Behavioristic Perspective of Criminal Behavior

 

The behavioristic perspective differs from the other types of perspectives as it solely focuses on observable behaviors rather than on emphasizing the internal states of an individual. It is concerned with how behaviors are learned and reinforced, how stimuli which are the environmental factors affect the observable behavior which people learn from, and therefore, proposes two processes classical conditioning and operant conditioning. This perspective seeks to have a better explanation of the physiological needs of any living organism, and how motivation can impact behavior.  We can further look into the infamous serial killer, Ted Bundy’s criminal behavior using this perspective. 

                        Ted Bundy's grandparents                                                      Young Ted                                                

Ted Bundy is very well known for his infamous ways of murdering by raping, strangling, and necrophilia of his victims. Upon observing his behavior and connecting it to his childhood and early life, he was an illegitimate child brought up by his grandparents. His grandfather was later said to have been very violent and psychiatrically disturbed. His grandfather may have tremendously impacted Bundy when he was a child and may have suffered from childhood trauma. From being fascinated by knives since he was only three years old, he had already exhibited signs of the sadistic serial killer he would become. His strained relationship with his mother and resentment for being born "illegitimate" had greatly affected his behavior as he was often made fun of by his classmates and peers. This impacted his behavior in such a way that could have linked to why his victims were mostly women, he may have had a negative perception of womankind. His education plays a critical role as an attribute to his criminal behavior since he had majored in psychology, and this allowed him to study the habits and vulnerabilities of the female students who were his most common targets. This provided him with insight into how to manipulate people in which he would make himself appear as a person who was injured and would ask women to help him, only playing on their sympathies to lure them, by wearing casts on his arms and using crutches, and to understand how most people would obey authority figures. This may have aided him in his murder spree in which his degree could have helped him understand his environment and ways to isolate victims. In the same way, because he studied law, he learned that he could represent himself in court and had the opportunity to escape custody.

Therefore, by observing all of these using his wit and his subject, he was able to understand and learn and used this tactic to exhibit criminal behavior by luring and murdering his victims cold-heartedly. He may have learned to groom this behavior from a young age from his upbringing as well since it is typical for victims who had been abused throughout childhood to take on the persona of the abuser and do to others what the abuser did to him, at times. He may have learned that the way to release anger is to be violent and take it out on others, physically and violently. Bundy may have specifically targeted women who had long hair having similarities to his first girlfriend who had broken up with him, leaving him devastated, and this must have affected him to the point of taking revenge on the female gender who possessed attributes of his former lover.  Again, the behavior that he may have learned when he was a child was that taking revenge will motivate him to feel content and at ease. Ted Bundy’s criminal behavior may have been learned from observing his environment, and the people around him at a very young age in which his behavior started harmlessly, which slowly grew to have juvenile records, and finally becoming into a full-fledged serial killer who felt no guilt, or emotions at all.

 

                                  



References:

Michaud, S. G., & Aynesworth, H. (2012). The only living witness: The true story of serial sex killer Ted Bundy. Irving, TX: Authorlink Press.

HUGH, M. S. (2019). TED BUNDY: Conversations with a killer. S.l.: MIRROR BOOKS.

Ted Bundy. (2020, April 06) from https://www.biography.com/crime-figure/ted-bundy

Ted Bundy: Serial Killers: Crime Library. (2020, April 17) from https://www.crimemuseum.org/crime-library/serial-killers/ted-bundy

Kendall, E., & Kendall, M. (2020). The phantom prince: My Life with Ted Bundy. New York: Abrams Press.


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