Personality and Crime

On the surface, Charles Whitman seemed as solid and as the University of Texas tower from which he rained death on unsuspecting strangers. He was the son of a wealthy family in Florida. Whitman was an outstanding student, an accomplished pianist, one of the youngest eagle scouts in state history, and a former US marine who was awarded the Medal of Good Conduct, as well as the Marine Corps expeditionary medal. He wedded the woman of his dreams, and the couple was even seen as an ideal couple. Whitman became a student of the University of Texas when he was selected for an engineering scholarship by the marines. In his spare time, he served as a scoutmaster in Austin.

So, what caused such a seemingly exemplary person to commit such horrific acts of violence? On December 18, 2001, the Austin History Centre opened its records on Charles Whitman to public scrutiny. The records provide important insight into the complexities of Whitman's personality and the turmoil which existed within him. Although the Whitman incident had happened decades ago, it has a sad reminiscence to more recent acts of violence in schools, workplaces, and communities across the United States.

Whitman's Confession Letter

On a summer evening in 1966, Whitman wrote the following letter:

I don't understand myself these days. I am supposed to be an average, reasonable, and intelligent young man. However, since of late (I am unable to recall the specific day it all started), I have become the victim of many unusual and irrational thoughts. These thoughts tend to recur constantly, and it requires a tremendous mental effort to concentrate on useful and progressive tasks.

In March, when my parents made a physical break, I noticed a great deal of stress. I consulted a doctor, Cochrum, at the university health centre and requested him to recommend someone that I could consult with about some psychiatric disorders that I felt I had. Once I talked with a doctor for about two hours as I tried to convey my fears that I have been feeling overcome by overwhelming violent impulses. After the first session, I never saw that doctor again. And since then, I have been fighting my mental turmoil by myself, and it seems to be to no avail. I wish an autopsy to be done on me when I am dead to find out if there is any visible physical disorder in me. I have had some tremendous headaches in the past and I have consumed two large bottles of Excedrin (Painkiller for migraine headaches) in the past three months.

Later that night, Whitman murdered his wife and mother, both who was loving and supportive of him. The next morning, he carried a high-powered hunting rifle to the top of a 307-foot tower on the busy University of Texas campus in Austin and opened fire on the persons passing below. Within 90 horrifying minutes, he murdered 16 people and wounded 30 others before he was killed by the police.

What is Personality

The concept of personality derives from the fascinating spectrum of human individuality. According to observations, people differ meaningfully according to the ways they customarily think, feel, and act. These distinctive behaviour patterns help in defining one's identity as an individual. According to the noting of one theoretical group, each of us is, in some respects, like all other people, like some others, and like no other person who lived in the past or will exist in the future.

The concept of personality also rests on the observation that any given person seems to behave somewhat consistently over time, and across different situations. From this perceived consistency comes the notion of personality traits that characterizes an individual's customary ways of responding to his or her world. Although only a modest consistency is found from childhood personality to adult personality, consistency becomes greater as we enter adulthood. Nonetheless, even in adulthood, a capacity for meaningful personality change remains.

With the combination of these notions of individuality and consistency, we can define personality as the distinctive and relatively enduring ways of thinking, feeling, and acting that characterize a person's response to life situations.

The thoughts, feelings, and actions that are seen as reflecting an individual's personality typically have three characteristics. First, they are seen as behavioural components of identity that distinguish that person from others; second, the behaviours are viewed as being caused primarily internal rather than environmental factors; and third, the person's behaviour seems to have organization and structure—they seem to fit together in a meaningful fashion, suggesting an inner personality that guides and directs behaviour.

Studies on personality have been guided by psychodynamic, humanistic, biological, behavioural, cognitive, and sociocultural perspectives. These perspectives provide different conceptions of what a personality is and how it functions. Yet this diversity of viewpoints arises from the fact that theorists have their own personalities, which influence their perception and understanding of themselves and the world.