Like Laura and Virginia, Leon had been deprived of the critical stimuli necessary to develop the brain areas that modulate stress and link pleasure and comfort with human company. His cries had gone unanswered, his early need for warmth and touch unmet. At least Virginia had known consistent care in her foster homes, even though she was moved from one to another repeatedly, and at least Laura had known the constant presence of her mother, even if she hadn’t received enough physical affection from her. But Leon’s early life was maddeningly inconstant. Sometimes Maria would pay attention to him, others times she would leave him home alone for the whole day. Occasionally Alan was home and would play with him, but more often he was out working or too exhausted from his long days to cope with a baby. An environment of such intermittent care punctuated by total abandonment may be the worst of all worlds for a child. The brain needs patterned, repetitive stimuli to develop properly. Spastic, unpredictable relief from fear, loneliness, discomfort, and hunger keeps a baby’s stress system on high alert. Receiving no consistent, loving response to his fears and needs, Leon never developed the normal association between human contact and relief from stress. What he learned instead was that the only person he could rely on was himself.

像勞拉和弗吉尼亞一樣，萊昂被剝奪了開發(fā)大腦區(qū)域所必需的關(guān)鍵刺激，這些大腦區(qū)域調(diào)節(jié)壓力并將快樂和舒適與人類公司聯(lián)系起來。他的哭聲沒有得到回應(yīng)，他早年對溫暖和觸摸的需求沒有得到滿足。至少弗吉尼亞在她的寄養(yǎng)家庭中得到了始終如一的照顧，盡管她一再從一個寄養(yǎng)家庭搬到另一個寄養(yǎng)家庭，至少勞拉知道她母親一直在身邊，即使她沒有從她那里得到足夠的肉體關(guān)愛。但萊昂的早年生活變化無常，令人發(fā)狂。有時瑪麗亞會注意他，有時她會整天把他一個人留在家里。艾倫偶爾在家陪他玩，但更多時候他在外面工作，或者因為長時間的工作而筋疲力盡，無力應(yīng)付嬰兒。這種斷斷續(xù)續(xù)的照顧環(huán)境，間或被完全遺棄，對孩子來說可能是世界上最糟糕的環(huán)境。大腦需要有規(guī)律的、重復(fù)的刺激才能正常發(fā)育。從恐懼、孤獨、不適和饑餓中解脫出來的痙攣性、不可預(yù)知的解脫使嬰兒的壓力系統(tǒng)處于高度戒備狀態(tài)。由于沒有收到對他的恐懼和需求的始終如一的、充滿愛意的回應(yīng)，萊昂從未發(fā)展出人際交往與緩解壓力之間的正常聯(lián)系。相反，他學(xué)到的是，他唯一可以依靠的人就是他自己。萊昂從未發(fā)展出人際交往與緩解壓力之間的正常聯(lián)系。相反，他學(xué)到的是，他唯一可以依靠的人就是他自己。萊昂從未發(fā)展出人際交往與緩解壓力之間的正常聯(lián)系。相反，他學(xué)到的是，他唯一可以依靠的人就是他自己。

When he did interact with others, his neediness made him seem alternately demanding, aggressive, and cold. In vain attempts to get the love and attention he desperately required, Leon would lash out, hit people, take things, and destroy them. Receiving only punishment, his rage grew. And the “worse” he behaved, the more he confirmed to those around him that he was “bad” and didn’t deserve their affection. It was a vicious cycle, and as Leon got older his misbehavior escalated from bullying into crime.

當他確實與他人互動時，他的需要讓他看起來時而要求苛刻、咄咄逼人、時而冷漠。為了獲得他迫切需要的愛和關(guān)注，但徒勞無功，萊昂會猛烈抨擊，打人，拿東西，毀掉他們。只受到懲罰，他的憤怒越來越大。他表現(xiàn)得越“壞”，他就越向周圍的人證實他是“壞”的，不值得他們的愛。這是一個惡性循環(huán)，隨著里昂年齡的增長，他的不當行為從欺凌升級為犯罪。

Leon could see that other people liked to be hugged and touched, but since his own needs for that had been neglected, he began to find it repellent. He could see that other people enjoyed interacting with each other, but because he’d been denied early attention, it now mostly left him cold. He just didn’t understand relationships.

里昂看得出別人喜歡被擁抱和撫摸，但由于他自己的需求被忽視了，他開始覺得很反感。他看得出來其他人喜歡相互交流，但由于他早年得不到關(guān)注，現(xiàn)在大多讓他感到冷漠。他只是不明白人際關(guān)系。

Leon could enjoy food, could enjoy material pleasures like toys and television, and could relish physical sensations, including those associated with his developing sexuality. But because he’d been neglected when key social circuitry of the brain was developing he couldn’t really appreciate the pleasure of pleasing someone else or receiving their praise, nor did he suffer particularly from the rejection that followed if his behavior displeased teachers or peers. Having failed to develop an association between people and pleasure, he saw no need to do as they wished, felt no joy in making them happy, and didn’t care whether or not they got hurt.

萊昂可以享受美食，可以享受玩具和電視等物質(zhì)享受，還可以享受身體的感覺，包括那些與他發(fā)展中的性欲相關(guān)的感覺。但是因為在大腦的關(guān)鍵社交回路發(fā)育時他被忽視了，他無法真正體會到取悅別人或得到他們稱贊的樂趣，如果他的行為讓老師或同齡人不高興，他也不會因為隨之而來的拒絕而感到特別痛苦. 由于未能在人與快樂之間建立聯(lián)系，他認為沒有必要為所欲為，讓他們快樂并不快樂，也不在乎他們是否受到傷害。

When he was two-and-a-half, Leon’s behavioral problems qualified him for an early intervention preschool program, which could have been a great opportunity, but in fact only worsened his problems. Now his mother no longer left him alone during the day, and he was exposed to enough cognitive stimulation to learn to talk and to intellectually understand what was expected of him. But this didn’t make up for what he’d missed. While well intentioned, the program had only one caregiver to handle five or six severely troubled toddlers, a child to adult ratio that may not be enough to give appropriate attention to normal children that age, let alone those with emotional disorders.

