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Mackenzy Hansen

Professor Goeller

English 1201

16 January 2019

Research Proposal

Ever since I can remember, I have always had a huge interest in criminals and serial

killers. I have always had a huge interest in the brain and how it works and criminals and why

they do what they do so when I found out that criminal psychology was a thing, I was ecstatic.

I’ve seen just about every crime show on Netflix including the documentaries and British shows

about people who aren’t even around here. The thought process of criminals of all kinds amazes

me. Whether it be to help their family, get revenge, an outburst of rage or just for fun, it all

amazes me that their brain says it’s acceptable behavior. When I took my first general

psychology class at Sinclair, we went into great depth of the Nature vs. Nurture discussion. That

was my first spark of interest in the correlation between that and how people are now today as

they are older and how it impacted every aspect of their life. I took it one step further. I wanted

to know how it affected criminals.

There’s usually a pretty big difference between the average male and female in just about

every aspect of life. But what about the difference between male and female criminals? I was

first introduced to female serial killers on a show called “Killer Women With Piers Morgan” on

Netflix. I was intrigued right away. But then it reminded me of the men murders and it made me

think about the correlation between male and females. When I saw this project, I knew I had to

combine the two to really enjoy writing this paper.

1. How do I feel about this topic?

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a. I feel very intrigued by this topic. I feel like this topic is very interesting and and

could really help out psychologists and everyday people in the future.

2. What do I think about this topic before doing the research?

a. I think that this topic is a new perspective on criminals that many people have not

looked at yet. I think that it will fun a really fun paper to write because of all the

research that has been done on separate ends of the spectrum but putting them

together will be really interesting.

3. What do I believe about this topic?

a. I believe that this topic will intrigue a lot of people by thinking about criminals

from a different perspective. I believe that this topic may answer questions about

past criminals or even help pick out future criminals.

4. What do I already know about this topic?

a. I already know that there is a connection between crimes and Nature vs. Nurture. I

also know there is a drastic difference between male and female criminals.

In order to properly write my paper, I still need to learn male connection to Nature vs.

Nurture and women connection to Nature vs. Nurture. I’m hoping to learn about the connections

that have been made by themselves and with each other. I know very little about my topic so I

hope to be able to dive deeper into the topic. I think I will start my research online or even in

documentaries. I am not positive as to how many books have been written about things like this

but I will check out some books too. Two research questions I hope to answer are:

1. What’s the connection between Nature vs. Nurture and men and women criminals?

2. Can we use this research to educate people on early signs of possible criminals?