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ALEXANDER PICHUSHKIN: SUBOPTIMAL AROUSAL NAME: PIPER ADAMS SNUMBER: S5134579 COURSE CODE: 2000CCJ COURSE CONVENER: PAUL HARNETT TUTOR: MALEAH KILNER

2 ALEXANDER PICHUSHKIN: Suboptimal Arousal Theory

The Chessboard Killer, The Bitsa Park Maniac, a criminal so vile the jury on his case had calls to bring the death penalty back. Alexander Pichushkin, a man whose ambition was to kill a person for each space that exists on a chessboard. A man who claimed he needed killing to live. “For me, a life without murder is like a life without food for you,” (Chua-Eoan, 2007). Pichushkin was convicted of 3 counts of attempt and 49 counts of murder with him claiming to have killed more (Attewill, 2007). But how could a man who had grown up with a seemingly normal life, express such a sadistic and cruel view to the world. This essay attempts to explain the villainous acts carried out by Alexander Pichushkin by examining the relationship that neurological factors share with criminality. By applying the bio-behavioural theory of suboptimal arousal theory and its relevant elements, we can begin to account for certain behaviours and compare aspects that Pichushkin shares with common criminality.

Born in 1974 to a single mother in Moscow, Russia, Alexander Pichushkin grew up a normal sociable child. At the age of four Pichushkin suffered a severe head injury, resulting in damage to his frontal cortex which supposedly drastically changed his personality and resulted in the development of behavioural problems. After poor performance at school and reports of physical and verbal bullying towards Alexander, his mother decided to transfer him to a school for children with learning disabilities. While attending this school, his grandfather noticed his intelligence and encouraged him to pursue intellectual activities outside of school, most notably chess. Pichushkin excelled at chess and began playing exhibition games in the nearby Bitsa Park, having finally found a channel for his aggression, his behaviour began to improve (Absolute Crime, n.d.; Gladiadis, 2019; Wikipedia, 2020)

3 The death of his grandfather hit him hard, his only father figure gone. This prompted Pichushkin to begin drinking copious amounts of vodka, turning towards alcoholism. It was around this time he began carrying a video camera with him so he could record himself threatening children to watch later on for pleasure. Though this habit quickly escalated from threatening to drop young children from balconies, to his first murder. The beginning of his murders saw him pushing victims into sewer wells, often still alive, however it was not long before he transitioned to blunt force trauma, by use of hammer, on the back of his victim’s heads. Pichushkin would often then insert empty vodka bottles or twigs into the holes he made in their skulls. After his arrest Alexander admitted to 61 murders, of which only 49 were confirmed, his preferred method of killing being blunt force trauma (Attewill, 2007; Blanco, 2008; Chua-Eoan, 2007).

Bio-behavioural theories examine the idea that our nervous system and neural function play a pivotal role in developing our mind and consciousness, as well as regulating behaviour. They began to gain popularity due to their concept that our minds mediate between both biological and environment inputs, which differed from traditional theories that just examined one. It investigates the implications that can arise when our brain does not appropriately perform its task of mediating the biological and environmental factors that ultimately make up our personalities and behaviours (Carlson, 2008; Wortley, 2011). One area of specific interest to bio-behavioural psychologists is the influence that different environmental factors can have on neurological function and the physiological response that has been associated with influencing anti-social or criminal behaviour (Ling et al., 2019). While there are many different aspects of bio-behavioural theories, in analysing the case of Alexander Pichushkin,

4 strong evidence can be found to support the neuropsychological theory of suboptimal arousal theory.

Eysenck’s theory of arousal (Eysenck’s, 1967) examines the idea that the ultimate difference between extroverts and introverts is their internal level of arousal. It is said that extraverts have a lower level of physiological arousal and as a result they attempt to compensate by self-stimulating with external stimuli, whereas introverts have such a high level of arousal they are content with less physiologically exciting activities (Bullock & Gilliard, 1993). The relationship this creates with criminality stems from the correlation found between low arousal levels and delinquency. The arousal levels of a person are tested by measuring an individual’s galvanic skin response (GSR), their heart rate (ECG), and cortical brain wave activity (EEG). In a study that tested electrodermal (GSR), cardiovascular (ECG), and cortical (EEG) arousal in adolescents and tracked those same individuals at 24, it was found that those that were criminals into their adulthood, had a significantly lower arousal level (Raine et al., 1990). Therefore, the concept of suboptimal arousal theory defines that criminality is the result of insufficient arousal that results in the individual seeking out crime as stimulation to compensate. This is evidence to support the idea that criminals are ultimately seeking thrill to compensate for their low levels of internal arousal.

An insufficient level of arousal can manifest in many ways and indicators include substance abuse, academic performance below intellectual potential, impulsiveness, poor condition ability; usually in the way of resistance to punishment, sensation seeking and sexual promiscuity (Ellis, 1987; Wortley, 2011). While many of these factors are predispositions to crime, the focus issue arises from the poor condition ability. This is due to the concept that our conscience is conditioned when we are young as a result of our emotional response to

5 adverse environmental factors (Eysenck, 1977; Trasler, 1962). Therefore, the lower levels of arousal cause poor conditioning to environmental stimuli and ultimately lead to an underdeveloped conscience. This means those who have significantly low arousal can be desensitized to the difference between what is right and wrong.

The part of the brain that is said to relate to arousal is the reticular formation. The reticular formation is a hindbrain structure with neural pathways that lead into the limbic system and frontal cortex. It is believed that low arousal is the result of the reticular formation failing to activate cortical functioning (Wortley, 2011). When examining the case of the chessboard killer, of particular interest is the trauma he suffered to his frontal cortex. The damage received from the incident could have affected the neural pathway that leads from the hindbrain to the frontal cortex and as a result his brain fails to appropriately activate cortical functioning. The result of this damage would therefore cause Pichushkin to experience very low levels of arousal. In addition to this, the frontal cortex is also responsible for impulse regulation. As previously mentioned, an indicator of insufficient arousal is impulsivity. Following Alexanders head injury, it is said that his behavioural problems manifested in the way that he became prone to aggression and impulse behaviour, constantly throwing tantrums (Gladiadis, 2019). This in turn, shows evident support towards the idea that Alexanders criminal behaviour was a result of suboptimal arousal.

The foremost principle that links arousal theory to criminality is the pursuit of external stimulus through sensation seeking. Due to an absence of internal stimulation, criminals ultimately feel boredom at a higher level and in order to compensate they engage in activities that result in a high level of thrill (Ellis, 1987). As a result of this need for an optimal level, a major indicator of suboptimal arousal and criminality is substance abuse. Indicators of this

6 are evident in the findings that sensation seekers are more biologically and environmentally prone to substance abuse (Miles et al., 2001). After the death of his grandfather, Alexander began a decent into alcoholism (Katya, 2019; Blanco, 2007). This substance abuse was obviously a mechanism employed in an attempt to stimulate himself to reach optimal arousal, the evidence of this coming from his transition from vodka to threats.

Evidently unsatisfied by the alcohol, Pichushkin began to seek out more ‘risky’ activities and started to film himself threatening children, in which he would later watch to receive selfgratification. The ultimate thrill however, Pichushkin would come to find was killing. His preferred method of murder was blunt force trauma to the back of his victim’s head, a way that is much more brutal than pushing someone down a well, and in turn would constitute much more of a thrill. Alexander claimed to feel like god with their life in his hands (Wikipedia, 2020; Katya, 2019), and admitted to taking more pleasure from killing the people he knew. Both statements an obvious reference to the arousal he gained upon commencing the acts. Alexander’s lifelong pursuit of external sensation is further support that his criminality can be explained using suboptimal arousal theory.

Another implication of suboptimal arousal is a poor level of condition ability which, in turn can be linked to poor or inconsistent school performance. Lower levels of arousal result in an individual having a reduced ability to be conditioned to adverse stimuli. This can manifest into the underdevelopment of a conscience but also a tolerance to punishment (Ellis, 1987; Eysenck, 1977). To satisfy their increased need for stimulation, individuals with low arousal struggle to learn to avoid punishment in order to tolerate more pain (Ellis, 1987). Similarly, to conscience, if one does not learn from conditioning to avoid a task such as punishment it can result in an inability to perform that task. This can manifest in poor school performance

7 as an individual does not fear the consequences of punishment and can additionally get a thrill from doing the wrong thing. Alexander was obviously unable to learn from conditioning. His impulsive and aggressive behaviour portrays that he was could not learn the consequences of such behaviour. His mother always trying to do what was best for him. Further evidence of this inability stemmed from his poor school performance. Due to his level of skill at chess, he was clearly intelligent however was still unable to learn from his teacher’s criticism, this even continued after being transferred to a school that focused on learning disabilities. In addition to his behavioural condition ability, Pichushkin evidently had a minimal conscience as a result of him failing to connect adverse stimuli with emotional responses. It is clear that Alexander Pichushkin had a complete disregard for other people. In an interview he noted that he did not regret anything he had done (Levine, 2008). Alexanders evident inability to be conditioned in addition to his obvious lack of conscience is further evidence to support suboptimal arousal theory.

A final key indicator of suboptimal arousal theory is sexual promiscuity. Due to their constant need to stimulate themselves the occurrence of frequent or ‘darker’ sexual fantasies is a common occurrence among those with low arousal levels (Motofei & Rowland, 2005). While there is no evidence suggesting that Pichushkin had any sexual interaction with any of his victims, there was a very obvious sexual element to all of his crimes. Alexanders calling card was the way he would intrusively insert objects, most commonly an empty vodka bottle or twigs, into the holes he would make in victims’ skulls. This penetration of the skull was performed as a sexual substitution (Katya, 2019).

