Lifespan development and trauma in John Wayne Gacy

Lifespan Development and Personality: John Wayne Gacy

One of the most perplexing questions is why seemingly normal people like John Wayne Gacy choose to kill? On the surface, Gacy was a professional living a reasonably well-integrated life, with ties to his community and friends. "People who knew Gacy thought of him as a generous, friendly and hard-working man, devoted to his family and community...[yet] During a three-year-period, Gacy went on to viciously torture, rape and murder more than thirty other young men, who would later be discovered under the floorboards of his home and in the local river." ("John Wayne Gacy: Crime Library," 2006,

Physical

One possible physical explanation for Gacy's behavior might be found in his physical development as a young man. When Gacy was eleven years old he received a trauma to the head that caused a blood clot in his brain. This was only discovered when he was sixteen. From the period of his life from eleven to sixteen, Gacy experienced frequent blackouts, which could have interfered with normal mental development. He also was diagnosed with a heart condition at age seventeen. ("John Wayne Gacy: Crime Library," 2006, p.2) Gacy's heart condition was exacerbated after he gained weight during his adult career as a salesman. "Weight, heart and back problems would plague Gacy for the rest of his life." ("John Wayne Gacy: Crime Library," 2006, p.3)

Cognitive

Although he did not excel in school as a young man, Gacy was noted to be a quick study of people. He learned the sales trade quickly, as well as management skills during his early professional career, and quickly rose through the ranks.

Intellectually

Gacy struggled during his early schooling school. He never graduated high school, after switching secondary schools four times. He worked as a janitor for several months in Las Vegas. ("John Wayne Gacy: Crime Library," 2006, p.3) However, after returning home, Gacy seemed to recover from this period of adolescent idling and enrolled in a business college. After he graduated, Gacy seemed to find his calling. Gacy was "hired at his first job out of business school at the Nunn-Bush Shoe Company. He excelled in his position as a management trainee." ("John Wayne Gacy, Crime Library:" 2006, p.3)

Emotional

Gacy's father was a physically abusive alcoholic. Gacy's father abused the boy, and as a child Gacy witnessed his mother and siblings being abused by his father, while he was powerless to help them. Despite this fact, "young Gacy deeply loved his father and wanted desperately to gain his devotion and attention. Unfortunately, he was never able to get very close to his father before he died, something which he regretted his entire life." ("John Wayne Gacy: Crime Library," 2006, p.2)

Heritable factors in terms of his father's genetic propensity towards violence may have played an influence in Gacy's own, similar tendency towards violence. However, it cannot be denied that the young Gacy grew up in an abusive environment and his father's parenting practices did not foster childhood healthy development. Community social support systems such as his involvement in the Boy Scouts may have offered some stability.

Moral

Morally, Gacy came from a conservative Catholic background, was active in many Catholic organizations and the Boy Scouts, yet engaged in gay sexual practices, even when he was married. He was sent to jail for sodomy and battery, yet was a model prisoner. His father was an alcoholic, although Gacy idealized him. There was a profound tension between his outer and his inner persona.

Theories of Personality

Erikson

Erik Erikson attempted to refine Freud's theory of personality, although he saw development as proceeding as a period of stages like Freud. He focused on the child's emotional and social stages of development. The first stages involve learning to trust and model one's behavior. If parents are "unreliable or inadequate," as were Gacy's, the child learns mistrust rather than trust. Mistrustful children are socially withdrawn and as adults their behavior is, "characterized by depression, paranoia, and possibly psychosis." (Boeree, 1998, "Erik Erikson") According to this theory, Gacy's psychosis is the result of his childhood upbringing in an abusive home, which created the seeds of psychosis. His only touchstone for normal behavior was his involvement in conservative and community-based organizations that he could not fully fit into because of his homosexuality. Gacy's fixation on young men also seems like an attempt to recreate the father-son stage in a positive fashion, but he also modeled his abusive adult persona upon his father, symbolically assuming the more powerful and violent paternal role.

Skinner

In contrast, B.F. Skinner developmental theory "is based on operant conditioning. The organism is in the process of 'operating' on the environment, which in ordinary terms means it is bouncing around its world, doing what it does. During this 'operating,' the organism encounters a special kind of stimulus, called a reinforcing stimulus, or simply a reinforcer. This special stimulus has the effect of increasing the operant -- that is, the behavior occurring just before the reinforcer. This is operant conditioning: 'the behavior is followed by a consequence, and the nature of the consequence modifies the organisms tendency to repeat the behavior in the future.'" (Boeree, 1998, "B.F. Skinner") in this reading, Gacy grew up in a household where aggression was rewarded, reinforcing his sense that this type of behavior was good. His exterior society reinforced the idea that homosexuality was bad. To punish himself for having these desires, instead of acting aggressively towards his own body, Gacy acted aggressively towards his conquests.

Most Convincing?

Erikson's theory of development provides some explanation as to why Gacy seemed frozen in time. According to Erikson, if a developmental conflict is unresolved, the person is essentially condemned to repeat it, as an adult. This explains why Gacy was unable to function normally within the community, even after apparently escaping his troubled childhood past.