Cognitive Perspective of Criminal Behaviour
In order to understand the way an individual's behaviour is directed by their thinking, one must look at all factors throughout their lifespan that could shape their thinking and thought processes.
His early life suggests that his grandfather was an extremely violent person who approved of violence with humans and animals. Ted developed a liking towards knives at a very young age and would often be found near his sleeping aunt, holding the knife, smiling down upon her. This shows that his thinking, from childhood, was shaped to be violent and aggressive, and he grew up with the same thinking which led him to his addiction of pornography as a teenager. He enjoyed shoplifting as it gave him the satisfaction of being above authority.
During his adolescence when he found out that his biological mother was actually pretending to be his 'sister', he lost all self-esteem and a sense of identity. He became determined to prove to his mother that he was extraordinary and wanted to make her proud. This was a thought he carried with him throughout his college days as he applied to law school and socialized with rich and popular people, but he dropped out soon which made him feel restless and unsettles.
He was addicted to violent pornography in his early adulthood, he confessed during the last few court trials, and this might have been a huge contributor to his crimes, suggests the cognitive theory. From a young age, he objectitifed women and viewed them as sexual beings present to satisfy his desires, and when he committed his first rape and murder, he began to feel the satisfaction that was earlier derived out of violent pornography. The violence and anger he showed in his crimes centre around his desire to control his victims and fulfil his needs.
He developed a relationship with Diane Edwards during college but he dropped out soon, and took on bare minimum wage jobs. Diane ended the relationship because of his lack of maturity and ambition, which left him feeling humiliated and resentful.
According to the cognitive theory, one of the reasons for Ted's need to feel superior to women and dominate them could because of his failed relationship, which left him feeling humiliated and changed his way of thinking towards women. His first aggravated assault and rape case was reported to be right after his relationship with Diane ended, and maybe out of extreme hatred and humiliation as he felt humiliated at the time. He became hostile, aggressive and violent towards women after his love failed. Another interesting detail was that his first few victims were a template of his former girlfriend Diane. He would often revisit his victims and engage in necrophilia. This could provide enough evidence to demonstrate the attachment theory.
His anger and humiliation changed his thinking about women and feuled his existing violent tendencies, which reuslted in him taking his anger out on young women who resembled his lover, inorder to feed his sense of superiority and dominance.
A mix of intellect and charm, along with sadistic and aggressive tendencies made it very easy for him to trap his victims, and helped him fulfil his desires and fantasies.
References:
Theoretical Explanations Of Behavior Of Theodore Robert Bundy - Notorious Serial Killers - Free Essay Example | EduZaurus, 2020).
Sharma, Meher, "The Development of Serial Killers A Grounded Theory Study" (2018). Masters Theses. 3720.https://thekeep.eiu.edu/theses/3720
Bonn, S. A. (2019, December 30). Examining serial killer Ted Bundy. Psychologytoday.Com. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog wicked-deeds/201912/examining-serial- killer-ted-bundy
Stieg, C. (2019, January 30). What We Know About Ted Bundy's Mental Health. Refinery29. https://www.refinery29.com/en- us/2019/01/223043/ted-bundy-psychopath mental-illness-disorder
Canning, K., & Canning, K. (2019, May 8). There Are Some CRAZY Theories About Why Ted Bundy Became A Serial Killer. Women’s Health. https://www.womenshealthmag.com/ life/ a27407386/ted-bundy-motives/
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