The exploring psychology blog is the place where I highlight and explore the most fascinating and compelling psychology related news and research.
Whether you are new to psychology, currently studying or thinking about studying psychology, or consider yourself an expert in the field, I very much hope that you find the material featured on the exploring psychology blog interesting.
The Information on serial killers section of the All About Forensic Psychology website forms part of a wider initiative to make important, insightful and engaging psychology publications widely available.
This particular Kindle collection consists primarily of the landmark articles written by members of the Behavioral Science Units, National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime, at the FBI Academy.
These seminal publications in the history of FBI profiling were released by the U.S. Department of Justice as part of the information on serial killers provided by the FBI's Training Division.
Today's exploring psychology blog post comes courtesy of my favourite psychology podcaster "Dr Dave", who is known in more formal surroundings as David Van Nuys, Ph.D. Emeritus Professor of Psychology at Sonoma State University. Dr Dave's podcast show "Shrink Rap Radio" comes complete with the wonderful tagline "All the psychology you need to know and just enough to make you dangerous"
The psychology podcast I've chosen to showcase taps into my academic interest in forensic psychology and features a fascinating interview with Douglas Evander Oswell who has spent over 10 years researching the methods, motives, psychological attributes and connection between the Unabomber and the Zodiac. As Oswell notes:
"In the spring of 1995, as accounts of the yet-uncaptured Unabomber began to filter through the media, I immediately noticed a distinct set of similarities between the methods and motives of the Unabomber and the Zodiac. One year later, the arrest of Theodore Kaczynski and the consequent flood of information pertaining to his past, did nothing to allay my growing suspicion that Kaczynski may have actually committed the crimes of Zodiac."
During the interview Oswell provides an overview of the Zodiac case and the unabomber case, he outlines the striking connections between the two cases and he discusses the distinction between serial killers, recreational killers and mass murderers.
Listen To The Interview
Click Here to download the MP3 file and listen to the interview in full.
Related Media
Zodiac Trailer:
The Unabomber:
Related Reading
The Unabomber and the Zodiac By Douglas Evander Oswell
Book Description
The Zodiac Killer murdered five people between December of 1968 and October of 1969. The murders were followed by letters to the news media demanding publication of his threats and other written material, on pain of further killings. As the Unabomber, Theodore Kaczynski murdered three people and injured many more, over a period beginning in May of 1978 and continuing through April of 1995. His murders were followed by letters to the news media demanding publication of the letters themselves, and the so-called "Manifesto," on pain of further killings. Their methods were different, but their madness was the same. This book highlights the amazing similarities between Kaczynski and the Zodiac, the two most enigmatic and cerebral killers in U.S. history.
I've had a passionate interest in psychology for over 20 years. I began studying psychology in 1990, and I've been teaching psychology in some capacity or another since 1998.
I have a first class honors degree in psychology and a Masters in Occupational psychology from the University of Sheffield (UK). For a number of years, I was a lecturer in psychology at the University of Huddersfield (UK).
I have built four websites around my teaching and research interests.
