INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY

Psychology in the News – Home Assignment

Psychological analysis of the mind of a mass murderer

Name: Petra Várkonyi

Module Leader: Kinga Konczey
Word count: 2018
Date: 2018. 05. 01.
Introduction to Psychology Petra Várkonyi

Introduction

In the present paper I am going to analyse Nikolas Cruz’s psyche and behaviour from a
psychological point of view, who is responsible for seventeen young students’ death. The
tragedy happened on Valentine’s Day, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida,
when Cruz shot several times at hiding innocent students and teachers with his rifle he bought
a year ago legally (Riben, 2018). The attack caused huge damages and means a strong
traumatic experience for the survivors and the families of the victims. In this essay I will
demonstrate the necessary background information about Cruz, and make assumptions and
conclusions deriving from his actions, social life and self-expression. I have become aware of
several areas which are open to question, and I will discuss some of these below. The main
focus will be on the analysis of whether his incomprehensibly aggressive behaviour is an
issue of his nature or acquired through nurture. This debate will arise questions about the
psychological concept of psychoanalysis and behaviourism, which I am going to emphasize in
more details looking at the different types of learning that were most likely to shape Nikolas
Cruz’s psyche and are mostly relevant to this case. This assignment is my own work, except
where I have acknowledged the use of the works of other people.

Analysis

In order to provide information about Nikolas Cruz and the background of his actions,
firstly I will demonstrate the different aspects of his life and personality, and discuss whether
they are connected to his nature or nurture. However, before I categorize and discuss the
different elements, it is important to define the meaning of the nature-nurture debate. Nature
refers to inherited characteristics, when people have an inborn store of understanding and
knowledge. This is based on genes and different biological factors. On the other hand, nurture
refers to knowledge and behaviour that are influenced by the environment. These are all the
upbringing characteristics, formed by various external factors, experiences and interactions
(McLeod, 2015). Therefore, in the following section I will analyse “the question of whether
human capabilities are inborn or acquired through experience” (Atkinson and Hilgard, 2009,
p. 7), which will be demonstrated with the example of Nikolas Cruz’s behaviour below.

There are plenty of signs proving that Cruz’s personality was formed by various
external factors that could make him feel rejected, worthless and may contributed to his
increasing desire for vengeance. First of all, his adoptive parents passed away from flu and
pneumonia, and from a heart attack, therefore Cruz moved to a family of a student at the
school (Ryan, 2018). This forced change and the sudden lack of attention put him in an
unwanted but tolerated situation, where his anger and aggression could have evolved. He was
so craving for attention that he published a video in which he cuts himself. Secondly, Nikolas
Cruz received a lot of warnings and later he had been expelled from the high school “for
undisclosed disciplinary reasons” (Ryan, 2018). Probably the decision was made when the
parents and teachers realised that he went to the school with bullets in his backpack, he
showed signs of emotional disturbance and his Instagram profile includes disturbing content
with Nazi and racist motives showing his obsession in torture, murder and guns (Ryan, 2018).
Thirdly, he became a member of a white supremacist group where he participated in training
exercises and in paramilitary drills in case of an attack by Jews or people of colour (Riben,
2018). The belief that a type or group of people is better than others, therefore they should
lead them may had an encouraging effect and increased eagerness to be in a position from

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where he could control other people’s lives (Cambridge Dictionary, 2018). The above
findings suggest that all these negative events could influence Nikolas Cruz’s behaviour
proving that his interactions and the environment have a huge role in shaping his mind and
psychology, which adds strong arguments to the nurture side of the debate.

