Dark Side: Unable to Self-Reflect

 



Let’s face it. The criminal psychopath who kills does so casually, or even

for no apparent reason. He feels absolutely no remorse, nor does he give the killing a second thought beyond maneuvering to avoid the consequences. Psychopaths can be passive or aggressive. Passive psychopaths tend to be parasitic and exploitative of others, whereas aggressive psychopaths commit major crimes. Passive psychopaths (referred to aspassive-parasitic, exploitative, or predatory) have frequent scrapes with the law but usually manage to squirm out of serious trouble and punishment. Passive psychopaths commit mostly white-collar crimes. The more aggressive ones, particularly the sexually sadistic, may commit serial sexual murders. Their need for constant stimulation through sexual arousal appears to be a motivating factor in their crimes.

 

The reckless grandiosity of psychopaths usually causes them to fail at any enterprise, often spectacularly. Clinicians sometimes quip that psychopaths “snatch defeat from the jaws of victory,” and that for psychopaths, “nothing succeeds like failure.” The two fundamental distinguishing characteristics of psychopaths are the inability to feel ordinary human empathy and affection for others and the perpetrating of repeated antisocial acts.

 

We now know that empathy has something to do with an anatomical structure, mirror neurons; these have been found in monkey brains and human brains. The cells are located in the brain’s motor cortex, where muscle movement and control are initiated. Mirror neuron circuitry allows us to “step into the shoes” of others, to feel their pain. The more empathetic the person, the stronger the person’s mirror neuron response. And the weaker the mirror neuron response, the less empathy he or she has. Psychopathic personalities may have a dearth of mirror neurons.

 

For psychopaths, the world is a giant dispensing machine from which they obtain goodies without giving up any coins. In their relationships they devalue the other person, they are greedy, they appropriate others’ property or ideas and feel entitled to do so. They distrust and are unable to depend on others, another part of their stunning incapacity to empathize with, or commit to, other human beings. A patient- victim of a psychopath once described to me that failure of empathy in unforgettable terms.

 

Psychopaths experience chronic feelings of emptiness and of personal isolation. They have stimulus hunger, a need for constant stimulation, perhaps to dispel their diffuse sense of the meaninglessness of life. Some find this state unbearable and kill themselves.

 

 

Acknowledgements:

The Police Department; 

www.politie.nl and a Chief Inspector – Mr. Henk van Essen©

www.aivd.nl      AIVD – Mr. Erik Akerboom ©

 

 

Bibliography:

 

1.    Criminal Investigations – Crime Scene Investigation.2000

2.    Forensic Science.2006

3.    Techniques of Crime Scene Investigation.2012

4.    Forensics Pathology.2001

5.    Pathology.2005 

6.    Forensic DNA Technology (Lewis Publishers,New York, 1991).

7.    The Examination and Typing of Bloodstains in the Crime Laboratory (U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., 1971).

8.    „A Short History of the Polymerase Chain Reaction". PCR Protocols. Methods in Molecular Biology.

9.    Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual (3rd ed.). Cold Spring Harbor,N.Y.Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.2001

10.   "Antibodies as Thermolabile Switches: High Temperature Triggering for the Polymerase Chain Reaction". Bio/Technology.1994

11.   Forensic Science Handbook, vol. III (Regents/Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1993).

12.   "Thermostable DNA Polymerases for a Wide Spectrum of Applications: Comparison of a Robust Hybrid TopoTaq to other enzymes". In Kieleczawa J. DNA Sequencing II: Optimizing Preparation and Cleanup. Jones and Bartlett. 2006

13.   Nielsen B, et al., Acute and adaptive responses in humans to exercise in a warm, humid environment, Eur J Physiol 1997

14.   Molnar GW, Survival of hypothermia by men immersed in the ocean. JAMA 1946

15.   Paton BC, Accidental hypothermia. Pharmacol Ther 1983

16.   Simpson K, Exposure to cold-starvation and neglect, in Simpson K (Ed): Modem Trends in Forensic Medicine. St Louis, MO, Mosby Co, 1953.

