is not a murderer. But whoever was shooting that weapon for that moment in time was!
“Of course,” she added, “he really was still Slivers; but the part of him that was his dark side dominated while he was in his killing mood. Perhaps that part of his personality had been buried for who knows how long.
“New theories are now emerging about the relationship of genes to behavior. For example, INSIG2 is a gene variant which is associated with an increased risk of becoming fat—”
“And I always thought it was caused by eating too much food,” Fred interrupted caustically.
Maureen ignored him and went on, “And the lack of nueroD2 causes a reduced sense of fear, maybe some of our military heroes lack that gene. RD4 is related to sexual desire. AVPR1 variants link to creative dance capability and Y2A6 relates—”
Fred thought, gee, they say men are from Mars and women from Venus?! Hell, they have to be from another parallel universe and another solar system within it. He knew what she was talking about would set them off into another endless argument in which she would take the position that people are not responsible for their behavior. In the past she argued it was because of the environment in which they were reared; now she was adding the fact that our genes predispose us to certain actions and behavior.
He interrupted her, “Then you believe we have no self will, no control whatsoever about our actions? Hell, with that theory we might as well be robots responding to our environment based on how we were originally programmed at birth.”
Redness appeared in her cheeks. “I didn’t say that, you are extrapolating much too much from what I just said.”
Fred didn’t want to fight. He just wanted to have someone help him determine why all those people were murdered in the bank and theater. “Ok, I understand, but let’s return to your point about a dual personality.”
Jim had a hard time taking in all that Maureen had to say, but he ventured another question. “Would you say that the periodic halting of his firing was a function of his shifting back and forth between Mr. Jekyll and Dr. Hyde?” he asked.
Maureen had cooled down and responded to his question without emotion. She said, “I never heard of a case in which the transitioning of personality would occur so quickly. I have to believe it was for some other reason.”
This had now become an enigma buried beneath a complex puzzle; and the more Fred thought about what he believed he knew, the more confused he became. He recalled a movie had once watched many years ago, “The Three Faces of Eve.” If he recalled correctly, it was based on a real life case of a woman with more than two personalities. At this stage, the multiple personality angle seemed to be more logical than the other possibilities he had considered.
As if reading his thoughts she said, “What I am talking about is process schizophrenia. It’s a form of multiple personality, and yes, for your information, we believe genetic predisposition could be the cause. Beyond that, his amygdale and/or prefrontal cortex might factor in.”
“What the hell are they?” he asked, almost wishing he had not.
“The amygdale is the part of the brain where strong emotions and fear originate. It is the basis for human aggression. If that portion of the brain is over-reactive, violent behavior may result. But to the best of my knowledge there has been no specific research on neuro-anatomical localization of mass shooting behavior. Freud embraced the belief that it may have been tied to sexual dysfunction and rage, although that theory is certainly subject to question.”
Maureen continued, “And the prefrontal cortex is the segment of the brain which maintains self-control. Its major function is to restrain the amygdale’s aggressive impulses. We are now learning the size of that part of the brain may have a significant influence on behavior. The woman’s prefrontal cortex is larger
“Of course,” she added, “he really was still Slivers; but the part of him that was his dark side dominated while he was in his killing mood. Perhaps that part of his personality had been buried for who knows how long.
“New theories are now emerging about the relationship of genes to behavior. For example, INSIG2 is a gene variant which is associated with an increased risk of becoming fat—”
“And I always thought it was caused by eating too much food,” Fred interrupted caustically.
Maureen ignored him and went on, “And the lack of nueroD2 causes a reduced sense of fear, maybe some of our military heroes lack that gene. RD4 is related to sexual desire. AVPR1 variants link to creative dance capability and Y2A6 relates—”
Fred thought, gee, they say men are from Mars and women from Venus?! Hell, they have to be from another parallel universe and another solar system within it. He knew what she was talking about would set them off into another endless argument in which she would take the position that people are not responsible for their behavior. In the past she argued it was because of the environment in which they were reared; now she was adding the fact that our genes predispose us to certain actions and behavior.
He interrupted her, “Then you believe we have no self will, no control whatsoever about our actions? Hell, with that theory we might as well be robots responding to our environment based on how we were originally programmed at birth.”
Redness appeared in her cheeks. “I didn’t say that, you are extrapolating much too much from what I just said.”
Fred didn’t want to fight. He just wanted to have someone help him determine why all those people were murdered in the bank and theater. “Ok, I understand, but let’s return to your point about a dual personality.”
Jim had a hard time taking in all that Maureen had to say, but he ventured another question. “Would you say that the periodic halting of his firing was a function of his shifting back and forth between Mr. Jekyll and Dr. Hyde?” he asked.
Maureen had cooled down and responded to his question without emotion. She said, “I never heard of a case in which the transitioning of personality would occur so quickly. I have to believe it was for some other reason.”
This had now become an enigma buried beneath a complex puzzle; and the more Fred thought about what he believed he knew, the more confused he became. He recalled a movie had once watched many years ago, “The Three Faces of Eve.” If he recalled correctly, it was based on a real life case of a woman with more than two personalities. At this stage, the multiple personality angle seemed to be more logical than the other possibilities he had considered.
As if reading his thoughts she said, “What I am talking about is process schizophrenia. It’s a form of multiple personality, and yes, for your information, we believe genetic predisposition could be the cause. Beyond that, his amygdale and/or prefrontal cortex might factor in.”
“What the hell are they?” he asked, almost wishing he had not.
“The amygdale is the part of the brain where strong emotions and fear originate. It is the basis for human aggression. If that portion of the brain is over-reactive, violent behavior may result. But to the best of my knowledge there has been no specific research on neuro-anatomical localization of mass shooting behavior. Freud embraced the belief that it may have been tied to sexual dysfunction and rage, although that theory is certainly subject to question.”
Maureen continued, “And the prefrontal cortex is the segment of the brain which maintains self-control. Its major function is to restrain the amygdale’s aggressive impulses. We are now learning the size of that part of the brain may have a significant influence on behavior. The woman’s prefrontal cortex is larger
Similar Books
