The Psychology of Charles Manson

Much has been written about the crimes of the Manson family, especially with the recent release of Leslie Van Houten. The part of the story that has fascinated me the most is how a short, rather ordinary man managed to control so many people even after incarceration.

Let's not look at the gruesome details of the crime but rather the psychology that Manson used to instruct his 'family' to kill. Manson initially used music to communicate to a generation that was all about music, and from there, he manipulated them to kill.

The backdrop of the murders is critical; America was going through the Vietnam War. The youth were either going to war or doing anything to escape it. Ian Brady stated in his book that war was legal serial killing. It was this that Manson used to his advantage.

Followers Life

Much has been made about Manson and his control; however, it is essential to realise that not everyone who met him came under his spell. Even members of the family refused to kill for him.

Most of those that killed had a similar background and came from a specific type of childhood. All had dropped out of society and been in trouble before they met him. He had a type, and that was because these were the people he knew would be easier to manipulate.

Van Houten had experimented with drugs in her early years and had a history of running away from home. Susan Atkins's parents were alcoholics. When her mum died, she had a life of hardships which led to the breakup of her family. She lived with various relatives before dropping out of school and running away.

Charles Watson came from a profoundly religious family; as the last-born son, when Manson showed him he could be important by becoming his right hand, he jumped at the chance to succeed in someone's eyes.

Manson also came from a similar background - his mother was an alcoholic and a sex worker abandoning him regularly. Much of the psychology of the young people who followed him can also be related to a younger Manson.

A juror at the Manson trial commented that she believed his level of manipulation did not come from himself, but from the voids he found in other people. Manson simply filled a need in them. He had a pimps knowledge of how to manipulate people.

Loss of Identity

Once he met them, he moved them to his ranch, removing everything they knew. Mixing this with the fact there were no clocks or newspapers at the ranch meant that he could keep them living in a fantasy world he had created for them.

He gave them all new names to enhance this world and move them to where they failed to remember their life before him. He destroyed their identity and, with it, the most fundamental part of them, their name.

He erased their past life and any moral compass they might have possessed. He taught them that life was a game and that you had to be on his team to win. To do this, he told them what they wanted to hear at the time.

He used his intellect to ensure that what he told each individual was something different that filled their particular void. He made Watson feel powerful, and Atkins feel wanted. When that didn't work, he used fear to bring them into line.

Peer Pressure

The Zimbardo prison experiment, however, calls into question whether background was the only factor that resulted in Manson controlling the young people. Zimbardo took a group of college students; all had been vetted all had a solid moral compass and a good standard of education.

He split the group into two, making one group the prison officers with a uniform and dark glasses and the second group the prisoners, removing their identities and dressing them all the same.

The experiment had to be stopped before it ran its entire course because the officer group abused the prisoners to such a level that it was no longer safe. These students studied together, then took on the role of an officer and beat their prison friends.

Peer pressure played a large part in the breakdown of the Zimbardo experiment. It also played a massive part in the murders the Manson family committed - they murdered as a group, making it harder to walk away.

Drugs

None of this manipulation would have been as powerful if it had not also been for the drugs that he supplied the family. LSD was a popular drug of the time; however, these young people mixed it with other drugs, such as belladonna. The combination of these meant they were more susceptible to whatever he told them.

Although Manson would take these drugs, he would never take as much as the others. He remained in control at all times. With the help of the drugs, he ripped away their inhibitions, and through sex, he further initiated control.

The young people were told what to perform and on who. Heterosexual men were told to perform homosexual acts on other members. With the help of drugs, Manson further eroded their feeling of self. He did this not just once but hundreds of times, repeating his mantra and exerting further control.

Attachment Theory

Susan Atkins gives us further evidence of how Manson operated. She stated that Manson was 'her father, her leader, her love.' This was another reason for choosing the young people he did; these were young people who had never seen love and didn't know what it was. In this area, he could teach them his version of love, and they didn't realise it was not right.

Attachment theory developed in the 1950s showed that humans needed to attach throughout their life with secure attachments. If this is unsuccessful in early life, then later in life, a person may have a mental illness.

If a child builds strong attachments, they have mood regulation and can build successful relationships. The young people Manson chose did not have these, so Manson became the secure attachment they sought.

Foster children have the same problems if fostered in their teenage years; they tend not to build relationships with anyone. Their mental health suffers in later life, and they are more likely to commit crimes.

Manson may not have read attachment theory and operated on instinct alone; regardless, he gave the group communal love. They had been craving a feeling of belonging all their life.

Manson would tell them they had not experienced it before because they didn't fit in with society; they were aliens. They were different, and slowly he isolated them whilst dehumanising the rest of the world. It was easier to kill another species than a member of theirs.

Parlour Tricks

Many of the family, when interviewed, stated that Manson could read minds and knew what they were thinking. I believe he used a combination of Neurolinguistic programming (NLP) and body language to give the appearance of reading minds.

NLP is s a psychological approach that explores the relationships between neurological processes (neuro), language (linguistic), and patterns of behaviour and thought (programming). It suggests these components can be understood and manipulated to achieve personal and professional goals. This Manson did to great success.

Atkins mentioned in one of her interviews that she observed Manson bring a dead bird back to life. He used several parlour tricks or sleight of hand to elevate his god-like status amongst his followers further. Link this with drug-fuelled hallucinations, and anything could have been seen.

Intelligence

By offering these psychological explanations of how Manson manipulated his followers, I do not forget the horrific acts that this group committed. Although Manson manipulated the situation, each of the killers should take personal responsibility for their role in mass murder.

Manson could have killed as many as thirty-five individuals. Many may never be identified or reported missing; such were the type of people he sought out.

One clear factor is that Manson was a highly intelligent individual who used his intelligence to manipulate those around him to do what he wanted. He was accomplished at this due to his level of control over some family members.

Some were still under his control years after he was arrested and incarcerated. During his trial, he first commanded everyone to carve an X on their head and then to shave their hair. These acts convinced the jury that Manson had the level of control to be found guilty.

When we look at these cases, questions are asked about whether Manson was a one-off and if this could happen again. To the first part of the question, I would state that Manson was not unique; Hitler initiated a similar type of manipulation of the German people.

Could this happen again? Waco would again suggest it could. Manson was a unique case because of the panic it caused and the brutality of the murders. We can only hope we don't see anything like it again, but experience tells me we might.