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Personality Characteristics of “Self Martyrs”/“Suicide Bombers” and

Organizers of Suicide Attacks
Ariel Meraria; Ilan Diamanta; Arie Bibia; Yoav Broshib; Giora Zakina
a
Department of Psychology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel b Bar Ilan University, Ramat-Gan,
Israel

Online publication date: 19 December 2009

To cite this Article Merari, Ariel , Diamant, Ilan , Bibi, Arie , Broshi, Yoav and Zakin, Giora(2010) 'Personality
Characteristics of “Self Martyrs”/“Suicide Bombers” and Organizers of Suicide Attacks', Terrorism and Political Violence,
22: 1, 87 — 101
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 Terrorism and Political Violence, 22:87–101, 2010
Copyright # Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN: 0954-6553 print=1556-1836 online
DOI: 10.1080/09546550903409312

Personality Characteristics of
‘‘Self Martyrs’’/‘‘Suicide Bombers’’ and
Organizers of Suicide Attacks

ARIEL MERARI, ILAN DIAMANT, AND ARIE BIBI

Department of Psychology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

YOAV BROSHI
Bar Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel

GIORA ZAKIN
Department of Psychology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
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This is a report of a direct psychological examination of suicide, or ‘‘martyrdom’’

terrorists and of organizers of martyrdom attacks. Assessments of the personality
of self-martyrs have so far relied on biographical material drawn from secondary
sources. In the absence of direct psychological examinations, the debate on the
existence of distinctive personality factors among suicide terrorists has so far
remained at the hypothetical level. This study subjected failed Palestinian suicide
terrorists, a control group of non-suicide terrorists, and a group of organizers of
suicide attacks, to clinical psychological interviews and tests. Significant differences
were found between suicide and non-suicide terrorists and between these two groups
and the organizers of martyrdom attacks. Two main personality styles were found
among the would-be suicides. Members of this group had a significantly lower level
of ego strength than the organizers of martyrdom attacks. Most of the would-be
martyrs displayed a dependent and avoidant personality style, a profile that made
them more amenable to group, leader, and public influence. Others were assessed
as having an impulsive and emotionally unstable style. Some of the would-be martyrs

Ariel Merari is a retired professor of psychology at Tel Aviv University. He has studied
terrorism and political violence for more than 30 years and has published widely on these
subjects. Ilan Diamant is a clinical psychologist in private practice. He holds a Ph.D. degree
in clinical psychology from the University of London and teaches at the Department of
Psychology, Tel Aviv University. Arie Bibi is a clinical psychologist in private practice. He
holds a Ph.D. degree in clinical psychology from Tel Aviv University, where he also teaches
at the Department of Psychology and the School of Social Work. Yoav Broshi is a clinical
psychologist in private practice. He received an M.A. degree in clinical psychology from Tel
Aviv University and is currently a doctoral student at Bar Ilan University. Giora Zakin is a
clinical psychologist in private practice. He holds a Ph.D. degree in clinical psychology from
Tel Aviv University where he also teaches at the Department of Psychology.
This article includes excerpts from the first author’s forthcoming book, Driven to Death:
Psychological and Social Aspects of Suicide Terrorism (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010).
The authors wish to thank to Baruch Zadik, Ilan Baruch, and Haim Aharoni, who
participated in conducting clinical interviews and tests and to Eran Shadach, who participated
in assessing tests results.
Address correspondence to Ariel Merari, Department of Psychology, Tel Aviv
University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel. E-mail: merari@post.tau.ac.il

87
 88 A. Merari et al.

but none of the control and organizers groups’ participants displayed sub-clinical sui-
cidal tendencies. Significantly more martyr than control group members displayed
symptoms of depression.

Keywords organizers, perpetrators, personality characteristics, self-martydom,

suicide bombers, suicide terrorism

The Significance of Terrorist Suicide Attacks

Suicide attacks are the most salient tactic of present-day terrorism. More than any
other form of attack, they convey terrorists’ willingness to kill indiscriminately
and to sacrifice themselves for their cause. In Israel, suicide attacks have by far been
the most deadly form of terrorism. Whereas they have constituted less than one
percent of the total number of attacks during the second intifada, suicide attacks
have caused more than 50 percent of the fatalities.1 The U.S. National Counterter-
rorism Center’s report for 2007 found that whereas suicide attacks constituted only
3.3% of the total number of terrorist attacks around the globe, they resulted in 25.3%
of the fatalities.2 Most of the casualties have been civilians.
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Campaigns of suicide attacks have, in some cases, had far reaching strategic-
political consequences. The obvious example has been the September 11, 2001,
attacks in the United States, which resulted in a massive change in U.S. global
policy. Other cases in point are the withdrawal of the Multi-National Force from
Lebanon in 1984, following a series of suicide attacks, and the suicide bombing cam-
paign in Israel in the 1990s, which has effectively undermined the Israeli-Palestinian
peace process.
The frequency of suicide attacks has increased considerably in recent years. A
simple count of these attacks around the globe is shown in Figure 1. Of the 2,622

Figure 1. Number of worldwide suicide attacks by year, 1981–2008.

 Personality Characteristics of Suicide Bombers 89

martyrdom attacks that were carried out around the world in the period of 1981
through 2008, 2,218 attacks (84.5%) took place in the recent five years (2004–
2008). Most martyrdom attacks have been carried out in countries where an acute
violent conflict has been taking place. The decline in the global number of martyrdom
attacks in 2008 (469 attacks, compared to 608 in 2007) was due mainly to a reduction
in the number of attacks in Iraq. Yet, there has been a considerable rise in the number
of countries where suicide attacks have taken place—17 countries in the period of
1981–2000, compared to 32 in the period of 2001–2008.

Definition of Suicide Terrorist Attacks

Several definitions of martyrdom, or suicide terrorist attacks, have been used in the
literature. For the purpose of this study we defined a suicide terrorist attack as an
assault, intended to achieve a political objective, performed outside the context of
a conventional war, in which the assailant intentionally kills himself for the purpose
of killing others. Presumably, the self-destruction element makes this form of
terrorism different in its psychological foundations from other terrorist attacks that
involve high risk for the perpetrators.
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The Importance of Personality Factors

Suicide attacks, in almost all cases, are organized by groups. The decision to use this
tactic has been made by the group leaders, and group commanders recruited the
martyrdom bombers, instructed them, determined the target and the time of attack,
and made the necessary logistical preparations.3 Still, the suicide bombers are a select
group of people. In the Palestinian case, for example, public support for martyrdom
attacks has reached more than 70 percent during the recent Intifada,4 but only a
small minority of those that support this kind of action have been willing to
implement it in their person. Thus, there are, presumably, some personalities or
other motivating factors that induce or facilitate a person’s readiness to volunteer
or be recruited for a martyrdom mission.
The numerous descriptions of the psychological characteristics of suicide
bombers offered so far have been speculative, conjecturing from biographical or
circumstantial details.5 In a few cases authors who were not psychologists and did
not use psychological tests interviewed would-be suicide bombers and reported that
they seemed normal.6 Here we report a direct psychological study of martyrdom
terrorists and of organizers of martyrdom attacks (persons who planned, prepared,
and supervised the attacks), which utilized clinical interviews, as well as standard
psychological tests.7

Method
Subjects
Three groups of jailed Palestinian terrorists were included in the study: (a) would-be
suicide bombers, (b) a control group of terrorists arrested for participation in non-
suicide missions, and (c) organizers of suicide operations.
The suicides’ sample included fifteen men, who had been arrested in the process
of trying to carry out a suicide attack. Four of them were caught at the intended site
 90 A. Merari et al.

of attack, as the explosive charges they were carrying failed to detonate because of a
technical defect. Ten of the other eleven were caught carrying the explosive charge on
the way to the target, where they intended to explode themselves, and one was
caught a day before he was supposed to carry out the suicide attack, having already
been videotaped in the final ritual before dispatching. Of all suicide candidates in jail
at that time, these fifteen men were the closest to implementing their suicide mission.
Five of the would-be suicides in the sample were sent by Hamas, five by the
Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and five by Fatah’s al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. These
groups comprise the three main Palestinian organizations that have perpetrated
martyrdom operations. On average, the attempted suicide attack (and date of arrest)
took place 7.5 months prior to the time of interviews and testing (range: 2–16).
The mean age of the suicide group at the time of arrest was 19.8 (range: 16–23).
All of them were unmarried. Two of them had only partial elementary school educa-
tion, five had partial high school education, seven had full high school education,
and one had partial university education.
The control sample included 12 men, who had been tried and jailed for participa-
tion in various political violence activities, ranging from stone throwing to armed
assaults. An attempt was made to match the controls with the would-be martyrs
as to age, marital status, education, and organizational affiliation. The average date
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of arrest of control group subjects took place 13 months prior to the time of the
interviews (range: 4–43 months).
The mean age of control group subjects at the time of arrest was 19.6 (range:
16–23) and all of them were unmarried. One of them had partial elementary school
education, one had full elementary school education, six had partial high school
education, three full high school, and one had partial university education.
The organizers sample included fourteen who had been jailed for commanding
and coordinating suicide attacks. Five of them were Hamas members, five were
PIJ members, and four were members of Fatah’s al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. They
were responsible for organizing 1–9 martyrdom attacks each (including unsuccessful
attacks), an average of 3.7 attacks per organizer. The participating organizers had
been sentenced to long prison terms, ranging between 18 years and 35 cumulative life
sentences. At the time of the interviews they had already been in prison for an
average of 35.6 months (range: 9–118 months).
All Palestinian martyrdom operations have been organized by a group. The deci-
sion to carry out a suicide attack and its preparation were done by the local leadership
of the military arm of the organization (e.g., Hamas military leader in the Tul Karem
area, or PIJ leader in the town of Jenin). Typically, several persons were involved in
the preparation of a suicide attack, having a variety of roles: making the explosive
device, identifying and recruiting a potential candidate for the mission, collecting
information on security forces’ routines, and escorting the martyrdom candidate to
the target. These preparations are orchestrated by the local leader of the organization,
who makes the operational decisions and sometimes also produces the explosive device.
This person is called here the organizer of the attack. The suicide candidate is usually
brought to the organizer for approval, and the organizer is commonly present at the
videotaping ritual of the candidate before he is dispatched on his mission.
The organizers’ mean age at the time of arrest was 27.6 (range: 21–36). Seven
of them were single. The other seven were married, of whom all but one had children
(1–3). Three of the organizers had full university training (two of them had bachelor’s
degrees in engineering and one in religion studies); three had partial university
 Personality Characteristics of Suicide Bombers 91

