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THE PSYCHOLOGY OF EXTREME
VIOLENCE

Featuring a unique overview of the different forms of extreme

violence, this book considers the psychology of extreme violence
alongside a variety of contributing factors, such as brain
abnormalities in homicide offenders. Featuring several contemporary
real-world case studies, this book offers insight into the psychology
of serial homicide offenders, mass shooters, school shooters and
lone-actor terrorists.
The main purpose of this book is not to glorify or condemn the
actions of these individuals, but to attempt to explain the
motivations and circumstances that inspire such acts of extreme
violence. By adopting a detailed case study approach, it aims to
increase our understanding of the specific motivations and
psychological factors underlying extreme violence.
Using nontechnical language, this book is the ideal companion for
students, researchers and forensic practitioners interested in the
multidisciplinary nature of extreme violence. This book will also be of
interest to students taking courses on homicide, mass shooting,
school shooting, terrorism, forensic psychology and criminology and
criminal justice.

Clare S. Allely is a Reader in Forensic Psychology at the University

of Salford in England and is an affiliate member of the Gillberg
Neuropsychiatry Centre at Gothenburg University, Sweden. Clare is
also an Honorary Research Fellow in the College of Medical,
Veterinary and Life Sciences affiliated to the Institute of Health and
Wellbeing at the University of Glasgow in Scotland. Lastly, Clare is an
Associate of the Centre for Youth and Criminal Justice (CYCJ) at the
University of Strathclyde.
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF
EXTREME VIOLENCE

A Case Study Approach to Serial

Homicide, Mass Shooting, School
Shooting and Lone-actor Terrorism

Clare S. Allely
First published 2020
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

© 2020 Clare S. Allely

The right of Clare S. Allely to be identified as author of this work has been
asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized
in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or
hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered

trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to
infringe.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

A catalog record has been requested for this book

ISBN: 978-0-367-48092-9 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-0-367-48093-6 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-03796-5 (ebk)

Typeset in Bembo
by Wearset Ltd, Boldon, Tyne and Wear
This book is dedicated to my mum and dad,
Mary and Bob Allely.
CONTENTS

1 Introduction

2 The anatomy of extreme violence

3 Serial homicide

4 Mass shooters

5 Rampage school shootings

6 The psychology of terrorism and lone-actor terrorists

7 Conclusion: threat assessment and prevention of extreme

violence

Index
1
INTRODUCTION

In the United States, between 1978 and 1991, a man murdered 17

men and boys, with the majority of these murders taking place
between 1987 and 1991. His murders involved rape,
dismemberment, necrophilia and cannibalism. He also made crude
attempts to lobotomize some of his victims. In the United Kingdom,
a man killed his 15 male victims over a five-year period between
1978 and 1983. A man murdered 10 people (mostly women) in
Wichita, Kansas in the United States between 1974 and 1991. On
June 17, 2015, a 21-year-old man shot nine people at an Emanuel
African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. On
May 23, 2014, a 22-year-old man embarked on a “premeditated,
murderous rampage” in Isla Vista Santa Barbara, California killing six
people, and himself and injuring 14 others. On December 14, 2012,
a 20-year-old man shot his mother multiple times in the head before
going out and killing 26 people, 20 of them young children, inside
Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. A man
known as the “Unabomber” sent through the mail or hand delivered
16 package bombs to mainly scientists and academicians over the
course of 17 years, which resulted in the death of three and the
injury of 23 people. On July 22, 2011, a Norwegian man killed 77
people during two well-planned attacks. The first involved the
bombing of government buildings in Oslo and the second the
shooting spree on the island of Utøya.
 In the aftermath or detection of such terrible tragedies and
extreme acts of violence, the same questions are always asked.
What motivated the individual to perpetrate such acts of extreme
violence? Was he mentally ill? Was he insane? Did he have any brain
abnormalities? Did he come from an abusive background? Were
there any red flags or warning signs of what was to come? Could it
have been prevented? What can we do to avoid more of these
tragedies in the future? This book will address these questions
through the use of case studies for a range of extreme acts of
violence, including: mass shooting, school shooting, serial homicide
and lone-actor terrorism. Note the use of the ‘he’ in the questions
above. This is because the majority of such extreme acts of violence
are carried out by males. In Chapter 2, the anatomy of extreme
violence is explored, including brain abnormalities, genetics and
heart rate. Chapter 3 explores the psychology of serial homicide and
provides a theoretical background to serial homicide, including
exploring some of the factors that may contribute to this type of
offending behavior. It also covers some of the key typologies of
serial homicide offenders, including the disorganized and organized
typology. In this chapter, a new nosology for serial homicide is
discussed: the Compulsive Criminal Homicide (CCH), which attempts
to bridge legal, academic and clinical perspectives on serial
homicide. Two case studies of serial homicide offenders are explored
in detail, Jeffrey Dahmer and Dennis Rader (both based in the
United States). A brief case study of Dennis Nilsen is also covered in
this chapter. Nilsen has been described as the British equivalent of
Jeffrey Dahmer and it is useful to highlight the parallels between
these two serial homicide offenders in terms of their premortem and
postmortem interactions with their victims as well as the
psychological motivations underlying their extreme acts of violence.
In Chapter 4, the psychology of mass shooters is explored and the
case studies of Elliot Rodger and Dylann Roof are examined in detail.
Dylann Roof is also sometimes referred to as a lone-actor terrorist
but, for the purposes of this chapter, he is referred to as a mass
shooter. Then, in Chapter 5, the psychology of school rampage
shooters is studied, first with a review of the theoretical literature
and then with the examination of a detailed case study of school
shooter Adam Lanza. The psychology of terrorism and lone-actor
terrorism is then explored in Chapter 6, starting with an overview of
the literature relating to psychology and terrorism and, then, in more
specific detail with the case studies of Theodore Kaczynski (the
“Unabomber”) and Anders Behring Breivik. The final chapter
explores the available literature and resources on threat assessment
and prevention.
This book is a comprehensive resource for academics and
professionals involved in extreme violence, such as psychologists,
psychiatrists, investigators, lawyers, profilers, criminal justice
professionals, educators, social workers and anyone who wants to
understand the contributing factors that can be involved in such
extreme acts of violence. This book will also be of interest to
students taking courses on homicide, serial homicide, sexual
homicide, mass shooting, school shooting, terrorism, lone-actor
terrorism, forensic psychology and criminology and criminal justice.
The main purpose of this book is not to glorify or in any way
condone the actions of those who perpetrate such acts of extreme
violence; rather, it aims to positively influence how we think about
and respond to the individuals who perpetrate such extreme acts of
violence. By adopting a case study approach, we are able to gain a
rich and extremely detailed (and sometimes personal) insight into
the pathway to violence in each of the offenders explored in this
book, with the aim of increasing our understanding of what were the
specific motivations and psychological factors underlying their
extreme acts of violence. I hope that readers of this book will find it
useful, informative, interesting and that it will stimulate debate and
new ideas of how we can even more effectively study these
individuals to increase our understanding and prevent further
devastating tragedies in the future.
2
THE ANATOMY OF EXTREME
VIOLENCE

The development of a lone-actor terrorist, mass shooter or serial

homicide offender is the result of a combination and interaction of a
number of different factors (psychosocial factors, genetic,
neurobiological, etc). Psychosocial stressors such as childhood abuse
is a factor that has been found to alter the trajectory of brain
development (van der Kolk, 2003; Andersen et al., 2008; Blanco et
al., 2015; Teicher & Samson, 2016).

The role of neurochemistry in violence

The possibility of a biological or genetic basis for serial homicide or

other forms of extreme violence is controversial (DeHart & Mahoney,
1994). However, studies have found associations between neuro-
chemical imbalance and aggression. For instance, studies have found
that low serotoninergic activity in humans is associated with
impulsive, self-destructive violence (e.g., Söderström et al., 2001;
Volavka, 2002; Krakowski, 2003; Coccaro et al., 2015; however, see
Duke et al., 2013). Others have shown that increased synaptic
serotonin levels are related to aggression (e.g., Raine, 1993; Raine,
Lencz & Scerbo, 1995; Volavka, 1995, 1999; Bell, Abrams & Nutt,
2001; Baron-Cohen, 2011). Dopamine and norepinephrine have both
been found to increase levels of aggression (Raine, 1993) and there
have been numerous studies that have found aberrant dopaminergic
function in individuals with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder
(ADHD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and schizophrenia
(Söderström et al., 2001). Testosterone plays a role in aggression
but its effects interact with social factors (Miller, 2000).

Monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A)

There is an increasing number of studies that have identified an
association between genetics and violence. There is an enzyme
called monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A) that plays a role in the
metabolism of norepinephrine, serotonin and dopamine. Levels of
MAO-A are genetically determined. In their study, Heide and
Solomon (2006) found evidence that showed that men with low
MAO-A activity were three times more likely to be convicted of a
violent crime by the time they were 26 years of age when compared
to men who had high MAO-A activity. In a longitudinal study
conducted by Caspi and colleagues, which includes a large sample of
male children from birth to adulthood, findings revealed an
association between low levels of MAO-A activity and violence was
only in those who had also experienced childhood maltreatment
(Caspi et al., 2002). Interestingly, findings showed that the
maltreated children with high levels of MAO-A expression were less
likely to develop antisocial problems when compared to the
maltreated children with low levels of MAO-A. Regarding the adult
violent convictions, the maltreated males with low levels of MAO-A
were found to be more likely to be convicted of a violent crime than
the non-maltreated males with low levels of MAO-A. In the males
who were found to have high levels of MAO-A activity, maltreatment
was not found be a significant risk factor for a violent conviction. A
meta-analysis that was published a few years after the publication
by Caspi and colleagues (2002), which combined the results from
five studies, found that the association between early familial
adversity and mental health was significantly stronger in the low
level MAO-A group when compared to the high level MAO-A group
(Kim-Cohen et al., 2006). This was consistent with the findings from
Caspi and colleagues’ (2002) study. Kim-Cohen and colleagues
(2006) did not just carry out a meta-analysis in their paper, but also
reported the findings from their own study based on a sample of 975
seven-year-old boys. The findings replicated those of Caspi and
colleagues (2002).
MAO-A has also been found to be associated with antisocial
personality disorder (APD) (Beach et al., 2010). Interestingly,
research has found evidence to indicate that there is a direct
relationship between the MAO-A gene and features of antisocial
personality, irrespective of whether the individual had experienced
abuse or not (Williams et al., 2009). In both females and males with
low level MAO-A gene, higher levels of lifelong aggression were
reported (Eisenberger et al., 2007). In the men who had a rare
genetic abnormality of the MAO-A gene, which results in low levels
of MAO-A, twice the amount of serious delinquency and adult
violence were found when compared to the normal controls (Guo et
al., 2008).
Crucially, there does not exist a single gene that is solely
responsible for crime or violence. As well as MAO-A, Raine (2013)
has highlighted that there are a number of other genes that have
also been identified as being contributing factors to antisocial and
aggressive behavior. For instance, the 5HTT gene (Cadoret et al.,
2003), the DRD2 gene (DeLisi et al., 2009), the DAT1 gene (Lee et
al., 2007) and the DRD4 (Gadow et al., 2010).

