THE PSYCHOLOGY OF MURDER

The psychology of murder is a curious one, as any psychologist could tell you. Each person that chooses to commit an act of violence has their own unique reasons and circumstances. While one may sound similar to another the reasons can lie in different aspects of their lives, from location of the individual to the biological components running through the body of another person. It all depends on the psychological, biological and enviormental variables a particular person is presented with at a particular time that the violence occurs. 

Murder Defined

For the instance of this article, murder is defined as the unlawful, premiditated killing of one human being by another. Which means accidental killings are not considered. This also means, that despite some people's ideologies- capital punishment of deathis not considered murder in this case. 

Let's Talk Motive

The four L's are something frequently talked about when the psychology of murder, or even plain old violence are brought up. The four L's are love, lust, loot and loathing. They are the general motives that provoke and stand behind acts of violence or murder even. People who kill for love, are people that enact justice in a twisted way for someone wronged, mercy killers or people that kill those threatening the ones they love. Lust are people who are motivated by sexual desires- killing a rival to increase standing with the object of their affection. People kill for financial gain or loot. Finally, and perhaps the most seen motivation behind murder is loathing. People kill simply because they hate one another, or a group or a culture or a nation. 

Psychological Disorders

Despite what the media portrays, it is actually fairly rare for a person to have a legitimate psychological disorder that results in them commiting terrible acts of violence. Left untreated several diseases in advanded stages can result in acts of violence, seemingly at random. Yet still many others with the same condition do not kill or act out in violence. It's all a matter of the individual and how they react to their particular disorder. 

So They Are Just Evil Then?

Not necessarily- evil is not something that can be defined. For instance, let's take one of the most famous examples of people who murdered- Hitler. While Hitler was rarely the person actually commiting the crime, the Holocaust can be traced back to him and his belief that unpure bloodlines should be terminated. While millions across the glode view Hitler as an evil person, there are still those few that regard him as a hero- Hitler apparently did what was right in an effort to create the perfect race. Evil is almost impossible to define and the views of what is evil and what is not vary from person to person. So stating that a person is evil, and that is the reason that they commited an unthinkable crime is not very accurate, or justified. 

Biology

Let's talk hormones and basic molecules. Testosterone can be linked to higher levels of aggression (studies show that murder is largely act of males, however women are becoming more violent). Decreased levels of seretonin can be linked to more spur-of-the-moment decisions and less rational thinkings. And glucose- of all things, sugar- fluxuating is shown to have an impact on decisions as well as mood. If we discuss the most basic levels of biology- basic instincts- murder is an evolutionary tactic to ensure your descendants get the best chance at life. This includes competing for resources and mates. In the end we like to think that humans, as a society has evolved past the point of such basic needs, however the existence of unnecessary murders have shown we are not as advanced as we would like to prostrate. 

All in All

All in all, murder is one of the most complicated events to study, because each situation is radically different, as are the factors of the person who committed the murder.

Keep a watchful eye on those around you- anyone is capable of murder- it is the one truth across all humanity.