PSYCH 665 Lecture Notes Research Proposals PDF

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PSYCH 665 LECTURE NOTES RESEARCH PROPOSALS This presentation is one that is intended to see what the connection between mental illness and a serial killer is and if there is a possibility that drugs and/or alcohol may add to that factor. The variables will be examined regarding mental illness and a serial killer. The literature review that was created in the annotated bibliography will be gone over and reviewed as well as research questions and the hypothesis. The methods will be discussed which will include sample, procedure, and analysis. Ethical considerations will be taken into account and examined within this research proposal also. The results and conclusions with the limitations will be covered. This presentation will include topics such as the violent behavior and how serial killers may be aggressive. It will include serial killers such as Ted Bundy, Charles Manson and, Son of Sam. The question about how it all comes together will be included in this presentation. The reason why this presentation would be considered important would be that if one were to understand what made this serial killers have the motive to become serial killers it could possibly be prevented in some way. In the article Serial Killers I there is some good information regarding serial killers and what their motives may have been (Miller, 2014). There seems to be patterns with them that has ended up leading them to becoming a serial killer. The behavior that they had is what may have eventually caused them to become a serial killer. With The Many Sides of Ted Bundy this is really informative for the research proposal as it gives great insight and some certain facts regarding his serial killing. The life events to where his background and the environment that he was raised in are lead to believe that this may have what caused the mental illness that he suffered from. There was plenty of research to show that he had issues with his mother and this is why he happened to chose women that all looked very similar to his mother (Ramsland, 2013). There is a confession by Ted Bundy to having murdered 30 young women but there really is no idea of knowing exactly how many. While he was a very educated man and seemed to be rather smart there were definitely underlying mental illnesses that caused this serial killing to take place. In the Traits and Thrills of a serial killer this is an article that covers a great knowledge of what serial killers motives may be (Simon, 2015). It seems that mostly the mental illness that these serial killers suffered from had a lot to do with the environment that they grew up in. The family history is one that really needs to be taken into perspective when these killings are happening. It seems that most of them that were serial killers of women seemed to have issues with their mothers while they were growing up. This could be anything from not having a mother figure to them being abused by their mother and even where they suffered from the mother being possibly ashamed of having them. In most ways it shows that they may have been neglected in one way or another. In the article Serial Killers II it gives some great knowledge and information on what the patterns may have been for the serial killers. It seems that each serial killer had a pattern in one way or another (Miller, 2014). This was a great article that helped with understanding if there was alcohol or drugs that may have helped the mental illness along and turned them into serial killers. The research question that is being asked by the author of this research proposal is: does mental illness that may be enhanced by drug or alcohol use have any relation to those who become serial killers. It is known that the patterns and behaviors of those that this may happen

to are very popular with the psychological teams that do research on the subject. There are many interviews and evaluations that are done with those that happen to have this mental illness and drug/alcohol use in order to determine this. The can happen to be led to becoming a serial killer if there are mental illnesses that are enhanced by drug/alcohol use and it tends to be ignored and nobody notices are has any relation to the signs that they may be showing while a patient for a mental illness. The hypothesis that the author of the research proposal has is people who use substances and alcohol abuse while being diagnosed with a mental illness have higher rates of becoming a serial killer. The first sample to be used would be that of Ted Bundy. He was one that was actually raised by his grandparents at the beginning of his life due to his mother having him out of wedlock so to try and help with any shame that may have been brought to her. He was one who had a very good education and when to college. He was found guilty and was sentenced to death. The second sample to be used is Charles Manson. With him he only committed a few of the murders but had other people actually do the murders for him. He was one also that was born to a young mother and grew up without knowing his father. He was one that was known to have the mental illness of a delusional disorder and was also known to take numerous different types of drugs that actually enhanced his mental illness. He was found guilty and was given life in prison and had numerous parole hearings where he was turned down every time. He eventually ended up dying in prison in the state of California. The third sample would be that of Son of Sam who actual name is David Berkowitz but he was known as the Son of Sam while he was a serial killer. He was also born to his mother who was not married and then was given up for adoption and raised by adoptive parents. He was found to be schizophrenic and also took numerous different types of drugs in order to try and self-medicate himself. He is one to say that when he was questioned that he heard voices including animals that told him to do the killings that he committed. He stated that out of all the killings he had done that only six of them where ones that he actually committed. He was sentenced to life in prison. The sample size was rather small but gave the information that was needed for this research proposal. All of the samples were serial killers and had a mental illness of a sort and it was more then likely enhanced by drugs or alcohol. This would give them an increased risk of becoming a serial killer. The data that was collected for this research proposal was done by information from the past that had already been collected by others. The research that was done on this would be that of correlation research and historical research. There is always some bias that is in any research proposal and what may have been determined as bias with this research proposal is that the author of the proposal was very familiar with these serial killers as it was during a time from which the author grew up in. What this research proposal has come to light about would be that serial killers have mental illnesses and they sometimes enhance those mental illnesses due to using alcohol or drugs. It is not to say that this was a way to self-medicate themselves but in some factors this was the case. There seems to be factors that took place that had to do with their childhood and the environment for which they grew up in. With the three samples that were used it seems that they all three had issues with their biological mothers and seemed to not have a biological father that was in the picture while growing up. There are many different motives that can lead a person to becoming a serial killer but with the three samples that were used in this research proposal the motives in a way all seemed to be the same.

Miller, L. (2014, February). Serial Killers I: Subtypes, Patterns and Motives. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 19(1), 1-11. doi:10.1016/j.avb.2013.11.002 Miller, L. (2014, January-February). Serial Killers II: Development, Dynamics and Forensics. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 19(1), 12-22. doi: 10.1016/j.avb.2013.11.003 Ramsland, K. (2013, Fall). The Many Sides of Ted Bundy. Forensic Examiner, 22(3), 18-25. UOPX Library. Simon, G. (2015, July-December). The Traits and the Thrill of Serial Killers. Internal Security, 7(2), 33-42. doi:10.5604/20805268.1212110...