On the other hand, Nikolas Cruz’s abnormal behaviour can not be explained only with
external impacts, his nature had to contribute to this terrible situation as well. Firstly, his
enthusiasm for Hitler was so extreme that his basic innate knowledge must have found
fundamental connections with Hitler’s views (Riben, 2018). If he was not having a personality
inclining to agree with anti-Semitic views, racism and the hate of women and Jews, this
obsession with Hitler would not have been created only by the influence of external impacts.
Secondly, in case of adopted children it is hard to tell what genetic medical history has to be
taken into consideration when analysing their behaviour. The 19-year-old Nikolas claimed
that he has been hearing voices in his head since his childhood, just like when he “heard
voices telling him to execute his horrific plan” (Riben, 2018). Another issue relevant to this
debate is that he might have been born with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, although this is just a
speculation (Riben, 2018). Finally, the issue of adoption was mentioned above, although it
can not be the excuse for one’s behaviour. According to “OnlyBlackGirl” (2018, as cited in
Riben, 2018) “adoption has many complications, and many of us adoptees experience mental
health issues and trauma, but it does not turn you into a racist mass murderer”.  In conclusion,
there are many supporting factors for the assumption that his mental illness and aggressive
nature was encouraged by strong influencing events, which created an unconceivable desire to
shoot people, therefore both side of the nature-nurture debate is present and illustrated.

As the nature-nurture debate states, learning shapes knowledge and understanding as

well, which has developed from a psychological prospective called behaviourism. It is a
“psychological approach which emphasizes scientific and objective methods of investigation”
(McLeod, 2017), analyses how we learn new behaviours or modify existing ones. In our case,
associative learning should be examined from Nikolas Cruz’s perspective, therefore from this
point I will exclude those reasons which could be based on his nature. First it is important to
define that this type of learning is based on the relationship among environmental events and
behavioural responses, which is relevant for the 17 murders committed by Nikolas Cruz as a
response of the possible influential impacts around him. In the following, a subcategory
within associative learning will be analysed, which is the observational learning. This means
that people are learning in a way of copying the behaviour of others, which they consider to
be successful based on their observation (Atkinson and Hilgard, 2009, p. 255). The concept
was supported by Bandura’s “Bobo Doll” experiement, who studied aggressive behaviour of
children as a response to others’ aggressive behaviour (McLeod, 2014). Therefore, looking at
the case of Nikolas Cruz, observational learning might be relevant as well.

Cruz’s racism and aggressiveness could have strengthened because of various factors as
he observed the behaviour of others in his environment. First of all, as he learned more about
Hitler, he found interest in his ideas and agreed with his thoughts. It is possible that Hitler’s
anti-Semitic view formed Nikolas Cruz’s behaviour, which led to the tragedy. Secondly, his
membership in the supremacist group could increase the hate and his desire to control
people’s lives. The support, that a group of people who have the same views could give is
extremely influential. Thirdly, he watched many videos about shooting and terrorism, from
which he could conclude that it is a common and normal activity, being accepted and

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Introduction to Psychology Petra Várkonyi

supported by many people (Riben, 2018). It might have increased his motivation to do the
same in order to decrease his anger and tense. In conclusion, he could learn ideas and points
of views as he observed his environment, therefore observational learning may have had a
huge role in forming his personality.

Besides behaviourism, another psychological prospective should be taken into

consideration in order to understand better the mind of Cruz, which is the psychoanalysis. It
was founded by Sigmund Freud in the 20th century, based on his belief that “the development
of the unconscious personality in early childhood ideally influenced how one would behave
for the rest of their lives” (Barber, 2016). It concentrates on the influence of unconscious
desires, fears and motivations on thoughts and behaviour (Atkinson and Hilgard, 2009, p. 10).
Looking at the case of the high school shooting, the first thing should be mentioned here is
that Cruz was an abandoned child, who experienced many determinative rejections. These
events strengthened his anger and created huge damages that he could never process properly.
Since Psychoanalysis deals with childhood experiences, it is also important to point out that
he was described by his classmates and adoptive family as a troubled and weird kid, whose
behaviour became more and more disturbing as he was growing up (Riben, 2018). According
to Miller (2002, as cited in Riben, 2018) “those who were permitted to act appropriately
throughout their childhood – for example with anger – to the pains, wrongs, and denial
inflicted upon them, will retain this ability to react appropriately in late life too”. Supporting
Miller’s opinion, he did not get the proper help he would have needed from parents and
professionals, which led to the tragic consequences.

