 For as long as I can remember, I've been fascinated by serial killers. Whenever there's a docuseries or biopic about serial killers, I'm intrigued to watch. I love shows like Dexter and recently my beautiful girlfriend Tristan and I binge watched Hannibal. Recently a great docuseries was released on HBO called I'll Be Gone in the Dark which is based on Michelle McNamara's hunt for the Golden State Killer. One of my other fascinations is cults which is why the canceled too soon show the following was one of my favorites because I combined the two. But as a happy go lucky non-psychopath, I've always felt kind of weird that I'm so interested in serial killers. Fortunately, it turns out that I'm not the only one. There are actually a bunch of us out there who are interested in the stories of serial killers. Like me, I'm guessing many of the people who take interest in this topic aren't necessarily morbid or think serial killing is a noble trait. So aside from learning about serial killers, I've always wanted to know why people like you and me are drawn to these stories. There's another YouTube creator by the name of Sarah Hocknison who has discussed this topic quite a bit but she takes a more moral and ethical look at serial killer fandom. In her videos, she discusses people who glorify serial killers by wearing their merch or even going as far as to get tattoos of them. Although she's a massive horror movie fan, Sarah Hocknison believes it's morally wrong to romanticize these serial killers. I personally agree with Sarah that we shouldn't put people like Dahmer, Bundy, and others on a pedestal for their murders. Lives have been lost and families have been destroyed by these murders. But when it comes to our fascination with serial killers, I don't think it's about admiring people who have killed. Aside from reading, watching, or listening to stories about serial killers, there are those who go even further. People have paid thousands of dollars for Charles Manson's hair or a painting from John Wayne Gacy. Then there are others who fall in love with serial killers. Serial killers like Richard Ramirez and Ted Bundy were bombarded with love letters. It'd be absurd to think that all of us who are interested in learning about serial killers would condone the heinous crimes committed by these people. But what about those who are more extreme? What's going on in the minds of those who buy murder memorabilia or fall in love with these serial killers? It also seems to be a bit reductionist to think that this entire group of people believes murder is okay. So what's going on? In this video, we're going to attempt to understand the psychology of those of us who are interested in the topic of serial killers. This is the second video in the series Supernatural Psychology. And now, you're probably wondering what serial killers have to do with the supernatural. Well, aside from psychology, we're going to be talking about our innate belief in essentialism, which often goes unnoticed. From learning about serial killers to admiring them to falling in love with them, we're going to cover it all. But before we get started, if you're new to the Rewired Stole, make sure you subscribe and ring that notification bell. On this channel, we practice critical thinking and skepticism while diving deep into topics to gain a better understanding of them. At the Rewired Stole, we believe that being a skeptic and practicing critical thinking is a great path towards improving our own emotional intelligence. So subscribe so you don't miss any upcoming video essays. When I got sober back in 2012, one of the things I became familiar with was keep the best and leave the rest. It was referring to learning how to stay sober through the experience of others, but being strategic about what suggestions you take. There were some people who were extremely insightful and wise when it came to certain aspects of life, but with others, they were a hot mess. Like the man who could encourage you to go to 7-12-step meetings a week, but he was also cheating on his wife. Or there was the woman who managed to stay sober, but she kept hanging out with old friends who drank and used drugs. The keep the best and leave the rest learning model is a great way to live life. Too often, we fall victim to the belief that people are binary. We see people as all good or all bad, but as people on a mission to learn and grow, we must be skeptical of that binary thinking and realize that humans are much more nuanced than that. Some of the worst people out there have traits that we admire, but due to the horn effect, we feel it's taboo to even acknowledge it. In the last video, we discussed the psychology of the halo effect, which is a bias that makes us think one good aspect of a person makes them all good. On the other side of the spectrum is the horn effect. This bias makes us believe that one bad quality of a person means that they have no traits that we can learn from or should admire. Due to the societal type of black and white thinking, it's no wonder that people like you and I feel a little weird about how interested we are in serial killers. Although I enjoy learning about serial killers, something in the back of my head is constantly saying this is