"The Inexplicable"--an article on extreme narcissism in The New Yorker

[Dr. Richard Grossman]

Hi everybody,

For those of us here who have come to accept our smallness, insignificance, and who try to comfort ourselves/justify our being by doing a tiny bit of good in the world—here’s a horrifying piece from The New Yorker concerning the complete opposite end of the spectrum:

The Inexplicable
Inside the mind of a mass killer.
BY KARL OVE KNAUSGAARD

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/05/25/the-inexplicable

All comments are welcome!

Richard

[Hopalong]

I sometimes wonder if there is a particular moment in a human being, when empathy "breaks."
I suppose it's possible that some are literally born without any of it, at all. Like an absent cylinder or something.

But I also wonder if in some, there IS a natural empathy, but that with one thing or another (genes added to by various things experienced and observed), it simply vanishes, or is dismantled, and then dissolves away.

I wonder if there is a MOMENT in a life, when that happens. As silent as the turn of a page, but once some was there, and with a turn of a page, it is no longer present (or relevant).

Do you think that's possible, Doc G?

Hops

[Dr. Richard Grossman]

Hi Hops,

Possible, yes, but genetics are, by far, the greatest determinant of personality characteristics—explaining, in general, 50% of the variance.  Now, if one grows up in an environment that is radically different than the norm, e.g. losing a parent one is attached to at a very early age, personality can be dramatically affected.  But absent such trauma, I always, in my “work,” look first at genetics.  I have come across many examples of families where one sibling has great empathy, while another has little or none.  Yet, they both grew up in the same household with the same parents.  The likely explanation:  One child got a particular set of genes, while the other got a different set (of course the two children got many of the same genes as well).

If you want to read about some of the wonderful work done in this area, take a look at Nancy Segal’s book about the Minnesota Twin Study:  Born Together—Reared Apart.  Here you’ll see the data on such variables as IQ, psychopathology, religiosity, conservatism, authoritarianism, and many others. 

For many, many reasons, some of which I’ve talked about on this Board, my life has been a lesson in genetics.  When I began my career, I never would have guessed this would be so—everyone I knew talked about nurture, not nature.  Everyone except Steven Pinker—his book, How the Mind Works, was my introduction to another way of thinking about psychology and therapy. (That’s not the only reason I’m indebted to Steve:  35 years ago he and his wife at the time, Nancy, helped my wife and I move into our house.  For that I will always be grateful .)

Richard

[mudpuppy]

Murder is against human nature, but in extreme cases this can be overcome if the community to which one belongs enjoins or encourages it.

Great article until I got to the above quote. The first clause is at best highly questionable.
Skeleton after skeleton of early man and Neanderthal have healed spear and other man inflicted wounds or were the cause of death. The Lord of the Flies is fiction but it resonates still because the natural state of man is extremely brutal.
The first clause is in fact invalidated by the second. If it is the community (civilization) that is the variable in letting murder occur then it was civilization that prevented it in the first place.

The author seemed bizarrely naive also in the idea the present is any more warlike than the last few thousand years of mayhem or that these kind of mass killings by groups or individuals is either new or more common.
Especially considering that the writer is a native of the land whose prior community gave us the rapacious Vikings and words like "berserker" you'd think he'd have a bit more historical perspective.

Jeremiah said thousand of years ago; The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.

Thomas Hobbes said a few years back that the state of nature amounted a war of all against all in which the ordinary person experienced a life that was solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.

There is nothing new under the sun; Solomon.

mud

[sea storm]

I found it a bit strange that the article was even printed. It is full of opinions and very broad generallzations.  The writer does a sort of psychological assessment of the murderer that is less than scientific and more a personal reaction.
The guy who did this is not Norway.  Not by a long shot.  He probably was assessed thoroughly by professionals. Maybe he was raised by a mother who was on the spectrum of autism. Or who had a brain injury and wasn't just mean and neglectful.
It is a neat writing prompt to collage two ideas together and sort of ramble about them. The victim and the shooter are from the same country and the same society so they are somehow the same.
Rather it would be helpful to find out how the shooter could have been prevented from accomplishing so much damage. I bet they knew he was a very angry guy even in school.

Sea

[Hopalong]

Doc G,
I was thinking of my D.
She volunteered at a camp for burned children.
She went vegan before I knew what the word meant.
She adored animals.

Then...after loss after loss after loss, she actually worked in a public animal shelter where part of her job was to euthanize.
She had loss after loss after loss.

And one day, I saw she had become cruel.

That's why I asked this.

Hops

[Dr. Richard Grossman]

Hi Hops,

In individual cases, such as your daughter’s, it’s impossible for me to tell what the likely main influences are unless I sit with the person for a couple hours.

But a few points (from my life/work experience) are important:

1) I have known many people who have suffered loss after loss from an early age, and it made them more and more (too?!!!) sensitive and caring rather than cruel.  So, multiple factors (nature and nurture) are always at play.

2) Adult brains are not fully formed until the mid to late 20’s—nature (e.g. genetics) is still playing an undercover role until then.

3) If, in a particular situation (e.g., your daughter’s,) a child/young adult has one sensitive, caring, empathic parent, that is usually enough to provide what a child/young adult needs in terms of nurturance to become a “normal” human being.  In extreme situations, e.g. child rape/incest or other severe trauma, this, may not be the case.  I make this point because it is obvious that you were the "type" of parent I'm describing here.

But, and this is most important, for whatever reason your daughter became “cruel,” it is a terrible life-long loss for you, and I know it makes you feel alone in the world.

Hugs,

Richard