1 Andrea jones
CD 3
9/19/2013
James Holmes case study
On July 20th 2012 James Holmes, a 24 year old college student from the university of Colorado opened fire in a movie theater. He caused the death of 12 innocent people and injured 58 others. Witnesses describe the event as “something that came out of a movie”. It is said that Holmes entered the theater with all the other movie goers and snuck out through the emergency exit then returned a few minutes later dressed head to toe in black military styled clothing at which time he throw a smoke bomb into the crowd and opened fire. Holmes surrendered himself to the police minutes after they arrived at the theater.
There are contributing factor which can hinder a person to a mental illness or become mentally unstable that will overwhelm them to commit a mass murder. The three main theories that I believe contribute are the Psychodynamic theory, Piaget’s constructivist theory and Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory. The psychodynamic theory in general states that the life experiences of an individual play a key factor in shaping ones behavior. For example if one is exposed to violence from a young age that person is more likely to grow up violent. Piaget’s theory which is very similar to the psychodynamic theory although is more focused on their experience with the world as a whole. For example if one grows up hearing a seeing a hatred towards a certain group they are more likely to grow up with a bias towards that group. Lastly is Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory is how the cultural shaped one person.
2
James Holmes is not one you would typically associate with when thinking of someone who would commit a mass murder. Neighbors and former classmates described him a reserved and smart. He played soccer and was a member of the cross country team during his high school years. When he graduated high school he worked as an intern at Stalk Institute before he transfer to the University of Riverdale where he graduated with honors. He