pretty twisted. But is there something psychologically going on that we don't realize? Dr. Julia Shaw may have some answers. Dr. Julia Shaw is a German-Canadian psychologist who specializes in false memories, but her range of knowledge goes far beyond that. Her true expertise is in criminal psychology, and she's often called upon as an expert witness in various trials. In a recent tweet, she says the following. I spend so much of my career as a scientist who studies criminal psychology saying, I don't do that, nope, not that either, also not that. I'm not a therapist, a profiler, a police officer. I don't directly interview offenders, and I spend almost no time in prisons. Instead, I do research, try to understand why people do quote unquote bad things, write books, train police on how to use evidence-based interview approaches, and work as an expert witness who examines case files exclusively on the issue of false memory. If I knew or did all the things that people assume I do as a criminal psychologist, I'd need about 10 different PhDs. What do people get wrong about the area of your expertise of work? For those of you who watched my video on Tati Westbrook and Shane Dawson, you know that I'm really interested in understanding how memories work. And that's how I discovered Dr. Julia Shaw. After reading her best-selling book, The Memory Illusion, Remembering, Forgetting, and the Science of False Memory, I immediately read her other book, Evil, The Science Behind Humanities Dark-Sized. In her book, she argues that the idea of quote unquote evil is lazy, and people are much more complex than that. For example, she writes about this false idea that we have, that serial killers are these emotionless monsters. As a scientist, part of her job is to let go of these biases in an effort to discover the truth. It's considered taboo to empathize at all with serial killers. But Dr. Shaw discusses how someone like Jeffrey Dahmer wasn't driven by our illusion of pure evil. Although what he did was absolutely grotesque, Dahmer was a human being who was extremely lonely. Dahmer ate his victims because he believed it'd bring him closer to them so they could never leave him. He even tried injecting acid into his victims' brains to turn them into zombies who would be there with him forever. I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that nobody watching this video would go to these lengths, but loneliness is a very human emotion. In her book, Dr. Shaw is arguing that our conception of evil is that people do awful things out of this drive for bloodlust. She says, that's our psychological defense as a way to dehumanize serial killers to separate us from them. If we were to acknowledge that these people expressed human emotions, it'd mean that more of us were capable of these acts. Although 99.9% of us would never commit these acts, the rational part of us knows that serial killers like Dahmer were human. Aside from discussing the nuanced subject of evil and crime, in chapter three titled The Freak Show, she explained studies on what make people quote unquote creepy and why some of us are fascinated by the topic of serial killers. One possible explanation that Dr. Shaw gives us for why we're intrigued by serial killers is that it's a psychological way for us to confront death. As we learn about these stories, it's a way for us to confront death from the comfort of our homes without being in real danger. In his book, How Pleasure Works, Yale psychologist Paul Bloom has another interesting perspective. Bloom argues that one reason we're drawn to fictional horror movies is that it's a way for our brain to run through life and death scenarios to better prepare us if we were put in an awful situation. Bloom states that although we know a zombie apocalypse most likely isn't going to happen, our brain gets pleasure from watching these movies because it helps us strategize in our minds. On an unconscious level, we're able to ask questions like if I was in this scenario, which neighbors could I trust to help me survive and which of my friends are most likely to betray me? The other explanation that Dr. Shaw brings up is that we admire people with qualities we don't have even though we'd never want to be them or do what they do. This is one of those keep the best and leave the rest scenarios. As we learn about serial killers, although we don't condone their actions, we admire how cunning they are. It takes a highly intelligent person to avoid being caught for that long. Aside from intelligence, we may admire their confidence. So although we'd never aspire to be a serial killer, some of us are fascinated about a serial killer's traits like intelligence. This is actually something that's quite common. There are plenty of non-murdering celebrities that people love for various traits. I'm no fan of our president, but I know one of the reasons Donald Trump was elected was because he never apologizes and quote unquote says what's on his mind. You see this on YouTube as well. It's hard to argue that someone like Tricia Paytas or Tana Mojo isn't a hot mess, but these YouTubers are able to live in a way that many of us can't. So although you may not respect Tricia's moral compass, maybe you admire her body confidence