Programmed for Murder? Into the Mind of a Dangerous Child
ORLANDO — November 1, 2024 — The phenomenon of child perpetrators in mass shootings is one of the most distressing developments in modern times, calling into question how and why certain young minds develop dangerously violent tendencies. This week in my hometown of Orlando, FL, we experienced a mass shooting on Halloween night. This hit close to home as I almost attended it with my children.
What’s going on in the adolescent mind — the psychopathology — of a murderer? Along with the potential impact of prolonged exposure to violent stimuli, including video games, media images, and the lack of empathy on our child are all contributory factors. How do some children lose all ability to feel empathy and have the capacity to seek horrid violence, and conversely, how does that violence impact our highly empathic children, getting them sick with anxiety and in what is called trauma or second-hand trauma?
Young brains are like a clay, they are impressionable. It’s called neuroplasticity. Our minds are molded by what we see, smell, feel, think and our exposed to. All these factors shape growing brains, making them susceptible to a range of influences.
Children often adopt violence to process or cope with pain. Children who experience extreme emotional neglect, are chronically invalidated, or their basic emotional need of belonging may develop psychological issues, such as dissociation (a loss of sense of self), impulsive aggression, and a reduced capacity for empathy, or they may the ability to feel empathy at all. Persistent social and emotional rejection by family, peers, or teachers can foster intense resentment and a desire for retribution.
In the first seven years of our lives, we are subconsciously programmed. Children under seven-years-old walk around in a vast, impressionable brain wave called theta. It is like programming a computer, installing a program into a hard drive. The role of violent video games in programming a child’s mind for violence is complex. Studies on the effects of violent gaming often reveal differing results, but neuroscience helps clarify how repeated exposure may alter a young brain.
Here's a closer look at how violent content can influence young minds:
The body cannot differentiate the between what we imagine and what we experience in real world. That is why dreams feel so real. We have children feeling intense anger, retaliation, and a strong sense of belongingness in a shared lived experience playing games that murder people. They bond over murder, and the brain and body memorize this sensation and they seek more and more adrenal hits. Over time, this desensitization, imaging and playing out murdering becomes habituated, killing someone is practiced and imagine sometimes for hours at a time. The body can’t tell the mind is playing a game. Over time, this can diminish empathy, making a child less likely to feel distress or empathy when witnessing pain in others.
Violent games reward aggressive behavior with points or achievements, activating the brain's reward systems. Our neuroplastic minds may link aggressive behavior with positive reinforcement, normalizing violent responses to conflicts.
Frequent exposure to simulated violence can potentially lower impulse control by affecting the prefrontal cortex, which is not fully developed in children. This underdevelopment can lead to poor judgment and an increased likelihood of acting out aggressive impulses.
How we spend our days is how we live our lives. It’s a perfect storm, practicing for mass murder. Spending their days online exposed to violence, news, media, social media they are programming mind and body to commit violence. Practice to ride a bike, you can became a bike rider, what we practice is what we become.
The adolescent brain is like plastic or clay molding to repeated exposures and behavioral reinforcements. This adaptability means that both positive and negative experiences have profound impacts. So, when children repeatedly practice violent behavior, whether virtually or otherwise, their brains may create "pathways" that make aggressive responses more automatic.
Violent video games, social media and news can engage dopaminergic systems, associating pleasure with simulated violence. This pattern can be especially risky in children whose reward systems are highly active and sensitive.
