What makes mass killers any different then serial killers?

[Texashiker]

Ted Bundy killed at least 30 people
Jeffrey Dahmer killed 17 people
Kenneth McDuff killed at least 14 victims
John Allen Muhammad (DC sniper) 10 deaths, 3 injured

Aurora shootings, 12 dead, 58 injured

Instead of killing people over a span of years, a shooter kills a lot of people in a short period of time.

Why does mass shooting affect society differently then say Jeffrey Dahmer that was spread out over several years?

Are serial killers and mass shooters both affected by the same mental illness? But its how the person handles the illness that sets shooters apart from serial killers?

 

[soulcougher73]

Probably because it is so many deaths at once. Verses say 1 a year by a serial killer or something. It probably just a shock value type of thing.

 

[woolfe9999]

So far as the societal impact, soulcatcher's answer is a reasonable one. It's the sudden shock of it. It's like with terrorism, where the damage goes far beyond the loss of life. It costs people peace of mind. In extreme cases, it can tank the economy and cause us to prevail on our government to erode civil liberties.

Which doesn't make the mass killer morally any worse than the serial killer.

I suspect there's some difference in the psychology of the one versus the other. The mass killer is probably depressed which is precisely why they are willing to get caught and/or die. Their life has no meaning and they blame society for that, while at the same time they are supremely narcissistic. They want to go out in blaze of "glory."

The serial killer, OTOH, doesn't want to get caught. He is narcissistic, but he may not be depressed, or angry at the world. He just intrinsically enjoys what he does, and he wants to keep doing it as long as possible.

- wolf

 

[CrackRabbit]

The biggest difference is that with the exception of John Muhammad, they tried to maintain the appearance of a normal life in between the killings. Most also hide or dump their victims to help maintain that "normal" life.
Mass shooters don't do that, they only seem to have the goal of a big body count.
The larger it is, the more famous they end up being.

 

[Pr0d1gy]

Funny you ask because I wrote my final paper on this topic for my Psych 101 course in college. In lamens terms, a mass murderer kills a group of victims (minimum being 4 or 5) all in a single attack, whereas serial killers kill a large number of victims over the course of a lengthy time period.

Why does mass shooting affect society differently then say Jeffrey Dahmer that was spread out over several years? It has more impact due to the initial shock of the act. Where a serial killer builds their notoriety over years of work, the mass murderer is like a bomb going off in a certain area and makes people get the "that could have been me in that theater" feeling.

Are serial killers and mass shooters both affected by the same mental illness? This is a difficult question because everyone is different. Think of the difference between a Rader (BTK) and a Gacy. Rader is a mild mannered church leader who goes and kills complete strangers, whereas Gacy was a convicted sexual predator who regularly attacked people who know him. While you could make a case for both of them having the same psychological disease, the facts would probably lead you to understand differently.

But its how the person handles the illness that sets shooters apart from serial killers?
From my research I discovered there were some definite similarities and specific indicators in each kind of killer. I don't remember the exact differences because I wrote the paper back in '95 but they had to do with parental issues (doting mother and distant father was a common theme for one, that much I do remember), how they dealt with society, etc.

 

[silverpig]

Do they affect society differently?

There was no internet/twitter/facebook when Bundy was killing. As I recall, there was quite a bit of coverage about the DC sniper.

 

[Texashiker]

But its how the person handles the illness that sets shooters apart from serial killers?
From my research I discovered there were some definite similarities and specific indicators in each kind of killer. I don't remember the exact differences because I wrote the paper back in '95 but they had to do with parental issues (doting mother and distant father was a common theme for one, that much I do remember), how they dealt with society, etc.

Have you ever watched the show "hoarders"? I think it comes on A&E channel.

The common factor between just about all hoarders is they are fighting some kind of mental illness, such as depression. A lot of people affected by hoarding did not start hoarding until there was some kind of event in their life.

