COURSE DESCRIPTION:How do we make sense of mass attackers? All too often, we focus on things that happened to them: school shooters were bullied, workplace attackers were terminated, and so on. Yet, most people who experience such stressors do not become killers. Such explanations fail to consider who the people were that these things happened to. In other words, personality is often ignored as a factor in violence.
Though there is no profile of a mass attacker, there are common personality traits that occur in a wide range of perpetrators. One commonality is that they are psychologically fragile people with profound vulnerabilities. How these vulnerabilities manifest, however, varies dramatically. Using the work of Theodore Millon and other personality researchers, this presentation examines critical dynamics that shed light on the psychology of mass killers.
The presentation will begin with a brief overview of Millon’s model of personality and how it differs from DSM-5-TR. Following this, several personality disorders will be discussed. Each will be illustrated through the writings of perpetrators, highlighting how the traits increase the risk of violence. Understanding the dynamics of these perpetrators can aid in identifying people who may be on the path to violence.

About the Webinar:

Course objectives:
After attending this presentation, participants will be able to:
  1. Explain two differences between the DSM and Millon’s model of personality.
  2. Describe two personality processes which can lead to people becoming more prone to violence. 
  3. List three personality disorders commonly observed in violent perpetrators.

Please note: this webinar will be conducted via Zoom.  By registering for this webinar, you are agreeing to Zoom's privacy policy.

Our Speaker

Peter Langman, Ph.D., is a sought-after expert on the psychology of school shooters and other perpetrators of mass violence. He conducts trainings on understanding the psychology of school shooters and identifying potential school shooters for professionals in mental health, education, and law enforcement. He has spoken on preventing school shootings at the FBI National Academy in Quantico, VA, and been hired by Homeland Security to train professionals in school safety. In 2018 he was invited by the Department of Homeland Security to participate in the National School Security Roundtable. Though his primary focus is school shooters, he has spoken at FBI Headquarters on white supremacist homegrown violent extremists and at the National Counterterrorism Center on American jihadis.
Dr. Langman served on Pennsylvania’s Joint State Government Commission’s Advisory Committee on Violence Prevention. In the wake of the Sandy Hook attack, his recommendations on preventing school shootings were presented by the CEO of the American Psychological Association to President Obama. His research on school shooters has been cited in congressional testimony on Capitol Hill.
Dr. Langman’s latest book, Warning Signs: Identifying School Shooters Before They Strike, was published in 2021. His previous book, School Shooters: Understanding High School, College, and Adult Perpetrators, was published by Rowman & Littlefield in January 2015. His first book, Why Kids Kill: Inside the Minds of School Shooters, was published by Palgrave Macmillan and named an Outstanding Academic Title of 2009 by the American Library Association. It has been translated into German, Finnish, Dutch, Russian, and Serbian.
Dr. Langman has been interviewed over six hundred times by media outlets in the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, South America, Asia, and the Middle East. He has appeared on Today, 20/20, Nightline, CNN, MSNBC, NPR, Fox, and the BBC. His research on school shooters has been featured in articles carried by The New York Times, Newsweek, Time Magazine, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, Forbes, USA Today, Christian Science Monitor, Yahoo! News, and was cited by John Oliver on Last Week Tonight.
In 2008, Dr. Langman received the Psychology in the Media Award from the Pennsylvania Psychological Association for his work on educating the public about school shooters and school safety. In 2012, he was given the Sally K. Lenhardt Professional Leadership Award by Lesley University for his research and work on preventing school shootings. In 2016, he was the recipient of the Innovation in Research and Publication Award from the National Behavioral Intervention Team Association for his article “Multi-Victim School Shootings in the United States: A 50-Year Review.”  In 2019, he received the Distinguished Contributions to School Psychology Award, and in 2020 he was honored with the Public Service Award—both from the Pennsylvania Psychological Association.
From 2018 through 2023, Dr. Langman served as a researcher with the National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC) of the United States Secret Service, where he contributed to multiple reports, including Protecting America's Schools, Averting Targeted School Violence, Mass Attacks in Public Spaces: 2019, and Mass Attacks in Public Spaces: 2016-2020.
Dr. Langman also served as a researcher with Police Foundation and was the lead author of their report, A Comparison of Averted and Completed School Attacks from the Police Foundation Averted School Violence Database. His articles have appeared in American Behavioral Scientist, Aggression and Violent Behavior, The Journal of Campus Behavioral Intervention, The Journal of Health Service Psychology, Forensic Digest, Campus Safety Magazine, Police Chief Magazine, The Pennsylvania Psychologist, Criminology and Public Policy, The Psychology of Men and Masculinities, Behavioral Sciences and the Law, and The International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice.
In addition to his research on school shootings, Dr. Langman served ten years as president of the Greater Lehigh Valley chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) and served three years on the board of the Lehigh Valley chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). He serves on the advisory board of the National Association of Behavioral Intervention and Threat Assessment (NABITA). In 2025, Dr. Langman became the Senior Advisor on Violence Prevention for ZeroEyes, Inc. 
Dr. Langman received his B.A. in psychology from Clark University, his M.A. in counseling psychology from Lesley College, and his Ph.D. in counseling psychology from Lehigh University.
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This training is supported by Missouri Psychological Association. The contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of MOPA.
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