Aaron Beck, the father of cognitive therapy, believes that as a result of the interaction between an individual and his other personality and environment, a person may develop a cluster of antisocial concepts and beliefs similar to the ones described by [named case studies]. In his book, Prisoners of Hate, he points out that juvenile offenders have a set of beliefs about the world that are quite rigid.
These beliefs can be something like the following: authorities are controlling, disparaging, and punitive; outsiders are treacherous, self-serving and hostile; and nobody can be trusted. Because of these beliefs and shaky self-esteem, the potential offender may misinterpret the behavior of other people as antagonistic. The violence-prone individual regards his entire life as a battle and is on constant guard against others he believes are insulting him or trying to dominate him. (Others, of course, pick up on this attitude and tendto respond negatively, reinforcing these expectations).
Beck breaks down offenders into two different types: the reactive offender (or sociopath) and the psychopath (or hardened anti-social characters). The reactive offender is one who feels that nobody recognizes his rights; he reacts with anger and sometimes with violence when someone rejects him or disrespects him. Reactive offenders are capable of feeling the usual human emotions such as shame, guilt and empathy but they lack the ability to inhibit, control and reflect on what they are feeling before striking out. They feel weak and inadequate and are poor at problem solving and assertive social skills. Like the psychopath, they have a low tolerance for frustration and want to punish their frustrator. However, the “reactor” will feel guilty or shameful afterwards.
In contrast, psychopaths are totally self-serving, feel that they are superior to others and, above all, feel that they have innate rights that are more important than the needs of other people. They use deceit, intimidation and force to get what they want. These manipulations are rewarded with feelings of pleasure when they work and do not produce shame when the psychopath is confronted with what he has done.
Although most kids are not a “pure” type of either the reactive offender or psychopath, [named case studies] seem to fall into the category of psychopath and reactive offender, respectively. [Case study 1] is similar in character to the psychopath in that he “lies just to lie” which pleases him rather than makes him feel guilt or shame. He has no empathy for the plight of others (he even laughs at car wreck victims) and thinks he should not be held accountable for making bomb threats. He has no understanding of why his threats should be seen as a problem for the staff and students at his school. After all, in his mind, his superior rights (to make a joke) should take precedence over other people’s feelings.
[Case study 2], on the other hand, appears to be reacting to other people not respecting him or actively seeking to physically harm him and he retaliates as a result of feeling weak and vulnerable. He does not see himself as superior like [case study 1] but rather as a weak and vulnerable person who must constantly be on guard. He is visibly shaken and upset by his aggressive impulses whereas for [case study 1], those feelings are pleasurable.
Some experts feel that the school killers in recent years would fit into the category of the psychopath or (antisocial personality) since they feel little in the way of empathy or guilt. But remember, psychopaths are typically chronic troublemakers with no empathy or guilt for what they do. In an article in Time magazine, Donald Black, a psychiatrist and author, states that “empathy is what stops you and me from doing horrible things.” I disagree with this statement. In fact, true cruelty almost requires a measure of empathy. From my experience, a kid can have empathy and guilt and do destructive things anyway.
The reactive offender as described by Beck has empathy and guilt but will behave aggressively anyway because of feeling vulnerable and weak. Violence is his only way to restore his self-esteem. When they are not upset, the reactive offenders are capable of positive feelings of caring and concern, and experience shame and guilt for past transgressions. I believe that many of the school killers that we have seen in recent years fit more into the category of reactive offender as opposed to the psychopath. They typically have very little in the way of a criminal record and are not always chronic troublemakers. They almost always say that they are responding to being harassed and picked on at school. They do not strike out randomly but in defense against others who psychologically or physically torture them. Rather than being an extreme antisocial personality or psychopath, these kids tend to have narcissistic features that crop up only in certain situations where they feel threatened.
– from The Scarred Heart: How Personality And Environment Influence Violent Kids, by Dr. Helen Smith [read the full chapter here!]
Columbine 