NOVA SPEECH
Good morning ladies and gentlemen.
My name is Simon Duarte and along with my friend Luis Melo, we are going to talk about if psychopaths are born or made. Have you ever wondered if people capable of doing outrageous acts without feeling guilt or remorse are born like this or if they are just a side effect of the rotten world we live in? If psychopaths are made, can we prevent them? All these questions are going to be answered during our speech.
First of all, Psychopathy is a severe antisocial personality disorder(ASPD). Psychopaths are people who present psychopathic traits like lack of empathy, guilt, conscience, or remorse, shallow experiences of feelings or emotions, impulsivity, and they suffer from a weak ability to defer gratification and control behavior.
True psychopathy is very rare. Only about 1% of the population can be sure they have ASPD. Several studies have been done to conclude that people’s brains with ASPD don’t work the same way as neurotypical people (“normal” people).
The brains of psychopathic violent criminals have singularities in regions related to punishment that are not seen in the brains of violent criminals who are not psychopaths, according to research using brain scans.
Due to these singularities is why psychopaths do not benefit from rehabilitation programs, as other violent criminals often do.
Dr. Nigel Blackwood of King's College London and his colleagues performed MRI scans of the brains of 12 psychopathic violent criminals, 20 violent criminals with antisocial personality disorder but not psychopathy, and 18 people who were not criminals.
“ In the group of criminals who were psychopathic, the scientists observed lower volumes of gray matter in brain regions involved in empathy, moral reasoning, and the processing of social emotions such as guilt and embarrassment. They also found abnormalities in white matter fibers leading to the prefrontal cortex, in regions involved in learning from reward and punishment. The other violent criminals performed similarly to the people who were not criminals in this test, the researchers found.”
Wanjek, C. (2015, January 28). Psychopaths’ Brains Don’t Grasp Punishment, Scans Reveal. Live Science. vbc
After knowing all this, let’s answer the question. A study for proving this was done in Sweden where identical twins were raised separately. This study used data from the Preschool Twin Study in Sweden (PETSS) project. The overall aim of PETSS was to examine how genetic and environmental factors in early childhood contribute to cognition, emotional regulation, and behavioral problems. Parents of all twins born in Sweden between January 2004 and May 2005 were identified through the Swedish population-based medical birth register and contacted 1 month prior to their twins’ 5th birthday. Thus, all children in PETSS were 5 years old at the study start point.
At the end of the study, they found that both genetic and shared environmental influences are of importance for psychopathy personality traits in childhood. With regard to the genetic factor, they saw that when one twin has an ASPD, so does the other in most cases. This leads to the idea that there’s a biological basis for psychopathy. But having the genetic disposition to psychopathy or ASPD is a necessary but not sufficient condition to becoming a psychopath. This is where the environment where the kid is raised enters the game.
It is necessary a component that triggers psychopathy in many of those who have an ASPD. Traumas are the most common trigger that causes a person with an ASPD to become a psychopath. For a better understanding of this, look at this barrel of petroleum let’s say that this is a person with an ASPD. Now let’s say this lighter are traumas. For the barrel of petroleum to be set on fire or for the kid to become a psychopath, we need to light the barrel up. If we don’t do anything with the barrel, it will not become a big deal. If there’s no trauma, there’s no psychopathy. If we use the lighter with the barrel. PUM! Psychopathy is developed. oh no. *extinguishes the fire*. Sorry about that. This could be an example of how out of control can psychopaths become. They often reach a point of no return where they are no longer the same person they were before. And in the end, they are consumed by hatred and end up in ashes. like all this.
In conclusion, the answer to the question, psychopaths are born or made, is both. Those who are born with the genetic predisposition or the brain structure of psychopaths are not guaranteed to become one. Likewise, those who suffer traumas are not likely to become psychopaths. psychopathy occurs when these two factors meet.
We think Psychopathy is not an illness, Psychopaths didn’t ask to be born with a biological predisposition and also didn’t ask for their traumatic experiences. it is a condition that is mostly a result of other people's evil actions, evil minds, evil hearts, and in general, the rotten world we live in. Psychopathy is like the personification of hatred in humanity. We, as kind-hearted people, must find a way to overcome that hatred to end that cycle and make day by day, a better world for upcoming generations.
Thank you all for listening.
By Simión Duarte M. and
Luis Melo H., Step 9 Blue
