Introduction
Crimes have existed for ages. Human beings have been known to be selfish and hedonistic hence wanting to satisfy their selfish interests without considering the implication of the outcome upon other people. In addition, research has pointed out that such socially unacceptable behaviour always remains consistent within the individual who commits them. To have an explanation of this, psychologists purport that the persistence of the tendencies that make an individual to behave in a given way under a given situation lead to the consistence of the unacceptable behaviour over time. These factors referred to as tendencies can also be referred to as personality traits.
This approach to human behaviour has been used by several scholars to explain crime and criminal behaviour (Jrank par. 1). Among the greatest contributors to the theory of crime to explain crime and criminal tendencies was Hans Eysenck in his personality theory. Accordingly, this paper will analyse Eysenck’s suppositions and apply them on Ted Bundy, one of the most notorious serial killers in America.
Ted Bundy
To begin with, it is important to understand who Ted was and what he did during his lifetime. Born Theodore Robert Cowell, Ted Bundy was born in November 1946 as son to Louise Cowell and an unidentified father. Although his mother has tried to give an explanation that he was son to a Worthington who was a war veteran, it has always been suspected that the father to Ted was Louise’s father called Samuel Cowell. Samuel was an abusive father who brought up Ted as his own son. Ted never realised that Samuel was his grandfather and that Louise was his real mother and not sister until he was way in high school.
As person, Ted was an introvert and shy person who kept to himself. Despite this, he was a bright student who studied Oriental studies at the University of Washington before taking up studies in Law at the University of Puget Sound (Chua-Eoan par 5).
As a criminal, Ted is estimated to have killed about 35 people by bludgeoning and raping them. He confessed most of these murders before he was sentenced to death by a Florida court in 1989. During his trials, he acted as a self defence lawyer and even questioned witnesses (Chua-Eoan par 5).
Eysenck’s Personality Theory
With such a high number of murders, one could try to understand what the driving force that led him to engage in such inhuman and consistent activities was. While several interviews were conducted with Bundy so that a clear picture could be drawn, most of the interviewers hit a dead end due to Bundy’s uncooperative nature. However, his reasons for engaging in such activities could be ascertained through the application of theories of crime. In this occasion, Hans Eysenck’s personality theory will be used.
In his argument, Eysenck purports that criminal acts are natural occurrences and hence results of a human being’s nature of being hedonistic, pleasure loving and hater of pain. In his argument, he points out that people who engage in such activities as violence, stealing, vandalism, shoplifting, et cetera usually derive a form of pleasure from these acts. Human beings being creatures who seek to satisfy the self had to have a restraining factor and this brought in the role of conscience. According to Eysenck, it was the conscience that acted as an opposing force which controls the natural human tendency of pleasure seeking and other hedonistic desires. Accordingly, the strength of conscience as related to the human nature usually results into a person’s character (Scott 1).
Eysenck further argues that those people who commit crimes have a relatively weaker conscience resulting from poor conditionality. On its part, poor conditionality is a result of other personality traits within the individual. These traits are Extraversion/introversion, psychoticism and neuroticism. All these contribute into the development of one’s conditionality which is an important factor in determining the strength of conscience in relation to the control of the human nature. In his argument, low levels of cortical arousal lead to poor development of conditioned responses in the case of individuals high on Extraversion.
For those high on neuroticism, the level of resting of their anxiety impedes on their conditioning hence interfering with their development. He further points out that neuroticism is a force that tries to reinforce an individual’s behavioural tendencies. This therefore shows that neuroticism would lead one into criminal activities. Finally, he points out that individuals portraying psychoticism tendencies are likely to be criminals. The qualities of the psychotic tendencies include coldness in emotions, great deal of hostility, low empathy and inhumanity (Jrank par. 3).
In his argument, Eysenck points out that extrovert are sociable people, who have many friends and are always ready to party. Extraverts prefer staying with people to staying alone. Most of their actions are impulsive. On the other hand, introverts are loners who prefer the company of books to people. They are quiet people who enjoy mostly the company of themselves and are satisfied with this. Unlike extraverts, introverts have few friends but the relationship to these friends is quite strong. Neuroticism can also be referred to as instability. It involves anxiousness, low self esteem, depression, tenseness, and feeling of guilt and mood swings. Finally, people with psychoticism as mentioned above tend to be aggressive, egocentric, antisocial, cold, impersonal, creative, impulsive, tough minded and with low empathy (Scott 1).
Bundy vs the Theory
Based on Eysenck’s arguments concerning crime, it is true to argue that Ted was a person who exhibited characters of psychoticism. As he points out, individuals with psychoticism tend to be antisocial. This is a character clearly brought out by Ted. From his childhood life to the University and later into adulthood, Ted had been an introvert and exhibited shyness (Rule 24). In her book, The Stranger Beside Me, Anne who was a personal friend of Ted confirms this character. Ted was an aggressive person. This is characterised by his aggressive behaviour on all the people he murdered. Literature points out that he bludgeoned raped and strangled his victims. These are evidences of a cold and an inhuman person. Clear indications as argued by Eysenck. He pointed out that psychoticism was characterised by such behaviour.
Further evidence that frames Ted within the framework of Eysenck is the fact that he was creative. This is evidenced from the way he lured his victims whom he later murdered coldly. According to Rule, Ted usually coined a story that made him look like he needed assistance. He would then throw his victims in the car and handcuff them. According to eye witnesses that later testified against him, Ted had a hand in a sling or a casting on his led or used crutches.
This made his victims believe that he really needed their help. In addition, Ted escaped from jail twice and even managed to walk past people who were searching for him on the Aspen Mountain. He easily devised plans through which he used to escape from jail. These are characteristics of a creative person. Ted also used his own creative means to ensure that he extended time before he was put on the electric chair. His plans worked until January 1989 when he was executed.
Later, attempts to interview Ted had resulted into nothing as he portrayed behaviours of impersonal attitudes and tough mindedness. All attempts to extract information from him failed.
Conclusively, the life of Bundy acts as a justification of Eysenck’s arguments about crime.
Works cited
Chua-Eoan, Howard. “The Top 25 Crimes of the Century.” Psoriasis Circle. 2009. Web.
Jrank encyclopaedia. “Crime Causation: Psychological Theories – Individual Influences.” 2009. Web.
Rule, Anne. The Stranger Beside Me. 2000. New York: Norton & Company Scott, Carlton. “Hans Eysenck’s Theories of Criminal Behaviour.” Helium. Web.
Sullivan, Kevin. The Bundy Murders: A Comprehensive History. 2009. Washington DC: McFarland and Company.