當他兩歲半時，Leon 的行為問題使他有資格參加早期干預(yù)學(xué)前班計劃，這本可以是一個很好的機會，但實際上只會使他的問題變得更糟。現(xiàn)在，他的母親白天不再讓他一個人呆著，他也受到了足夠的認知刺激，可以學(xué)習(xí)說話，也可以從理智上理解對他的期望。但這并不能彌補他錯過的一切。雖然用心良苦，但該計劃只有一名看護人來照顧五六個有嚴重問題的蹣跚學(xué)步的幼兒，兒童與成人的比例可能不足以適當關(guān)注該年齡段的正常兒童，更不用說那些有情緒障礙的兒童了。

The cognitive development of his cortex did, however, allow Leon to take note of how other people behaved. Over time he became able to mimic appropriate behavior when he wanted to. This allowed him to manipulate others into getting what he wanted, though his underdeveloped limbic and relational neural systems limited him to shallow, superficial relationships. For him people were just objects that either stood in his way or acceded to his needs. He was a classic sociopath (the psychiatric diagnosis is antisocial personality disorder, or ASPD), and one I think who was almost entirely a product of his environment, not his genes. I believe that if he had been raised the way his brother Frank had been, he probably would have grown up to have a normal life, and would almost certainly have never become a murderer and rapist.

然而，大腦皮層的認知發(fā)展確實讓萊昂能夠注意到其他人的行為。隨著時間的推移，他變得能夠在他想要的時候模仿適當?shù)男袨?。這使他能夠操縱他人以獲得他想要的東西，盡管他不發(fā)達的邊緣和關(guān)系神經(jīng)系統(tǒng)將他限制在膚淺、膚淺的關(guān)系中。對他來說，人只是阻礙他前進或滿足他需要的東西。他是一個典型的反社會者（精神病學(xué)診斷是反社會人格障礙，或 ASPD），我認為他幾乎完全是他的環(huán)境的產(chǎn)物，而不是他的基因。我相信，如果他像他哥哥弗蘭克那樣被撫養(yǎng)長大，他可能會長大后過上正常人的生活，而且?guī)缀蹩梢钥隙ㄓ肋h不會成為殺人犯和強奸犯。

Even the steps taken to help him—for example the preschool intervention program that placed him in a group of other disturbed children—only worsened his condition. Research has repeatedly found that surrounding a child with other troubled peers only tends to escalate bad behavior. This pattern of backfiring interventions would continue through his childhood and adolescence as he was shunted into “special ed” and other programs. There, he also found other antisocial peers who reinforced each other’s impulsivity. They became partners in crime, egging each other on and modeling for each other the idea that violence is the best way to solve problems. Furthermore, through what he saw in his neighborhood, at the movies, and on the TV that was always on in most of the places where he spent his time, he also got the message that violence solves problems and that there was pleasure to be had in wielding physical power over others. Leon learned to copy the worst of human behavior, but remained unable to understand why he should imitate the best.

即使是為幫助他而采取的措施——例如將他置于一群其他心煩意亂的兒童中的學(xué)前干預(yù)計劃——也只會使他的狀況惡化。研究一再發(fā)現(xiàn)，將孩子與其他有問題的同齡人在一起只會加劇不良行為。這種適得其反的干預(yù)模式將持續(xù)到他的童年和青春期，因為他被分流到“特殊教育”和其他項目。在那里，他還發(fā)現(xiàn)了其他反社會的同齡人，他們互相強化了對方的沖動。他們成為犯罪伙伴，互相慫恿并互相示范暴力是解決問題的最佳方式。此外，通過他在附近、電影院和在他度過的大部分時間里總是開著的電視上看到的東西，他還得到這樣的信息，即暴力可以解決問題，并且在對他人施加體力時會感到快樂。萊昂學(xué)會了模仿人類最壞的行為，但仍然不明白為什么他應(yīng)該模仿最好的行為。

There are other brain disorders that affect the ability to empathize that provide insight on sociopathy like Leon’s. Most notable are autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), including what was previously known as Asperger’s syndrome, the less severe form of autism. ASDs appear to be strongly genetically influenced and range widely in their link to disability. About one-third of autistic children never learn to speak and all of them tend to isolate themselves from others, frequently focusing more on objects than on people. Autistic boys don’t usually engage in imaginative play—and although many people on the spectrum desperately want to connect with others, they have great difficulty in forming and understanding relationships.

還有其他影響移情能力的腦部疾病，這些疾病提供了對像萊昂這樣的社會病態(tài)的洞察力。最值得注意的是自閉癥譜系障礙 (ASD)，包括以前稱為阿斯伯格綜合癥的癥狀，這是一種不太嚴重的自閉癥。ASD 似乎受到強烈的遺傳影響，并且與殘疾的聯(lián)系范圍很廣。大約三分之一的自閉癥兒童從未學(xué)會說話，而且他們都傾向于將自己與他人隔離開來，通常更關(guān)注物體而不是人。自閉癥男孩通常不參與富有想象力的游戲——盡管許多自閉癥患者迫切希望與他人建立聯(lián)系，但他們在建立和理解人際關(guān)系方面存在很大困難。

ASDs are almost always accompanied by sensory integration problems and differences in sensitivity, such as being unable to tolerate “itchy” fabrics and being overwhelmed by loud noises or bright lights. Autistic children also have repetitive behaviors like rocking and odd obsessions, typically with moving objects—for example, trains or the wheels on toy cars. Some autistic people are highly talented at understanding complex systems like math, music, and computer science, and most develop focused interests in particular objects or ideas.

