Case Study - John Wayne Gacy PDF

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This assignment assesses John Wayne Gacy and the social learning theory...

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John Wayne Gacy and the Social Learning Theory Griffith University – 2000CCJ

Georgia Power s5182933

2000CCJ - Georgia Power - s5182933

Psychology of Crime – Case Study Within the field of psychology, there are many theories which aim to explain why people act or think a certain way. These theories can be based on behaviour, development, evolution, traits and bio- behaviour. This case study will examine the social learning theory, which was developed by Albert Bandura and focuses on both classical conditioning and operant conditioning. As well as this, environmental determinism, a component of the social learning theory, will also be examined. For the analysis of this theory, the criminal case that is being studied is that of John Wayne Gacy. The social learning theory will be a useful approach to understanding the underlying factors that motivated Gacy throughout his life as a criminal. John Wayne Gacy was one of America’s most prolific serial killers; whose killings occurred between 1972 and 1978. Gacy was known as Pogo the Clown as he would frequently dress up as a clown for neighbourhood parties in Norwood Park, Chicago[ CITATION Cri201 \l 3081 ]. His active presence in the community made him a likeable person. However, this alter ego soon became more ominous, as he is now known as the “Killer Clown”. During this six- year period, Gacy had lured, kidnapped, tortured, sexually assaulted and murdered thirty- three teenage boys, with only one victim that survived [ CITATION FOX19 \l 3081 ]. It is understood that Gacy was secretly homosexual and would let out his frustrations through murdering his male victims. The method in which Gacy murdered his victims was by strangulation [ CITATION His19 \l 3081 ]. In 1978, the mother of 15-year-old Robert Piest, Gacy’s last victim, notified the police about her son’s disappearance and informed law enforcement of his application for a job. This job offer was provided by Gacy and, as a result, police obtained a search warrant for Gacy’s home [ CITATION Dav94 \l 3081 ]. During the search, officers found many items, including a ring, which was forensically proven to have belonged to 19-year-old John Szyc. After this discovery, police searched the crawl space underneath Gacy’s house which revealed the dead bodies of both Robert Piest and John Szyc, among 25 others. This finding resulted in Gacy confessing to the murders of “at least 30 people” which would be the most murders by a serial killer at that time [ CITATION AET20 \l 3081 ]. When conducting a psychological test on Gacy, it became apparent that he had Antisocial Personality Disorder [ CITATION Ade17 \l 3081 ]. This disorder involves impulse decisions making, deception and aggression [ CITATION Aus19 \l 3081 ]. Gacy tried to plead for insanity, however, The State of Illinois reached a “guilty” verdict and sentenced Gacy to natural life in prison for 21 murders, and the death penalty for the 12 other victims. John Wayne Gacy was executed in 1994 at age 52 via lethal injection [ CITATION Joh20 \l 3081 ]. Gacy had a childhood unlike most others. From a young age, he was both emotionally and physically abused by his father, John Gacy Sr. This abuse was often the result of his father being heavily intoxicated. The emotional abuse was that of belittlement as his father told Gacy on many occasions that he was both overweight and unathletic, as well as often calling him weak, using the term “sissy” [ CITATION Ada20 \l 3081 ]. This abuse was because Gacy was born with a heart defect that extremely limited his ability to exercise. The physical abuse that Gacy received was being beaten with a razor strap when misbehaving, which was also inflicted on his sister and mother at times as well [ CITATION Tim19 \l 3081 ]. Adding to this, at age seven, Gacy was also the victim of sexual abuse at the hands of a family friend [ CITATION Dan17 \l 3081 ]. This abuse may be an explanation as to how Gacy learned and

