Killer profiles generate many false positives and miss most loners

Evidence

Researchers try to create a profile of mass killers from case studies of them. Because many of them die by their own hand or by police bullets, researchers have to rely on psychological postmortems to judge a killer’s psychic life and motivation from whatever public information is available. … The problem with such profiles is that they yield high false-positive predictions, with nonviolent individuals being judged as prone to violence. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1280 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Doctored-video fears can cause real violence when victims match the false profile — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects…, 356; Mass killer profiles produce many false positives labeling nonviolent people as violent — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 1280; Profile-based suspicion makes innocence and deception equally incriminating (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Mass killer profiles produce many false positives labeling nonviolent people as violent #expands (0.96) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1280