ASD 幾乎總是伴隨著感覺統(tǒng)合問題和敏感性差異，例如無法忍受“發(fā)癢”的織物，以及被嘈雜的噪音或強光淹沒。自閉癥兒童也有重復(fù)行為，如搖晃和奇怪的癡迷，通常是移動物體——例如，火車或玩具車的輪子。一些自閉癥患者在理解數(shù)學(xué)、音樂和計算機科學(xué)等復(fù)雜系統(tǒng)方面非常有天賦，并且大多數(shù)人對特定的對象或想法產(chǎn)生了濃厚的興趣。

People with Asperger’s are better at connecting with others and functioning in society than those with more severe forms of autism, but their obsessions and inability to read social cues often keep them isolated. Their poor social skills can also make it hard for them to get or keep a job, although in some cases their mathematical and engineering abilities more than compensate for their awkwardness. Many children tagged as “geeks” or “nerds” because of their inability to relate to their peers may have an ASD or come close to meeting the criteria for one.

患有阿斯伯格綜合癥的人比患有更嚴重自閉癥的人更善于與他人建立聯(lián)系并在社會中發(fā)揮作用，但他們的癡迷和無法閱讀社交線索往往使他們孤立無援。他們糟糕的社交技能也會讓他們很難找到或保住工作，盡管在某些情況下，他們的數(shù)學(xué)和工程能力足以彌補他們的尷尬。許多由于無法與同齡人相處而被標記為“極客”或“書呆子”的孩子可能患有自閉癥或接近于自閉癥的標準。

In order to function socially, people need to develop what is known as a “theory of mind.” They need to know, in other words, that other people are distinct from them, have different knowledge about the world and have different desires and interests. In autism this distinction is blurred. One reason some autistic children may not talk is that they don’t recognize the need to communicate; they aren’t aware that other people don’t know what they know. In one famous experiment, researchers put a pencil in a tube that ordinarily held candy and asked autistic children what someone outside the room would expect to find in it. Normal and even Down syndrome preschoolers said candy. But the autistic children insisted that others would expect the pencil, not realizing that people who hadn’t seen the candy removed would think it was still there. The children knew the candy was gone, so their logical assumption was that everyone else must know, too. (The brain regions involved in coding “theory of mind” are believed to be in the left medial frontal cortex, just over the eyes.)

為了在社會上發(fā)揮作用，人們需要發(fā)展所謂的“心智理論”。換句話說，他們需要知道其他人與他們不同，對世界有不同的了解，有不同的愿望和興趣。在自閉癥中，這種區(qū)別是模糊的。一些自閉癥兒童不會說話的原因之一是他們沒有意識到交流的必要性；他們不知道其他人不知道他們所知道的。在一個著名的實驗中，研究人員將一支鉛筆放入通常裝有糖果的管子中，并詢問自閉癥兒童在房間外的人會期望從中找到什么。正常甚至唐氏綜合癥學(xué)齡前兒童都說糖果。但是自閉癥兒童堅持認為其他人會期待鉛筆，沒有意識到?jīng)]有看到糖果被拿走的人會認為它還在那里。孩子們知道糖果不見了，所以他們的邏輯假設(shè)是其他人也必須知道。（據(jù)信，參與編碼“心理理論”的大腦區(qū)域位于左側(cè)內(nèi)側(cè)額葉皮層，就在眼睛上方。）

Unlike sociopaths like Leon, however, autistic people, although odd, do not tend toward violence or crime despite their problems with perspective taking and with recognizing, for example, that ignoring someone might be hurtful to him. Their problem with empathy is conceptual. Autistic people can be insensitive to the feelings and needs of others, but this usually occurs when they cannot fully perceive these feelings, not because they wish to cause harm or to be unkind. They have every capacity to love and feel emotional pain, but not the wiring that allows them to easily understand how to interact and have relationships. They may have difficulty imagining what it’s like to be in someone else’s shoes—sometimes called “mind-blindness”—but they do not lack sympathy for those people’s experiences when they become aware of them.

然而，與萊昂這樣的反社會者不同，自閉癥患者雖然很奇怪，但并不傾向于暴力或犯罪，盡管他們在換位思考方面存在問題，并且在認識到忽視某人可能對他造成傷害等方面存在問題。他們的同理心問題是概念性的。自閉癥患者可能對他人的感受和需求不敏感，但這通常發(fā)生在他們無法完全感知這些感受時，而不是因為他們希望造成傷害或不友善。他們有能力去愛和感受情感上的痛苦，但沒有讓他們輕松理解如何互動和建立關(guān)系的線路。他們可能難以想象設(shè)身處地為別人著想是什么感覺——有時稱為“心智盲”——但當他們意識到這些人的經(jīng)歷時，他們并不缺乏同情。

Sociopaths like Leon are different. Their inability to empathize is a difficulty with mirroring the feelings of others coupled with a lack of compassion for them. In other words, they not only don’t completely recognize what other people feel, but they don’t care if they hurt them or they even actively desire to do so. They can imagine walking in someone else’s shoes, and they can predict how other people will behave based upon this ability to put themselves in someone else’s place, but they don’t care what it’s like there. Their only concern is how others will affect them.

像萊昂這樣的反社會人士是不同的。他們無法同理心是因為難以反映他人的感受，加上對他人缺乏同情心。換句話說，他們不僅不完全理解別人的感受，而且他們不在乎他們是否傷害了他們，甚至主動想要這樣做。他們可以想象穿上別人的鞋子走路，他們可以根據(jù)這種設(shè)身處地的能力來預(yù)測其他人的行為，但他們不關(guān)心那里的情況。他們唯一關(guān)心的是別人會如何影響他們。

In essence, they have a “theory of mind,” but it is twisted. Not being able to fully experience love, they see it as something you promise in order to get sex, for example, not as a genuine feeling. Because they use other people’s feelings as a way to manipulate them, sociopaths assume that’s what everyone else does, too. Not feeling pleasure from relationships, they don’t believe others genuinely feel it, either. Since they are selfish, they believe others act only in their own self-interest as well. As a result, they dismiss appeals for attention or mercy as manipulative attempts to take power, not as genuine emotional pleas. They are emotionally frozen, in an ice that distorts not only their own feelings, but also how they see the feelings of others and then respond to them.

