Lifespan Development and Personality: John Term Paper

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It was to this group Gacy devoted the majority of his time to and eventually became first vice-president and 'Man of the Year.' ("John Wayne Gacy: Crime Library," 2006, p.4) Gacy was married to a woman whose father owned a Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise, but rumors began to swirl that Gacy had made passes at the young men working at the chain. Gacy was incarcerated for an incident involving a man he had paid for sex and then attempted to have beaten by a thug for hire. ("John Wayne Gacy: Crime Library," 2006, pp.3-4)

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 Mistrustful children are socially withdrawn and as adults their behavior is, "characterized by depression, paranoia, and possibly psychosis."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.

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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.

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