What Makes a Killer
In this Ted Talk, the speaker, Jim Fallon explains different things or events that must occur or usually occur in one’s childhood for them to later become a psychopath/killer. Fallon has studied behavior for over thirty-five years and has especially focused on the brains and behaviors of psychopathic killers recently. He says that people with this certain sex linked trait (affecting the person’s serotonin levels, especially in boys) must experience or witness an extremely traumatic and violent event in order for that person to be affected by this gene trait. Relating to the book, In Cold Blood, this could possibly be used to explain Perry Smith’s not only murderous behavior but also his extreme bursts of anger and emotion. The traumatic experience that Perry experienced could be his childhood abuse by the nuns, as well as his unstable home environment and family. As a child, he witnessed his mother being abused by his father, watched his mother become a dangerous alcoholic, both parents and two of his siblings commit suicide. He didn’t exactly have any good role models in his life. All of this may have led to his many troubles as an adult and his inability to feel any type of remorse for his actions, according to his sister anyways.