本質(zhì)上，他們有一個“心智理論”，但它被扭曲了。由于無法充分體驗愛，他們將其視為您為了獲得性愛而做出的承諾，例如，而不是一種真實的感覺。因為他們利用他人的感受來操縱他們，所以反社會人士認為其他人也是這樣做的。他們不會從人際關(guān)系中感受到快樂，他們也不相信其他人會真正感受到這種快樂。因為他們是自私的，所以他們相信其他人也只為自己的利益行事。因此，他們將尋求關(guān)注或憐憫的呼吁視為奪取權(quán)力的操縱企圖，而不是真正的情感請求。他們在情感上被凍結(jié)了，冰層不僅扭曲了他們自己的感受，也扭曲了他們?nèi)绾慰创说母惺?，然后如何回?yīng)他人的感受。

UNSURPRISINGLY RESEARCH HAS now identified that some of the chemical correlates of sociopathy can be found in some of the same neurotransmitter systems that compose our stress response systems: alterations in serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine systems have been implicated in aggressive, violent, or antisocial behavior. Young people exhibiting antisocial traits and callous behavior tend to have abnormal levels of the stress hormone cortisol (which can be measured in a saliva test). Sociopaths are notorious for being able to fool lie detector tests, which actually measure physical responses related to anxiety and stress, not deception. It appears that their stress systems—either because they were placed on overdrive due to early trauma or because of genetic vulnerability or, most likely, some combination of both—are dysregulated, no longer responsive to anything except extreme stimulation. This makes them appear “cold” and unemotional and allows them to lie with impunity, as they do not show the signs of fear of detection that tend to give others away. It may also mean that far higher levels of painful or pleasurable stimulation are necessary in order for them to feel anything at all. Unlike people whose response to trauma is to get stuck in a highly sensitized state in which any stress at all triggers a massive response, sociopaths’ systems appear to have gotten stuck at the other end of the spectrum, in deadening—and sometimes deadly—numbness.

不出所料，研究現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)確定，在構(gòu)成我們的應(yīng)激反應(yīng)系統(tǒng)的一些相同神經(jīng)遞質(zhì)系統(tǒng)中可以發(fā)現(xiàn)一些與社會病態(tài)相關(guān)的化學(xué)物質(zhì)：血清素、去甲腎上腺素和多巴胺系統(tǒng)的改變與攻擊性、暴力或反社會行為有關(guān). 表現(xiàn)出反社會特征和冷酷行為的年輕人往往有異常水平的應(yīng)激激素皮質(zhì)醇（可以在唾液測試中測量）。反社會人士因能夠騙過測謊儀測試而臭名昭著，測謊儀測試實際上測量的是與焦慮和壓力相關(guān)的身體反應(yīng)，而不是欺騙。看來他們的壓力系統(tǒng)——要么是因為他們由于早期創(chuàng)傷而過度運轉(zhuǎn)，要么是因為遺傳脆弱性，或者很可能是兩者的某種結(jié)合——失調(diào)了，除了極度刺激外不再對任何事物有反應(yīng)。這使他們顯得“冷漠”且沒有感情，并允許他們?nèi)鲋e而不受懲罰，因為他們沒有表現(xiàn)出害怕被發(fā)現(xiàn)的跡象，而這種跡象往往會暴露他人。這也可能意味著需要更高水平的痛苦或愉悅刺激才能讓他們有任何感覺。與那些對創(chuàng)傷的反應(yīng)是陷入高度敏感狀態(tài)的人不同，在這種狀態(tài)下，任何壓力都會引發(fā)巨大的反應(yīng)，反社會者的系統(tǒng)似乎陷入了光譜的另一端，變得麻木——有時甚至是致命的——麻木. 這也可能意味著需要更高水平的痛苦或愉悅刺激才能讓他們有任何感覺。與那些對創(chuàng)傷的反應(yīng)是陷入高度敏感狀態(tài)的人不同，在這種狀態(tài)下，任何壓力都會引發(fā)巨大的反應(yīng)，反社會者的系統(tǒng)似乎陷入了光譜的另一端，變得麻木——有時甚至是致命的——麻木. 這也可能意味著需要更高水平的痛苦或愉悅刺激才能讓他們有任何感覺。與那些對創(chuàng)傷的反應(yīng)是陷入高度敏感狀態(tài)的人不同，在這種狀態(tài)下，任何壓力都會引發(fā)巨大的反應(yīng)，反社會者的系統(tǒng)似乎陷入了光譜的另一端，變得麻木——有時甚至是致命的——麻木.

While preparing my testimony, I thought hard about what I would say about Leon and what I believed about his own responsibility for his actions. Why did he kill? Why does anyone kill? Are these even the right questions? Maybe, I thought, I should try to understand what keeps the rest of us from killing, what didn’t put the brakes on Leon’s behavior. How exactly had things gone so wrong for this boy? How had he forged his misfortune, neglect, and trauma into hate—or did those things forge him entirely?

在準備我的證詞時，我仔細考慮了我要對萊昂說些什么，以及我認為他對自己的行為負有什么責(zé)任。他為什么殺人？為什么有人殺人？這些甚至是正確的問題嗎？也許，我想，我應(yīng)該試著去了解是什么阻止了我們其他人的殺戮，又是什么沒有阻止萊昂的行為。這個男孩究竟怎么會變得如此不對勁？他是如何將自己的不幸、疏忽和創(chuàng)傷變成仇恨的——或者這些東西完全塑造了他？

He was unquestionably guilty and did not meet the legal definition of insanity, which requires that a person be unable to tell right from wrong. Leon knew that murder was against the law and that it was reprehensible; he’d admitted it and he did not have any diagnosable mental illness that would impair his moral reasoning.