training, five had full high school education and three only partial high school
education. There were conspicuous differences in education between the groups.
Whereas all Hamas organizers had at least partial university education (three had
university degrees and two were students), none of the Fatah organizers had
university education—two had completed high school and two had only partial high
school education. PIJ organizers fell in the middle: three had completed high school,
one had only partial high school education, and one was a university student.

Tools and Procedure

In planning this study, a major concern was the willingness of the Palestinian
prisoners to cooperate with Israeli researchers in the interviews and tests. Compared
to rank-and-file members of the groups, who had no reservations about participating
in the interviews and undertaking psychological tests, the organizers were much more
cautious. The first organizer refused to participate unless three other members of the
prisoners’ leadership, including their elected leader (Emir), would join the discussion.
He insisted that the decision about participating in the study had to be taken jointly
by the four of them. We therefore summoned the other prisoners, of whom three were
Hamas commanders and the fourth—a Fatah organizer of martyrdom attacks, and
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explained to them the study’s aims. We told them that the study was designed to
investigate the personality characteristics, motivations, and decision-making of
commanders and rank-and-file members of insurgent groups. We explained that we
were particularly interested in what makes people sacrifice themselves for a cause,
what motivates them to carry out martyrdom missions, and how they were selected
and prepared for these missions. We also said that we were interested in their traits
as leaders, their interaction with their subordinates, and the way they coped with
problems that they had to confront. We added that this was the first study of its kind
but we hoped that researchers in other countries would carry out similar studies, so as
to discover to what extent there are similarities in personality characteristics of insur-
gent groups’ leaders and members across different cultures and contexts. A discussion
developed following this introduction. The three Hamas leaders (all of them had aca-
demic degrees) asked many questions on our credentials and background, who were
the other researchers on the team, and about the nature and course of development of
national liberation movements. One of the organizers asked to see a sample of the first
author’s publications (which were delivered to him a few days later). After a couple of
hours of lively discussion the four leaders decided to cooperate with the research
team. Their consent was instrumental in obtaining other participants’ cooperation.
In general, members of the organizers group displayed much more interest in the
study than members of the would-be martyr and control groups. The latter, although
they were willing to participate in the study, did not express much interest in it.
The participants were interviewed in jail, in comfortable offices. Four senior clinical
psychologists, fluent in Arabic, interviewed the participants and tested them in individual
sessions (one interviewer and one interviewee at a time). Each session was composed of a
comprehensive clinical semi-structured interview aiming at getting the biographical
background, significant events in life, adjustment to change, and coping with crises.
The semi-structured interviews were followed by a series of psychological tests. The
set of tests included: Rorschach test,8 TAT (Thematic Apperception Test),9 House-
Tree-Person drawings,10 and an adapted version of the California Personality Inventory
(CPI)11 comprised of 300 questions (CHPI),12 which had been translated into Arabic.
 92 A. Merari et al.

