The Psychology of Extreme Behavior

Segment 1: Big Risks, Big Change. On this edition of The Doug Noll Show we are speaking with Dr. Frank Farley, psychologist and Professor at Temple University. Frank is former President of the American Psychological Association and six of its divisions, as well as the American Educational Research Association and International Council of Psychologists. Frank was born and raised in Canada. He was the first in his family to go to college, which is where he discovered psychology. He later studied in London and then ended up in Madison, Wisconsin and ultimately at Temple University. His primary focus of research is with extreme behavior, whether it’s violence (mass murderers, serial killers) or extreme athletes like Mt. Everest climbers. Frank tells us that great leaders like Mandela, King, and Gandhi engaged in extreme behavior. They took big risks, they pushed the envelope hard and they changed the world.

Segment 2: Nature versus Nurture. We’ve seen some big atrocities in the last 10 year, such as numerous school shootings. In Doug’s experience, the murderers he’s worked with in prison have endured unimaginable abuse and horror. So why do some abused people become murderers? Frank believes it’s partially genetic, but a lot of it has to do with their environment. Both nature and nurture are involved. Most human behaviors are a combination of our biological side and our environmental side. The brain is enormously important. Anything of any importance goes through and is processed by the brain, but we also can’t deny the role of relationships, families and communities. Our brains are designed to be social and when prisoners are put in solitary confinement they begin to develop psychosis.

Segment 3: Defining Normal. Frank has a hard time defining mental illness, because if we’re going to define abnormal, we need to have a grasp on what’s normal. One of his major concerns is that we “pathologize” so many behaviors. We see something extreme and slap a label on it and call it a mental illness. However, if we didn’t have extreme behaviors and risk takers, we wouldn’t have new ideas. These are the people who have created the modern world. Frank believes if we go too far in pathologizing behaviors, we may snuff out the very thing that is the driving force in the human race.

Segment 4: The Stigma Surrounding Mental Illness. So what do we do about the mental illness issue? For example, what could the parent of a school shooter do? The answer is to get help. Use community resources, psychologists, counselors, spend more time with your child. It’s hard for a parent to know what to do, as there is a stigma surrounding mental illness and the resources are not always easily found. It’s a complex problem, and locking up a high percentage of our citizens is not the solution.

To listen to the entire interview: