Ed Gein Flashcards
Ed Gein
Socialisation
He was socialized by Augusta his mother who was extremely religious woman who raised him and his brother on her stripped moral code
Meaning in the phallic stage he would have Incorporated his mother’s strong morals into his own possibly developing a deviant superego as his mother took on a more traditional male role in the family
as George his father had no same raising the boys and she took it upon herself to raise the children according to her beliefs and provide for the family financially
In 1914 they moved to Plainfield Wisconsin in a 180 Acre Farm isolated from everyone
Add only left the farm to go to school his performance was average except in Reading in which he excelled ( imagination allowed him to escape momentarily)
School he was bullied and eliminated due to being very shy and he had no friends when he attempted to make them his mother scolded him
Despite this he still saw his mother as the epitony of goodness and followed her rigid orders as best as he could despite her rarely being pleased with them and verbally abusing them labeling them negatively as destined to become failures such as their father which is projected labeling based on the family and has a stigma attached to it
The negative labeling and strict morals imposed upon Ed during his socialization forms part of the evidence suggesting that he has traces of authoritarian personality
This is due to him having strict morals and respecting authority and possibly being impulse and aggressive
Ed Gein
Henry Gein
ed looked up to his brother Henry and saw him as a hard worker and a man of strong character
Meaning that his brother was a model to him and would even try to emulate his brothers work habits after their father’s death in 1940 when they took on the series of jobs to support the farm
Despite most of the work being as handyman Ed frequently also babysat for neighbors he enjoyed this because due to his poor socialization it was easier for him to relate to the children than his peers as in many ways he was socially and emotionally retarded
However his brother was worried about his unhealthy attachment to their mother and on several occasions Henry openly criticized them over leaving Ed shocked that they did not share the same opinion and blind loyalty
This may have led to Henry’s mysterious death in a fire in 1944 as Ed may have causes fire as a way of punishing him for challenging their mothers authority
This is also evidence for him having authoritarian personality he’s shown to respect authority and punish those who do not
This also shows a high neuroticism score
As Ed seems to have overreacted to stress and emotion over the perceived betrayal from his brother it also may be showing a high psychoticism school however he has been shown to care for his brother so it may not be as high as it would seem
Ed Gein
isolation
It is possible due to his isolation from Society being locked in the house with only his family and being a court of a mile away from his closest neighbors only leaving for school may mean that he never ended his complex therefore may still be attractive to his mother which could lead to other developmental problems further on
Ed Gein
Crimes
His father had died following a stroke in 1940 in 1944 his brother died in a fire in 1945 his mother also died meaning Ed Was Alone
In his spare time he would read Adventures stories and do bizarre hobbies such as nightly visits to the graveyard
On the 16th of November 1957 the small village discovered Ed’s odd and manic hobbies
Inverbal of the kitchen and bedroom the police discovered:
To shin bones, two pairs of human lips on the string, a cup full of human noses, human skin purse and bracelets, four flesh upholstered chairs and several human skulls and five women’s faces in plastic bags, genitalia preserved in a shoebox and a belt made of nipples
In a shed the police found his final victim lady beneath who was nude and headless and dangling by the heels after being disemboweled
On a stove in the kitchen was a pan of water with a human heart in it and in a freezer there was carefully wrapped human organs
ed claimed he did not remember murdering beneath all his other victims due to being in a dazed state
He may have had an accent or trauma when younger leading to a traumatic brain injury
the damage from this could have resulted in:
Amygdala: increase impulsiveness and aggression, inability to recognise social cues of fear
PFC: a decrease in rational thinking and ability to inhibit amygdala impulses
Hipoocampus: possible short-term memory loss and inability to create new long term memorys
He also may have Hunt traces of schizophrenia
Ed Gein
Psychological formulation
Psychologist used psychological formulation to look at his past behaviors and childhood experiences to attempt to determine why he has committed these crimes
They discovered that he wanted a sex change become a female and as a result of this each night he walked around his farm with the skin, hair, face mask of newly exhumed corpses straped to his naked body
He’s exhumed over 40 bodies and suspected of at least 12 murders
He pleaded not guilty reason of insanity and therefore acknowledged he needed help but did not actively seek it out
When imprisoned he was a model inmate and reportedly was happy to be incarcerated
If released he would post significant threat to society as due to his nature of thought processes and behavior May murder and dismember more people to wear
a risk to society
A possible treatment that could be used was stemming from his thought process being linked to his socialization and morals that were inherited from his mother
This treatment would be cognitive behavioral therapy in which cognitive restructuring would be used to help him think more rationally about situations and reduce the risk of him murdering and dismembering more people during a triggering situation
It also may help him control his impulses to murder and dismember more people
During this rehabilitation they may lead him to more moral and legal ways of sex changes he gets what he wants but doesn’t murder more people and dismember them
Meaning that Ed Gein is an example of how psychological formulation is used to understand the offender and possibly creating individual treatment for them