Administration of the semi-structured interview lasted two hours on average and

administration of the psychological tests took about four hours.
The participants were informed that they were invited to take part in an
academic research aimed at understanding the motivations, decision-making, and
psychological characteristics of persons involved in an armed national struggle. With
the exception of one PIJ organizer, all participants agreed to being interviewed and
almost all of them also agreed to take the whole battery of psychological tests. One
participant in the control group refused to take part in the tests. Also in the control
group one Rorschach protocol was not valid because of an insufficient number of
responses. The CHPI (Adjusted CPI) protocols included 14 protocols in the
martyrdom group. One subject failed to fill in half of the questionnaire on account
of feeling fatigue and four protocols were found non valid, due to answering in a
biased style on account of extremely weak consistency between answers (scale:
Identical) and extremely strong efforts to please (scale: Good Impression). We
decided to refrain from analyzing the CHPI results on account of too small sample
size (N ¼ 9), weak validity of three more protocols and dubious interpretation of the
validity scales (Identical, Good Impression). In retrospect, the problems encountered
with the CHPI highlight the importance of using projective assessment techniques,
such as the Rorschach and the TAT, in testing the would-be martyrs.
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All psychologists were asked to report their psychological assessment based on

all material regarding the following categories: a general clinical assessment of ego
strength (classified into low, intermediate, and high levels based on Bellak and
Kernberg’s schemes), suicidal tendencies, depressive features, post-traumatic stress
disorder, psychopathic deviations, and personality style. Three senior clinical
psychologists, specializing in psychopathological assessment, analyzed these reports
and the tests data and achieved a mutual accordance upon each category. An
additional senior clinical specialist, ignorant of the group to which the participants
were assigned, and who analyzed all interview and tests materials independently,
did a blind reliability check. Inter-rater reliability achieved expected standard
requirements (81% for the general clinical assessment of ego strength and personality
style, 77% for suicidal tendencies, 85% for depressive features, and 92% for psycho-
pathic deviations).
The Rorschach test was analyzed separately as advised by Exner.13 Two senior
clinical specialists coded the test independently. Inter-rater reliability achieved
expected standard requirements (mutual accordance of 94%).

Results
In the absence of previous empirical psychological research on martyrdom bombers,
our null hypothesis was that there were no differences between the suicide and the
control groups. We assumed, however, that the main relevant personality factors
to be explored were: ego-strength, suicidal tendencies, depressive tendencies, post-
traumatic stress disorder, and psychopathic tendencies.

Ego Strength
The concept of Ego is generally referred to as a central personality process that
organizes and integrates both internal and external realms, hence critical to the mode
and quality of one’s healthy and adaptive functioning.14
 Personality Characteristics of Suicide Bombers 93

Ego strength is a concept that captures the person’s ability to efficiently cope
with external and internal stress, and to regulate one’s emotions and need states.
It has an active quality and direct bearing on one’s capacity to act independently
with self control, to establish and maintain focus and attention, to actualize
pre-conceived plans, to think logically, and to prevent intrusion of primary thinking
and impulse derivatives, holding good reality testing and sense.15 Kernberg’s struc-
tural diagnosis of personality organization16 follows Bellack’s and adds the matrix of
object relations integration as the bedrock of ego strength development and levels. In
Kernberg’s approach personality organization can be classified into three broad
levels of ego functioning (strength): low (psychotic), intermediate (borderline),
and high (normal).17 In the present study we use Kernberg’s model to assess ego-
strength levels.

Levels of Ego Strength

The majority of participants in the martyr group were found as having an intermedi-
ate level of ego strength, whereas most participants in the organizers group were
found as having a high level of ego strength. No participant was found as having
a low level (psychotic) of ego strength. Chi-square analysis revealed a significant
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difference among groups (value ¼ 6.245, df ¼ 1, a ¼ .04). Comparison between the

suicide and control groups did not show significant differences. Post-hoc com-
parisons showed significant differences for the suicide and organizer groups
(Mann-Whitney U ¼ 57.5, Z ¼ –2.405, a ¼ .037), but not for the suicide and control
groups. Table 1 presents the frequencies of levels of ego strength of the suicide, the
control, and the organizers groups.
In general, the martyrdom bombers were found as having lower personal resources
that are an important facet of ego strength. These resources affect the capacity for
self-direction, stress tolerance, and self-control. Furthermore, they show weaker
capacities to comprehend the relations among events. They are less achievement
oriented and less capable in pre-planning and establishing self-objectives.
Rorschach scores, according to Exner’s comprehensive analysis,18 were also
utilized to further explore ego strength differences between the martyr and the orga-
nizers groups. The Rorschach scores add support to the notion that the organizers
have more resources to cope with stress. Because of their weaker ego resources,

Table 1. Frequencies and percentages of levels of ego strength

Ego strength levels

Group High Intermediate Total

Suicide 5 (33.3%) 10 (66.7%) 15 (100%)

