Introduction
As with other social behaviors, criminality requires individual decision making. The social environments that individuals are raised in plays a huge part in their decision-making processes. Social scientists have been doing research meant to crack the puzzle of what leads to people making criminality related decisions. However, behavioral changes are as a result of motivation. The motivations behind criminal activities differ from one individual to the other.
It should be noted that engaging in criminal activities is not a mental disorder. People are driven into crimes by different motivations. People may wonder why individuals engage in criminal behaviors which results in convictions once found guilty. Criminal behaviors exist in two broad categories, that is, property and violent crimes. Through the study of Chris Watt, a convict who turned homicidal to killed his entire family, we will learn some of the theories as well as the motivations that lead to criminal behaviors.
Individuals usually commit crimes out of a rational choice; either to have personal gains or have some gratifications. This means that criminal activities are within the control of an individual. However, the magnitude of criminal activity may be influenced by other factors. In understanding these factors to comprehension, three broad theories have been developed. These theories are biological, sociological and psychological theories. With the help of Chris Watt case, this paper will focus on the psychological theories and explore them into details.
Psychological theories of crime
Psychological theories mainly focus on the association that exists among these personal elements;
the intelligence of an individual
the personality of the individual
learning of the individual
Criminal behaviors.
The use of psychological theories helps in understanding the human thoughts of their emotions as well as their behaviors. These theories are made up of two components; description of behavior and predicting future behaviors. Three main theories are studied in psychological theories. These theories are;
The psychodynamic theory which emphasizes on childhood experiences having a hand in future criminal activities by individuals
Behavioral theory/behaviorism which emphasizes behaviors being acquired through conditioning
The cognitive theory which emphasizes on the internal states of the individual including their motivations, decision-making and their thinking, among other individual internal states.
After the confession of Chris Watt broke loose about his role in the killing of his young family, many people were left wondering why he had to commit such crime. Many people could not come into terms with Watt’s actions. In his confession, Watt clearly says that society knows him as a nice guy; his acts of murdering his young family came as a surprise to many people. The main reason as to why he might have committed the crime are well known to him but what is known is that he had fear about that notion of the society. Watt had an affair with a co-worker, and on the other hand, his wife was pregnant. Leaving his wife for the co-worker was a decision he was to make, and he resulted in turning homicidal.
Psychodynamic theory
This theory attaches an individual’s future criminal activities based on their childhood memories. In this theory, the personality of an individual is made up of three elements; An id which creates the body demands, an ego which enlarges the id demands and puts them in the real context, and the superego which suppresses the other two elements. Superego is responsible for making an individual behave morally. In case there is an irregular pattern in these elements, there is a possibility of an occurrence of criminal activity. Id in humans is self-centered; it is concerned with the fulfilling of body desires, that is the pleasure principle and disregards the other two elements. That is why it is easier to bump on self-centered criminals; they care about themselves more than anyone else in their lives. Ego, on the other hand, is the element responsible for compensating the id demands. This element guides the behaviors of the individual concerning the societal norms. Superego, on the other hand, acts as a judge to an individual’s behaviors and action. In summing thing up to do with this theory, offenders are frustrated by drawing their life on past experiences. Such offenders are characterized by a lack of ego due to unhappy childhood memories.
Watt could have developed the habit of pretending to be kind to everybody from his father. As he confesses, his dad was his best friend sometime back before he moved out. His dad was always on his side in his young age, very supportive and always excused him for wrongdoings. Watt was brought up without a defined structure as a child. In his childhood, it seems Watt had no role model for nurturing his behavior. Even as a father, Chris failed in his obligations. His bringing up may have been the root cause of all evils he did. Being brought up in a family that praised him and overly protected, Watt grew up knowing he had to be kind to everyone even if it meant he lied.
Behavioral theory
This theory concentrates on the human behaviors being acquired through conditioning. Through learning experiences, human beings learn behaviors in their lives. In this theory, crimes are as a result of life situations. According to this theory, people are not born criminals behavior modeling is the reason behind individuals becoming violent. This theory dictates that people learn violent behaviors from family interactions, experiences from the environments and thirdly from the mass media. According to this theory, individuals born in violent families have a higher likelihood of becoming violent. This theory also dictates that individuals residing in violent environments are also likely to be violent. In such environments, since no cultural norms are guiding such societies, there are no conventional behaviors.
