Gary Ridgeway BY BROOKE BARR PSYC 212 RARITAN VALLEY COMMUNITY COLLEGE NOVEMBER/2013

Who is Gary Ridgeway?  Born in Salt Lake City  February 18 th, 1949  Mom- Mary Steinman  Very Low IQ  Classmates claim he was “forgettable”  Married High School Sweetheart  Joined military right out of high school  Slept with several prostitutes while stationed abroad  Contracted an STD  Divorced 1 st wife because she cheated on him  Married 2 more times  Had a son with second wife Ann Rule “Green River Running Red” 2004

The Green River Killer  Stabbed a 6 yr old boy at age 17  Killing Began in 1982  Killed an estimated 90+ woman  Convicted of 48 counts of 1 st degree murder  Led police to 23 more bodies  Claims he lost count after 90  Arrested 2001  Passed a polygraph Ann Rule “Green River Running Red” 2004

Key events: Important Childhood Memory  Bedwetting  Mother would wash him and humiliate him in front of his brothers and father.  Cause a deep hatred for his mother  Also struggled with a very strong attraction to her which caused him to hate her even more. McAdams 1993 as cited by Nelson Ann Rule “Green River Running Red” 2004

Key events: Important Adult Memory  Contraction STD during war  Had an addiction to prostitutes  Due to constant sleeping around he contracted an STD  Caused very deep hatred for prostitutes  Like the hatred for his mother  Called them “scum’  Wanted to rid the world of them Ann Rule “Green River Running Red” 2004 McAdams 1993 as cited by Nelson

Key events: Any Important Memory  Birth of his son  2 nd wife- Marcia  After the birth of his son Ridgeway began strangling his wife  He began seeing her in the same way he saw his mother  Took his son on “hunts”  Claimed it made the girl more comfortable with him Ann Rule “Green River Running Red” 2004 McAdams 1993 as cited by Nelson

Life Story: McAdams Themes:  Communal: (Joy)  Intimacy  Affiliation  Agentic: (excitement)  Power  Achievement McAdams 1993 as cited by Nelson

Ridgeway’s Theme: Agentic Power  Power over victims  Choked them  Liked when they begged for their lives Achievement  Loved the media coverage  Was underestimated by family, co workers  Felt he finally had the recognition he deserved McAdams 1993 as cited by Nelson Ann Rule “Green River Running Red” 2004

Ridgeway’s Archetype  The Escapist: avoids responsibility, Lives for pleasure/diversion  His main goal was to seek pleasure McAdams 1993 as cited by Nelson

The Big 5  Openness  Conscientiousness  Extraversion  Agreeableness  Neuroticism Gosling, 2009

Extraversion: Low  A person with high Extraversion:  Talkative, Energetic, Enthusiastic, Assertive, Outgoing, and Sociable  A person with low Extraversion :  Reserved, Quiet, and Shy  Gary’s class mates and coworkers claimed he was “forgettable” Gosling, 2009 Ann Rule “Green River Running Red” 2004

Conscientiousness: High  Thorough, Task focused, efficient, good planners  Hid from police for 19 yrs  Planned and completed almost 100 kills Gosling, 2009

Personality Theory 1: Freud’s Psychosexual Stages  Oral stage  Anal stage  Phallic stage  Latency stage  Genital stage

Anal Stage  Due to his bedwetting and embarrassment as a child he became extremely anal-retentive  This made him stubborn and fall into the very high spectrum of Conscientiousness Friedman & Schustack, 2010

Phallic Stage  Never came to terms with the attraction to his strict mother  He has a serious obsession with sex  Ex wife claims he wanted sex at least 3x a day  Wanted to have sex in public places and at his crime scenes  As well as with his deceased victims  Claimed it was a “free date” Friedman & Schustack, 2010

Personality Theory 2: Erikson’s Stages of Development  Infancy: Trust vs Mistrust  Toddler: Autonomy vs Shame and Doubt  Preschooler: Initiative vs Guilt  Elementary School: Industry vs inferiority  Adolescence: Identity vs Role confusion  Young Adult: Intimacy vs Isolation  Middle Adulthood: Generativity vs Stagnation  Late Adulthood: Integrity vs Despair Friedman & Schustack, 2010

Infancy: Trust vs Mistrust  Grew up with an incredibly strict mother  He didn’t receive the care and affection he needed a majority of the time  This led to a mistrust of females Erikson Handout

Young Adult: Intimacy vs Isolation  Due to his already developed mistrust of woman he had difficulty forming healthy romantic relationships  During his young adulthood in the military his mistrust turned into hatred after contracting and STD from a prostitute Erikson Handout

Personality Theory 3: Operant Conditioning  Positive Reinforcement (+R)  Something was given and the behavior increased  Negative Reinforcement (-R)  Something was removed and the behavior increased  Positive Punishment (+P)  Something was given and the behavior decreased  Negative Punishment (-P)  Something was removed and the behavior decreased Friedman & Schustack, 2010

How Conditioning made him a killer  Bedwetting: +P  Gary had a problem wetting the bed. Every time he did his mother would embarrassed him and led him to hate her for it. He Ultimately stopped wetting the bed.  Killing: -R  When killing a prostitute he was subconsciously killing his mother and riding the world of “scum”.  Press: +R  All of the press surrounding the case fed his need for attention given the fact he lacked it all his life.