Hormones of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis

Hormones of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, which
are involved in the stress response to situations that are threatening,
also play a complex and important role in the regulation of
aggression (Barzman et al., 2010). Psychological stress at a number
of stages in development may result in long-lasting changes to the
functioning of the HPA axis, which may predispose individuals to
engaging in antisocial behavior (e.g., van Goozen et al., 2007). In
studies involving humans, cortisol secretion is usually examined in
relation to HPA axis activation. Salivary cortisol concentration is a
peripheral measure that is used in many studies in order to
investigate individual differences in the HPA axis, which is involved in
propensities for aggression, socialization and the ability to adapt to
stress (McBurnett et al., 2000). There have been some studies that
have found an association between reduced basal cortisol
concentrations and aggressive behavior (Van Goozen et al. 2004).
However, other studies have not found this association (e.g., Azar et
al., 2004). A positive association between aggressive behavior and
reduced cortisol concentrations has been found by other studies
(e.g., Van Bokhoven et al., 2005). Some longitudinal studies have
investigated this association. For instance, one found that low levels
of cortisol in childhood were predictive of aggressive behavior five
years later when they were adolescents (Shoal, Giancola & Kilrillova,
2003). The salivary cortisol levels and levels of aggression in 38
clinic-referred school-aged boys were investigated in another study,
which found that boys who were displaying behavioral problems and
also had low levels of cortisol were found to be more aggressive at a
follow-up two years later (McBurnett et al., 2000). Lastly,
hypoglycaemia is now well-recognized as being associated with
impulsive, violent behavior. It is suggested that this association may
be potentially mediated through serotonergic mechanisms and also
alcohol intake (Volavka, 1995, 1999).

Brain abnormalities and neuroanatomy of mass murderers

Cavum septum pellucidum

There is a neurological condition that is called the cavum septum
pellucidum (CSP), which occurs as a result of maldevelopment of the
brain. The exact factors that may cause limbic maldevelopment
leading to CSP are not known (Raine, 2013). During normal
development of the limbic system, two leaflets of gray and white
matter fuse together, which creates what is known as the “septum
pellucidum.” The “septum pellucidum” is what separates the lateral
ventricles, which are the fluid-filled spaces in the middle of the brain
(Raine, 2013, see Figure 2.1). During the second trimester of
pregnancy, there is a rapid growth of the limbic and midline
structures (which include the hippocampus, amygdale, septum and
the corpus collosum). Such rapid growth of the limbic and midline
structures causes the fusion of the two leaflets of gray and white
matter. The fusion is completed some time between three and six
months after birth (Sarwar, 1989). When there is a maldevelopment
of the limbic structures, the cavum is formed between the two
leaflets, which do not become fused (Raine, 2013). This has led
many to believe that CSP may be a potentially useful early marker
for disrupted limbic region development (Sarwar, 1989), which in
turn has been found to be associated with offending behavior (e.g.,
Pardini et al., 2013).

FIGURE 2.1 The septum pellucidum in a non-antisocial

individual compared to the septum pellucidum
in an antisocial individual. (a) shows a scan of
a normal brain and (b) shows a scan of an
individual with a cavum septum pellucidum
(CSP).
Permission to use image kindly granted by Professor Adrian
Raine.

There have been numerous experimental studies on animals

(such as rodents and monkeys) investigating CSP and the findings
suggest an association between anomalies or irritation of septum
pellucidum and increased levels of aggression (Shaw & Alvord Jr.,
1969; Sarwar, 1989; Toivonen et al., 2013). This research was taken
forward into human studies by Raine, Lee, Yang and Colletti (2010),
who used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in order to examine
CSP in a community sample. Significantly higher scores on measures
of both antisocial personality disorder and psychopathy were found
in individuals in the group who did have CSP (n = 19) compared to
the control group who did not have CSP (n = 68). Additionally, more
charges and convictions were also found in the group of individuals
with CSP compared to the controls (Raine et al., 2010). There has
been relatively little research carried out to date exploring the
factors that may be contributing to this maldevelopment of the
limbic structures, which causes CSP. However, maternal consumption
of alcohol during pregnancy has been suggested as being one of the
factors contributing to limbic maldevelopment (Swayze et al., 1997
as cited in Raine, 2013). It is useful to note that Raine and
colleagues had controlled for other factors (such as trauma, head
injury and psychiatric confounds), but the findings did not change.
Therefore, CSP by itself appears to be what predisposes individuals
to antisocial, psychopathic and aggressive behavior (Raine, 2013).
The two images in Figure 2.1 are coronal MRI slices at the level of
the head of the anterior limb of the internal capsule, caudate,
putamen, accumbens and insula. Highlighted within the central box
in both images is the septum pellucidum. Illustration (a) shows a
normal, fused septum pellucidum (thin membrane that separates the
lateral ventricles) in a non-antisocial control and illustration (b)
shows the CSP (a fluid-filled cavum between the two leaflets of the
septum pellucidum) in an individual with antisocial personality
disorder.
Based on the Raine and colleagues (2010) research, the presence
of CSP would appear to be a neurodevelopmental marker of
psychopathy. However, a study conducted in Finland, Toivonen and
colleagues (2013), found potentially contradictory results. Toivonen
and colleagues scanned the brains of 26 violent offenders and 25
controls. They matched both groups according to age (control
group: mean age 35 years (SD = 8), offender group: mean age 34
years (SD = 10)). All 26 offenders had been charged with violent
offences (two murders, 10 manslaughter, four attempted murder or
manslaughter, one assisting manslaughter, six aggravated assaults
and three armed robberies). A history of recurrent violent acts was
found in all of the violent offenders in the sample. History of no prior
convictions were found in only two. None of the violent offenders in
the sample had a history or current diagnosis of psychosis. All 26
violent offenders fulfilled the diagnostic criteria for antisocial
personality disorder (DSM-IV, American Psychiatric Association, APA,
1994) and dissocial personality (ICD-10, World Health Organization.
The ICD-10 classification of mental and behavioral disorders: clinical
descriptions and diagnostic guidelines. WHO, 1992). In order to
measure psychopathy, the Psychopathy Checklist – Revised (PCL-R,
Hare et al., 2000) ratings were used. In the offenders, the mean
score on the PCL-R was 26.2 (SD = 3.8, range 20–34). The mean
score on the PCL-R was not given for the control group. Regarding
the question of CSP and its influence on violent offending behavior,
in their study Toivonen and colleagues identified the level of CSP in
both groups. Two of the violent offenders (8%) had CSP and two of
the control subjects had CSP (8%). Also, in addition to CSP, one of
the controls also had cavum vergae. The cavum vergae is a posterior
extension of the cavum septi pellucidi or CSP. What the findings from
this interesting study suggest is that in the violent offenders there
was no increased prevalence of CSP when compared to the controls.
This would indicate that CSP may not be a typical feature of violent
offenders with either psychopathy or antisocial personality disorder.
However, it must be pointed out that this study was not, like the
study carried out by Raine and colleagues (2010), comparing a CSP
group with a non-CSP group – and the presence of two individuals
with CSP in each group has too low a statistical power given the
small sample size to support the argument that the existence of CSP
appears to cut across the full spectrum of antisocial behaviors.
Lastly, Bodensteiner and Schaefer (1990) examined nine children
who were identified as having a wide CSP (a wide CSP is defined as
a separation of at least one cm between the leaves). They explored
intellectual dysfunction, midline anomalies of the brain and growth
failure in relation to wide CSP. The presence of a wide CSP is not
common. Findings revealed that eight of the nine children displayed
abnormalities such as: cognitive impairment (n = 8), seizures (n =
4), hypoplasia of the corpus callosum (n = 4), optic nerve hypoplasia
(n = 2) and growth failure (n = 4). The findings from this study
suggest that wide CSP may be part of a spectrum of anomalies of
the midline brain (Bodensteiner & Schaefer, 1990).

