07/09/2024
“Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I'll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select--doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief, and, yes, even beggarman and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors. I am going beyond my facts and I admit it, but so have the advocates of the contrary and they have been doing it for many thousands of years.”
I was always intrigued by the behavioural school of thought from my early days of undergrad, J B Watson being a prominent figure in behaviourism ( oh! Poor Albert… It’s just a cute little 🐁) I remembered this quote from the professors old powerpoint slides when I was watching The Boys.
The Boys is a gritty, satirical superhero series based on the comic of the same. It explores a world where superheroes, known as "supes," are not the noble figures typically seen in traditional superhero stories. Instead, many of them are corrupt, self-serving, and controlled by a powerful corporation, Vought International, that monetizes their fame and powers.
The Seven - an elite group of supes who represent the pinnacle of fame and power in the world. The leader of The Seven is Homelander, a seemingly perfect superhero with a dark, psychopathic side, with a disturbing lack of empathy and a god-complex. He is a deeply complex and disturbing character whose psychological profile can be analyzed through multiple lenses, highlighting a cocktail of traits such as narcissism, psychopathy, and emotional instability.
The Boys season 4, episode 4, Barbara - the head scientist responsible for Homelander's development - reveals that Vought identified this trait and recruited "the best psychologists in the world" to "engineer" that desire as a means of controlling Homelander.
Vought's psychologists likely used principles of behavioral conditioning to shape Homelander's development. By controlling the environment he grew up in, they could reinforce certain behaviors while suppressing others. For example, they likely rewarded Homelander for behaviors that aligned with their goals, such as obedience and loyalty to Vought, and ignored or punished behaviors that could undermine their control.
Operant conditioning, where behavior is influenced by rewards and punishments, would have been key. They would have conditioned Homelander to seek external validation (praise, admiration, love) from figures of authority or the public, ensuring that his self-worth became dependent on approval from others, making him more controllable.
Homelander's upbringing in a sterile lab environment deprived him of normal emotional attachments, which is critical in attachment theory(Bowlby). Children who fail to develop healthy attachments often struggle with emotional regulation and empathy. Vought likely engineered an attachment void, ensuring Homelander developed an intense need for external validation due to his emotional deprivation. Vought’s psychologists likely cultivated Homelander’s narcissistic traits deliberately, shaping him to believe in his own superiority while simultaneously making his self-worth fragile and reliant on external validation.
Vought effectively engineered Homelander’s identity to ensure that his primary self-concept was tied to being a "hero" under Vought’s control. Psychologically, by limiting his exposure to normal human interactions and only reinforcing his role as Vought’s ultimate weapon and public icon, they shaped his identity around fame, power, and authority.
They created a being who is emotionally fragile, dependent on external validation, and driven by narcissistic tendencies, making him easier to control despite his overwhelming power. By shaping his attachment patterns, identity, and emotional responses, Vought ensured that Homelander would remain emotionally vulnerable and controllable, even as he appears outwardly invincible.
