The Psychology of Serial Killers

The debate of nature versus nurture is an ageless debate among the psychological community. Is it one or the other? Or, is it a mixture of the two? “Theories that base their understanding of human behavior on "nature," focus on characteristics that we are born with, like our genetic make-up, stable personality traits, and physical predispositions.” (Hartney, 2010). Nurture is quite the opposite. People on the side of nurture are of the opinion that it is the environment that determines who a person is and becomes. Nature and nurture can be studied in various ways on many different types of people. The extreme classification though is when these theories are applied to a group of people who are hard to examine at best. Serial killers, for example, are so complex that the nature vs. nurture debate seems to have just gravitated towards them in the hopes of answering the age old question; do they kill because of nature or because of nurture?

Watch the video and be ready to answer the questions below:

1. What is said to be the main motivation of serial killers as defined by an encyclopedia?

2. What do all the serial killers have in common? How they differentiate from other criminals?

3. How does David Berkowitz accounts for his actions? How his childhood was different from a childhood of other children?

4. How does John Huse explain his behavior?

5. How does Aileen Wuornos feel on the day before her execution? Who or what does she blame for becoming a serial killer?   Does she feel any pains of remorse?

6. To what do people attribute John Wayne Gacy’s inclination to murders?

7. What disorders did Arthur Shawcross was diagnosed with? What was he sentenced to? 

8. What was Tommy Sells’ penalty? How did he feel during murders?

9. How does Tom Bundy different from other serial killers? What drove Bundy into committing murders?

10. How are all serial killers classified by FBI?

Who Am I

Throughout the history of mankind, philosophers, scientists, academics, artists, musicians, writers have been speculating on this question but somehow the answer to it still haven't been found. What makes answering this question so difficult? Can you come up with an answer?

Click on the image below to watch the video and then do the follow-up tasks.

Meat vs Vegetarian Diet

There's has been a lot said about the advantages and disadvantages of both diets, so which is healthier?
Can you think of pros and cons of both diets?
Is the word vegetarian tantamount (=equal) to the word healthy eater? 

Watch  the video from http://www.huffingtonpost.com, a website about healthy lifestyle, which will help you answer the questions above

What is beauty?

They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, in other words the perception of beauty is subjective.
Do you agree with it? Can you think of examples?                     



Watch the first video and answer the following questions:

What is a matter of concern for the girls from the video? Why?
Why do they have a low self-esteem?
What can be done to help them?

If your friends tell you you're getting fatter and fatter, would you take it for consideration?  


2.   Watch the next video and answer the following questions:
Who is the man drawing and why is he drawing the women without looking at them?
Who are those women?
How many portraits of the same person did the artist make? Were they the same or different?
Why are the portraits turned out to be different? 

Would you like to try it? Describe the way you look like to yourself and then ask your friend to describe your appearance. Any difference? In what way?

Tablets vs Paper

How much has technology changed your life? Answer the following questions:
How do you take notes during university lectures?
What do you need to make a shopping list?
Do you still use post-it?

Have a look at the following advertisment:

Now think about the following questions and you're very welcome to write your ideas in the comments:

1.   Do you think note-taking or reading a paper book is outdated?
2.   What is more environmentally-friendly: using paper or tablets? Read here and find out whether you were right.
3.   What are the advantages and disadvantages of using paper and tablets?

Jamie Oliver's TED Prize wish: Teach every child about food

I'd like you to watch a video, in which Jamie Oliver gives a shocking talk about nutrition, obesity and what we can do to live longer.
While watching, try to answer the following questions:

What is the most common cause of death in the USA nowadays?

Are diet-related diseases a problem that exists only in the USA? 

What accounts for a catastrophic situation with obesity?  

What are the solutions to the problem?