Serial homicide offenders and neurological assessment

There has been very little research conducted to date that has used
neuroimaging methodology to examine mass murderers (Fox et al.,
2016; Reid, 2017). As highlighted by Reid (2017), there are some
examples of serial homicide offenders who have undergone
neurological testing, however, in many cases there is no evidence of
any neurological dysfunction. One example is Ted Bundy who,
throughout his incarceration, was subjected to extensive neurological
examination, which did not reveal any evidence of psychotic or
neurotic personality features nor any evidence of an organic brain
disease (Rule, 1981). The medical examiner who was charged with
Bundy’s autopsy made the following comment, “when it was finally
removed and examined, Ted Bundy’s brain looked like anyone else’s”
(Maples & Browning, 2010, p. 132). There may, however, have been
abnormalities present at the molecular level but this was not
examined. Additionally, examination of the brain of serial homicide
offender John Gacy, following his execution, revealed nothing
remarkable (Fox & Levin, 2014). The psychiatrist who retained
Gacy’s brain stated that, “there’s actually nothing abnormal, so no
tumor, no growth, no sign of any injury… the ventricles are fine, no
sign of hydrocephalus” (interview in the Chicago Tribune, 2004).
Reid (2017) also very importantly points out that the majority of
neurobiological investigations that have been performed on serial
homicide offenders are limited as they base their examinations on
dead brain tissue. Given such limitations and the barriers facing
researchers to get access to this population, many researchers are
using alternative populations. For instance, Professor Kent Kiehl, in
collaboration with the Mind Research Network, uses a transportable
MRI machine and has created the largest database of brain data
from incarcerated populations (predominantly psychopaths) in the
world.
Neurocriminologist Dr Raine has studied the Positron Emission
Tomography (PET) scan of American serial homicide offender, Randy
Kraft. He was found guilty of murdering a minimum of 16 men
(predominantly homosexual drifters) between 1972 and 1983. Raine
was able to observe from the PET scan of Kraft’s brain that he had
elevated levels of activity in the thalamus and that the functioning of
his prefrontal cortex was unremarkable. Raine found this notable
given his findings based on single homicide offenders, which showed
the opposite. Specifically, in his studies, Raine and colleagues found
evidence of reduced functioning in the prefrontal cortex of single
homicide offenders while, on the other hand, finding increased
prefrontal cortex functioning in the serial homicide offenders. Raine
(2013) suggests that these findings would indicate that the
functioning of the prefrontal cortex is more effective in serial
homicide offenders when compared to single homicide offenders,
which may be one of the explanations why serial homicide offenders
(such as Kraft) avoid being apprehended for so long (they are not
detected after their first homicide) (Raine, 2013).
As pointed out by Reid (2017), there has been relatively little
neurological examination of the brains of serial homicide offenders.
She highlights that the key reason for this is the number of barriers
and obstacles that face researchers who are trying to investigate the
potential etiological factors that give rise to a serial homicide
offender. First, penal institutions restrict access to this population.
Second, the serial homicide offender’s lawyer(s) and/or the offender
themselves may deny access (O’Reilly-Fleming, 1996). Third, the
offender may not wish to cooperate with those wishing to carry out
any psychological or medical research. Fourth, the offender may be
deceased, or the family refuse to give permission to access the
deceased offender’s brain for further scientific analysis. An example
of this is the case of Jeffrey Dahmer. In a motion hearing by the
State of Wisconsin regarding the estate of Jeffrey Dahmer, his father,
Lionel, argued successfully for Jeffrey’s brain to be cremated along
with his body rather than be used for scientific enquiry (Case No. 94-
PR-175, 1995).

Studies investigating brain abnormalities in murderers

There are a number of studies that have explored signs of brain
abnormalities in single victim homicide offenders and found that
those individuals who commit homicide tend to show “measurable
neuroanatomical abnormalities” (Fox et al., 2016). A study that used
magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) found, in adolescent single victim
murderers, reduced volume of gray matter in the medial and lateral
temporal lobes when compared to incarcerated adolescents who had
not committed homicide (Cope et al., 2014). An interesting study
was carried out by Gatzke-Kopp and colleagues (2001), which used
both electroencephalography (EEG) and Positron Emission
Tomography (PET) to investigate 14 homicide offenders. They were
assessed using PET while they performed the continuous
performance task and EEG was performed while the murderers were
in a resting state. They found different information about the
dysfunction of the brain in the homicide offender depending on
whether PET was used or resting EEG. The EEG temporal-central
dysfunction could not be explained by the PET findings, which were
previously reported (which included reduced prefrontal, left
amygdala, left hippocampus, left angular gyrus and increased
occipital glucose metabolism). Slow-wave EEG was not found in
frontal leads, yet, as shown in the previous PET study, glucose
metabolism was lowered in the prefrontal cortex (Raine, Buchsbaum
& LaCasse, 1997). However, in the occipital lobe there was a
decrease in EEG slow-wave activity, which may be associated with
increased glucose metabolism in the PET findings of the homicide
offenders. Typically, studies examining violent offenders do not
employ multiple imaging techniques, which is problematic given the
findings from this study by Gatzke-Kopp and colleagues. The findings
may also explain why there are inconsistencies in the findings across
studies.
 One study examined 15 violent murderers who were all on death
row, Lewis and colleagues (1988), and found that all of them had
histories of severe head injury. Major neurological impairments were
experienced by five of the 15 violent murderers. Seven others were
found to have other, less serious, neurological problems such as
blackouts and soft signs. These findings identified evidence of
neurological abnormality in 12 of the 15 violent murderers and major
neurological impairment in five of the violent murderers (Lewis et al.,
1986). In another study, which examined 16 death row inmates, a
history of brain damage was found in 12 (Freedman & Hemenway,
2000). In a study that examined 13 sexual homicide offenders, brain
injury abnormalities were found in four (Langevin et al., 1988).
However, one of the limitations of Langevin and colleagues’ study
was that computed tomography (CT) scans were not available in
three of the 13 serial homicide cases that they examined in their
study. The same group of researchers found in another study that
41% of sadists exhibited a right temporal horn dilatation
abnormality. The percentage of this abnormality in the nonsadistic
sexual aggressives was 11% and 13% in the controls. Therefore,
when compared to the non-sadistic sexual aggressive and controls,
this abnormality of the right temporal horn was much higher in the
group of sadists (Langevin et al., 1988).
Raine and colleagues (1994) were interested in studying seriously
violent offenders pleading not guilty by reason of insanity or who are
considered incompetent to stand trial to see whether any prefrontal
dysfunctions could be identified in these individuals. Specifically,
using positron emission tomography (PET), they examined the local
cerebral uptake of glucose while participants were engaged in a
continuous performance task. A group of 22 individuals who were
accused of murder were compared to 22 age-matched and gender-
matched controls. In the accused murderers, there were significantly
reduced levels of glucose metabolism in the lateral and also in the
medial prefrontal cortex when compared to that found in the
controls. The findings from this study would suggest that there was
regional specificity for the prefrontal dysfunction as no differences
were found between the two groups for glucose metabolism in the
posterior frontal, temporal and parietal regions. In a subsequent PET
study by the same research group, Raine, Buchsbaum and LaCasse
(1997), a sample of 41 murderers pleading not guilty by reason of
insanity and 41 age- and sex-matched controls were examined while
they carried out a continuous performance challenge task. Evidence
of reduced glucose metabolism in a variety of areas including the
prefrontal cortex, the superior parietal gyrus, the left angular gyrus
and the corpus callosum was found in the murderers when
compared to the controls. Additionally, abnormal asymmetries of
activity (left hemisphere lower than right) were found in the
amygdala, thalamus and medial temporal lobe in the murderers.
Such findings led Raine and his colleagues to argue that, in
murderers who plead not guilty by reasons of insanity, there may be
a network of abnormal brain processes in the cortical and subcortical
regions of the brain and that this abnormal network may predispose
them to engaging in violent behavior (Raine, Buchsbaum & LaCasse,
1997).
Raine and colleagues’ (1997) findings are noteworthy and raise
important questions, such as what other factors may be contributing
to extreme violent behavior such as homicide. Raine, Stoddard,
Bihrle and Buchsbaum (1998a) aimed to investigate the hypothesis
that murderers who had no clear evidence of early psychosocial
deprivation (e.g., no childhood abuse, family neglect) would have
lower prefrontal glucose metabolism when compared to murderers
with early psychosocial deprivation and a group of normal controls.
Raine and colleagues (1998a) used murderers from an earlier study
by the same group of researchers (Raine, Buchsbaum & LaCasse,
1997, which was discussed in the preceding paragraph), which found
evidence of prefrontal deficits in murderers. The group of murderers
were then divided into those with and without psychosocial
deprivation. Compared to the group of murderers who had clear
evidence of psychosocial deprivation (e.g., childhood neglect,
childhood abuse), murderers with no obvious signs of psychosocial
deprivation were characterised more by prefrontal deficits. Raine and
colleagues (1998a) found a 4.7% reduction in lateral and medial
glucose metabolism in the murderers with no psychosocial
deprivation. In the murderers with no psychosocial deprivation,
significantly reduced medial glucose metabolism was found when
compared to the murderers with psychosocial deprivation. Therefore,
it appears that, in murderers with no clear evidence or signs of
psychosocial deprivation, reduced prefrontal glucose metabolism is
typical. The murderers with no psychosocial deprivation were found
to have poorer orbitofrontal functioning, which was most notable in
the right hemisphere (a lateral asymmetry) when compared to the
murderers with psychosocial deprivation. Specifically, murderers with
no clear evidence of psychosocial deprivation were found to have a
7.4% reduction in left orbitofrontal functioning when compared to
the controls. The murderers with no clear evidence of psychosocial
deprivation also showed in the right orbitofrontal cortex, when
compared to the controls, a greater (14.2%) reduction in glucose
metabolism. Raine and colleagues have suggested that, in violent
offenders with no psychosocial deprivation (no provided home
backgrounds), the “social push” to violence is reduced. As a result,
“brain abnormalities provide a relatively stronger predisposition to
violence in this group” (Raine et al., 1998a, p. 1).
In another study carried out by the same group of researchers,
Raine and colleagues (1998b) used PET to examine glucose
metabolism (a measure of regional brain activity) to see whether
there were any differences in glucose metabolism in predatory
(planned and controlled) murderers compared to affective
(emotionally impulsive) murderers. Fifteen predatory murderers,
nine affective murderers, and 41 age and sex matched normal
controls were examined. Glucose metabolism was studied in a
variety of areas, including: the left and right hemisphere prefrontal
(medial and lateral) and subcortical (amygdala, midbrain,
hippocampus and thalamus) regions. The affective murderers
exhibited reduced prefrontal activity (both left and right) compared
to the predatory murderers and the controls. When compared to the
controls and predatory murderers, the affective murderers exhibited
increased metabolism in the right hemisphere subcortical structures,
including the amygdale, hippocampus and thalamus (as well as
lower-right hemisphere prefrontal/subcortical ratios). In the
predatory murderers, significantly increased metabolism in the same
right hemisphere subcortical structures was found. However, levels
of prefrontal activity were similar between the predatory murderers
and the normal controls. Interestingly, evidence of reduced
prefrontal functioning by an average of 7.1% was found in the
affective murderers when compared to the other two groups.
However, an elevation in subcortical functioning by an average of
8.7% was found in the affective murderers. Raine and colleagues
(1998b) have suggested that excessive subcortical activity
predisposes an individual to engage in aggressive behavior.
This study by Raine and colleagues (1998b) also showed that
there is evidence of adequate levels of left prefrontal brain region
functioning in the predatory violent offenders. This allowed them to
regulate their aggressive behavior for the purposes of intimidating,
deceiving and manipulating others for their own gain. Unlike the
predatory murderers, the affective murderers do not have sufficient
levels of prefrontal modulatory control over their impulses, resulting
in greater unregulated and aggressive behaviors (Raine et al.,
1998b). Raine (2013) points out that this may appear like a paradox
– the sufficient frontal regulatory control and increased limbic
activation in the predatory murderers. However, evidence of such a
combination can be seen in a variety of serial homicide offenders,
Ted Bundy being one example. Bundy may have murdered as many
as 100 women and girls (predominantly college students). His
attacks showed a great deal of thought and planning. For instance,
he would put his arm in a sling to appear vulnerable to his potential
victims. He would politely ask if the young women could help him
carry something to his car. Once she agreed to help and started to
help him, he would lure her away to somewhere where he would not
be interrupted, using his charm and good looks, where he would
tear into his victim – biting her buttocks, gnawing her nipples and
bashing her head before, eventually, brutally beating and killing her.
Here you can see evidence of both careful planning and violent fury:
“The emotional limbic cauldron was overflowing into an unbridled,
unregulated killing” (Raine, 2013, p. 79).
 A study replicated the findings from the study carried out by
Raine and colleagues (1998b), which found reduced prefrontal
activation in impulsive murderers (Amen et al., 2007). Amen and
colleagues (2007) examined differences in regional cerebral blood
flow using single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) in
46 male murderers (age range 17–71 years) prior to their sentencing
over a seven-year period. Twenty-seven of the 46 male murderers
were right-handed and all received a resting and concentration
SPECT scan. Their crimes were characterized as impulsive, non-
predatory acts of violence. This subsample of 27 males was used in
the present study. The 27 males were separated into two groups –
those who were under the age of 30 years (n = 11) and those who
were over the age of 30 years (n = 16). Amen and colleagues were
focused on the under-30 group in their paper. One of the primary
explanations for them focusing on the under 30s was that a normal
age distribution was found in this group, something that was not
found in the over-30 group. Regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) was
measured in the subjects when they were at rest and also when
they were performing a computerised go/no-go concentration task.
Findings did not reveal any brain regions that exhibited increased
rCBF. However, the impulsive murderers, during concentration,
showed a marked reduction in relative rCBF in the regions of the
brain that are known to be involved in impulse control and
concentration (specifically the anterior cingulate and orbital
cortices). In addition, in the group of impulsive murderers, Amen
and colleagues identified evidence of bilateral deactivation in the
parahippocampal gyri and unci, which are areas of the brain
adjacent to the amygdala. Large clusters of decreased bilateral
parietal lobe activity was found in the murderers, which is consistent
with earlier findings (e.g., Raine et al., 1998b).
However, unlike the findings from the PET study carried out by
Raine and colleagues, which showed significant increases in activity
within the occipital lobe, Amen and colleagues (2007) found large
areas of reduced occipital rCBF in the murderers. One explanation
for the difference in findings between these two studies may be the
use of different imaging techniques between them. However, studies
which have used SPECT have found increased occipital activity in
individuals with ADHD, which is a neurodevelopmental disorder that
has an impulsivity facet (e.g., Kim et al., 2002). In their paper, Amen
and colleagues state that, while they were able to carry out all the
scans when the subjects were off medication, they were not able to
control for the history of their murder subjects (e.g., drug use, head
injury, psychiatric mental health conditions). This results in a
significantly heterogeneous group. They also point out that, with
such a small sample size (n = 11), it is not possible to control for
these factors statistically due to the low power (Amen et al., 2007).
Studies such as the ones carried out by Amen and colleagues and
Raine and colleagues are extremely difficult and challenging to
conduct. Due to the challenges and difficulties involved, there has
been relatively little research carried out that builds on the findings
from these studies, which have explored the possible neurobiological
abnormalities in homicide offenders (Yang et al., 2010; Raine, 2013).
Studies have found that violent offenders frequently show
abnormal frontal and/or temporal cerebral blood flow. Söderström
and colleagues (2000) were interested in investigating this further,
controlling for major mental disorder (MMD), substance abuse and
current medication use. They retrospectively re-examined the
HMPAO-SPECT-CBF and MRI scans from pretrial forensic psychiatric
investigations of a sample of 21 subjects who had received a
conviction for impulsive violent crimes. Perfusion
hexamethylpropyleneamine oxime – single photon emission
computed tomography (HMPAO-SPECT) measures cerebral blood
flow (CBF) (Söderström et al., 2000). Visual assessment of SPECT
scans showed that in 16 of the 21 participants there was a level of
hypoperfusion in the temporal and/or frontal lobes. Hypoperfusion
occurs in the brain when there is an inadequate supply of blood flow.
Interestingly, no corresponding structural damage was identified
using MRI. Regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in specific regions in
the index cases was examined and compared to the 11 healthy
control subjects. The study found that there were significant
reductions in the right angular gyrus, the right medial temporal
gyrus, bilaterally in the hippocampus and in the left white frontal
matter. However, there was significantly increased rCBF bilaterally in
the parietal association cortex (Söderström et al., 2000).

Studies investigating structural abnormalities in

psychopaths
In the United States, neuroscientist Professor Kent Kiehl has
suggested that the parahippocampal gyrus is one of the areas of the
brain that underlies symptoms of psychopathy (Kiehl, 2006). A
research team in Germany has also found that, in psychopathic
adults, there is evidence of reduced parahippocampal functioning
(Müller et al., 2003). In their sample of impulsive murderers, Amen
and colleagues reached similar findings (Amen et al., 2007). The
hippocampus plays an important role in both fear conditioning and
emotional responding. In both animal and human studies, the
hippocampus has been found to be an important component in the
limbic circuit that contributes to the regulation of emotional behavior
and it has also been shown to be a contributory factor in aggressive,
antisocial behavior (e.g., Adamec, 1991; Guillot, Roubertoux &
Crusio, 1994; Gregg & Siegel, 2001; Leroy et al., 2018).
Structural abnormalities have been identified in the hippocampus
of psychopaths in a number of studies. Boccardi and colleagues
(2010) examined, using MRI, hippocampal volume and morphology
in 26 offenders (with a mean age of 32.5 years) who were habitually
violent, with differing levels of psychopathy (12 with high levels of
psychopathy and 14 with medium levels of psychopathy). Levels of
psychopathy were determined based on the Psychopathy Checklist
Revised (PCL-R, Hare, 1991, 2003) and 25 healthy controls (with a
mean age of 34.6 years). Interestingly, the findings showed that,
when compared with the healthy controls and the medium
psychopathy group, there was a significant depression along the
longitudinal hippocampal axis, on both the dorsal and ventral
aspects in the high psychopathy group. On the other hand, there
was evidence of abnormal enlargement of the lateral borders in both
the right and left hippocampi throughout CA1, CA2–3 and the
subicular regions in the high and medium psychopathy groups when
compared to the control group. In terms of volume and pattern of
asymmetry, the study did not show any difference between the
offenders and the controls. However, in the offenders, a unique
distribution of alterations was found. These alterations included a
significant enlargement of lateral borders in the hippocampal body
and tail in addition to a depression along the midline longitudinal
axis. The hippocampus was found to have a tendency to appear in a
double convex shape in the coronal plane or frontal plane. This
shape was also found to be the same on both sides of the
hippocampus. However, this double convex shape in the coronal
plane of the hippocampus was found to be more pronounced in the
subgroup who displayed more severe levels of psychopathic
features. Such findings were not the result of polysubstance abuse
or amphetamine use as these were some of the potentially
confounding factors that the researchers controlled for in their study
(Boccardi et al., 2010).
Yang and colleagues (2009), in another interesting study,
examined amygdala volumes and found that, in the psychopaths, the
right and left amygdalae were both impaired, with the impairments
being more marked on the right amygdalae (Yang et al., 2009).
Twenty-seven psychopathic individuals, according to scores on the
Psychopathy Checklist–Revised (PCL-R; Hare, 1991; 2003), were
compared to a group of 32 normal controls (age-, sex- and ethnicity-
matched). Yang and colleagues found that individuals with
psychopathy had significant bilateral volume reductions in the
amygdala when compared to the controls (left, 17.1% and right,
18.9%) (Yang et al., 2009). Lastly, in their meta-analysis, Yang and
Raine (2009) identified 43 structural and functional imaging studies.
Findings from their meta-analysis of these studies showed that in
antisocial individuals there is significantly reduced prefrontal
structure and function. One of the main findings from this meta-
analysis was that there were numerous other regions besides the
prefrontal cortex that may have a significant involvement in
antisocial and violent behavior (Raine & Yang, 2006). There is clearly
a need for more brain imaging research examining the potential
relationship between violent behavior and brain malformities in
regions of the brain that have been relatively neglected, including
the hippocampus, the amygdala, insula and angular gyrus (Yang &
Raine, 2009).

Neurocognition of mass murderers

Research exploring the neurocognitive abilities of mass murderers

with three or more victims in a single incident is sparse (Fox et al.,
2016). There have been more studies carried out investigating the
neurocognitive abilities of murders who have killed less than three
victims in a single incident. For instance, Hanlon and colleagues
(2010) studied the neurocognitive profiles of 77 indigent murder
defendants and death row inmates. They found elevated rates of
developmental disorders (49%), personality disorders (54%), Axis I
psychiatric disorders (45%), substance abuse (86%) and history of
violence (43%). The study also found that, relative to those who
were charged and/or convicted of killing two or more people, the
single murderers were characterised by executive dysfunction,
reduced intelligence, reduced information processing speed and a
higher rate of developmental disorders (58%). Significantly higher
rates of personality disorders (79%) and lower rates of
developmental disorders (34%) were found in those charged and/or
convicted of killing two or more people when compared to the single
murderers. In sum, 55% of the sample showed executive
dysfunction (executive functions were significantly decreased,
relative to memory functions). The murderers with two or more
victims demonstrated significantly better processing speed abilities
and executive functions when compared to the single victim
murderers (Hanlon et al., 2010).

