Research

(You can also visit Dr. Lankford’s Google Scholar page) 

Major Research Areas Include:

  

Mass Shootings

Studies of perpetrators’ psychological tendencies, homicidal intentions, mental health problems, suicidal motives, fame-seeking tactics, copycat behavior, and firearms acquisition–along with strategies that could reduce the prevalence of their attacks.

 

You can view most recent studies or studies by subject area.

Please contact Dr. Lankford or click below if you would like any of these articles.

Subject Areas (click to view):

 

Most Recent Mass Shooting Studies:

 

Mass Shooting Studies by Subject Area

How the United States Compares to Other Countries:

How Mass Shooters Compare to the General Population and Other Criminals

How Mass Shooters Compare to Suicide Terrorists

Trends: Incidents Becoming Deadlier

Firearms Access

Mental Health Problems

Fame-Seeking Shooters, Media Coverage, and Copycat Effects (Open Letter to the Media about Improving Coverage of Mass Killers — Signed by 149 Experts) 

Sexual Frustration and Incels

Suicidal Motives

Race/Ethnicity

Mass Shooting Prevention

Other

 

  

Suicide Terrorism

Studies of perpetrators’ pathways to self-destruction. How are they psychologically and behaviorally similar to individuals who commit conventional suicides, murder-suicides, or unconventional suicides–such as mass shooters, cult members, and kamikaze pilots? 

Book: The Myth of Martyrdom: What Really Drives Suicide Bombers, Rampage Shooters, and Other Self-Destructive Killers (St. Martin’s Press) 

Journal Articles: 

Please contact Dr. Lankford or request free access through ResearchGate if you would like any of these articles.

 

  

Sexual Frustration Theory

An exploration of how sexual frustration may contribute to many forms of aggression, violence, and crime–including stalking, intimate partner abuse, bar fights, robberies, gang violence, homicide, mass shootings, terrorism, serial killings, pedophilia, and rape–and why it may also be an important cause of misogyny.

Please contact Dr. Lankford or request free access through ResearchGate if you would like any of these articles.

Journal Articles:

 

  

Human Nature

Research on various elements of the human condition, including why people often choose self-interest over self-sacrifice, how “strength in numbers” functions as a core survival strategy, what factors make people vulnerable to systematic indoctrination.

Book: 2009 – Human Killing Machines: Systematic Indoctrination in Iran, Nazi Germany, Al Qaeda, and Abu Ghraib (Lexington Books)

Journal Articles:

Please contact Dr. Lankford or request free access through ResearchGate if you would like any of these articles.

  

Other Research

Please contact Dr. Lankford or request free access through ResearchGate if you would like any of these articles.

  • 2011 – Rehabilitating Terrorists Through Counter-Indoctrination: Lessons Learned from the Saudi Arabian Program. (International Criminal Justice Review)
  • 2010 – Social Influence in the Online Recruitment of Terrorists and Terrorist Sympathizers: Implications for Social Psychology Research (International Review of Social Psychology)
  • 2010 – Do Past U.S. Acts Constitute Terrorism? Implications for Counterterrorism Policy (International Criminal Justice Review)
  • 2010 – Assessing the Obama Standard for Interrogations: An Analysis of Army Field Manual 2-22.3 (Studies in Conflict & Terrorism)
  • 2009 – Promoting Aggression and Violence at Abu Ghraib: The U.S. Military’s Transformation of Ordinary People into Torturers (Aggression and Violent Behavior)
  • 2009 – Reexamining the “War of Ideas” and Us-Them Differentiation: Implications for Counterterrorism (Homeland Security Review)