The Psychology of Dexter - Bella DePaulo [5]
The world sees dearly devoted Dexter: charming, reliable, calm, and caring. But underneath the emotional mask is still the mind of a detached, deceptive, and deadly psychopath—albeit one who fits somewhat uncomfortably within the traditional mold.
Pass the Shrink Wrap, Please: The Organized Homicidal Offender
Killing people and keeping your day job is no easy task. These things take forethought, planning, and organization. As a forensic expert, Dexter knows that it’s all about the details. Serial homicide offenders are commonly distinguished into the categories of disorganized and organized. Disorganized offenders lack discipline and planning, often striking their victims in sudden blitz attacks. They are not smooth operators; they depersonalize their victims, don’t talk much, and leave behind messy crime scenes. The attacks of a disorganized offender bear hallmark characteristics of rage and fury, often showing escalating brutality with each kill. Despite a common fantasy of Jack the Ripper as a polished elite London aristocrat, the Whitechapel murders were actually very, very messy, reflecting the characteristics of a disorganized offender. The Ripper’s victims were targets of relative convenience, prostitutes vulnerable to sudden attacks in the night. He took no particular care at selecting victims, killed in the open, made no efforts to hide the bodies, and left behind weapons at the crime scene. The Ripper murders were particularly grisly, characterized by evisceration, facial/genital mutilation, and removal of organs. The emotional ups and downs of mood disorders and psychosis are more prominent in disorganized offenders than the even-keeled emotional detachment of a psychopath.
Dexter, on the other hand, is an organized offender who can appreciate a clean crime scene. Organized offenders are typically knowledgeable about law enforcement procedures and actively follow or try to become involved with police investigations. This allows them not only to become more efficient in evading capture but also gives the satisfaction of outwitting their potential captors. Trained by a respected cop, Dexter takes this one step further by actually working for law enforcement.
Even outside of his crimes as a serial killer, Dexter likes to keep his personal and professional lives almost obsessively tidy. He pays attention to the details and puts a premium on cleanliness. So how could someone so neat and clean be so fascinated with something as dirty as blood? Dexter’s obsession with and aversion to blood fits within a pattern known as reaction formation , a pattern commonly seen in overly organized people. Individuals showing exaggerated reactions of disinterest, disgust, or moral indignation with taboo or forbidden things are often implicitly fascinated or excited by the objects of their conscious disaffection. A young boy who is nervous and embarrassed about a girl he likes creates a reaction formation by instead being extra mean to her at school. Men with exaggerated fears of homosexuality actually tend to show increased physical signs of sexual arousal when shown video of homosexual intercourse, despite expressing negative views about it. And how many times has a preacher or politician with a reputation for vocal and repeated condemnations of the sins of sex and pornography been exposed as a pedophile or been caught with a prostitute?
Born in blood, Dexter is both fascinated with and repulsed by the stuff. He studies blood, samples it, has pictures of it on his office wall, and even collects it. On the other hand, he fetishistically admired the Ice Truck Killer’s ability to remove all the blood from his victims and fell into a nauseous panic when confronted with a hotel room full of it.
Dexter’s killing methods reflect his high levels of organization.