Control 5 (45.5%) 6 (54.5%) 11 (100%)

Organizers 11 (78.6%) 3 (21.4%) 14 (100%)
Total 20 (50%) 20 (50%) 40 (100%)


One participant in the control group was assessed as undefined because of insufficient data
and was therefore excluded from the statistical analysis.
 94 A. Merari et al.

the martyr group’s participants tend to function best in relatively limited and unde-
manding circumstances, in which routine is the order of the day and neither careful
analysis nor higher-level concept formation is required. Their social perception is less
accurate and they are more likely to form unrealistic impressions of people and inter-
personal events.
The results of this study suggest that a major difference between the martyr and
organizer groups is in coping resources. Thus, suicide bombers have a narrow
perspective and a constricted experience of reality. They have less available resources
for planning and implementing deliberate strategies of coping with decision making
and they are more likely to show inept and ineffective ways to cope with ordinary
experience of daily living. Conversely, organizers have high coping resources that
are available for them to initiate, plan, and implement strategies for deliberate actions.
The control group seems to be in-between the other groups. That is, no specific
coping resources profile can be discerned for them.

Personality Styles
Having reviewed the data, we have noticed qualitative patterns of personality styles
that differentiate between the groups. Hence, we present a preliminary analysis of
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these differences.
The classification of personality styles relies on the Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV).19 DSM-IV classifies personality disorders
into three clusters: cluster A refers to people who appear odd or eccentric to others
(paranoid, schizoid, schizotypal); cluster B refers to people who appear overly
emotional, unstable, or self dramatizing to others (antisocial, borderline, histrionic,
narcissistic); cluster C refers to people who appear tense and anxiety ridden to others
(avoidant, dependent, obsessive-compulsive). The classification of personality styles
relies on the clinical picture depicted by analyzing the participants’ behaviors in-vivo;
the narrative of their biography; and their responses to several psychological tests.
Comparison between the suicide and the other two groups, i.e., the control and
the organizers groups, shows a significant difference in personality styles. Most of
the suicide group subjects were assessed as having characteristics of cluster C,
namely avoidant and dependent styles, while most of the subjects in the control
and the organizers group were assessed as having characteristics of cluster B, i.e.,
impulsive and emotionally unstable style. Nine of the 13 subjects in the suicide
group (69%) whose personality style could be classified were assessed as having
dependent-avoidant personality styles while only two subjects in the control group
(20%) and one subject in the organizers group (8.3%) were assessed as such. Four sub-
jects in the suicide group (30.8%) were assessed as having impulsive and emotionally
unstable style while eight subjects in the control group (80%) and eleven subjects in
the organizers group (91.7%) were assessed as such.
None of the subjects were classified under cluster A (bizarre characteristics). It is
also significant to note that none of the subjects were assessed as having psychotic
characteristics.
These differences between the martyrdom and the other two groups were found
significant in a Chi-square analysis (martyrdom and control group: Chi-square
value ¼ 5.490, df ¼ 1, a ¼ .019; martyrdom and organizers group: Chi-square
value ¼ 9.642, df ¼ 1, a ¼ .002). Table 2 presents the frequencies of personality styles
of the martyrdom, control and organizers groups.
 Personality Characteristics of Suicide Bombers 95

Table 2. Frequency and percentages of personality styles of suicides, controls, and

organizers

Cluster C: Dependent Cluster B: Impulsive and

Group and avoidant style emotionally unstable style Total

Suicide 9 (69.2%) 4 (30.8%) 13 (100%)

Control 2 (20%) 8 (80%) 10 (100%)
Organizers 1 (8.3%) 11 (91.7%) 12 (100%)
Total 12 (34.3%) 23 (65.7%) 35 (100%)


Two subjects in each group were assessed as unclassified, and were therefore excluded from
the statistical analysis.

People having dependent and avoidant personality styles are described as longing
for interpersonal relationships from a position of low self-esteem. They are always
in need of reassurance and cannot function well without someone else to take care
of them.20
A 21-year-old suicide bomber, for example, described himself in childhood as
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secluded, playing alone, and avoiding the company of other children. When feeling
distressed he used to stroll around by himself. He did not have intimate friends, was
reluctant to express emotions, and was intimidated by unfamiliar conditions. The
interviewer described him as lacking of energy, cordial, quite shy, trying to comply
with the interviewer’s expectations.
People having impulsive and emotionally unstable styles are characterized by
emotional states that may change rapidly between melancholy, agitation, and
hyperactivity. They show volatility in their occupational and social life. They tend
to have a polarized perception of reality, categorizing the external world into ‘‘black
or white.’’ They are prone to feel anger and rage and are more likely to act out their
emotions.21
A 22-year-old suicide bomber, for example, described many labile emotional
shifts, responding to perceived provocations by eruptive aggressive behavior: ‘‘When
I feel tense nobody can speak to me . . . If one merely approaches me to say ‘Hello,’ I
may hit him, and on the other hand, when I see a small child crying I may cry with
him.’’ After his father’s traumatic death of heart attack he almost committed suicide
by cutting his wrists, only to be saved and cooled down by his mother and a Muslim
cleric. He also described a lifelong maladjustment, expressing anger towards most of
the people in his town, whom he perceived as cons and liars.