他無疑是有罪的，不符合精神錯亂的法律定義，即一個人無法分辨是非。萊昂知道殺人是違法的，應(yīng)該受到譴責(zé)。他承認了這一點，而且他沒有任何可診斷的精神疾病會損害他的道德推理。

He met criteria for attention deficit disorder and conduct disorder during most of his childhood and youth. As an adult, Leon certainly fit the profile for both ADHD and ASPD, but those diagnoses, which simply describe symptoms like defiance, callous behavior, and an inability to focus attention, do not imply mental clouding that would overwhelm one’s ability to know that killing and raping people is not acceptable. These disorders involve decreased impulse control, but impaired impulse control does not mean complete lack of free will.

在童年和青年時期的大部分時間里，他都符合注意力缺陷障礙和品行障礙的標準。作為一個成年人，萊昂當然符合 ADHD 和 ASPD 的特征，但這些診斷只是描述了反抗、冷酷行為和無法集中注意力等癥狀，并不意味著精神上的陰霾會壓倒一個人知道殺人的能力強奸人是不可接受的。這些障礙涉及沖動控制能力下降，但沖動控制能力受損并不意味著完全缺乏自由意志。

But what about Leon’s inability to give and receive love? Can we blame him for having a childhood that wilted the part of his brain that allows him to feel the greatest joys most of us have in life: the pain and pleasure of human connection? Of course not. He is responsible, I believe, for his reactions to his vulnerabilities. Virginia and Laura struggled with similar problems, but they did not become violent people, let alone murderers.

但是萊昂無法給予和接受愛呢？我們能責(zé)怪他的童年讓他大腦中讓他感受到我們大多數(shù)人生活中最大的快樂的部分變得萎靡不振：人際關(guān)系的痛苦和快樂嗎？當然不是。我相信，他應(yīng)對自己的弱點做出反應(yīng)。弗吉尼亞和勞拉在類似的問題上掙扎，但他們并沒有成為暴力的人，更沒有成為殺人犯。

One might argue that this difference in outcome is due to gender and, indeed, male gender is the biggest predictor of violent behavior. Male murderers outnumber females by at least nine to one, though it appears that very recently, women have begun to close the gap. Nonetheless, throughout history, in every culture and even in most species, male violence predominates. Among our closest evolutionary cousins, the chimps, it is the males who make war on others, the males who are prone to use force. Yet I’d treated other adolescent boys with far worse histories of neglect, abuse and abandonment, and far fewer opportunities for love and affection than Leon had. Some had literally been raised in cages with no loving family at all, unlike Leon who had two parents and a brother, and who was neglected out of ignorance, not malice. Most of these boys who I’d treated grew up awkward and lonely, many were severely mentally ill, but the vast majority was not malign.

有人可能會爭辯說，這種結(jié)果差異是由于性別造成的，事實上，男性是暴力行為的最大預(yù)測因素。男性兇手的數(shù)量至少比女性多 9 比 1，盡管最近女性似乎開始縮小這一差距。盡管如此，縱觀歷史，在每一種文化中，甚至在大多數(shù)物種中，男性暴力都占主導(dǎo)地位。在我們最親近的進化表親中，黑猩猩是雄性向其他人發(fā)動戰(zhàn)爭的，雄性更傾向于使用武力。然而，我曾治療過其他青春期男孩，他們的忽視、虐待和遺棄經(jīng)歷要糟糕得多，獲得愛和感情的機會也遠少于里昂。有些人確實是在沒有親人的籠子里長大的，不像萊昂，他有兩個父母和一個兄弟，并且由于無知而不是惡意而被忽視。

What about genetics? Could that explain Leon’s behavior? Disadvantageous genetics combined with a less-than-ideal environment was likely a factor in how he was raised and who he became. If Leon had had an easier temperament, for example, Maria might not have been so overwhelmed by his needs; if Maria had been more intelligent, she might have discovered better ways to cope with her challenging baby.

遺傳學(xué)呢？這能解釋 Leon 的行為嗎？不利的遺傳學(xué)加上不太理想的環(huán)境可能是影響他如何成長和成為什么樣的人的一個因素。例如，如果里昂的性情比較輕松，瑪麗亞就不會被他的需要壓得喘不過氣來。如果瑪麗亞更聰明一些，她可能會找到更好的方法來應(yīng)對她愛挑釁的孩子。

But what I think happened in Leon’s life was an escalation of small, in-themselves-inconsequential negative decisions made by him and for him that gradually led to a horrendous outcome for his victims, his family and himself. You may have heard of the “butterfly effect”: the idea that complex systems—most famously, that which determines the earth’s weather—are extraordinarily sensitive to minor fluctuations at certain critical points. Such systems are so responsive to tiny perturbations that, as the example goes, if a butterfly flutters its wings at the wrong instant in Brazil, it can trigger a series of events that may ultimately result in a tornado that devastates a small Texas town. The human brain, the ultimate complex system—in fact, the most complicated object in the known universe—is equally vulnerable to a version of the butterfly effect.

但我認為在萊昂的生活中發(fā)生的事情是他自己做出的一些無關(guān)緊要的小消極決定的升級，這些決定對他的受害者、他的家人和他自己來說逐漸導(dǎo)致了可怕的后果。您可能聽說過“蝴蝶效應(yīng)”：復(fù)雜系統(tǒng)（最著名的是決定地球天氣的系統(tǒng)）對某些關(guān)鍵點的微小波動異常敏感。這樣的系統(tǒng)對微小的擾動非常敏感，例如，如果一只蝴蝶在巴西的錯誤時刻振翅，它可能引發(fā)一系列事件，最終可能導(dǎo)致龍卷風(fēng)摧毀德克薩斯州的一個小鎮(zhèn)。人腦這個終極復(fù)雜系統(tǒng)——事實上，是已知宇宙中最復(fù)雜的物體——同樣容易受到蝴蝶效應(yīng)的影響。

This might also be called a “snowball effect”: when things go right early on, they will tend to continue to go right and even to self-correct if there are minor problems. But when they go wrong at first, they will tend to continue to go wrong.

這也可以稱為“滾雪球效應(yīng)”：當事情在早期進展順利時，它們往往會繼續(xù)保持良好狀態(tài)，甚至?xí)诔霈F(xiàn)小問題時自行糾正。但是當他們一開始就出錯時，他們往往會繼續(xù)出錯。

This effect is literally built into the architecture of our brains and bodies. For example, it is a tiny chemical gradient that determines which of our early cells will become skin, which will become brain, and which will become bone, heart, and bowel. Other extremely tiny differences tell one neuron to become part of the cerebellum, another to become cerebrum, and similar slight differences in position and in concentration of certain chemicals determine which cells live and which will die.

這種影響確實融入了我們大腦和身體的結(jié)構(gòu)中。例如，它是一個微小的化學(xué)梯度，決定了我們早期細胞中哪些會變成皮膚，哪些會變成大腦，哪些會變成骨骼、心臟和腸道。其他極其微小的差異告訴一個神經(jīng)元成為小腦的一部分，另一個成為大腦的一部分，并且某些化學(xué)物質(zhì)的位置和濃度的類似細微差異決定了哪些細胞存活，哪些細胞死亡。

We don’t have nearly enough genes to begin to determine the location or even the type of every cell: there are just 30,000 for the whole body and yet the brain alone has 86 billion nerve cells (and supporting glial cells for each of those). Each one of those billions of neurons makes between 5,000 and 10,000 connections, producing extraordinarily complex networks. Our bodies and especially our brains are built to magnify practically imperceptible initial incongruities into massively differentiated results. And this, in turn, allows us to respond to the complicated social and physical environment that we face.

我們幾乎沒有足夠的基因來開始確定每個細胞的位置甚至類型：整個身體只有 30,000 個，但僅大腦就有 860 億個神經(jīng)細胞（以及支持每個細胞的神經(jīng)膠質(zhì)細胞） . 這數(shù)十億個神經(jīng)元中的每一個都建立了 5,000 到 10,000 個連接，從而產(chǎn)生了極其復(fù)雜的網(wǎng)絡(luò)。我們的身體，尤其是我們的大腦天生就是為了將幾乎難以察覺的初始不協(xié)調(diào)放大為差異巨大的結(jié)果。而這反過來又使我們能夠應(yīng)對我們所面臨的復(fù)雜的社會和物理環(huán)境。

So, while for most babies, being born colicky does little more than frustrate their parents, for Leon it overwhelmed his mother’s already limited emotional resources. Without the presence of her extended family, there was no one to hand him off to when she was at her wit’s end, as there had been with Frank. Abandoning her infant during the day, she left him without the critical input he needed to soothe and, ultimately, organize his already slightly dysregulated stress response systems, making them even more chaotic and disorganized.

因此，雖然對于大多數(shù)嬰兒來說，出生時絞痛只會讓他們的父母感到沮喪，但對萊昂來說，這卻讓他母親本已有限的情感資源不堪重負。沒有她的大家庭在場，當她無計可施時，沒有人可以把他交給弗蘭克。白天遺棄了她的嬰兒，她離開了他，沒有他需要的關(guān)鍵輸入來安撫，并最終組織他已經(jīng)輕微失調(diào)的壓力反應(yīng)系統(tǒng)，使它們更加混亂和混亂。

This, in turn, left Leon alternately clingy and aggressive, hampering his social skills, which could potentially have allowed him to elicit the warmth and care he needed from elsewhere. It also further alienated him from his parents and created a cycle of misbehavior, punishment and increasing rage and distress. Then he was placed with a negative peer group, from preschool onwards, which further magnified the harm.

這反過來又讓萊昂時而粘人又時而咄咄逼人，阻礙了他的社交技巧，而這本可以讓他從別處獲得他需要的溫暖和關(guān)懷。這也進一步疏遠了他的父母，并造成了一個行為不端、懲罰和越來越憤怒和痛苦的循環(huán)。然后，從學(xué)齡前開始，他就被置于一個消極的同齡人群體中，這進一步放大了傷害。

Surrounded by normal peers, he might have found people who could reach out to him, who might have offered him healthy friendships that could have led him away from antisocial behavior. But in the company of other angry, distressed, and needy children, and additionally stigmatized by the labels applied to them, he instead became more distressed and out of control, leading him to react with escalating impulsivity and aggression.

在普通同齡人的包圍下，他可能會找到可以接觸到他的人，他們可能會為他提供健康的友誼，讓他遠離反社會行為。但在其他憤怒、痛苦和有需要的孩子的陪伴下，再加上被貼在他們身上的標簽，他反而變得更加痛苦和失控，導(dǎo)致他的反應(yīng)越來越?jīng)_動和好斗。

At no one point did Leon make a conscious decision to become malevolent, but each small choice he or his family made pushed him further toward sociopathy, and each consequence of those choices made further negative choices increasingly likely. There were numerous forks in the road where different circumstances might have led Leon to become a better person, where better choices could have led to the start of a virtuous—not vicious—cycle. But unfortunately, he rejected every opportunity to turn away from his rage and impulsivity, and at none of those crossroads did he receive the appropriate help and support he needed from other people to pull him from the rut in which he’d become stuck.

