Ted Buddy was a serial killer who confessed to having killed at least thirty women within just five years. In most of his life, Buddy was caught up in a series of traffic violations among other crimes ( Keppel, 2010 ). The last few crimes he committed were after he had escaped during his trials in other murder cases. He was born to an unwed mother thus growing up without any positive role model as a father. He was an intelligent, handsome and charming man who had graduated from a college and got admission to the law school. Upon breakup with his fiancé, a coincidence occurred in which the disappearance of many young women was reported. He later admitted to having killed the women. An investigation has also shown that he had murdered thirty women between 1974 and 1978. Taking advantage of his handsome and charming appearance, Bundy would lure and transport the young women to isolated places where he would then kill them.
To the shock of many, including his friends, Bundy was a charming, intelligent man and always displayed good behaviors in public. He was a role model for a child every parent would like to have. He had however kept secret his persona for years, fooling everyone in public but showing keeping the evil mind inside. Based on his intelligent mind, he became a master predator, planning his killings like that of military action. Bundy has gone down in the books of history as one of the most infamous and intelligent serial killers. Despite many years after he was killed in an electric chair, many still hold him as a celebrity and a poster boy for the vast murder he committed. While being sentenced to death by judge Edward Cowart, he said, “It is a total waste of humanity that I have experienced in this court. You are a bright young man. You’d have made a good lawyer. I’d have loved to have had you practice in front of me. But you went another way, pardner.”
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Interview Strategy
The interview is based on the psychological analysis of Ted Bundy, the serial killer who murdered over thirty women in the United States. The interviewer is Bob Woodward, an American journalist and undoubtedly one of the most celebrated journalists in the American journalism. The interview takes place at Bob Woodward’s office, a quiet environment with only the interviewer and the interviewee. This is to enhance open communication and avoid any distractions such as noise which could interfere with the whole process. Here, the interaction between the interviewer and the interviewee is open but professional. The discussion is fixed to the main topic. The best way to handle the interviewer is to address the issue. This involves addressing the exact concern of the topic and provide a clear response that will satisfy the interviewer. Getting to know the interviewer is also a strategy which can be used to manage the interviewer. Knowing and understanding the interviewer will provide an opportunity to give clear responses as required. Confidence remains a core aspect in an interview. Remaining confidence and giving specific responses can be critical to the realization of a great interview. Calmness is also essential during the interview as it promotes detailed responses. The interview questions can be asked logically. Questions are arranged in the order of complexity so that as the interview goes on, the engagement becomes more detailed. This allows for the interviewee to answer all the questions.
Personality Disorder
Many psychologists in an interview have linked the personality of Bundy to a disorder known as psychopathy. Psychopathy is a personality disorder that is associated with antisocial behavior, low levels of empathy and remorse while at the same time showing signs of ego and disinhibited ( Smith et al., 2014 ). According to psychologists, Bundy was suffering from a psychopath, a disorder which involves chronic mental condition associated with violent social behavior. Because his case was based on raping the women before killing them, he has been described to suffer from a sexual psychopath. This is a condition from the psychopathic individuals, and it comes out in the sense that a person displays sadistic sexual behavior such as hurting others sexually. Bundy was intelligent and insecure because of lack of wealth when he was surrounded by wealthy classmates. He was always shy, and further psychological analysis had shown that he had an extreme dependency on women and he had a fear of getting humiliation in his relationship with a woman. From the traits of psychopaths, he gets a thrill from danger.
Bundy shows signs of anti-social disorder when he develops the intentions to hurt others intentionally while at the same time exhibiting unkind and antisocial behaviors towards others. From the interview, the characteristics that were portrayed by Bundy showed that he had symptoms of antisocial personality disorder. One of the features of antisocial personality disorder is showing no empathy towards other people and getting thrilled about harming or hurting others ( Jenkins, 2017 ). This is what excited Bundy, sexually harassing and killing young women. From the interview, the psychologist states that this disorder starts at childhood and usually continue as one grows up into adulthood. People with antisocial personality disorder typically show no empathy for others and tend to be happy about the sufferings that other people are undergoing. Just like Bundy, they tend to and appear to be good from outside, but their minds are full of ill thoughts about other people.
Bundy failed to conform to social norms as he was frequently involved in unlawful behaviors and constant arrests. This according to the psychologists, is a symptom of people who have antisocial personality disorder. He also showed signs of lack of remorsefulness, a symptom that psychologists have associated with an antisocial disorder. Bundy would always use charm to manipulate women so that he could achieve his personal gain. He always has recurring incidences of law-breaking and criminal behavior, and even before killing over thirty women, he was already facing trials for other crimes but had just escaped. Having broken up with his girlfriend earlier, he must have been a man who is abusive in a relationship. At the same time, the fact that he repeatedly got involved in the criminal activities shows that he never considered any negative consequence of his criminal behaviors. According to psychologists and research, these behaviors portrayed by Bundy are symptoms of a person with an antisocial personality disorder.
The interviewee further states that the ability to continually kill and at the same time act as being normal occur through a slow evolution of the three major processes. The first process is fantasy where a person imagines situations of self-comfort and that repeated killing creates that comfort ( Myers, 2010 ). The next method is where a person tends to avoid hurting feelings and memories which can only be achieved by injuring others. Having been brought up by unwed mother and the challenges that he went through as a child, Bundy must have developed some uncomfortable memories which he never wanted to remember. Due to his antisocial personality disorder, the only way to erase unpleasant memories was through hurting other people. The interview also reveals that serial killers usually present a public image that makes them appear good while they hide the dark side of them to allow the killing fantasies reign freely. Due to the painful memories that result from the abuse, humiliation and frustrations, they rely on fantasies to erase these uncomfortable memories. Bundy had frustrations from his previous life as a child and a disappointment from break up with his girlfriend which made him seek fantasies for consolation. He had powerful fantasies which finally emerged to be sexual possession.
As put by Martin, a US psychologist, fantasies can accommodate the expression of unacceptable impulse, aspirations and desires. When life gets frustrating or disappointing, and past uncomfortable memories continue to come, a fantasy life gets more attractive as it offers comfort to the bad memories of the past ( Black, 2013 ). These painful memories can them stimulate one to develop antisocial personality disorder which makes a person function differently; getting entertainment and comfort from harming other people. Having a childhood life full of disappointment and frustrations and living without a male role model could have shaped up her behavior and lead to his personality disorder which made him seek comfort in hurting other people. Martin also mentions that a child being subjected to neglect or abuse during his childhood days can also contribute to antisocial personality disorder. Other factors such as unstable family life have also been associated with the cause of antisocial personality disorder. In the case of Bundy, he grew up with an unwed mother, suggesting that he might have lived a life of neglect. At the same time, he grew up in an unstable family while at the same time having fellow students who were from wealthy families. This created frustrations in him leading to the development of antisocial disorder which pushed him to seek comfort through hurting other people.
Martin further suggests that due to the unpleasing life that Bundy went through at his childhood age, he would have been taken for psychotherapy if antisocial behaviors were to be prevented at his adulthood. Psychotherapy can help erase all the previous life frustrations and make one develop a positive attitude towards life ( Verona, Sprague & Sadeh, 2012 ). Given that Bundy never received such therapy, he had to promote antisocial behavior which made him seek comfort through fantasies. This led to his repeated criminal activities because it was through such crimes that he could erase all the bad memories and get comfort. This was explicitly driven by sexual psychopathy which involves getting comfort by hurting other people sexually. This was hence the reason why he mainly targeted women whom he lured, harassed them sexually before killing them.
Aggression, Empathy and Attachment Factor in the Offender
Early life experiences have been linked to the psychopathy disorder that develops Bundy. He showed weak signs of impulse control and high levels of aggressiveness. He demonstrated high levels of violent and aggressive actions. Psychologists have tried to explain the underlying psychological factors that could have contributed to his aggressive and violent actions. As Martin states, Bundy suffered from childhood rejection, frustrations and anger which could have driven him to act violently in revenge. Early life experiences contributed significantly to the aggressive actions of Bundy, who in retaliation to the suffering and frustrations, he believed killing would comfort him. Despite being a brilliant and intelligent child, his childhood life was manned with lack of social skills and attachment disorder. Even though he showed a social face in public, he preferred being alone as he found it difficult to socialize with other people, especially after he broke up with his girlfriend. This feeling of rejection and frustrations have been mentioned as the primary factor that ignited anger and aggression in him, and killing was a way for him to retaliate and cool his bad emotions ( Perez, 2012 ).
The disruption of the attachment the early ages of a child has also been associated with the development of affectionless psychopathy. This is the inability of an individual to form any meaningful emotions and relationships and is usually accompanies by anger and poor impulse control as well as being unremorseful ( Giannangelo, 2012 ). Bundy started life with his grandparents whom he referred to as his parents due to his fear of stigma. He developed strong attachment and affection for his grandparents. However, at the age of four years, he was forced to move away from his grandparents and go to Washington to stay with his cousins. Here, Bundy suffered from a disruption in the attachment he had with his grandparents. According to Martin, fear of separation can always stimulate the feelings of anxiety, which could then result in violent action against others. Bundy felt angry for having being separated from his grandparents with whom he had developed strong bonds and even considered them his parents. This feeling of separation and disruption of the attachment he had could have resulted in the feeling of frustration and anger as he grew up, and finally, this emerged out to become a violent action against others. Studies have also shown that teenagers who have experienced a disruption in the attachment in their early life are more likely to commit violent crimes. Also, a child who grows up feeling neglected by his parents is at a higher chance of developing violent habits when they become adults.