and fearlessness when it comes to speaking her mind. So now that we know that people interested in learning about serial killers aren't necessarily morbid or glorifying these people, this doesn't necessarily explain some of the other human behaviors. In this next section, we're going to switch gears and get supernatural to try to understand why people buy murder memorabilia by learning about essentialism. When I was a kid, I was absolutely obsessed with Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In fact, I even wanted to name my son Xander, but his mom only agreed to make his middle name Alexander. Each week I watched Buffy and would watch reruns on repeat. Eventually, I started writing the cast fan letters and one day, none other than Buffy herself sent me a letter back. Sarah Michelle Geller sent me an autographed picture and it made my whole world. I wrote her again with a thank you and she wrote back. But when I opened the letter, I was furious. It was the exact same picture with the exact same autograph. Buffy didn't sign this. She probably didn't even put this fake autographed picture in an envelope and send it to me. So I did what any other rational child would do and I sent her one more letter expressing my anger for this autographed scam she was running. A couple weeks later, I received a reply. In that envelope was the exact same autographed picture. Aside from my tiny little heart being broken, there was something much deeper going on that's part of the human experience and that is essentialism. Why did it make me feel so good believing that Sarah herself touched the envelope and photo with her very own signature? Why did it feel so bad when I realized it was fake? Why is it that when people are touched by a celebrity, they say that they're never going to wash their hand again? And why do people spend insane amounts of money at celebrity auctions? Even weirder, why did people buy Belle Delphine's bathwater? Well, the answer is essentialism. In his book, Super Sense, experimental psychologist Bruce Hood discusses the cognitive phenomenon of essentialism. Essentialism is our belief that objects have an essence to them. Essentialism is our belief that objects have an essence to them. This is also why I believe that that essence is attached to them and can be transferred. While we don't openly acknowledge this supernatural belief, it's one that most of us hold. And through Bruce Hood's studies, he's found that we develop it when we're young children. Bruce Hood and Paul Bloom, who was mentioned earlier, have done studies on children to see when they develop essentialism. In one study, they made children believe that one of their cherished possessions, like a toy or a blanket, was duplicated in a machine. They wanted to see if the children believed that an exact duplicate was as valuable to them as the original. What they found is that at a very young age, we see our possessions as having a certain essence that's special to us. For example, think back to your favorite childhood stuffed animal. If it were damaged or lost and your parents replaced it, would you value it as much as the original? Most likely not, because the new one doesn't have the same essence. So why do people pay thousands of dollars for Charles Manson's hair or paintings from John Wayne Gacy? Paul Bloom conducted a study titled, physical contact influences how much people pay at celebrity auctions. In the abstract, he states, contagion is a form of magical thinking which people believe that a person's immaterial qualities or essence can be transferred to an object through physical contact. Here we investigate how a belief in contagion influences the scale of celebrity memorabilia. Using data from three high-profile estate auctions, we find that people's expectations about the amount of physical contact between the object and the celebrity positively predicts the final bids for items that belong to the well-liked individuals like John F. Kennedy, and negatively predicts final bids for items that belong to disliked individuals like Bernie Madoff. So their study indicated that we'd pay more for something that was touched by a well-liked individual, but why do people pay so much for serial killer memorabilia? Well, as we discussed in the last section, there are certain qualities that people do admire about these killers despite the person being a killer. What's even more fascinating is what they found in a follow-up experiment. The abstract says as follows. A follow-up experiment further suggests that these effects are driven by contagion beliefs. When asked to bid on a sweater owned by a well-liked celebrity, participants report that they would pay substantially less if it was sterilized before they received it. However, sterilization increased the amount they would pay for a sweater owned by a disliked celebrity. Think about that for a second. How much would you pay for something worn by your favorite celebrity? How much would you pay if it was sterilized? If you're like most people, you'd pay less, but why? Because sterilization once again, affects our magical thinking and we believe that part of a person's essence has now been removed. This also explains why people would pay more for a sterilized item from