萊昂從來沒有做出有意識地變得惡毒的決定，但他或他的家人做出的每一個小選擇都將他進一步推向反社會，而這些選擇的每一個后果都使得進一步消極選擇的可能性越來越大。道路上有許多岔路口，不同的環(huán)境可能會讓萊昂成為一個更好的人，更好的選擇可能會導(dǎo)致良性而非惡性循環(huán)的開始。但不幸的是，他拒絕了每一個擺脫憤怒和沖動的機會，而且在這些十字路口，他都沒有從其他人那里得到他需要的適當幫助和支持，把他從陷入困境的陳規(guī)中拉出來。

The brain is built—our selves are built—from millions of tiny decisions—some conscious, most not. Seemingly irrelevant choices can result in tremendously different later outcomes. Timing is everything. We don’t know when the smallest choice, or “stimuli,” will push a developing brain onto the path of genius, or onto the highway to hell. I want to stress that this doesn’t mean that parents have to be perfect. But it’s important to know that young children are extraordinarily susceptible to the spiraling consequences of the choices we—and later they—make, for good and for ill.

大腦是從數(shù)以百萬計的微小決定中構(gòu)建出來的——我們自己也是構(gòu)建出來的——有些是有意識的，大多數(shù)不是?？此茻o關(guān)緊要的選擇可能會導(dǎo)致后來截然不同的結(jié)果。時機就是一切。我們不知道什么時候最小的選擇或“刺激”會將正在發(fā)育的大腦推上天才之路，或者推上通往地獄的高速公路。我想強調(diào)的是，這并不意味著父母必須是完美的。但重要的是要知道，年幼的孩子特別容易受到我們——以及后來他們——做出的選擇的螺旋式后果的影響，無論是好是壞。

Fortunately, the virtuous cycle is every bit as cascading and self-amplifying as the vicious cycle. A word of praise at just the right time, for example, can lead a child with a moderate interest in art to become more passionate about it. That intensity can escalate, leading him to develop greater skill, receive more praise, and, ultimately, build into his brain artistic genius, where once there may only have been modest potential.

幸運的是，良性循環(huán)與惡性循環(huán)一樣具有級聯(lián)性和自我放大性。例如，適時的贊美之詞可以讓一個對藝術(shù)興趣不大的孩子變得更加熱愛藝術(shù)。這種強度可以升級，導(dǎo)致他發(fā)展出更高的技能，獲得更多的贊揚，并最終在他的大腦中培養(yǎng)藝術(shù)天才，而在過去，這可能只有適度的潛力。

Some recent research emphasizes the power of this effect in sports. Half of England’s elite young soccer players on the teams that feed their professional leagues are born in the first three months of the year. The rest are equally distributed among the other months. Why should this be? Well, all youth teams have age cutoffs; if you are born earlier in the year, you are likely to be more physically mature, more skilled, and receive more rewards for your competence than those who are born later in that group. The pleasure of reward leads to more practice; we gravitate toward our competence. And, in the positive feedback cycle within the virtuous cycle, practice creates skill, skill attracts reward, and reward fuels practice. This small difference, enhanced over time by practice, leads to a huge difference, giving the earlier-born players a far better chance of making the cut by the time they reach the pros. These positive spirals are hard to predict, however. We just don’t know when the butterfly will billow its tiny breeze into a hurricane.

最近的一些研究強調(diào)了這種影響在體育運動中的力量。在英格蘭職業(yè)聯(lián)賽的球隊中，有一半的精英年輕足球運動員是在一年的前三個月出生的。其余的平均分配給其他月份。為什么會這樣？好吧，所有青年隊都有年齡限制；如果你今年出生較早，那么你可能比該組出生較晚的人身體更成熟，技能更高，并因你的能力而獲得更多獎勵。獎勵的樂趣導(dǎo)致更多的練習(xí)；我們被自己的能力所吸引。并且，在良性循環(huán)中的正反饋循環(huán)中，實踐創(chuàng)造技能，技能吸引獎勵，獎勵推動實踐。隨著時間的推移，這種微小的差異會隨著實踐而增強，從而導(dǎo)致巨大的差異，讓出生較早的球員在成為職業(yè)球員時有更好的機會晉級。然而，這些積極的螺旋式增長很難預(yù)測。我們只是不知道蝴蝶什么時候會把微風(fēng)吹成颶風(fēng)。

So what could I tell the court about Leon, and what did I believe about his chances for rehabilitation? I would testify that the development of his brain had been skewed by what had happened to him as an infant. And I would confirm the diagnoses of attention deficit disorder and conduct disorder, which are mitigating factors, even if they do not absolve him of responsibility for his actions.

那么我能告訴法庭關(guān)于 Leon 的什么信息，我對他康復(fù)的機會有何看法？我可以作證，他的大腦發(fā)育已經(jīng)被嬰兒時期發(fā)生的事情扭曲了。而且我會確認注意力缺陷障礙和品行障礙的診斷，這是減輕因素，即使它們不能免除他對他的行為的責(zé)任。

I would tell the court that his emotional, social, and cognitive problems and neuropsychiatric diagnoses were related to his mother’s unintentional neglect. His stress response systems had certainly received aberrant input: being left alone as an infant amped them up, and there was no one around at that critical time to teach him how to calm them down. And at the same time that these lower systems of the brain became overdeveloped, the higher, cortical regions surrounding them, the areas that modulate our responses to the world, our focus, and our self-control, were left underdeveloped.

