The Psychology of Dexter (Psychology of Popular Culture) [Paperback]

Bella DePaulo PhD (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 7, 2010 | Series: Psychology of Popular Culture

Dexter Morgan: Police forensic analyst. Family man. Serial killer. And the star of Showtime’s most-watched series, Dexter.

Aimed at Dexter devotees and armchair psychologists, The Psychology of Dexter takes on the psychological complexities of the popular series with an eye towards insight and accessibility. It analyzes not just the title character, but his family, coworkers, and even his viewers. What makes Dexter tick? And what makes a show about a serial killer so appealing to those of us at home?

From the implications of faking normalcy (could it be behind Dexter’s still-in-progress emotional growth?) to where the show weighs in on the psychological debate between nature and nurture, The Psychology of Dexter gives fans a peek inside Dexter’s—and Dexter’s—psyche.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Bella DePaulo (PhD, Harvard) is the author of Behind the Door of Deceit: Understanding the Biggest Liars in Our Lives and Singled Out: How Singles Are Stereotyped, Stigmatized, and Ignored, and Still Live Happily Ever After. She has published more than 100 scholarly articles. DePaulo’s work on deception has been described in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, Time magazine, the New Yorker, and many other publications. Dr. DePaulo has appeared as an expert on deception on ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, PBS, the BBC, and other television outlets. She has also lectured nationally and internationally.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Smart Pop (September 7, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 193525197X
• ISBN-13: 978-1935251972
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.6 x 8.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #273,100 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #44 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Psychology & Counseling > Forensic Psychology

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Psychology of Dexter December 1, 2010

By L. Brown

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I thought this book was excellent. I bought it because I'm a "Dexter" fan, but the book is really so much more. To start with, it is not written by just one author, but by several specialists in their own fields. You get various opinions about Dexter because of this. But even if Dexter was not the purpose of the book, I would still consider it outstanding. There is much to be explained and learned about all of the "mental problems" everyone experiences through themselves, someone they know, or someone they have heard about. This book really does a good job of explaining the consequences of these problems. Just the chapter alone on "Personality and Behavioral Traits of Adult Children of Narcissistic Families" is worth the price of the whole book. A job well done.

31 of 35 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Ridiculous (in a good way) October 21, 2010

By Max Golding

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I've only read the first couple chapters so far, but the depth of these analyses are pretty outstanding. SPOILERS BELOW!!!!!!

IE one interpretation is that Harry completely created Dexter, and that there was no knowing that Dexter would inevitably do what he would do, but rather that Harry just encouraged the killing. In the show you generally get the impression that it's OK that Dexter ended up this way because of his childhood, that his childhood created him, that killing, and the cycle it creates, made him the way he was inevitably. The first chapter of this book is about how this is nonsense, and that Harry is actually at fault, and literally created Dexter The Murderer as we know him.

Really interesting stuff.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Psychology of Dexter January 4, 2011

By Coaxial Creature

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Psychology of Dexter is an edited book of essays, showing that the first four seasons of Dexter use real life psychology to draw us in, and relate to the characters. It also explores the characters, asking questions such as what if Dexter isn't a psychopath but rather suffering from childhood PTSD? (The answer is that he very well might have been, and not been destined to kill as Harry has told him; in that case, his foster father, although well intentioned, may have in fact turned Dexter into a psychopath.)

Each essay is well thought out, well presented, and all but one ask these type of questions, and really made me think about the show. There was one essay - The Psychology of Dexter's Kills by Marisa Mauro - that I felt fell flat because it was just 'this is what serial killers do, and this is how Dexter fits the role of a serial killer'. Excuse me, but yawn, I know he's a serial killer, I knew enough about trophies to realize that he took them, and while I learned a little more about the trophies, it wasn't enough to keep me hooked. However, this is one out of seventeen essays, and the others kept me reading non-stop; seriously, in line at the grocery store? Hey, it's like one or two minutes, and I needed to know what this book said.

And to be fair to Marisa, she wrote another essay further along in the book called It's All About Harry - which quite frankly makes Harry seem less well intentioned than most of the essays, but was backed up with a lot of quotes, and scenes from the show, and made sense when given the layman's terms, and the proof - and which held my interest far, far more than her first essay. In fact, only going over the list of essays did I realize they were written by the same person.

The thing that I really liked about this essay is that I didn't feel bogged down by Psychology jargon; the writers explain what the jargon is as quickly as possible, so a layman can relate, and then use that to explain how real life psychology effects Dexter and his world, or the way we as an audience relate to Dexter. I read a lot of psychology texts that my mom has lying around the house, so I know a little more than the average person, and I was still fascinated. However, I feel that not knowing psychology in depth, that I was able to keep up with the jargon because it was explained in simple terms - without making me feel stupid, which was a bonus.

So in the end, must read, highly recommended, but you pretty much have to have seen the first four seasons of Dexter to really be interested in this book.