Traumatic brain injury

It is well-established in the literature that there is an association

between Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and both violent and non-
violent criminal behaviors (e.g., Grafman et al., 1996; Gansler et al.,
2009; for a review see Raine, 2008). A number of studies have
found a history of TBI to be an independent predictor of criminal and
violent behaviors, imprisonment and recidivism (Hawley & Maden,
2003). Neuropsychological studies have indicated a significantly
higher prevalence of brain dysfunction in offender populations, with
one study suggesting that the prevalence of brain dysfunction in
homicide offenders is as high as 94% (Pallone & Hennessy, 1998).
The number and type of brain abnormalities and their influence
on psychosocial development, criminal history and paraphilias in
sexual murderers was investigated in a study carried out by Briken
and colleagues (2005). The psychiatric court reports on 166 men
who had committed a sexual homicide between 1945 and 1991 were
examined retrospectively and compared to a group with notable
signs of brain abnormalities (n = 50) and also a group without any
signs (n = 116). Greater early behavior problems were identified in
the sexual murderers who have brain abnormalities. They were also
found to be less likely to cohabitate with the victim at the time of the
homicide and had more victims who were six years of age or
younger. Additionally, in offenders with brain abnormalities,
transvestic fetishism and paraphilias not otherwise specified were
more commonly found. Out of the total group of 166 men who had
committed sexual homicide, any indication of brain abnormalities
was identified in 31% (50/166). With regard to diagnoses, some of
the abnormalities included: epilepsy, traumatic brain injuries (in eight
of the men before 12 years of age) and childhood
encephalitis/meningitis leading to brain damage, genetic disorders
(3/50 with XYY karyotype). Brain damage was not specified in 16 of
the men. Briken and colleagues were also able to identify five factors
that significantly predicted being in the group that had brain
abnormalities. These five factors included: transvestic fetishism,
paraphilias not otherwise specified, insertion of foreign objects into
the victim’s vagina, victim’s age of six years or younger and the
absence of alcohol abuse/addiction. The findings from the study by
Briken and colleagues underscores the importance of a precise
neurological and psychological examination in this particular group,
which can be used for the purposes of examining responsibility as
well as for informing treatment and risk assessment. However, there
are a number of potential limitations with this study, which are
acknowledged by the authors themselves. For instance, the lack of a
control group consisting of non-sexual homicide perpetrators or non-
homicidal sex offenders.
The high prevalence (31%) of heterogeneous brain abnormalities
found in the sample of sexual homicide perpetrators in the study by
Briken and colleagues is consistent with the findings from earlier
studies (e.g., Stone, 2001; Briken et al., 2005). However, it was a
lower prevalence than that found in other studies (e.g., Blake, Pincus
& Buckner, 1995). In their study, Blake and colleagues (1995)
examined 31 individuals who, awaiting trial or sentencing for murder
or undergoing an appeal process, requested a neurologic
examination through legal counsel. EEG, MRI or CT, and
neuropsychological testing findings were collected on these
individuals. They found evidence of “frontal” dysfunction in 20
(64.5%) of the 31 cases. In nine individuals (29%) there was
evidence of abnormality in the temporal lobe or symptoms indicative
of this. A specific neurologic diagnosis such as borderline or full
mental retardation (n = 9) and cerebral palsy (n = 2) was made by
Blake and colleagues in 20 (64.5%) of the individuals in their
sample. Abnormalities in all subjects who underwent
neuropsychological testing were found. In eight of the 20 subjects
tested, EEG abnormalities were identified, most notably, bilateral
sharp waves with slowing. Abnormalities were identified using MRI
or CT in nine of the 19 subjects who underwent testing. These
abnormalities were largely atrophy and changes in the white matter
of the brain. Some of the psychiatric disorders identified included:
paranoid schizophrenia (n = 8), dissociative disorder (n = 4) and
depression (n = 9). In the majority of subjects, there was evidence
of paranoid ideas and misunderstanding of social situations. In 26
individuals (83.8%), a history of profound, protracted physical abuse
was found. A history of sexual abuse was identified in 10 individuals
(32.3%). Blake and colleagues (1995) argue that it may be the case
that “prolonged, severe physical abuse, paranoia, and neurologic
brain dysfunction interact to form the matrix of violent behaviour”
(Blake, Pincus & Buckner, 1995, p. 1641).
A review by Allely (2016) highlighted the urgent need for
screening for TBI in individuals who become involved with the
criminal justice system (at any stage such as: during parole, court
diversion or while the individual is in a correctional programme)
(Cicerone et al., 2011). However, there is a need for caution when
investigating potential associations between extreme violence and
neurological impairment or TBI. We would see much higher
instances of individuals engaging in extreme violence (e.g., mass
murder, serial homicide) if head trauma was a significant factor (Fox
& Levin, 1999). In individuals who have experienced a TBI, only a
small subgroup exhibited violent behavior (Grafman et al., 1996).
There is a wide range of potential risk factors (e.g., adoption,
shyness, disfigurement, speech impediments, learning and physical
disabilities, abandonment and parental death) that may predispose
an individual to engage in violent behavior (Raine, 2013). In their
systematic review exploring neurodevelopmental and psychosocial
risk factors in serial killers and mass murderers, Allely and colleagues
(2014) found that, among all the 239 eligible killers, 21.34% (N =
51) had had a definite or suspected head injury. Importantly, the
great majority of those with ASD or head injury had also
experienced psychosocial risk factors, including: parental divorce,
physical or sexual abuse and major surgery during childhood. This
led Allely and colleagues to argue “that to a certain degree, there is
a complex interplay between neurodevelopmental and environmental
factors – particularly psychosocial adversity – which can potentially
result in an individual being predisposed to develop into a
serial/mass killer” (Allely et al., 2014, p. 297).

Heart rate

Heart rate is a psychophysiological measure that is controlled by

both the parasympathetic and sympathetic branches of the
autonomic nervous system (Portnoy & Farrington, 2015). Some
studies claim to have found that resting heart rate is significantly
lower in antisocial children compared to controls (e.g., Kindlon et al.,
1995; Raine, Buchsbaum & LaCasse, 1997; van Goozen et al., 2000;
Herpertz et al., 2001) and that the effect is found in girls as well as
boys (Maliphant, Hume & Furnham, 1990). Koegl and colleagues
(2018) found an association between low resting heart rate and
more convictions for property, weapons, drug and other offenses in a
sample of incarcerated adult males (Koegl, Farrington & Raine,
2018). Nevertheless, other studies have failed to observe such
effects (e.g., Garralda, Connell & Taylor, 1991; Zahn & Kruesi, 1993;
Pine et al., 1998; van Hulle et al., 2000). There are qualitative
features of the findings that additionally suggest that the antisocial–
heart rate relationship is robust. First, research findings indicate that
the antisocial–heart rate relationship is replicable across cultures in
seven different countries in both hemispheres, including the United
States (e.g., Rogeness et al., 1990), Canada (Mezzacappa et al.,
1997), England (Wadsworth, 1976), Germany (Schmeck & Poutska,
1995), New Zealand (Moffitt & Caspi, 2001), Mauritius (Raine,
Buchsbaum & LaCasse, 1997) and Siberia (Slobodskaya, Roifman &
Krivoscekov, 1999).
A meta-analysis was conducted on 45 independent effect sizes of
the resting heart rate–antisocial behavior relationship obtained from
40 studies meeting inclusion and exclusion criteria. Studies were
conducted between 1971 to 2002 using a total of 5868 children. The
findings from this meta-analysis concluded that low resting heart
rate is associated with higher levels of antisocial behavior (Ortiz &
Raine, 2004). The findings from this meta-analysis are consistent
with the findings from a more recent one carried out by Portnoy and
Farrington (2015), which included 114 studies and tested a range of
moderators that may impact on the association between heart rate
and antisocial behavior. This meta-analysis demonstrated that the
relationship between low resting heart rate and antisocial behavior is
highly replicable and applies to multiple types of antisocial behavior,
including aggression and psychopathy. Specifically, in individuals with
low heart rates, there was a 10% increase in rate of offending.
Findings confirm the importance of low resting heart rate as a robust
biological correlate of antisocial behavior (Portnoy & Farrington,
2015). Five prospective studies were highlighted by Ortiz and Raine
(2004) to rule out the possibility that living a delinquent way of life
could in some way cause low heart rate (Wadsworth, 1976;
Farrington, 1997; Raine, Buchsbaum & LaCasse, 1997; Moffitt and
Caspi, 2001).
Despite it being well-established in the literature that a low
resting heart rate is one of the most replicated biological correlates
of antisocial behavior, the precise nature of this association is not
well understood (Portnoy et al., 2014). However, there are three key
potential mechanisms (and a fourth suggestion regarding unknown
mechanisms at play) that may possibly underly this relationship:

1. Stimulation seeking theory argues that low arousal

represents a physiological state that is not pleasant. In order to
increase their arousal levels to a normal level, individuals who
are antisocial will seek stimulation (Raine, Buchsbaum &
LaCasse, 1997) and, for some children, antisocial and
aggressive behavior may be considered a type of stimulation-
seeking.
2. Fearlessness theory (Raine, 1993) suggests that, if an
individual exhibits low levels of arousal during
psychophysiological test sessions that are mildly stressful, then
this is one indication that the individual has low levels of fear
(Raine, 1993, 1997). Children who lack fear have been found to
be not as likely to be responsive to socializing punishments. This
may be one of the factors that results in poor fear conditioning
and impaired development of conscience (Raine, 1993).
3. Biosocial theory predicts that a low heart rate, rather than
acting in isolation, interacts with psychosocial risk factors in
predisposing an individual to antisocial behavior (Raine, 2002).
4. Low heart rate as a marker for other unknown processes
at play. It has also been suggested that low heart rate may
potentially be a marker for other processes that may contribute
to antisocial behavior as opposed to being directly on the causal
pathway to antisocial behavior (Raine, 2013).
Lastly, in order to examine the hypothesis that antisocial adolescents
who desist from crime by age 29 have greater physiological arousal
when compared to antisocial adolescents who later become criminals
in adulthood, Raine, Venables and Williams (1995) measured resting
heart rate in 101 unselected males (aged 14–16 years). Of the 101
males, 17 antisocial males were identified who had desisted from
adult crime (the desistors). These 17 desistors were matched on
adolescent antisocial behavior and demographic variables with 17
antisocial subjects who did become criminal by age 29 (the
criminals) and 17 non-antisocial, non-criminal normal subjects.
Findings revealed that the individuals who had desisted from crime
exhibited significantly higher resting heart rates when compared to
both the criminal and the control group. This suggests that a high
heart rate protects against adult crime.

