Murder
What on earth could cause a human to take the life of another human? In his lecture "Exploring the Mind of a Killer," Jim Fallon explains the neurological reason that causes people to become murderers. Many people are appalled by the capacity someone has to take the life of another, such as when the Clutter murders occurred in Holcomb. Not many people understand the mind of a killer and this can lead to the makings of more killers.
Jim Fallon states that the making of a psychopathic killer can be linked to the person's genes, environment, and their free will. What Jim Fallon means by psychopathic killers are people like John Gacy, Jeffery Dahmer, and Aileen Wuornos. Every killer's brain that Jim Fallon examined had damage to the orbital cortex, right above the eye, and the anterior temporal cortex. Every single killer had this brain damage and sometimes other kinds of brain damage. He also examined the MAOA gene, a gene that is in the normal population, but one that killers tend to have a variation of. This gene is only passed down from the X chromosome, meaning it is only inherited from the mother. This makes sense as to why males are typically killers due to their XX chromosomes. These people tend to become insensitive to serotonin and in result find it difficult to calm down. These killers are also formed by the environment. Before puberty, children must be exposed to something extremely traumatic. Such as in the Middle East where firefights between soldiers of America and ISIS happen. A place where dead bodies are the normality of the place. Something this traumatic is enough to set an already damaged brain on the fast track to becoming a cold blooded murderer. Jim Fallon explains that in the areas of constant violence we see that there are generations now of violent and damaged people. Eventually, the genes get concentrated and both girls and boys wind up having this tinderbox of a brain. The mind of a killer is something complex and baffling. Many people think that to murder one needs a motive. While it is true that some have motives, they all have these contributing factors. As humans, the act of taking another one of our people's lives is revolting, even if in self defense. When people who kill multiple times without remorse send warning lights on in our heads. Something must be more wrong than just simply being crossed. It is quite complex and involves their neurological process making the mind of a killer an interesting one. |
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