On the hoarders show, the depression was usually triggered by the lose of a family member. One husband and wife started hoarding after their child died. Another person started hoarding after he lost his job. There seemed to be a common factor of an emotional event that set the person on the road to hoarding.

I wonder if mass killers and serial killers are set off by some kind of traumatic event in their life?

Maybe the shooter in the Aurora theater was set off by not passing a college test? Maybe because he was about to be kicked out of his apartment, no girlfriend,,,,?

 

[Pr0d1gy]

Have you ever watched the show "hoarders"? I think it comes on A&E channel.

The common factor between just about all hoarders is they are fighting some kind of mental illness, such as depression. A lot of people affected by hoarding did not start hoarding until there was some kind of event in their life.

On the hoarders show, the depression was usually triggered by the lose of a family member. One husband and wife started hoarding after their child died. Another person started hoarding after he lost his job. There seemed to be a common factor of an emotional event that set the person on the road to hoarding.

I wonder if mass killers and serial killers are set off by some kind of traumatic event in their life?

Maybe the shooter in the Aurora theater was set off by not passing a college test? Maybe because he was about to be kicked out of his apartment, no girlfriend,,,,?

There are reports, not sure how factual, that Holmes had recently been dumped by a girl he was seeing. The traumatic events theory, you would probably find, is more common (although not univeral or exclusive) with mass murderers and not so much in serial killers. Serial killers usually exhibit signs of their issues as early as childhood or adolescence.

 

[Texashiker]

Serial killers usually exhibit signs of their issues as early as childhood or adolescence.

Kinda like Jeffrey Dahmer killing animals when he was a child.

 

[woolfe9999]

Are serial killers and mass shooters both affected by the same mental illness? This is a difficult question because everyone is different. Think of the difference between a Rader (BTK) and a Gacy. Rader is a mild mannered church leader who goes and kills complete strangers, whereas Gacy was a convicted sexual predator who regularly attacked people who know him. While you could make a case for both of them having the same psychological disease, the facts would probably lead you to understand differently.

But its how the person handles the illness that sets shooters apart from serial killers?
From my research I discovered there were some definite similarities and specific indicators in each kind of killer. I don't remember the exact differences because I wrote the paper back in '95 but they had to do with parental issues (doting mother and distant father was a common theme for one, that much I do remember), how they dealt with society, etc.

I think if any generalization can be made about the psychology of the two, the fact that the mass killer expects to be caught or killed, whereas the serial killer wants to indefinitely evade capture, is a key distinction. That probably speaks to the different motivations and psychological makeup of the two, though I agree each individual case is different.

 

[Pr0d1gy]

I think if any generalization can be made about the psychology of the two, the fact that the mass killer expects to be caught or killed, whereas the serial killer wants to indefinitely evade capture, is a key distinction. That probably speaks to the different motivations and psychological makeup of the two, though I agree each individual case is different.

That is a very good insight with regards to distinction and surely has something to do with their motivation, probably moreso than their psych makeup (b/c certainly many of these poeple share psych makeups from each mass & serials).

Kinda like Jeffrey Dahmer killing animals when he was a child.

Right, and you see that in many serial killers. Of course, it is often not seen by anyone because they do it privately as they know the behavior is wrong and society would reject them.

 

[Texashiker]

Right, and you see that in many serial killers. Of course, it is often not seen by anyone because they do it privately as they know the behavior is wrong and society would reject them.

I watched a documentary on Dahmer a few years ago. I think part of the documentary was an interview with Dahmer himself?

If I remember right, when Dahmer was a teenager he would pick up roadkill and dissect it.

One day his dad asked him what he was doing. Dahmer said he was doing a science project for school. When in fact, Dahmer was sexually aroused by the dissection.

I think Dahmer killed his first victim when he was 18 years old?

 

[bfdd]

Either way I hope more people go crazy and start doing more crazy shit. They just need to not focus their craziness on "innocents".