Homicidality, homicide and Lyme disease

Lyme disease (LD), or Lyme borreliosis, is the most common tick-
borne infectious disease caused by the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi,
Borrelia garinii or Borrelia afzelii. LD is frequently found to be related
with dysfunction in white matter and many individuals exhibit
explosive anger. One study found that 68% of LD patients had
acquired some form of aggressiveness. For instance, 11% became
homicidal after being infected with LD and 26% of the patients who
were suicidal were also homicidal (Bransfield, 2017). It has been
suggested that Adam Lanza, the shooter at the Sandy Hook
Elementary School massacre, may have had LD. However, Bransfield
noted (2018) that the medical examiner did not pursue assessment
for LD (Bernstein, 2013; Altimari, 2013). To investigate the
association between LD and homicidality, Bransfield (2018)
retrospectively reviewed the LD charts and analyzed aggressiveness
and homicides in a group of 50 homicidal patients and a group of 50
non-homicidal patients. There was a total of five homicides in the
group of 50 patients who were homicidal. Interestingly, 49 of the 50
homicidal patients were not homicidal prior to being infected with
LD. Before being infected with LD, one patient may already have
been homicidal. Approximately 9.6% of LD patients were homicidal
and reported having horrific intrusive symptoms. Patients reported
that the typical intrusive symptom would contain frightening,
stabbing, horrific images, usually of death, dying or pain and
suffering. It was also reported that these images could evolve into
visions of stabbing or killing (usually people known to the individual).
Some patients also reported experiencing intrusive thoughts of
killing multiple family members and themselves (Bransfield, 2018).

Social factors interact with biological factors to increase the

propensity for violence

In his book, The Anatomy of Violence, Dr Raine (2013) highlights

that there is an interaction between social factors and biological
factors that increases the propensity for violence in an individual. As
stated by Allely and colleagues, “a complex interplay between
neurodevelopmental and environmental factors – particularly
psychosocial adversity – can potentially result in an individual being
predisposed to develop into a serial/mass killer” (Naik, 2009; Fallon,
2013; Allely et al., 2014, p. 297). It was posited by neuroscientist
Professor James Fallon that there are three key factors that underlie
why someone engages in violence. Specifically, genetic
predisposition, damage to specific regions of the brain and the
experience of extreme trauma and/or poor parental bonding during
childhood.
Professor Fallon investigated the PET scans of psychopaths
(including psychopathic murderers) and the PET of a group of
controls and identified an intricate pattern in the PET scans of the
psychopaths. Reduced levels of activity were identified that went
from the orbital cortex into the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and
into an area of the prefrontal cortex that is called the anterior
cingulate (see Figures 2.2 and 2.3). The pattern of reduced
activation was found to continue as a thin strip along the cingulate
cortex all the way to the back of the brain, where it then loops down
into the lower part of the temporal lobe and then into the tip of the
temporal lobe and the amygdala (Fallon, 2013, p. 58). The reduced
levels of activation in the psychopaths involved a substantial part of
the limbic cortex (which are the key areas of the brain responsible
for regulating emotion). Fallon found this loop of reduced cortical
function to come full circle, as he observed in the psychopathic
murderers, evidence of damage or low function in the “connector”
strip of cortex between the orbital, cingulate and temporal cortex –
the insula (Fallon, 2013, p. 59).

FIGURE 2.2 PET scans of normal brains and that of a

psychopath.
Permission to use image kindly granted by Professor James
Fallon.
 FIGURE 2.3 PET scans of normal brains and that of a
psychopath.
Permission to use image kindly granted by Professor James
Fallon.

Conclusion

Studies that have investigated the incidence of brain abnormalities

and injury as antecedents of extreme acts of violence (e.g.,
homicide) remain in their infancy (Yin, 1994). However, the research
to date shows significant relationship between them.

Key points
• The additive quality of both neurobiological and environmental
factors increases the propensity for violence in an individual
(e.g., Raine, Buchsbaum & LaCasse, 1997).
• Research has shown that, in individuals with a history of abuse,
the low-MAO-A gene is particularly associated with antisocial
behavior.
• Low resting heart rate is associated with higher levels of
antisocial behavior.
• A history of traumatic brain injury has been found to be an
independent predictor of criminal and violent behaviors,
imprisonment and recidivism.

Essay/discussion questions

1. What are some of the key neurobiological abnormalities that

may contribute to extreme acts of violence?
2. Review some of the key areas in the brain that can contribute to
violent behavior and explain their function.
3. Critically review whether neurological evidence can help courts
assess criminal responsibility.

Recommended reading
Gao, Y., Glenn, A. L., Schug, R. A., Yang, Y. & Raine, A. (2009). The neurobiology
of psychopathy: a neurodevelopmental perspective. The Canadian Journal of
Psychiatry, 54(12), 813–823.
Fallon, J. (2013). The psychopath inside: A neuroscientist’s personal journey into
the dark side of the brain. Penguin.
Raine, A. (2013). The Anatomy of Violence: The Biological Roots of Crime.
Random House Digital, Inc.
Sarteschi, C. M. (2016). Mass and Serial Murder in America. Springer Briefs in
Behavioral Criminology.

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Another random document with
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philosophy and is assuming more and more the character of an
empirical, if not an exact, science.
As to the present condition of our science and of the devices that
we have invented for controlling conduct and social life, I can only
repeat what I said at the very outset of our paper: “The thing of
which we still know least is the business of carrying on an associated
existence.”
 V. THE GANG AND THE LOCAL
COMMUNITY
I have sought, in what has been said, to indicate what seems to
me to be the relation of the work of the playground association and
other social agencies to the more general problem of community
organization and juvenile delinquency. But I have a feeling that this
paper lacks a moral, and I know that every paper on a social topic
should have a moral. If I were asked to state in a few words what
seems to me to be suggested by our discussion so far I should say:
1. That the problem of juvenile delinquency seems to have its
sources in conditions over which, with our present knowledge, we
have very little control; that the whole matter needs, therefore, a
more searching investigation than we have yet been able to give it.
2. That the encouraging factor in the situation is: (1) that our
social agencies are definitely experimenting with the problem; (2)
that there is growing up in the universities and elsewhere a body of
knowledge about human nature and society which will presently
enable us to interpret these experiments, redefine the problem, and
eventually gain a deeper insight into the social conditions and the
social processes under which not merely juvenile delinquency but
other forms of personal and social disorganization occur.
3. That what we already know about the intimate relations
between the individual and the community makes it clear that
delinquency is not primarily a problem of the individual, but of the
group. Any effort to re-educate and reform the delinquent individual
will consist very largely in finding for him an environment, a group
in which he can live, and live not merely in the physical or biological
sense of the word, but live in the social and in the sociological sense.
That means finding a place where he can have not only free
expression of his energies and native impulses, but a place where he
can find a vocation and be free to formulate a plan of life which will
enable him to realize in some adequate way all the fundamental
wishes that, in some form or other, every individual seeks to realize,
and must realize, in order to have a wholesome and reasonably
happy existence.
4. This suggests to me that the playground should be something
more than a place for working off steam and keeping children out of
mischief. It should be a place where children form permanent
associations. The play group is certainly one of the most important
factors in the defining of the wishes and the forming of the character
of the average individual. Under conditions of urban life, where the
home tends to become little more than a sleeping-place, a dormitory,
the play group is assuming an increasing importance. Mr. Frederic
M. Thrasher has recently been studying the boys’ gangs in Chicago.
He has located one thousand gangs, and it is interesting to notice
where these gangs are located. They are for the most part in the
slums. The gangs he has located and studied are by no means all the
gangs in Chicago. They are, rather, the gangs that have attracted
attention because they have been troublesome, because they are
connected directly or indirectly with juvenile delinquency and
adolescent crime.
If I ventured to state my opinion in regard to the matter, I
should say that these gangs have exercised a considerably greater
influence in forming the character of the boys who compose them
than has the church, the school, or any other communal agency
outside of the families and the homes in which the members of the
gangs are reared. And it is quite possible that the influence of these
homes have not been always and altogether wholesome.
5. Finally, playgrounds should, as far as possible, be associated
with character-forming agencies like the school, the church, and
other local institutions. For however much the older generation may
have been detached by migration and movement from their local
associations, the younger generation, who live closer to the ground
than we do, are irresistibly attached to the localities in which they
live. Their associates are the persons who live next to them. In a
great city, children are the real neighbors; their habitat is the local
community; and when they are allowed to prowl and explore they
learn to know the neighborhood as no older person who was not
himself born and reared in the neighborhood is ever likely to know it.
This is one thing that makes the gang, a little later on, when
perhaps it has become an athletic club, important politically. Our
political system is based upon the theory that the people who live in
the same locality know one another and have the same political and
social interests. The gang is not infrequently a vocational school for
ward politicians.

Robert E. Park
 CHAPTER VI
COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION AND THE
ROMANTIC TEMPER