Suicidal and Depressive Tendencies, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and

Psychopathic Tendencies
Six participants in the suicide bombers’ group (40%) were assessed as having suicidal
tendencies whereas none were found in either the control or the organizers groups.
This difference reached statistical significance (suicide and control group: Chi-square
value ¼ 6.171, df ¼ 1, a ¼ .013; suicide and organizers group: Chi-square value ¼
7.061, df ¼ 1, a ¼ .008).
Comparison of depressive tendencies between the martyrdom and the control
groups revealed a significant difference (Chi-square value ¼ 6.075, df ¼ 1, a ¼ .014).
 96 A. Merari et al.

Eight participants in the martyrdom bombers’ group (53.3%) were assessed as having
apparent depressive tendencies whereas only one participant (8.3%) was found in the
control group. In the organizers group only three participants (21.4%) were assessed
as having depressive tendencies. The difference between this group and the martyr-
dom group fell slightly short of reaching statistical significance (Chi-square value ¼
3.131, df ¼ 1, a ¼ .077).
It should be noted that not only about half of the participants in the martyrdom
group were assessed as having marked depressive tendencies, but also three of them
have shown co-morbidity with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), whereas none
of the participants in either the control or the organizers groups were assessed as
having PTSD.
Participants who were assessed as having depressive tendencies showed marked
clinical signs such as melancholy, sadness, lack of vitality, psychomotor slowness,
low energy, tearfulness, emotional constriction, and distracted attention. The depres-
sive signs in these participants were shown in the psychological tests, particularly in
the themes produced in the TAT. Repeated themes involved protagonists in distress,
feeling helplessness, loneliness, painfulness, and sadness, expressing pessimism and
contemplation about situations without positive resolutions. They repeatedly por-
trayed family dynamics where the child fails to meet parents’ expectation, tragic reci-
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procal disappointments entailed in either violent or self-destructive acts.

People who have psychopathic personality tendencies are known by their
absence of conscience, lack of remorse, and lack of empathy to other people’s suffer-
ing or needs. They are manipulative, often glib, and are characterized by poor beha-
vioral controls.22 None of the participants in the martyrdom bombers’ group were
assessed as having apparent psychopathic tendencies whereas three (25%) were
found in the control group. This difference was statistically significant (Chi-square
value ¼ 4.219, df ¼ 1, a ¼ .040). Only one participant in the organizers group was
assessed as having psychopathic tendencies. No statistical significance was found
between this group and the martyrdom group.

Discussion
In this study we found significant differences between the psychological characteris-
tics of suicide bombers, non-suicide terrorists, and organizers of suicide attacks. Yet,
the results of the study should be interpreted with caution not only because of the
small sample size, but because it only dealt with Palestinian would-be martyrs. It
is possible that martyrdom bombers in other societies and conditions are different
in important respects. The existence of culture and situation-dependent psychologi-
cal differences between suicide bombers across foci of martyrdom attacks around the
world is suggested by variations in the demographic characteristics of martyrdom
bombers (e.g., in gender composition, education, and age).
With this limitation in mind, the study’s findings suggest that although there is
no single personality profile of Palestinian would-be suicide bombers, contrary to the
general notion most of them do have distinctive personality characteristics. In
the majority of the cases, these characteristics converge to a personality style and
ego structure that is susceptible to social influence, especially by persons perceived
as authoritative. A significant number of the would-be martyrs also displayed
sub-clinical suicidal characteristics, some of them against the backdrop of depression
and=or post-traumatic stress syndrome.
 Personality Characteristics of Suicide Bombers 97

