Charles Manson is in fact one of the most widely known serial killers of ourtime. He can easily be considered the boogey man of society. Many people stillto this day fear him and his past, yet now an old man in a prison cell, one maywonder what created such a monster.
In learning about personality I thought thatit would be interesting to apply some of the concepts that we have learned fromthe text and in class to a certain individual. I have no idea why in the end Ichose Charles Manson. I think maybe it is because of his tragic life before themurders, a life that most people don’t know about. Mason was the illegitimateson of Kathleen Maddox, a 16-year-old prostitute.
Manson had no contact what soever with his father (ATWL. com). The first thing to point out is Alfred Adler’spoint of view on Birth Order. Adler believed that the order in which you wereborn influenced your personality. Manson was the first born. Adler says that thefirst born may become authoritarian or strict.
Feels power is his right. Thefirst is usually a problem child, a neurotic, criminal, drunkard, and a pervert. Knowing Manson’s future in crime it is interesting how Adler’s theory fits in(Stein). Another thing is that Manson never had any sort of a relation ship withhis mother or his father. His mother would often take off and leave him withstrangers. Once she even traded him for a pitcher of beer at a local pub (Bugliosi20-22).
Ainsworth and her colleagues developed three types of parent-childrelationships. Manson undoubtedly would fit into the last category : Avoidantrelationships. In this type of a relationship the mother doesn’t respond to herchild’s needs, the baby is neglected. It therefor develops a sense ofworthlessness and possible anger towards authoritative figures (Burger 162-163). According to Erikson one can either develop a sense of basic trust or a sense ofbasic mistrust.
If the mother is avoidant as in Manson’s case the child willmost likely develop a sense of mistrust. This will lead to a life ofestrangement and withdrawal (Burger 117). Manson’s life continued to be onecrime after another. He was arrested for several instances where he stole carsand committed robberies. In prison he attacked another prisoner with a razorblade and continued to sodomize him (Bugliosi 67).
Freud may have seen this asfrustration of the libido. Which in turn, causes aggression. This may alsoexplain the act of sodomization against the other prisoner (Burger 153). KarenHorney would most likely have seen Charles Manson as one who Moves againstpeople. It is way that she believed a group of people handled their anxiety. Toact aggressively may help deal with a poor home environment.
They compensate forfeelings of inadequacy by pushing other individuals around (Burger 125-125). During the summer of love Manson appealed to those who where like him in manyways. In fact many of the girls that became familiar with Manson saw him as aFather figure. Most of them, if not all developed sexual relationships withManson. He was known as the father of the cult (Bugliosi 111-125).
Freud mayhave seen something a bit like the Oedipus complex here. The Oedipus complex isnamed after a mythological figure who knowingly married his mother. Althoughthey were not biologically related, Freud may have argued that they were in needof the father figure in their lives (Donadio). One could also say that Mansonruled in an authoritarian manner. During the years in his cult he convincedother members that he was godlike. He also made them go on a horrible killingspree.
According to Erich Fromm this is the tendency to ⌠fuse one’s selfwith somebody or something outside of oneself in order to acquire the strengthwhich the individual self is lacking■ (Fromm, p. 163). ⌠I believeEvilness and self-loss are as real as are goodness and aliveness. They are thesecondary potentialities of man if he chooses not to realize his primarypotentialities■ (Fromm 145-152).
Fromm believed that exceptionally is aman born as a saint or as a criminal. He thought that most of us havedispositions for good and for evil, although the respective weight of thesedispositions varies with individuals. Hence, out fate is largely determined bythose influences which mold and form the given dispositions. He believed thatthe family is the most important influence. But that .
