Psychological Model for Revealing Potential School Shooters in a Digital Educational Environment

Introduction. Armed attacks on students and pedagogical workers of educational organizations have become an acute social problem in recent years. Counteraction to mass murder demands development of a system of psychological monitoring, which makes it possible to collect, summarize and evaluate the presence of risk factors. Its absence determines the necessity of solving theoretical and methodological problems, which provide the study of behavioral, psychological, social prerequisites of school shooting. The aim of the research is to develop conceptual foundations and a theoretical model of the program to reveal persons at risk who have psychological, social, behavioral and other features similar to those of school shooters. Materials, Results and Discussion. The main approaches to creating a program to reveal individuals with potentially dangerous tendencies were reviewed. Based on the analysis of domestic and foreign studies external (social) and internal (individual-psychological) characteristics of the school shooter are described. The authors formulate the principle model of risk group search and the method of risk assessment of dangerous behavior implementation. The role of artificial neural network in revealing, analyzing and estimating the signs of risk is defined. The paper presents behavioral, psychological and social indicators assigning individuals to a risk group. An algorithm of actions of the teaching staff with regard to the students inclined to organizing an armed attack on educational organization is offered. Conclusions. The proposed program model is based upon the existing understanding of the prerequisites for armed attacks on educational institutions, and requires further verification and validation. At the same time, its development enriches the existing methods of counteracting mass murders of students and pedagogical personnel.