a disliked celebrity. This form of supernatural thinking also explains cannibalism. In a future video, we'll dive into that supernatural psychology, but some people believe they absorb a person's strengths if they eat them. But is this true for essentialism when it comes to items as well? In another study, Brucehood found that people believe they'd be a better person if they wore Mr. Rogers famous sweater. Why? For those of us who remember Mr. Rogers, he embodied goodness and being completely wholesome. So, due to our essentialism, we think that wearing his clothes would transfer some of his essence to us and make us a little bit better of a person. Although magical thinking is a supernatural belief, it actually works. As we've discussed before, the placebo effect is real and it's powerful. The power of beliefs is strong, which is why when you tell a child that something you gave them is magic and will make them brave, they'll act braver. For some of us, owning something of Mr. Rogers or Gandhi or MLK might make us act better as well based on our supernatural belief. Brucehood wanted to know if essentialism could have the opposite effect as well. So he did a study that he calls the killer's cardigan. Fred West was a serial killer in England who committed 12 murders. In one study, Hood wanted to see if people would wear a cardigan that was worn by Fred West and many people who knew of his brutal crimes say they wouldn't. When Brucehood asked who would wear this cardigan to audience when he gives talks, he sees people physically recoil when others say they'd wear this cardigan. Why? Because of essentialism. But remember, the essence of a serial killer is different from person to person. For some people, they'd be honored to wear a killer's cardigan. Regardless of how rational we think we are, we must admit that our tendency for magical thinking of essentialism is pretty fascinating. It explains why people buy murder and celebrity memorabilia and why people would buy something as ridiculous as Belle Delphine's Bathwater. It also explains why it's so hard for us to get rid of things, but more importantly, it gives us some insight into those who struggle with mental illnesses that cause them to hoard. So thus far, we've learned that people are interested in learning about serial killers as a way to unconsciously run through scenarios or we may be drawn to their intelligence or other traits. We also now have explanations as to why people would consider owning items from serial killers. In this last section, we'll try to figure out why people fall in love with some of these serial killers. We all know people who fall for the bad boy or bad girl. While some people go for the motorcycle riding boy in high school or the tattooed girl, falling in love with a serial killer is on a whole different level. We're no longer discussing attraction to someone who is a little on the rebellious side. This is someone who has been convicted of murder. In this final section, we're going to dive into a little psychology, but we don't have time to get into the psychology of why you're attracted to certain people. I've actually covered this in a previous video titled Why You Date, Who You Date, which will be linked up in the info card. Today, we're going to be discussing the psychology behind conventionally attractive people getting better treatment than most. Believe it or not, there have been a ton of psychological studies on this subject. Based on the research, we know why people like Ted Bundy and Richard Ramirez receive more love letters than Ed Kemper. In 2019, there was quite an uproar about the casting of Hollywood stud, Zac Efron, playing Ted Bundy. People were upset that casting this attractive man and making him a sex symbol in the movie was morally wrong and a disservice to the victims. But many women were attracted to the real Ted Bundy despite his vicious murders. Going back to the halo effect, for some reason we perceive attractive people as less dangerous. One of the most recent examples of this went viral in 2014, and it's the story of Jeremy Meeks, AKA the Hot Felon. When his bug shot was released, women and men alike could only talk about how attractive Meeks was. After being released in 2016, he even began a modeling career. Although Jeremy Meeks is attractive, he wasn't in prison for some traffic violations or something minor. In 2002, he was charged with robbery and corporal injury to a child. He was also a member of the North Side Gangster Crips, and in 2014, he was charged with felony possession of a firearm and grand theft. But for some reason, these crimes are dampened due to his physical appearance. In her book, Evil, Dr. Julia Shaw discusses our intuitions about whether a person is creepy or trustworthy. She cites a 2008 study where participants rated 34 people on whether they were trustworthy or not based on photos alone. Half of these people were trustworthy and the other half weren't. How did the researchers decide who was trustworthy? Half of these photos were of Nobel Peace Prize winners, and the other half were men on the America's Most Wanted list. The results? Basically, we suck at knowing who is trustworthy or not because we use arbitrary features like a person's appearance as a