Mass media has a role in violence in our societies. Films and video games are a root cause of violence within societies. To people who are influenced by mass media, violence is an acceptable norm in societies. A perfect example comes from professional athletes who become violent when on sports without dire consequences. The young generations take them as their role models which promotes violence in the societies. Another example is with the case of Vybz Kartel, the Jamaican dancehall artist who is currently serving life sentence behind bars for a murder he committed. The young generations are taking him as their kingpin hence promoting violence in our societies.
In the case of Chris Watts, it is difficult to understand what led to his changed behaviors. He confesses to being a nice guy to everyone who knew him. His behaviors may have changed back in 2015 when he was filed bankrupt. Chris wanted to start his life all over again with a new woman. This may be one of the behavioral changes that led to him turning homicidal. Chris Watt turned to be a man of lies to his wife, parents, and authority. After the disappearance of his family, he had fabricated lies to mislead the detectives on the whereabouts of his family. In the interrogation room, he remained composed as if he was innocence. It took a couple of hours for him to confess that he was the killer of his family which he did after polygraph contradicted his version of the story.
Cognitive theory
The cognitive theory emphasizes on the internal states of the individual including their motivations, decision-making and their thinking, among other individual internal states. This is based on the mental processes of the individual. The main attempt behind this theory is to study how offenders perceive the world in their minds. This theory has two approaches; the moral development and information processing approach. According to Kohlberg, moral development has six stages. In the first stage, people observe rules and regulation since they fear the consequences. However, as they progress through the stages, they start assuming, and in the sixth stage, they will obey the laws as an obligation. By this stage, people are equipped with all the requirements in the law such as equity among all people. Kohlberg came into a conclusion that individuals with self-interests (low moral reasoning) have a higher likelihood of committing crimes as opposed to individuals who believe in equity and appreciate that every individual has their rights.
In information processing, people will gather information from different sources but settle for the one which best suits them through complex analysis. Every choice has a consequence, and this is what drives individuals in making the right decisions when it comes to information processing. Incorrect use of information leads to violent behaviors. It has been revealed that poor information processing also leads to individuals committing crimes without their knowledge.
Violence and its relation to personality
Personality is behaviors that differentiate an individual from the other. Certain personality traits are responsible for criminal activities. In the case of Chris Watts, the interrogation with the detective takes a couple of hours to conclude. In making Watt confess, detectives had to repeat the same questions severally, but Watt did not lose his temper. He remains as polite as long as he can. This is vivid when one of the interrogators admits that she had a hard to believe in Watt he remains calm may be an indicator that he wants to win trust from everyone around him. This nature of his personality gave him the freedom to lie to everyone to the extent of believing in him.
Watt has a weakness in that he confides in his father. For whatever reasons, it seems that Watt was born a liar in his entire life. The only person he seems to listen is his father. This is the reason he asked for the presence of his father to whom he lied too on the murders of his family. Bedsore then, Watt had denied any involvement in the killing of his family. It took a lot of convincing from the detectives for him to confess. His lies were working magic in this case to an extent one interrogator asked him why he had no remorse when he knew his family was nowhere to be found. Surprisingly, Watt remains calm and polite to every question posed to him, and he tactically evades the traps laid by the detectives. This shows the personality of Watt. He was known as a nice guy, but on the other side, he was a good liar not known by many and perhaps he used his lies to get people like him.
When you consider intelligence and its relation to the crime Watt committed, one is left wondering what was running in his mind when committing such a felony crime. He is an intelligent person treasured by his workmates at the gas station. Watt wanted a new chapter in his life, and his family was a thorn in his plans. He was up for divorce but second thoughts instilled fear in him about how the community will say about him. Being a nice guy to people may have affected his emotions and the way of thinking. His intelligence could have warned him of the repercussions, but his ego was too high to care for the lives of his family.
Conclusion
Chris Watts is a narcissist who can hide this character over his life. His dad is his role model, and this makes Watts live a life that is not his. This makes him appear to the community as a nice guy liked by everyone. However, in reality, people like Chris have no emotions. They think they have fallen in love because their role models are in love. However, deep in their hearts, they have no emotions and can do anything like what Watts did. Had his psychological traits been identified at an earlier age, they could have been rectified before getting out of hand like it was witnessed. The parents must be the right role models their children and bring them up in a structure that fits the morality in the societies.