It should be clear, however, that personality factors alone cannot explain the
phenomenon of willingness to carry out a suicide attack. Essentially, suicide attacks
are a group phenomenon, and practically all of them have been planned and
organized by groups rather than carried out by individuals acting alone on their
own initiative. Thus, the creation of a suicide bomber is a product of the interaction
between groups and individuals, in which certain individual characteristics make a
person more likely to carry out a martyrdom operation.
The results show that the organizers are endowed with more ego strength as
compared to the would-be suicides. This finding supports the hypothesis that the
latter have a weaker personality structure and that people in this group are more
susceptible to suggestions and outside pressure. Paucity of ego resources means that
one is less able to regulate his daily adjustment tasks and needs other people for
support and direction. This makes him more prone to exploitation by people he calls
upon for support. However, this argument does not clarify the difference between
the martyrdom and the control group. Results suggest that the participants in the
control group have more resources than in the martyrdom group, but the difference
did not reach statistical significance. Thus, while we can infer that both would-be
martyrs and controls were influenced by the stronger organizers to act, in trying
to explain the different course of action chosen by members of each group (i.e.,
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suicidal vs. non-suicidal activity) we must refer to additional factors.

A hypothetical explanation could be based on the martyrs’ and non-martyrs’
different personality styles. The results show that the martyrdom group was charac-
terized mostly by a dependent and avoidant style, while the majority of the control
group had an impulsive and unstable personality style. The personality style has a
direct bearing on how one regulates one’s drives and emotions. Dependent and
avoidant persons tend to rely on introjections of anger and drives, while people
characterized by an impulsive and emotional unstable style are prone to externalize
their anger. The tendency to internalize frustrations and anger and direct them
against the self may explain the willingness to volunteer for a self-destruction
mission. On the other hand, members of the control group, who externalize anger,
fit better a fighting pattern that does not involve self-destruction. Thus, it is likely
that differences in ego strength coupled with a particular personality style account
for the different patterns of violent activity displayed by the martyrdom and the
control groups.

Can the Sample Be Considered a True Representation of the

Completed Suicides
The study of would-be suicide bombers was undertaken with the aim of learning
about completed (‘‘successful’’) suicides. The question whether the would-be
martyrs in our sample are not different from those who completed operations
should, therefore, be addressed.
One source of difference may, hypothetically, be related to the fact that the
completed martyrdom attackers succeeded in carrying out their mission, whereas
the would-be martyrs failed. It could be argued that the personality traits of those
who failed are different in some important respects from those who succeeded.
Conceivably, such traits might influence one’s determination to persist in the martyr-
dom mission, or one’s capability of carrying it out without being caught. Bearing this
possibility in mind, in selecting subjects for the study, we included in the martyrdom
 98 A. Merari et al.

group those who were caught carrying the explosive charge on their way to the
target. As mentioned above, four of the subjects actually reached the target and tried
to activate the explosive charge, which failed to explode due to technical malfunc-
tioning (Subgroup A). Behaviorally, these four should be regarded as complete
martyrs, because they actually committed the act. The other eleven subjects in the
would-be martyrs group (Subgroup B) were caught on the way to the target and
did not try to activate the charge either because they could not reach it (e.g., it
was in the car’s trunk), or because they did not want to kill the group member
who escorted and guided them on the way. If suicides who complete their missions
are different from the would-be suicides in our sample, a comparison between the
four who tried to activate the device and the eleven who were caught on the way
to the target should reveal them. Table 3 shows this comparison. Although the small
number of subjects in Subgroup A precluded a statistical test of significance of
differences, several differences between the two sub-groups are worth noting. First,
whereas all those who actually pressed the switch were assessed as having
avoidant-dependent personality styles, only 54.5% of those who did not activate
the explosive device belonged to this category. In addition, a higher percentage of
subgroup B were assessed as suffering from depression and=or PTSD. Altogether,
however, the similarities between Subgroup B and Subgroup A subjects were greater
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than between Subgroup B and the control group.23

Could the Personality Characteristics of the Would-Be Suicides, Which Were Found
in This Study, Be Attributed to Circumstances Rather Than to Personality Traits?
Because both the suicide group and the control group were interviewed and tested in
prison, it is unlikely that the personality differences between the groups were the
result of the conditions of incarceration. However, a possible event that might,
hypothetically, have a depressing effect on the would-be martyrs was their failure
to carry out the mission. While this possibility cannot be dismissed completely, it
does not seem likely either. In the interviews, the subjects did not express depression
or self-criticism in connection with their failure to carry out the mission. They
usually attributed the failure to God’s will, saying that apparently God wanted them
to live. Furthermore, the autobiographical descriptions of the subjects who were
assessed as depressed suggested that their mental state had been marked by depres-
sion and isolation long before they carried out their martyrdom attempt.

