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Nature vs. Nurture is a well-known theory used by many psychologists when studying all kinds of individuals. This theory explains how a person's development is inclined by their own DNA or from environment and life experiences. This is an important part of understanding what makes one become a psychopath. This theory guides psychologists in certain directions in order to try to find where being a psychopath stems from. 

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On the other end, the attachment theory plays a major role in the study of psychopathy. In lameness terms, the attachment theory states that when an individual grows up with affectionate and supporting parents, they typically develop “pro-social attitudes." These attitudes are the type to be praised in social settings because they are capable of performing positive mannerisms and understanding social cues. Whereas, through this theory, individuals whom do not grow up in a healthy household with highly involved, caring parents tend to have difficulty following the rules of society and knowing how to act in social settings. Therefore, this is directly correlated with some of the known characteristics of psychopaths, such as poor behavior control and the inability to hold long-term relationships.

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I feel it is important to bring you back to my previous examples; Beth Thomas and Ted Bundy. Thomas' story follows direction of the attachment theory due to how she was raised within the first six years of her life; such as being sexually and physically abused by her father and being abandoned by her mother. Attached below is a video documentary of Thomas and as you can see, she does not show any remorse for the harmful actions she has performed and lacks empathy for the pain she inflicted upon her brother in particular. The man interviewing her, Psychologist Ken Magid, stated that her behavior through the few times he spoke with her made him believe that her psychopathic tendencies stemmed directly from the abuse she endured as a child.

 

However, on the other side of the spectrum is Ted Bundy. Bundy was raised by a loving family and proved to also be very intelligent in school. However, his family took concern to his interest in knives and difficulty being accepted by his peers. These two red flags showed to be a continuing problem and may have even been the deriving factor for what made him find interest in killing. Bundy was very manipulative and often used this to trick his victims into coming with him and thus, determining their death sentence. Even after being convicted for two crimes by evidence, Bundy refused to plead guilty because like many psychopaths, he had a hard time taking responsibility for his actions. Below is a quick video of Ted Bundy's story.

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