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reciprocated abuse towards others, which can be linked to Albert Bandura’s theory, known as the social learning theory. Albert Bandura is a psychologist who specialises in developmental psychology and is known for his contributions to the study of the social learning theory and social cognitive theory [ CITATION Goo15 \l 3081 ]. Bandura’s best-known study is named the ‘Bobo Doll’ experiment. This study was conducted in 1961 and involved three experimental groups and one control group of children who witnessed an adult ‘beating up’ an inflatable clown. The findings of this study were that children who witnessed the aggression towards the inflatable clown were likely to also show aggression towards it in the likes of hitting, kicking and throwing darts [ CITATION Ass12 \l 3081 ]. Contrastingly, it was discovered that the control group, who did not witness aggression towards the doll, had a dramatic decrease in aggressive behaviour when it came their turn to play with the doll [ CITATION Kar06 \l 3081 ]. This study helped Bandura to understand what is known as the social learning theory. The social learning theory agrees with behaviourist theories of classical and operant conditioning, but also is defined by processes that occur between stimuli and responses. As well as this, Bandura argues that behaviour is learned from environmental factors [ CITATION Alb77 \l 3081 ]. To elaborate, classical conditioning is the process in which a stimulus triggers a conditioned response. For example, an experiment conducted by physiologist Ivan Pavlov in the 1890’s discovered that the physical reaction that dogs had to food began to change over time [ CITATION Reh20 \l 3081 ]. Pavlov began experimenting by ringing a bell shortly before the dogs were given their food. Initially, the dogs would salivate only when their food was placed in front of them. However, gradually over time, the dogs recognised the sound of the bell and associated this sound with food. As a result of this, a conditioned response was formed; the dogs began salivating when hearing the bell [ CITATION WPe18 \l 3081 ]. Opposingly, operant conditioning is a goal-oriented response in relation to the causes and consequences of an action [ CITATION Sta18 \l 3081 ]. The three major theorists that developed a great understanding of operant conditioning are B. F. Skinner, John Watson and Edward Thorndike [ CITATION Wil97 \l 3081 ]. Throughout his studies, theorist B. F. Skinner developed a theory of positive and negative reinforcement. Positive reinforcement is the action of rewarding a human or animal with a stimulus after a certain behaviour is performed. Whereas negative reinforcement is the action of removing a stimulus after a certain behaviour is performed [ CITATION DrD18 \l 3081 ]. With an understanding of this, Skinner performed studies such as the ‘Skinner Box’ experiment. This study was conducted by placing rats in to a small chamber and providing them with a lever in which the rat would learn to operate in order to receive food immediately from a dispenser [CITATION Uni19 \l 3081 ]. The provided food is a positive reinforcer. As a result, the rats learned that putting weight on the lever would result in receiving food. As seen in examples for classical and operant conditioning, it is understood that the difference between these two types of conditioning is that classical conditioning illustrates a response after stimuli is shown; and operant conditioning illustrates a response before stimuli is shown. In addition to this, another element of the social learning theory is environmental determinism. Environmental determinism is defined as environmental conditions

