"The Desperate Identities of Dangerous Men: Understanding Mass Attackers by Understanding Personality Disorders"
Friday, Jan 30th
Noon – 3:00 pm CST (3 CEs)
Live via Zoom
With Presenter Peter Langman, PhD
Registration Opening Soon!
This workshop is presented by the Nebraska Psychological Association and a coalition of over 30 State, Provincial and Territorial Psychological Associations.
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.
Expert Presenter Peter Langman, PhD
Dr. Peter Langman is a psychologist whose research on school shooters has received international recognition. His book, Why Kids Kill: Inside the Minds of School Shooters, was translated into German, Dutch, Finnish, Russian, and Serbian. His work has been cited in congressional testimony on Capitol Hill and he has been interviewed over 600 times by media outlets in 35 countries. After the Sandy Hook attack, the CEO of the American Psychological Association presented Dr. Langman’s recommendations on school safety to President Obama. He has presented at both the FBI Headquarters in Washington, DC, and the FBI National Academy in Quantico. He has been an invited speaker at the National Counterterrorism Center and was hired by Homeland Security to train professionals in school safety. He has trained thousands of professionals in education, law enforcement, and mental health on the psychology of violent offenders. He maintains the largest online collection of materials relating to school shooters at schoolshooters.info, including over 600 documents totaling 70,000 pages. His book, School Shooters: Understanding High School, College, and Adult Perpetrators was published in 2015. From 2018 to 2023 , Dr. Langman was a researcher with the National Threat Assessment Center of the United States Secret Service. His latest book is Warning Signs: Identifying School Shooters Before They Strike.
Learning Objectives
After attending this presentation, participants will be able to:
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Explain two differences between the DSM and Millon’s model of personality.
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Describe two personality processes which can lead to people becoming more prone to violence.
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List three personality disorders commonly observed in violent perpetrators.
Continuing Education
The Nebraska Psychological Association is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The Nebraska Psychological Association maintains responsibility for this program and its contents. Participants attending the live webinar can receive 3 CEs for psychologists as well as master's level clinicians, with full attendance required. No partial credit is awarded; late arrival or early departure will preclude awarding of CE credits for psychologists attending the live webinar. Those arriving more than 15 minutes after the scheduled start time or leaving before the workshop is completed will not receive CE credits.
This program meets the criteria of an approved continuing education program for mental health practice.
Cancellation Policy: Written notification is required on or before January 26, 2026, for complete refund of registration fee. All questions, comments and complaints should be directed to the NPA Central Office, at 402-475-0709, 877-355-7934 or npa@ nebpsych.org.