我會告訴法庭，他的情緒、社交和認知問題以及神經(jīng)精神病學(xué)診斷與他母親的無意忽視有關(guān)。他的壓力反應(yīng)系統(tǒng)肯定收到了異常的輸入：當嬰兒被單獨留下時，它們會變得更加活躍，而在那個關(guān)鍵時刻周圍沒有人教他如何讓它們平靜下來。與此同時，大腦的這些較低系統(tǒng)變得過度發(fā)達，而圍繞它們的較高皮質(zhì)區(qū)域，即調(diào)節(jié)我們對世界的反應(yīng)、我們的注意力和我們的自我控制的區(qū)域，卻沒有得到充分開發(fā)。

I would also have to take into consideration the fact that Leon had been drinking when he committed his crime. Alcohol is disinhibiting; it reduces self-control and increases impulsiveness. Leon was already prone to acting without thinking; alcohol only exacerbated this tendency, with deadly consequences for his victims. Would he have committed the crime had he not been drinking first? I suspect not. The alcohol released the already-overwhelmed and improperly developed brakes on his behavior, allowing his rage and lust to take over. Had he not been drunk, he might have stopped himself long before he killed or even assaulted the girls.

我還必須考慮萊昂犯罪時一直在喝酒的事實。酒精是抑制的；它會降低自我控制并增加沖動。萊昂已經(jīng)很容易不假思索地行動了；酒精只會加劇這種傾向，給受害者帶來致命的后果。如果他不是先喝酒，他會犯罪嗎？我懷疑不是。酒精釋放了他已經(jīng)不堪重負和不當發(fā)展的行為剎車，讓他的憤怒和欲望接管了一切。如果他沒有喝醉，他可能會在殺死甚至毆打女孩之前很久就停下來。

I ultimately testified about Leon’s early childhood and its effects on his ability to maintain relationships, his impulse control, and his attentiveness. I discussed how early neglect can predispose children to reduced empathy and violence. I included all the mitigating factors that I had found. It was all I could do: there was no case to be made that he was not legally responsible for his actions, and I could not deny that he was an ongoing danger to those around him.

我最終證明了萊昂的童年早期及其對他維持人際關(guān)系的能力、他的沖動控制和他的注意力的影響。我討論了早期忽視如何使兒童傾向于減少同理心和暴力。我包括了我發(fā)現(xiàn)的所有緩解因素。這是我所能做的：沒有任何理由可以證明他對自己的行為不負法律責(zé)任，而且我不能否認他對周圍的人來說是一個持續(xù)的危險。

During a break I happened to be near the defendant as he watched the victims’ families cry and try to soothe each other. They were despondent, tears running down their cheeks, clinging to each other like survivors on a life raft. Leon said to me, “Why are they crying? I’m the one who’s going to jail.” Again, his emptiness was chilling. He was emotionally blind.

在休息期間，我碰巧在被告附近，因為他看著受害者的家人哭泣并試圖互相安撫。他們很沮喪，淚水順著臉頰流下，像救生筏上的幸存者一樣緊緊相擁。萊昂對我說：“他們?yōu)槭裁纯?？我是那個要坐牢的人?！?再一次，他的空虛令人不寒而栗。他在情感上是盲目的。

Afterwards, when Leon had been removed as the jury retired to deliberate, Cherise’s mother approached me. Her pain was visible in every step, in the slow movement of her hands, in her expression. “Doctor! Doctor!” she called to me, with great urgency, afraid I might leave before she could talk to me. I stopped, turned, and watched her slowly approach. Almost pleading, she asked, “Why did he do it? You talked to him. Why did he kill my baby? Please tell me. Why?”

之后，當陪審團退下來商議萊昂時，切瑞斯的母親走近我。她的痛苦在每一步，在她雙手的緩慢動作中，在她的表情中都清晰可見。“醫(yī)生！醫(yī)生！” 她急切地叫我，生怕我還沒來得及跟我說話就走了。我停下來，轉(zhuǎn)過身，看著她慢慢靠近。她幾乎是懇求地問道：“他為什么要這么做？你和他說話了。他為什么要殺我的孩子？請告訴我。為什么？”

I shook my head, acknowledging that, even with my expertise, I couldn’t give her a satisfactory answer.

我搖搖頭，承認即使以我的專業(yè)知識，我也無法給她一個滿意的答案。

Crying and holding my arm, she asked again. “You know about these things. Why did he kill my baby?”

哭著挽著我的胳膊，她又問了一遍。“你知道這些事情。他為什么要殺我的孩子？”

“Honestly, I just don’t know for sure,” I said, feeling embarrassed at the inadequacy of my words. I sought out something to help this grieving mother. “I think his heart is cold. Something in him is broken. He’s not able to love like you can—like your daughter could. You hurt so much because you loved her so much. He doesn’t feel things like you do—good things or bad.”

“老實說，我只是不確定，”我說，因為我的話不夠充分而感到尷尬。我想方設(shè)法幫助這位悲傷的母親。“我認為他的心是冷的。他身上有什么東西壞了。他無法像你那樣去愛——就像你的女兒那樣。你傷得那么深，因為你太愛她了。他不像你那樣感受事物——好事或壞事?！?/p>

She was quiet for a moment. I could see her bring her daughter’s image to mind with a fleeting smile, then more tears. She sighed and nodded. “Yes. He must be broken inside to kill such a beautiful child. She never hurt anyone.” I awkwardly hugged her for a moment and then she walked out toward the rest of her family. I thought of Maria and Alan and Frank. Our research is beginning to unlock the secrets of the brain and the causes of tragedies such as this one, but in that moment I was painfully aware of how much we still don’t know.

她沉默了片刻。我可以看到她帶著一閃而過的微笑想起了她女兒的形象，然后流下了更多的眼淚。她嘆了口氣，點了點頭?！笆堑摹Ｋ仨殐?nèi)心崩潰才能殺死這么漂亮的孩子。她從不傷害任何人?！?我笨拙地擁抱了她一會兒，然后她朝她的家人走去。我想到了瑪麗亞、艾倫和弗蘭克。我們的研究正開始解開大腦的秘密以及諸如此類悲劇的成因，但在那一刻，我痛苦地意識到我們?nèi)匀徊恢烙卸嗌佟?/p>