Asked about how empathy factors in the case of the murderer, the interviewee explained the psychological developments that occur leading to one feeling no empathy for others. According to Martin, serial killers are usually remorseless and cold with no signs of empathy for the victims they kill. To them, they don’t see others as people because they have been changed to hopeless and no desires. Bundy was never remorseful and could not sympathize with the victims he killed because this is where he got his comfort and erased all the previous hurting memories of his childhood. To him, friendship was something he never believed in. He was quoted saying, “I didn't know what made people want to be friends. I didn't know what made people attracted to one another. I didn't know what underlay social interactions." "I don't feel guilty for anything. I feel sorry for people who feel guilt" ( Jenkins, 2017 ) According to psychologists; these are the symptoms of a person who has antisocial personality disorder. He was never empathetic, and he never felt any guilt even in his criminal activities.
Analysis of State versus Trait Factors
On the issue of whether Bundy naturally inherited his violent actions or whether they were as a result of the upbringing, the psychologists brought in both the two factors into the case. First, the violent actions of the serial killer were linked with his upbringing. The way Bundy was brought up and the kind of life he lived as a child could have subjected him to much frustrations and painful memories leading to violent actions. Growing up in a family where he never saw his father, and having experienced a lot of neglect could have subjected him to much psychological torture at a young age leading to such crimes in adulthood. His traits, which developed as a result of his previous life, could have led to the violent actions. The psychologist identified four types of traits portrayed by serial killers. These include powerful junkie, manipulator, egocentric and superficial charmer ( Ferguson, 2010 ). Bundy possessed all these traits, each of which contributed to his violent actions.
The issue of genetics has also been linked with violent actions of Bundy. There has been emerging evidence that genetics play a vital role in the development of psychopathy. Reports have shown that Bundy’s grandfather beat the family dog and cats as he was watching. This could mean that his family members had the genes of violent actions. His early behavior was also influenced by learning and seeing violence on animals from people around him making him grow up believing that violence is a good thing. Watching pornography and reading books filled with dead bodies could have also played a role in his violent actions and sexual psychopathy. This could have influenced his mind and behavior, making him think in the line of sexual harassment and murder. To him, violence was never a big issue possibly because of the books he read and the learning from the people around him.
Conclusion
Many psychologists have analyzed the murder case involving Ted Bundy serial killer. Many of these analyses have often reached a unanimous agreement that he indeed suffered from an antisocial disorder which pushed him to act violently. Following a frustrating childhood life which was accompanied by disappointment, disruption of attachment and irritation, Bundy grew up with these uncomfortable memories in mind. When he got into adulthood, he had to look for ways to erase these thoughts, and this could only be done by hurting others. He showed no empathy or remorsefulness due to the frustrating past which made him want to retaliate. A combination of these events made him antisocial, a person who always want to be alone.
References
Black, D. W. (2013). Bad boys, bad men: Confronting antisocial personality disorder (sociopathy) . Oxford University Press.
Ferguson, C. J. (2010). Genetic contributions to antisocial personality and behavior: A meta-analytic review from an evolutionary perspective. The Journal of social psychology , 150 (2), 160-180.
Giannangelo, S. J. (2012). Real-life Monsters: A Psychological Examination of the Serial Murderer . ABC-CLIO.
Jenkins, P. (2017). Using murder: The social construction of serial homicide . Routledge.
Jenkins, P. (2017). Using murder: The social construction of serial homicide . Routledge.
Keppel, R. (2010). The Riverman: Ted Bundy and I hunt for the Green River killer . Simon and Schuster.
Myers, W. C., Chan, H. C., Vo, E. J., & Lazarou, E. (2010). Sexual sadism, psychopathy, and recidivism in juvenile sexual murderers. Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling , 7 (1), 49-58.
Perez, P. R. (2012). The etiology of psychopathy: A neuropsychological perspective. Aggression and Violent Behavior , 17 (6), 519-522.
Smith, S. T., Edens, J. F., Clark, J., & Rulseh, A. (2014). “So, what is a psychopath?” Venireperson perceptions, beliefs, and attitudes about psychopathic personality. Law and human behavior , 38 (5), 490.
Verona, E., Sprague, J., & Sadeh, N. (2012). Inhibitory control and negative emotional processing in psychopathy and antisocial personality disorder. Journal of abnormal psychology , 121 (2), 498.
