Introduction to Psychology In the past two decades, the creature known as the serial killer has captured the attention of the American culture. With the dozens of books and movies centered around serial killers the term has become a trendy catch phrase, replacing earlier terms such as "homicidal maniac". Fiction and screenwriters use the term "serial killers" with such casual abandon that is seems the meaning of the term escapes them.AcknowledgementsI would like to thank my family and friends for encouraging me back to school so I can one day parlay my BIZARRE interest into a bonafide career.Justification of ProblemAre serial killers born or made? What stops us from killing a disloyal friend or total stranger with nice shoes? Or to rephrase the question what fails to stop some people from committing such murders? This question has baffled psychologist, sociologists and criminologists for many years, and is the very essence of trying to establish the nature of this crime. The born or made argument, known as the "Nature versus Nurture" debate, asks whether criminality is due to genetic factors, and therefore unavoidable, or whether it is the product of social situations, environmental surroundings or other external factors. While the debate is a noble one, we must first answer the question What is a serial killer?Literature ReviewOn February 9, 1978, 12 year-old Kimberly Leach disappeared; she was found in the first week of April, her body discovered near Suwanee State Park. In 1609, 25 handpicked daughters of Polish nobles left home to attend instruction in social graces at the Csejthe Castle; none left alive. The body of Rose Ambramovitz was found sprawled across her bed on March 18, 1941. Jessica Cain was last seen alive driving down Interstate Highway 45 between Houston and Galveston in August 1997. None of these people knew each other in life, but their deaths have at least one common factorthey were committed by a seri...