In order to get more in the details analysing Nikolas Cruz’s behaviour, one of the main
concepts should be introduced that psychoanalysis deals with, which is the structure of the
human psyche. Freud realised that the structure of the psyche has three different parts “all
developing at different stages in our lives”, called as id, ego, and super ego (McLeod, 2016).
Before I discuss them linking to Nikolas Cruz, it is important to define the three systems. First
of all, Id is the most basic, instinctual part of the personality that wants instant gratification
regardless of the consequences. As it can be seen, Cruz’s psyche is probably overwhelmed by
his id, since he responded directly to his instincts when he shot 17 innocent people (McLeod,
2016). Another part is the super ego, which controls id’s impulses, adds them morals and
persuades id to strive for perfection. This part is responsible for realising and making
judgements about what is right and wrong, and by the age of six, children are able to decide
what behaviours are acceptable. Since super ego is developing with education during
childhood, this factor could be added on the nurture side of Cruz’s nature-nurture debate as
well. Finally, the third part is the ego, which forms both id and super ego to create a realistic
representation of its needs. It is trying to meet the wants of the id in a way that is socially
acceptable (McLeod, 2016). Looking at Nikolas Cruz’s psyche, as the psychodynamic theory
states, the probability of committing a crime occurs when one’s ego is weak (Barber, 2016).
In conclusion, according to Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis, Cruz’s super ego was oppressed
by his id, therefore his ego created a distorted reality.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the essay made assumptions and examined the possible reasons from a
psychological point of view, which might explain that how could a 19-year-old teenager
become a mass murderer. First of all, the nature-nurture debate concluded that Nikolas Cruz

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Introduction to Psychology Petra Várkonyi

must suffer from serious mental illness, although he experienced several influential impacts
that contributed to his behaviour. It was supported by the concept of observational learning,
which proved that Cruz must have learned this behaviour by following his idols’ thoughts and
actions. Thirdly, the psychoanalysis showed that his psyche might not developed the way it
should have been, which led to serious damages and to the inability to make proper
judgements that are socially acceptable. The question always arises whether someone could
have averted the situation by paying more attention, since there were many signs from which
the problem could have been inferred. Therefore, the main conclusion is that since many
mental health issues can be prevented with early intervention (Riben, 2018), society should
notice the signs, the silent cry for help, and start providing support to these people.

According to the
Psychodynamic Theory, crime
occurs
when a person’s ego is weak.
seem to be expressing their
feelings of
oppression in early childhood
in the form of sadist and brutal
murders.
References
Atkinson, R. L., Atkinson R. C. and Hilgard, E. (2009). Introduction to Psychology. 15th ed.
Canale: Cengage Learning EMEA.

Barber, T. L. (2016). Serial Murder: The ID, Ego and Superego of a Serial Killer - In the mind of
Moses Sithole. [pdf] Durban. Available at:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/299682958_Serial_Murder_The_ID_Ego_an
d_Superego_of_a_Serial_Killer_-_In_the_mind_of_Moses_Sithole [Accessed 29 Apr.
2018].

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Introduction to Psychology Petra Várkonyi

Cambridge Dictionary (2018). Supremacist [online]. Cambridge Dictionary. Available at:

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/supremacist [Accessed 29 Apr.
2018].

Riben, M. (2018). Nikolas Cruz: So Many Red Lights Ignored. Dissident Voice [online], 25
February. Available at: https://dissidentvoice.org/2018/02/nikolas-cruz-so-many-red-
lights-ignored/ [Accessed 29 Apr. 2018].

Ryan, L. (2018). Everything We Know About the Florida Shooting Suspect. The Cut [online], 15
February. Available at: https://www.thecut.com/2018/02/nikolas-cruz-florida-shooting-
suspect.html [Accessed 29 Apr. 2018].

McLeod, S. (2017). Behaviorist Approach. Simply Psychology [online]. Available at:

https://www.simplypsychology.org/behaviorism.html [Accessed 29 Apr. 2018].

McLeod, S. (2014). Bobo Doll Experiment. Simply Psychology [online]. Available at:
https://www.simplypsychology.org/bobo-doll.html [Accessed Apr. 2018].

McLeod, S. (2016). Id, Ego and Superego. Simply Psychology [online]. Available at:
https://www.simplypsychology.org/psyche.html [Accessed 29 Apr. 2018].

McLeod, S. (2015). Nature vs. Nurture in Psychology. Simply Psychology [online]. Available at:
https://www.simplypsychology.org/naturevsnurture.html [Accessed 29 Apr. 2018].