Comparing the Attachment Styles and Impulsivity the Revenge Killers with Confrontational Killers

One of the important tools in the process of detecting and identifying murderers is to identify their psychological characteristics based on how they occur and how organized the murder is. This issue has a great impact on the development of the scientific approach of the police. The purpose of this study is to compare the attachment and impulsivity styles of vengeful killers with confrontational killers.

The method of the present study is a cross-sectional causal-comparative type. The sampling method was purposeful and this was done through screening interviews with 150 murderers in Rajai Shahr prison in Karaj. Finally, two groups of 30 people were selected separately from the revenge and confrontation murderers. The research instruments were Bart (2004) Impulsivity Questionnaire and Collins and Reed (1980) Adult Attachment Questionnaire and the data were analyzed by multivariate analysis of variance and chi-square test.

Exposed killers had a secure attachment style and revenge killers had an avoidant attachment style and their level of impulsivity was significantly different from confrontational killers in both motor and cognitive components.

The degree of impulsivity and the type of avoidance attachment style of revenge killers indicated the existence of serious psychological trauma in comparison with confrontational killers.