During the latter part of the 1900s, several infamous sociopaths appeared in the news; one of them was Ted Bundy. Bundy was feared for his violent crimes against women: he raped them, gruesomely murdered them, and then raped them for weeks after their deaths. After Bundy's execution, psychology experts began studying his behaviors and the causes of his sociopathic tendencies. Soon, experts noticed several parallels between Bundy, other sociopaths, and the families in which they grew up. By the 1700s, many philosophers had already begun to study human behavior. Two famous philosophers known for the Empty State theory and the Ghost in the Machine theory were John Locke and Descartes respectively. Although Locke stated that human behavior was not based on nature: it was defined by human experiences, Descartes debated that humans were inherently savages due to civilization. Another debate began when people began to question the nature of sociopathy; Was it caused by nature or a product of culture? Although hereditary traits contribute to sociopathy to some extent, sociopathic tendencies are largely caused by the way a child is raised or nurtured. Sociopathy is defined as the tendencies of a sociopathic person. Sociopaths are infamous for their “inordinate” crime rates. They cannot understand the cold, often have a lack of empathy, and generally react differently due to a lack of "love, shame, guilt, empathy, and remorse" (Mealey 134). Sociopaths are irresponsible, impulsive and self-centered. Although sociopaths make up a relatively small portion of the total population, there is a correlation between criminal behavior and sociopathic tendencies. A recent study concluded that although ...... middle of article ...... avoid such trends. Although parents cannot avoid hereditary traits that can influence socialization, if they can raise their children and teach them morals, the chances of sociopathic tendencies can be greatly reduced. Works Cited Dohrenwend, Bruce. “Social status and psychological disorder: a question of substance and a question of method.” » American Sociological Review. Flight. 31. American Sociological Association, 1966. JSTOR. Internet. January 26, 2012. Mealey, Linda. “Sociobiology of sociopathy: an integrated evolutionary model.” The unadapted mind. Psychology, 1997. 133-35. JSTOR. Internet. January 26, 2012.Patrick, Christopher. “Deconstructing Psychopathy.” Book review essays. Flight. 8. Taylor and Francis, 1997. 244-51. JSTOR. Internet. January 26, 2012. Pinker, Steven. The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature. 1st ed. Viking, 2002. Print.