I. THE PROBLEM STATED

Recent local studies in Chicago seem to show that the number of
competent persons in the community is frequently no real measure
of the competency—if one may use that expression in this connection
—of the community itself. A high communal intelligence quotient
does not always, it seems, insure communal efficiency.
The explanation that at once suggests itself is that competent
persons presumably are specialists deeply concerned in the little area
of human experience in which they have chosen to operate, but
profoundly indifferent to the interests of the particular geographical
area in which they may happen to reside.
It is the incompetent persons, apparently, who still maintain an
interest that could in any sense be called lively in the local
communities of our great cities. Women, particularly women without
professional training, and immigrants who are locally segregated and
immured within the invisible walls of an alien language are bound to
have some sort of interest in their neighbors. Children in great cities,
who necessarily live close to the ground, however, are the real
neighbors. Boys’ gangs are neighborhood institutions. Politicians are
professional neighbors. When the boys’ gangs are graduated, as they
frequently are, into local politics, the local political boss assumes
toward them the rôle of patron, and they assume toward him the rôle
of clients.
 The competent people—that is to say, the professional people—
are, on the other hand, either physically or in imagination, abroad
most of the time. They live in the city—in their offices and in their
clubs. They go home to sleep. Most of our residential suburbs tend to
assume, as far as the professional classes are concerned, the
character of dormitories. It is seldom that anyone who is sufficiently
eminent or sufficiently competent to find a place in Who’s Who has
time for anything more than a benevolent interest in his local
community.
On the other hand, the competent people are keenly alive to the
interests of their professions, and if we could organize our politics, as
the Russians have sought to organize theirs, on the basis of
occupations, that is, in soviets, it might be possible to awaken in our
intelligenzia a more than dilettante and sporting interest in local
politics and the problems of the local community. But the actual
situation is different.
Our political system is founded on the presumption that the
local community is the local political unit. If the local community is
organized, knows its own local interests, and has a mind of its own,
democracy prospers. It is said that 50 per cent of the qualified voters
in this country do not exercise the franchise. So far as this is an index
of their indifference to local community interests, it is at the same
time a measure of the efficiency or inefficiency of the local
community.
The National Community Center Association represents one of
many efforts in recent years to alter the situation of which non-
voting is perhaps one evidence. Community organizations aim, for
one thing, to discover, to organize, and to make available for the local
community the local community’s resources, particularly its human
resources. The extent to which it succeeds is the measure of its
efficiency. How to assess these resources, how to use them: these are
problems.
 II. THE COMMUNITY DEFINED
But what is a community and what is community organization?
Before assessing the communal efficiency one should at least be able
to describe a community. The simplest possible description of a
community is this: a collection of people occupying a more or less
clearly defined area. But a community is more than that. A
community is not only a collection of people, but it is a collection of
institutions. Not people, but institutions, are final and decisive in
distinguishing the community from other social constellations.
Among the institutions of the community there will always be
homes and something more: churches, schools, playgrounds, a
communal hall, a local theater, perhaps, and, of course, business and
industrial enterprises of some sort. Communities might well be
classified by the number and variety of the institutions—cultural,
political, and occupational—which they possess. This would indicate
the extent to which they were autonomous or, conversely, the extent
to which their communal functions were mediatized, so to speak, and
incorporated into the larger community.
There is always a larger community. Every single community is
always a part of some larger and more inclusive one. There are no
longer any communities wholly detached and isolated; all are
interdependent economically and politically upon one another. The
ultimate community is the wide world.
a) The ecological organization.—Within the limits of any
community the communal institutions—economic, political, and
cultural—will tend to assume a more or less clearly defined and
characteristic distribution. For example, the community will always
have a center and a circumference, defining the position of each
single community to every other. Within the area so defined the local
populations and the local institutions will tend to group themselves
in some characteristic pattern, dependent upon geography, lines of
communication, and land values. This distribution of population and
institutions we may call the ecological organization of the
community.
 Town-planning is an attempt to direct and control the ecological
organization. Town-planning is probably not so simple as it seems.
Cities, even those like the city of Washington, D.C., that have been
most elaborately planned, are always getting out of hand. The actual
plan of a city is never a mere artifact, it is always quite as much a
product of nature as of design. But a plan is one factor in communal
efficiency.
b) The economic organization.—Within the limits of the
ecological organization, so far as a free exchange of goods and
services exists, there inevitably grows up another type of community
organization based on the division of labor. This is what we may call
the occupational organization of the community.
The occupational organization, like the ecological, is a product of
competition. Eventually every individual member of the community
is driven, as a result of competition with every other, to do the thing
he can do rather than the thing he would like to do. Our secret
ambitions are seldom realized in our actual occupations. The
struggle to live determines finally not only where we shall live within
the limits of the community, but what we shall do.
The number and variety of professions and occupations carried
on within the limits of a community would seem to be one measure
of its competency, since in the wider division of labor and the greater
specialization—in the diversities of interests and tasks—and in the
vast unconscious co-operation of city life, the individual man has not
only the opportunity, but the necessity, to choose his vocation and
develop his individual talents.
Nevertheless, in the struggle to find his place in a changing
world there are enormous wastes. Vocational training is one attempt
to meet the situation; the proposed national organization of
employment is another. But until a more rational organization of
industry has somehow been achieved, little progress may be expected
or hoped for.
c) The cultural and political organization.—Competition is
never unlimited in human society. Always there is custom and law
which sets some bounds and imposes some restraints upon the wild
and wilful impulses of the individual man. The cultural and political
organization of the community rests upon the occupational
organization, just as the latter, in turn, grows up in, and rests upon,
the ecological organization.
It is this final division or segment of the communal organization
with which community-center associations are mainly concerned.
Politics, religion, and community welfare, like golf, bridge, and other
forms of recreation, are leisure-time activities, and it is the leisure
time of the community that we are seeking to organize.
Aristotle, who described man as a political animal, lived a long
time ago, and his description was more true of man then than it is
today. Aristotle lived in a world in which art, religion, and politics
were the main concerns of life, and public life was the natural
vocation of every citizen.
Under modern conditions of life, where the division of labor has
gone so far that—to cite a notorious instance—it takes 150 separate
operations to make a suit of clothes, the situation is totally different.
Most of us now, during the major portion of our waking hours, are so
busy on some minute detail of the common task that we frequently
lose sight altogether of the community in which we live.
On the other hand, our leisure is now mainly a restless search
for excitement. It is the romantic impulse, the desire to escape the
dull routine of life at home and in the local community, that drives us
abroad in search of adventure. This romantic quest, which finds its
most outrageous expression in the dance halls and jazz parlors, is
characteristic of almost every other expression of modern life.
Political revolution and social reform are themselves often merely
expressions of this same romantic impulse. Millennialism in religion,
the missionary enterprises, particularly those that are limited to
“regions beyond,” are manifestations of this same wish to escape
reality.
We are everywhere hunting the bluebird of romance, and we are
hunting it with automobiles and flying machines. The new devices of
locomotion have permitted millions of people to realize, in actual
life, flights of which they had only dreamed previously. But this
physical mobility is but the reflection of a corresponding mental
instability.
This restlessness and thirst for adventure is, for the most part,
barren and illusory, because it is uncreative. We are seeking to
escape from a dull world instead of turning back upon it to transform
it.
Art, religion, and politics are still the means through which we
participate in the common life, but they have ceased to be our chief
concern. As leisure-time activities they must now compete for
attention with livelier forms of recreation. It is in the improvident
use of our leisure, I suspect, that the greatest wastes in American life
occur.
 III. THE MEASUREMENT OF COMMUNAL
EFFICIENCY
This, then, is our community. How are we to measure its
efficiency? Here, I am bound to confess, we have still much to learn.
The simplest and most elementary way of estimating the
competency and efficiency of a community, as something different
from the competency and efficiency of the individual men and
women who compose it, is by a comparative study of that
community’s social statistics. Poverty, disease, and delinquency have
frequently been called social diseases. They may be said to measure
the extent to which the community has been able to provide an
environment in which the individuals which compose it are able to
live, or, to state it from the opposite point of view, they measure the
extent to which the individuals who compose the community have
been able to adapt themselves to the environment which the
community provided.
The immigrant community manifestly exists to enable the
immigrant to live. By life, however, we mean something more than
mere physical existence. Man is a creature such that when he lives at
all he lives in society, lives in his hopes, in his dreams, and in the
minds of other men. In some way or another, man is bound to realize
all his fundamental wishes, and these wishes, according to Dr. W. I.
Thomas, are four:

He must have (1) security, that is, a home; some place to go out from and
return to.
He must have (2) new experience, recreation, adventure, new sensations.
He must have (3) recognition, i.e., he must belong to some society in which he
has status, some group in which he is somebody; somewhere or other, in short, he
must be a person, rather than a mere cog in the economic or social machine.
Finally (4) he must have affection, intimate association with someone or
something, even though it be merely a cat or a dog, for which he feels affection and
knows that affection is returned. All special human wishes reduce finally to these
four categories, and no human creature is likely to be wholesome and happy
unless, in some form or manner, all four of these wishes are more or less
adequately realized.[62]

While I was on the Pacific Coast a few months ago, studying

what we have called “race relations,” I was impressed by the marked
differences, as between immigrant groups, with respect to their
ability to accommodate themselves to the American environment
and, within the limitations imposed upon them by our customs and
our laws, to provide for all the interests of life.
Immigrant communities are likely to include within the circle of
their interests and their organizations all the interests of life. Every
immigrant community will have a religious organization—a
synagogue, a temple, or a church—with its related, often dependent,
mutual aid and welfare organizations. It will have also its own
business enterprises, its clubs, lodges, coffee houses, restaurants and
gathering places, and a press. Every immigrant community is likely
to have its press in America even if it did not have one in the home
country. The immigrant colony is frequently nothing more than a
transplanted village, for America actually has been colonized not by
races or by nationalities, but by villages.
As to the competence of these immigrant communities to
provide an environment in which immigrants can live, Raymond
Pearl’s paper, “The Racial Origin of Almshouse Paupers in the United
States,” published in Science (October 31, 1924), throws some light.
One paragraph in that paper states the situation as between the
nation and the foreign-born. It says:

While on January 1, 1923, there were in almshouses 59.8 native-born white

persons per 100,000 of the same class in the population, the corresponding figure
for the foreign-born was 173.6. This is by some regarded as a fact of dread
significance. Perhaps it is. To me it seems possibly only an interesting expression
of the difficulties which the human organism finds in adapting itself to a new
environment.

If these figures may be regarded, as Dr. Pearl suggests that they

should, as an index of the difficulties which the human organism
finds in adapting itself to a new environment, the more detailed
study of the various racial groups exhibits some surprising results.
They show, in the first place, wide divergencies in the capacity of
different immigrant groups to adapt themselves to American life;
they show, in the second place, that the races and nationalities that
have lived here longest are the least able to meet the demands of the
new environment. Dr. Pearl states it in this way:

With a few trifling exceptions, all the countries from which the present law
encourages immigration contributed to almshouse pauperism in 1923 in excess of
their representation in the population in 1920. On the other hand, again with a few
trifling exceptions, those countries from which the present immigration law was
especially framed to discourage immigration appear in the lower part of the
diagram, because they contribute a smaller proportion to almshouse pauperism in
1923 than their representation in the general population in 1920.

Two things strike me as significant in this connection: (1) It is

the recent immigrants who contribute least to the almshouse
population; (2) among these recent immigrants it is, apparently,
those who for one reason or another are least willing or able to
participate in American life who contribute the least to our
almshouse population.
Why is this true? My own inference is that the decisive factors
are not biological, but sociological. The explanation of the almshouse
statistics, in other words, is less a matter of racial temperament than
of social tradition. It is the immigrants who have maintained in this
country their simple village religions and mutual aid organizations
who have been most able to withstand the shock of the new
environment.
The whole subject needs to be investigated further. What would
a comparative study of different racial and language groups with
reference to disease, delinquency, and family disorganization show?
What would a comparison of the Japanese, Chinese, and Mexicans
show with reference to crime? I mention these three groups because
they are living and working side by side on the Pacific Coast.
The census of 1910 showed the Mexicans to have the highest
crime rate of any immigrant group in the United States. My
conviction is that when we obtain the facts we shall find that the
Japanese have the lowest crime rate, at least the lowest of any
immigrant group on the Coast.
The explanation is that the Japanese—and the same is true of
the Chinese—have organized what we may call “control
organizations” to deal at once with disputes arising among
themselves and with the larger community outside.
The Japanese Association, like the Chinese Six Companies, is
organized to keep their nationals out of the courts. But the Japanese
Association is more than a court of arbitration and conciliation. Its
function is not merely to settle disputes, but to maintain the morale
of the local Japanese community and to promote in every practical
way, mainly by education, the efforts of the Japanese people to make
their way in the communities in which they live. With the possible
exception of the Jews, the Japanese are better informed than any
other group about the condition of their own people in America.
One thing that has sensibly raised the morale of the Japanese, as
it has, indeed of the Jews, is its struggle to maintain its racial status
in the United States. Nothing, as Sumner observed, so easily
establishes solidarity within the group as an attack from without.
Nothing so contributes to the discipline of a racial or national
minority as the opposition of the racial or national majority.
The peoples who are making, or have made in recent years, the
most progress in America today are, I suspect, the Jews, the Negroes,
and the Japanese. There is, of course, no comparison to be made
between the Jew, the Japanese, and the Negro as to their racial
competence. Of all the immigrant peoples in the United States, the
Jews are the most able and the most progressive; the Negro, on the
other hand, is just emerging, and is still a little afraid of the
consequences of his newly acquired race-consciousness.
What is alike in the case of the Jew, the Negro, and the Japanese
is that their conflict with America has been grave enough to create in
each a new sense of racial identity, and to give the sort of solidarity
that grows out of a common cause. It is the existence in a people of
the sense of a cause which finally determines their group efficiency.
In some sense these communities in which our immigrants live
their smaller lives may be regarded as models for our own. We are
seeking to do, through the medium of our local community
organizations, such things as will get attention and interest for the
little world of the locality. We are encouraging a new parochialism,
seeking to initiate a movement that will run counter to the current
romanticism with its eye always on the horizon, one which will
recognize limits and work within them.
Our problem is to encourage men to seek God in their own
village and to see the social problem in their own neighborhood.
These immigrant communities deserve further study.

Robert E. Park
 CHAPTER VII
MAGIC, MENTALITY, AND CITY LIFE

I. MAGIC AND PRIMITIVE MENTALITY

Few words of African origin have survived and found a
permanent place in the popular speech of the English West Indies.
One of these is “obeah.” Of this word, J. Graham Cruickshank, in a
little pamphlet entitled Black Talk says:

Obeah—which is Negro witchcraft, and whose worst aspect was the poisonous
idea put into the mind of the subject—has gone under to a great extent.
Extraordinary cases of it crop up now and again in the newspapers. It is the most
difficult of all anthropological data on which to “draw” the old Negro. Burton gives
an Old Calabar proverb: “Ubio nkpo ono onya” (They plant Obeah for him) and
adds this note: “‘Ubio’ means any medicine or charm put in the ground to cause
sickness or death. It is manifestly the origin of the West Indian ‘obeah.’ We shall be
the less surprised to hear that the word has traveled so far when told by Clarkson,
in his History of the Slave Trade, that when the traffic was a legitimate branch of
commerce as many slaves were annually exported from Bonny and the Old Calabar
River as from all the rest of the West African Coast.”[63]

Obeah is Negro magic. The paper which follows was suggested

by observation on Negro magic during a recent visit to the English
Islands in the Caribbean.
During the past year two very important books have been
published, in English, dealing with the subject of magic. The first is a
translation of Lévy-Bruhl’s La Mentalité Primitive, and the other is
Lynn Thorndyke’s A History of Magic and Experimental Science
during the First Thirteen Centuries of the Christian Era.
 In venturing to include two volumes so different in content and
point of view in the same general category, I have justified myself by
adopting Thorndyke’s broad definition, which includes under
“magic” “all occult arts and sciences, superstition and folklore.”
Lévy-Bruhl’s book is an attempt, from a wide survey of
anthropological literature, to define a mode of thought characteristic
of primitive peoples.
Thorndyke, on the other hand, is interested mainly, as the title
of his volume indicates, in the beginnings of empirical science. The
points of view are different, but the subject matter is the same,
namely, magical beliefs and practices, particularly in so far as they
reflect and embody a specific type of thought.
Lévy-Bruhl has collected, mainly from the writings of
missionaries and travelers, an imposing number of widely scattered
observations. These have been classified and interpreted in a way
that is intended to demonstrate that the mental life and habits of
thought of primitive peoples differ fundamentally from those of
civilized man.
Thorndyke, on the other hand, has described the circumstances
under which, during the first thirteen centuries of our era, the
forerunners of modern science were gradually discarding magical
practices in favor of scientific experiment.
There is, of course, no historical connection between the culture
of Europe in the thirteenth century and that of present-day savages,
although the magical beliefs and practices of both are surprisingly
similar and in many cases identical, a fact which is intelligible
enough when we reflect that magic is a very ancient, widespread,
characteristically human phenomenon, and that science is a very
recent, exceptional, and possibly fortuitous manifestation of social
life.
Lévy-Bruhl described the intelligence and habits of thought
characteristic of savage peoples as a type of mentality. The civilized
man has another and a different mentality. “Mentality,” used in this
way, is an expression the precise significance of which is not at once
clear. We use the expression “psychology” in a similar but somewhat
different way when we say, for example, that the rural and urban
populations “have a different ‘psychology,’” or that such and such a
one has the “psychology” of his class—meaning that a given
individual or the group will interpret an event or respond to a
situation in a characteristic manner. But “mentality,” as ordinarily
used, seems to refer to the form, rather than to the content, of
thought. We frequently speak of the type or grade of mentality of an
individual, or of a group. We would not, however, qualify the word
“psychology” in any such way. We would not, for example, speak of
the grade or degree of the bourgeoisie, or the proletarian
“psychology.” The things are incommensurable and “psychology,” in
this sense, is a character but not a quantity.
The term “mentality,” however, as Lévy-Bruhl uses it, seems to
include both meanings. On the whole, however, “primitive mentality”
is used here to indicate the form in which primitive peoples are
predisposed to frame their thoughts. The ground pattern of primitive
thought is, as Lévy-Bruhl expresses it, “pre-logical.”
As distinguished from Europeans and from some other peoples
somewhat less sophisticated than ourselves, the primitive mind
“manifests,” he says, “a decided distaste for reasoning and for what
logicians call the discursive operations of thought. This distaste for
rational thought does not arise out of any radical incapacity or any
inherent defect in their understanding,” but is simply a method—one
might almost say a tradition—prevalent among savage and simple-
minded people of interpreting as wilful acts the incidents, accidents,
and unsuspected changes of the world about them.
What is this pre-logical form of thought which characterizes the
mentality of primitive people? Lévy-Bruhl describes it as
“participation.” The primitive mind does not know things as we do,
in a detached objective way. The uncivilized man enters, so to speak,
into the world about him and interprets plants, animals, the
changing seasons, and the weather in terms of his own impulses and
conscious purposes. It is not that he is lacking in observation, but he
has no mental patterns in which to think and describe the shifts and
changes of the external world, except those offered by the mutations
of his own inner life. His blunders of interpretation are due to what
has been described as the “pathetic fallacy,” the mistake of
attributing to other persons, in this case, to physical nature and to
things alive and dead, the sentiments and the motives which they
inspire in him. As his response to anything sudden and strange is
more likely to be one of fear than of any other emotion, he interprets
the strange and unfamiliar as menacing and malicious. To the
civilized observer it seems as if the savage lived in a world peopled
with devils.
One difference between the savage and the civilized man is that
the savage is mainly concerned with incidents and accidents, the
historical, rather than scientific, aspects of life. He is so actively
engaged in warding off present evil and meeting his immediate needs
that he has neither time nor inclination to observe routine. It is the
discovery and explanation of this routine that enables natural science
to predict future consequences of present action and so enable us to
prepare today for the needs of tomorrow. It is the discovery and
explanation, in terms of cause and effect, of this routine that
constitutes, in the sense in which Lévy-Bruhl uses the term, rational
thought.
What the author of primitive mentality means by “participation”
is familiar enough, though the expression itself is unusual as
description of a form of thought. Human beings may be said to know
one another immediately and intuitively by “participation.”
Knowledge of this kind is dependent, however, upon the ability of
human beings to enter imaginatively into one another’s minds and to
interpret overt acts in terms of intentions and purposes. What Lévy-
Bruhl’s statement amounts to, then, is that savage people think, as
poets have always done, in terms of wills rather than forces. The
universe is a society of wilful personalities, not an irrefragable chain
of cause and effect. For the savage, there are events, but neither
hypotheses nor facts, since facts, in the strict sense of the word, are
results of criticism and reflection and presuppose an amount of
detachment that primitive man does not seem to possess. Because he
thinks of his world as will rather than force, primitive man seeks to
deal with it in terms of magic rather than of mechanism.
 II. MAGIC AS A FORM OF THOUGHT
Thorndyke’s History of Magic is an account of the manner and
circumstances under which, within the period it covers, not all at
once, but gradually, first in one field of knowledge and practice, and
then in another—haltingly, painfully, and step by step—the transition
from magic to science was made.
Anthropologists have not always agreed as to the precise relation
between magic and science. Is magic to be regarded as an earlier and
more primitive form of science, or is it not? It is at least true that
science, as means of control of the external world, has always found
some form of magic in existence, and has always displaced it. But
magic is probably never merely a tool or a technique which men use
to control and fashion the world after their desire. It is primarily a
form of emotional expression, a gesture, or dramatic performance. It
has something, also, of the character of a prayer or solemn
formulation of a wish, but always with the hope that in some—not
quite intelligible—way the formulation of the wish will bring its own
fulfilment. Magic ceases to interest us where the relation of the
means to ends assumes the definiteness and certainty of a scientific
demonstration.
Farmers in some parts of the country still pray for rain—at least
they did so up to a few years ago. They will quit doing so, however, as
soon as someone invents a sure-fire device for making it.[64]
We still believe in magic in medicine and in politics—partly, I
suspect, because in those fields science has not been able to give us
the positive knowledge it has in other regions of our experience, and
partly because in the field of medicine and of politics our solemn
formulations of our wishes so frequently bring the results desired. In
many cases the method of social reformers in dealing with social
evils is not unlike the technique of Christian Science in dealing with
bodily and spiritual ailments; it consists mainly in solemnly and
ceremonially asserting that a given evil no longer exists. Society
formulates its wish, consecrates it—through the solemn referendum
of a popular election, perhaps—and writes it on the statute books. As