (which is when you are able to feel what the other person is feeling). Psychopaths may know what a person is feeling but don’t feel it themselves. So these CEO’s, executives and business leaders can understand what

Columbine by Dave Cullen tells the events that unfolded on April 20th, 1999. That day, two boys, self-proclaimed rebels, armed themselves and proceeded to murder the same students they had walked the halls with for four years. As the stories of Dylan, Eric, and the victims of this tragic day came to light, many falsehoods also arose. Unfortunately, the myths and truths about Columbine still linger with us today. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold left a lasting impression on the world; but left behind the truth as to why they really did it. This leaves us to wonder what really happened on that fateful day.

When most people hear the word psychopath their mind forms a picture of a wild-eyed, rambling, lunatic who is often restrained in a straitjacket. The media has helped this belief along the way with slasher horror films and grisly CSI episodes depict these strange humans. However, the average psychopath is much harder to spot than most people believe. In fact, most of them are extremely difficult to distinguish from ordinary humans. They outwardly appear normal and many do not find it difficult to blend into common society. They can interact with others, hold successful jobs, and effectively keep themselves out of trouble. Most are not the sadistic killers many people think they are. Psychopaths are people born with problems (Bartol 105) or

It is important for researchers and law enforcement to try to understand the source and causes for a serial killers anti-social and psychopathic inclination are living amongst us (FBI, 2005). Fromm’s work (as cited in Palermo and Bogaerts, 2014) explains that psychological or psychiatric labels attempt to explain socially and morally unacceptable behavior as a way to confine

Psychopathy is a disease of the mind, in which the psychological state of someone has emotional or behavioral problems serious enough to require psychiatric evaluation. Psychopaths have no concern for the feelings of others and a complete disregard of any sense of social obligation. Psychopaths are characterized by lack of empathy, poor impulse control and manipulative behaviors. They use charm, manipulation, intimidation, and the use of severe to mild violence to satisfy their own needs.

Serial killers often commit murder for some sort of psychological benefit. As research continues in the studying of the brain of serial killers, it is safe to say that they (serial killers) have some form of brain abnormalities. Biologically speaking, Neuroscientists have discovered that a psychopath’s brain has a noticeably thinner tissue in the subcortical areas. If this tissue is damaged, or even possibly underdeveloped, then that person may have a decreased ability to process feelings or even link emotional value to certain experiences. This explains a great deal about a psychopath’s behaviour and why they have difficulty feeling different emotions. With regards to psychopaths, a weak paralimbic system leads to the weakening of their ego