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determining behavioural and psychological characteristics [ CITATION Ame20 \l 3081 ]. There are three stages of environmental determinism; acquisition, instigation and maintenance [ CITATION Alb06 \l 3081 ]. Environmental determinism, when related to classical conditioning, refers to the acquisition stage. Acquisition when applied to the social learning theory, involves observational learning and the establishment of behavioural patterns. An example of this is a child learning that aggressive behaviour towards others is acceptable, as this is what happens in their home. Operant conditioning, however, refers to the instigation and maintenance stages. The instigation stage of environmental determinism is the way in which a person reacts to a stimulus, using the acquired knowledge they have developed through observational learning. An example of this is a child using aggressive behaviour towards peers when insulted, as this is what they have observed from their parents, or other role models. The final stage of environmental determinism, maintenance, involves vicarious reinforcement, direct external reinforcement and the neutralisation of self- punishment. This stage is when the perpetrator may attempt to seek approval, receive positive or negative reinforcement and morally justify their behaviour [ CITATION Gol13 \l 3081 ]. An example of this is if a child’s aggressive behaviour is not reported, that child will continue to use aggression as, to them, there are no negative effects. With an understanding of the social learning theory and all of its elements, it is understood that this theory can be related to the criminal John Wayne Gacy. The first component of the theory that relates to Gacy is classical conditioning. Stimulus such as; parental verbal abuse and parental physical abuse triggered a conditioned response in Gacy as a child. The response from the first stimulus, parental verbal abuse, was that of Gacy learning that this behaviour was an acceptable way of treating others, after being belittled by his father. The response from the second stimulus, parental physical abuse was that Gacy learned that physical abuse was also acceptable, as his father beat him with a razor strap. Research supporting these statements has shown that children that are abused are likely to have aggressive behaviour tendencies [ CITATION Wat13 \l 3081 ]. This leads to another aspect of the social learning theory, operant conditioning. The second component of the social learning theory that is applicable to the case of serial killer John Wayne Gacy, is operant conditioning. It is clear that Gacy developed aggressive behaviour after being the victim of abuse as a child. Gacy’s first arrest was at age twenty-six when he committed sodomy with a teenage boy [ CITATION Kor18 \l 3081 ]. It is believed that Gacy invited James Tullery over to his house to drink alcohol and play a game of pool. Gacy told the boy that the loser of the game had to perform oral sex on the winner. However, when Tullery refused to participate, Gacy had said it was just a joke. The events after this were; Gacy displayed pornography on his television for him and Tullery to watch, tied Tullery up with rope and strangled him until he went limp. This occurred after Gacy threatened the teenage boy with a knife [ CITATION Jua12 \l 3081 ]. These crimes resulted in Gacy being sentenced to 10 years, however, he was only imprisoned for eighteen months before being granted parole [ CITATION Jua17 \l 3081 ]. it is my understanding that Gacy being a sexual assault victim may have led him to sexually assaulting Tullery years later. Adding to this, the abuse that Gacy received from his father is quite likely what made him into an abusive person who violently killed thirty-three people. Another component of operant conditioning in this case is that Gacy most likely learnt aggressive behaviours from witnessing them in his own home on a regular basis as a child. Although his father did not

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torture him, I believe that his acts of physical abuse were still enough for Gacy to observationally learn that actions like this are acceptable. Lastly, Gacy was not caught until his thirty-third victim, which means that he did not receive any negative punishment during his six-year murdering period. It is my argument that Gacy received positive reinforcement from committing these crimes as he received sexual satisfaction as well as personal satisfaction when torturing, sexually assaulting and murdering his victims. The examples above show both classical and operant conditioning in the case of John Wayne Gacy. The classical conditioning, observing abusive behaviours at home, is representative of the acquisition stage of environmental determinism. This is because, Gacy acquired the establishment of abusive behavioural patterns, as well as learned these abusive behavioural patterns in the home. The first operant conditioning component, inflicting abuse on to others, is representative of the instigation stage of environmental determinism. This is because, Gacy reacted to stimulus, his victims, using the acquired knowledge he had developed through both witnessing abuse and being abused, as well as being sexually assaulted. This reaction was to reinforce abusive behaviour on to young men. The second operant conditioning component, not being caught for many years and victims, is representative of the maintenance stage of environmental determinism. This is because, Gacy was able to maintain his crimes through positive reinforcement and, to some extent, he morally justified his crimes to himself as he wasn’t caught for six years, which resulted in Gacy’s continued murders. In conclusion, the social learning theory explains both the classical and operant conditionings relevant to the criminal case of serial killer John Wayne Gacy. To revise, classical conditioning is the process in which a stimulus triggers a conditioned response. Contrastingly, operant conditioning is a goal-oriented response in relation to the causes and consequences of an action. The discovery of classical conditioning and operant conditioning is credited to Albert Bandura, a Canadian-American psychologist. These psychological terms are relevant to the criminal case of John Wayne Gacy because he was a victim of child abuse before reciprocating abuse on to his victims by means of torture, sexual assault and murder. The abuse that Gacy received as a child came in the forms of emotional, verbal, sexual and physical. Adding to this, the social learning theory also describes Gacy’s behaviour patterns through three stages; acquisition, instigation and maintenance. These three stages of environmental determinism are best described by B. F. Skinner, an American psychologist. However, the social learning theory does not explain the way in which his mental disorder, Antisocial Personality Disorder, may have also explained his behaviour. Another psychological theory which may explain this is the trait theory.

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