compass. Shaw also cites a study to see what people categorized as quote unquote creepy. They categorized creepy men as typically lanky or awkward. Think about that for a second. The top traits of quote unquote creepy people were features completely out of their control. This is a prime example of the halo effect. Think about your favorite romantic comedy. If an attractive man keeps showing up at a woman's work or where she lives uninvited, it's cute and shows that he's into the woman. But if this was an unattractive man, he'd be a psycho. Research shows that unattractive people are less likely to get good jobs and they're also subject to harsher punishments. In 2015, Dr. Julia Shaw did a study at the University of British Columbia and found that unattractive and untrustworthy looking people were convicted of crimes by mock jurors with less evidence and they are less likely to be exonerated with evidence that proves their innocence. It's easy for us to sit back and judge these people who fall in love with these serial killers, but they're just further down the spectrum than most of us. Ask yourself how many exes you have where you put up with more of their toxic behavior just because they were attractive. Most of us have at least one or two on our list. As much as people like to talk about how terrible technology has made the world, I often think about how it's definitely decreased the amount of serial killers. As I watch documentaries like I'll Be Gone in the Dark or ones about people like Ted Bundy, I can't help but think about how much sooner they'd have been caught if they had security cameras back then or social media. Today, it's a common practice for a woman to share her location with her friends on a first date just in case. And if I'm being honest, I did the same thing back in my single days. When we think about fear and anxiety, we think about them as these negative parts of what makes us human, but as we discussed, some of us who are fascinated by serial killers are on a higher alert because we're mentally running through these scenarios on a regular basis. Having a healthy amount of anxiety keeps us safe and on the lookout for suspicious activity, but we also need to remember that our gut feeling isn't always accurate. In this video, you also learned how we instinctually believe that attractiveness means trustworthiness, but that's not always the case. We also learned that even if we're not suspicious, many of us still have supernatural beliefs when it comes to essentialism. So the next time you're gonna spend your hard-earned money on something that was once owned by a celebrity, really sit back and think about it for a second. Although the essence of the celebrity may have a placebo effect on you, you don't wanna break the bank on it. And if you're like me, ask how much you're really willing to spend on going to a concert. How much is that experience worth and why? Is there an essence of being in the presence of a celebrity? The other day, Tristan introduced me to the channel, Cruel World Happy Mind, where she discussed Jared Leto's quote-unquote cult. With weakened retreats costing upwards of $7,000, we need to realize that celebrities are taking advantage of our essentialism. But finally, if you gain nothing else from this video, I hope you realize that there are some good reasons why you're fascinated with serial killers. Like me, you're not glorifying or romanticizing these killers, but you're interested in the subject because you're a critical thinker and love to learn. All right, everybody, thank you once again for making it all the way through this video. And I hope you learned some new fascinating stuff about serial killers and essentialism and all that. And like I said, I found it really interesting that one of the reasons that we are interested in this or even like scary movies, that helps our brain run through these scenarios. Like, anxious people are much more prepared, on average, the other way of people. But for some of us, like I actually have anxiety disorders, so I do therapy and everything like that. And as you know, here at the Rewire Soul, huge advocates for mental health. So if you need help, don't be afraid to ask for it. I personally use BetterHelp online therapy and every video down in the description below, there is a link to BetterHelp online therapy. It's an affiliate link. So what that means is that you get affordable online therapy and a little bit comes back, supports the channel and helps me out for all the work that I put into these crazy long video essays. All right, but I hope you enjoyed this second video in the Supernatural Psychology series. I do have some more and I have a bunch, I have like a billion ideas for videos, all of you. Like so many ideas and there's not enough time. All right, so I'll hopefully get the next one out soon. But anyways, that's all I got for this video. If you liked this video, please give it a thumbs up. If you're new, make sure you subscribe and ring that notification bell. And a huge thank you to everybody who supports the channel, either by being a patron or buying my books from the Rewire Soul website or getting merch from the merch store. You're all awesome. Thanks again for watching. I'll see you next time.