Imprinted for Violence? How Biology and Beliefs Mold Killers

Violence does not emerge from a vacuum. It is rooted in deep-seated biological instincts, shaped by social alienation and ideological imprinting. Ethology—the study of animal behavior—offers chilling insights into how mass shooters, assassins, and terrorists evolve through distorted instincts, social programming, and cognitive fixation.

Konrad Lorenz, a pioneer in ethology, observed that militant enthusiasm—the instinct to defend one’s group against outsiders—exists across species, from greylag geese to humans. He wrote:

"The social bond embracing a group is closely connected with aggression, directed against outsiders. In human beings, too, the feeling of togetherness, which is so essential to the serving of a common cause, is greatly enhanced by the presence of a definite, threatening enemy, whom it is possible to hate." (On Aggression, p. 285)

This hardwired drive to divide the world into “us” and “them” fuels radicalization, giving ostracized individuals a sense of identity, purpose, and belonging in destruction. When this instinct misfires—when extreme overvalued beliefs imprint into the mind—the consequences can be catastrophic.

Imprinting, Isolation, and the Making of a Killer

Lorenz’s research on gosling imprinting revealed that young birds fixate on the first moving object they see after hatching, forming an unbreakable bond—even if it’s with an inanimate object. This principle extends to human social imprinting, particularly in adolescents experiencing isolation, rejection, and identity loss.

A mass shooter does not wake up one day and decide to kill; rather, he follows a slow path of fixation, identification, and pathway escalation, seeking meaning in violent archetypes. Lorenz warned:

"During and shortly after puberty, human beings have an indubitable tendency to loosen their allegiance to all traditional rites and social norms of their culture, allowing conceptual thought to cast doubt on their value and to look around for new and perhaps more worthy ideals." (On Aggression, p. 267)

This developmental window makes adolescents highly vulnerable to extremist ideologies, nihilistic subcultures, and glorified martyrdom narratives. The internet amplifies this process, providing constant reinforcement for overvalued beliefs and fostering echo chambers of resentment, grievance, and revenge fantasies. The same process can occur in anyone experiencing emotionally laden experiences (loss, grief, perceived lack of recognition or acceptance, etc).

Extreme Overvalued Beliefs (EOBs) and Radicalization

The Extreme Overvalued Belief (EOB) model explains why violent extremists become impervious to logic, debate, or counterevidence. As defined in my book Extreme Overvalued Beliefs (Rahman, 2024):

"An extreme overvalued belief is one that is shared by others in a person’s cultural, religious, or subcultural group. The belief is often relished, amplified, and defended by the possessor of the belief and should be differentiated from an obsession or a delusion. The belief grows more dominant over time, more refined and more resistant to challenge. The individual has an intense emotional commitment to the belief and may carry out violent behavior in its service."

EOBs compress complex realities into simple, binary, absolute narratives. Lorenz pioneered this idea:

"It is much easier to make people identify with a simple and concrete common cause than with an abstract idea. For all these reasons, teachers of militant ideologies have an enviably easy job in converting young people." (On Aggression, p. 285)

In other words, violent extremists don’t just adopt a belief—they become consumed by it. This is not simply ideology but imprinting—often occurring in digital spaces where social reinforcement replaces reality.

The ARCHE Triad: How EOBs, Archetypes, and Thymotic Drive Intersect

The ARCHE Triad, developed by Rahman and Meloy (2025), synthesizes three key drivers of targeted violence:

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1. Extreme Overvalued Beliefs (EOBs): Shared, emotionally charged, and culturally reinforced beliefs that intensify over time
2. Distorted Archetypes: Symbolic roles, such as warrior, martyr, avenger, and outlaw, that shape violent identity
3. Thymotic Drive: The innate human need for recognition, dignity, and justice—fueling fame-seeking and retaliatory violence

The ARCHE model builds on professional threat assessment tools (e.g., TRAP-18), emphasizing cognitive fixation, emotional intensification, and identity distortion in radicalization.

Case Applications: School Shooters and Assassins

Adam Lanza, the Sandy Hook shooter, epitomized archetypal imprinting gone awry. His early writings, such as The Big Book of Granny—a story about an old woman using a cane as a gun—revealed a distorted warrior or avenger archetype. His fixation on ranking mass shooters by body count demonstrated EOB reinforcement and thymotic drive. His self-imposed starvation, extreme social withdrawal, and misanthropic worldview cemented his cognitive rigidity, making deradicalization nearly impossible.

Similarly, Anders Breivik, the Norwegian terrorist who killed 69 young people, constructed an elaborate warrior-savior narrative, seeing himself as a modern-day Knight Templar fighting against multiculturalism. His 1,500-page manifesto, courtroom statements, and demands for military recognition underscored his thymotic drive for a historical legacy. He even requested a medal for his attack—viewing himself not as a mass murderer but as a heroic figure in a mythic battle.

Breaking the Cycle of Imprinted Violence

The ARCHE Triad provides a structured model for forensic experts, law enforcement, and counterterrorism professionals to assess and mitigate radicalization risks:

1. Identify EOBs: Educate children and adolescents about ideological imprinting, using Konrad Lorenz’s geese experiment as a metaphor for digital radicalization.
2. Recognize Distorted Archetypes: Evaluate whether an individual fixates on roles like warrior, martyr, savior, or avenger.
3. Assess Thymotic Drive: Determine whether the person is seeking honor, legacy, or revenge—and provide alternative paths for social recognition and meaning.

By disrupting cognitive fixation early, challenging extremist archetypes, and offering nonviolent pathways to recognition, intervention efforts can redirect individuals away from violence before they reach the point of no return.

Radicalization isn’t just about beliefs—it’s about biology, psychology, and social programming. By understanding how ancient instincts are manipulated in modern contexts, we can begin to break the cycle of violent imprinting.