Not only were the specific acts he would perform evidence of his sexual promiscuity, but the materials confiscated from his home involved a large stash of pornography, most of which

8 police described as violent in nature (Blanco, 2008). These dark forms of sensation seeking are further prominent evidence that low arousal was the cause of this promiscuity. If both these acts of sexual promiscuity were not evidence enough, Pichushkin described his entire criminal career as a ‘perpetual orgasm’ (Attewill, 2007), which really indicates the level of arousal he felt when committing these violent acts. The nature of Alexanders dark sexual interests fit the indicator of sexual promiscuity in relation to suboptimal arousal theory.

While there are countless pieces of evidence throughout the case of Alexander Pichushkin to support the theory of suboptimal arousal theory, there are many people who experience all these symptoms but do not turn to a life of criminality to stimulate themselves (Wortley, 2011). Plenty of sensation seekers turn to measures such as extreme sports to compensate for their lower level of arousal which could indicate that it is another element that leads offenders to commit crime. This could mean that low arousal might need to be applied in conjunction with, for example, certain personality traits, to predispose you to crime.

Suboptimal arousal theory attempts to account for the automatic physiological responses our body has to adverse stimuli. By examining different elements of this theory, we can begin to explain criminality by looking at the different arousal levels between criminals and noncriminal, as well as linking certain common attributes. Those attributes that are common in criminality are, brain structural deformities, poor condition ability, sensation seeking, and sexual promiscuity. The case of Alexander Pichushkin has very prominent evidence suggesting that his criminality is a result of suboptimal arousal. This statement stems from the abundance of factors both suboptimal arousal and Alexander Pichushkin have in common.

9 References:

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Attewill, F. (2007, October 24). The Animal Lover Who Killed Humans to Let Them into Another World. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/oct/24/russia

Blanco, J. (2008). Alexander Yuryevich Pichushkin. Murderpedia. Retrieved 19, 2020 from: https://murderpedia.org/male.P/p/pichushkin-alexander.htm

Bullock, W., & Gilliland, K. (1993). Eysenck's arousal theory of introversion€xtraversion: A converging measures investigation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64(1), 113–123. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.64.1.113

Carlson, N. Foundations of Physiological Psychology. 7th ed. Boston: Pearson Education, 2008.

Chua-Eoan, H. (2007, September 12). The Grandmaster of Murder?. Time. http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1661084,00.html

Choy, O., Farrington, D. & Raine, A. (2015). The Need to Incorporate Autonomic Arousal in Developmental and Life-Course Research and Theories. J Dev Life Course Criminology 1, 189–207. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40865-015-0011-4

Ellis, L. (1987). Relationships of criminality and psychopathy with eight other apparent behavioral manifestations of sub-optimal arousal. Personality and individual differences, 8(6), 905-925. https://doi.org/10.1016/0191-8869(87)90142-5

Eysenck, H. (1977). Crime and Personality (3rd ed.). London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

Ellis, L. (1987). Neurohormonal Bases of Varying Tendencies to Learn Delinquent and Criminal Behavior. Behavioral Approaches to Crime and Delinquency: A Handbook of Application, Research, and Concepts. https://www.ncjrs.gov/App/Publications/abstract.aspx?ID=111178#:~:text=Arousal%20theor y%20suggests%20that%20delinquents,satisfying%20their%20need%20for%20stimulation.

Gladiadis, K. (2019, April 5). The Chessboard Killer: Meet Alexander Pichushkin. True Crime News Weekly. https://truecrimenewsweekly.com/the-chessboard-killer-meet-alexander-pichushkin/

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Levine, Y. (2008, March 13). Interview with a Russian Serial Killer. The Exile. Retrieved on September 20, 2020 from: https://murderpedia.org/male.P/p/pichushkin-alexander.htm

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Miles, D., Van Den Bree, M., Gupman, A., Newlin, D., Glantz, M., Pickens, R. (2001). A twin study on sensation seeking, risk taking behaviour and marijuana use. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 62 (1), 57-68.

Motofei, I., & Rowland, D. (2005). The physiological basis of human sexual arousal: neuroendocrine sexual asymmetry. International Journal of Andrology, 28(2), 78-87. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2605.2004.00514.x

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Wortley, R. (2011). Psychological Criminology: An Integrative Approach. Willan Publishing. https://ebookcentral-proquestcom.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/lib/griffith/reader.action?docID=684003

Wikipedia. (2020). Alexander Pichushkin. Retrieved September 19, 2020 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Pichushkin...