17.   Fitzgerald FT, Hypoglycemia and accidental hypothermia in an alcoholic population. West J Med 1980

18.   Stoner HB et al., Metabolic aspects of hypothermia in the elderly. Clin Sci 1980

19.   MacGregor DC et al., The effects of ether, ethanol, propanol and butanol on tolerance to deep hypothermia. Dis Chest 1966

20.   Cooper KE, Hunter AR, and Keatinge WR, Accidental hypothermia. Int Anesthesia Clin 1964

21.   Keatinge WR. The effects of subcutaneous fat and of previous exposure to cold on the body temperature, peripheral blood flow and metabolic rate of men in cold water. J Physiol 1960

22.   Sloan REG and Keatinge WR, Cooling rates of young people swimming in cold water. J Appl Physiol 1973

23.   Keatinge WR, Role of cold and immersion accidents. In Adam JM (Ed) Hypothermia – Ashore and Afloat. 1981, Chapter 4, Aberdeen Univ. Press, GB.

24.   Keatinge WR and Evans M, The respiratory and cardiovascular responses to immersion in cold and warm water. QJ Exp Physiol 1961

25.   Keatinge WR and Nadel JA, Immediate respiratory response to sudden cooling of the skin. J Appl Physiol 1965

26.   Golden F. St C. and Hurvey GR, The “After Drop” and death after rescue from immersion in cold water. In Adam JM (Ed). Hypothermia – Ashore and Afloat, Chapter 5, Aberdeen Univ. Press, GB 1981.

27.   Burton AC and Bazett HC, Study of average temperature of tissue, of exchange of heat and vasomotor responses in man by means of bath coloremeter. Am J Physiol 1936

28.   Adam JM, Cold Weather: Its characteristics, dangers and assessment, In Adam JM (Ed).Hypothermia – Ashore and Afloat, Aberdeen Univ. Press, GB1981.

29.   Modell JH and Davis JH, Electrolyte changes in human drowning victims.Anesthesiology 1969

30.   Bolte RG, et al., The use of extracorporeal rewarming in a child submerged for 66 minutes. JAMA 1988

31.   Ornato JP, The resuscitation of near-drowning victims. JAMA 1986

32.   Conn AW and Barker CA: Fresh water drowning and near-drowning — An update.1984;

33.   Reh H, On the early postmortem course of “washerwoman’s skin at the fingertips.” Z Rechtsmed 1984;

34.   Gonzales TA, Vance M, Helpern M, Legal Medicine and Toxicology. New York, Appleton-Century Co, 1937.

35.   Peabody AJ, Diatoms and drowning – A review, Med Sci Law 1980

36.   Foged N, Diatoms and drowning — Once more.Forens Sci Int 1983

37.   "Microscale chaotic advection enables robust convective DNA replication.". Analytical Chemistry. 2013

38.   Sourcebook in Forensic Serology, Immunology, and Biochemistry (U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice, Washington, D.C.,1983).

39.   C. A. Villee et al., Biology (Saunders College Publishing, Philadelphia, 2nd ed.,1989).

40.   Molecular Biology of the Gene (Benjamin/Cummings Publishing Company, Menlo Park, CA, 4th ed., 1987).

41.   Molecular Evolutionary Genetics (Plenum Press, New York,1985).

42.   Human Physiology. An Integrate. 2016

43.   Dumas JL and Walker N, Bilateral scapular fractures secondary to electrical shock. Arch. Orthopaed & Trauma Surg, 1992; 111(5)

44.   Stueland DT, et al., Bilateral humeral fractures from electrically induced muscular spasm. J. of Emerg. Med. 1989

45.   Shaheen MA and Sabet NA, Bilateral simultaneous fracture of the femoral neck following electrical shock. Injury. 1984

46.   Rajam KH, et al., Fracture of vertebral bodies caused by accidental electric shock. J. Indian Med Assoc. 1976

47.   Wright RK, Broisz HG, and Shuman M, The investigation of electrical injuries and deaths. Presented at the meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Science, RenoNV, February 2000.

Komentarze

Popularne posty z tego bloga

Sitting Bull

Methodology in Language Learning: The Ehrman & Leaver Construct

Under The Microscope – Shoves You Off At Once