Differences Between Terrorist Suicides and ‘‘Ordinary’’ Suicides

The findings of this study suggest that there are noteworthy differences between
suicide bombers and ‘‘ordinary’’ (non-terrorist) suicides. The majority of the would-
be martyrs (60%) did not display suicidal tendencies. Furthermore, those who did
display such tendencies (six out of the fifteen would-be suicides) were different from
ordinary people who commit suicide in that they did not exhibit the generally
accepted risk factors for suicidality. Whereas most ordinary people who commit
suicide have a background of mental illness,24 no such background was found
among the would-be martyrs in the present study. Other major risk factors for ordin-
ary people who commit suicide, especially substance abuse and a history of previous
attempted suicides, were also absent among the would-be suicides in our sample.
Only two of the would-be martyrs reported minor (non-terrorist) suicide attempts
 Personality Characteristics of Suicide Bombers 99

Table 3. Comparison of would-be suicides who tried to activate the charge with
those that did not try

Characteristics Tried (N ¼ 4) Did Not Try (N ¼ 11)

Demographic
Age
Mean 19.25 19.55
Range 16–23 15–23
Education
Partial elementary 25% 9.1%
Full elementary 0 0
Partial high school 75% 18.2%
Full high school 0 63.6%
Partial university 0 9.1%
Family economic status
Low 0 27.3%
Middle 100% 72.7%
High 0 0
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Employment
Blue Collar 50% 72.7%
Student 50% 27.3%
Unemployed 0 8.3%
Refugee camp dweller 0 27.3%
Refugee family 0 45.4%
Religiosity
Very religious 25% 18.2%
Ordinary religious 75% 81.8%
Little religious
Not religious
Psychological
Personality type
Introvert 100% 54.5%
Extravert 0 36.4%
Unclear 0 9.1%
Suicidal 25% 45.4%
Depression=PTSD 25% 45.4%
Mission Related
Sending group
Hamas 50% 27.3%
PIJ 50% 36.4%
Fatah 0 36.4%
Organization member 50% 54.5%
Previous resistance activity
Violent armed 25% 27.3%
Violent unarmed 0 18.2%

(Continued )
 100 A. Merari et al.

Table 3. Continued

Characteristics Tried (N ¼ 4) Did Not Try (N ¼ 11)

Non-violent 0 9.1%
None 75% 45.4%
Volunteered for the mission 75% 45.4%
Hesitated 50% 72.7%
Videotaping 75% 63.6%

prior to their recruitment to the suicide mission. Hence, although suicidality is

perhaps a contributing factor in a significant minority of the terrorist martyrs,
suicide bombers’ motivating and background factors are different from those of
ordinary people who commit suicide.

Notes
1. Israel Defense Force. Casualties Since 30.9.00 Updated 20.11.03. Available at:
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(http://www.idf.il/daily_statistics/english/1.doc), retrieved 30 January, 2004.

2. Report on Terrorism. (National Counterterrorism Center, 30 April 2008), Chart 3
(p. 24) and Chart 10 (p. 31).
3. Ariel Merari, ‘‘Suicide Terrorism,’’ in: Robert I. Yufit and David Lester, eds.,
Assessment, Treatment and Prevention of Suicidal Behavior (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2005),
431–453. Also: Ariel Merari, ‘‘Psychological Aspects of Suicide Terrorism,’’ in: Bruce Bongar,
Lisa M. Brown, Larry E. Beutler, James N. Breckenridge, Philip G. Zimbardo, eds., Psychol-
ogy of Terrorism (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), 101–115.
4. See, for example: Jerusalem Media and Communication Centre, Public Opinion Poll
No. 40 (April 2001), available at http://www.jmcc.org; Jerusalem Media and Communication
Centre, Public Opinion Poll No. 44 (March 2002), available at http://www.jmcc.org; Palesti-
nian Center for Policy & Survey Research, Public Opinion Poll No. 9 (October 2003), available
at http://www.pcpsr.org; Palestinian Center for Policy & Survey Research, Public Opinion
Poll No. 13 (September 2004), available at: http://www.pcpsr.org.
5. For example: Rex A. Hudson, The Sociology and Psychology of Terrorism: Who
Becomes a Terrorist And Why? (Washington, DC: Federal Research Division, U.S. Library
of Congress, 1999); Nancy Kobrin, ‘‘The Death Pilots of September 11th, 2001: The Ultimate
Schizoid Dilemma,’’ in: J. Piven, C. Boyd, and H. Lawton, eds., Jihad and Genocide: Psycho-
logical Undercurrents of History, vol. 3 (New York: Universe=Bloomusalem, 2002); Andrew
Silke, ed., Terrorists, Victims and Society: Psychological Perspectives on Terrorism and its Con-
sequences (Chichester: Wiley, 2003), Ch. 16; Leonard Weinberg, Ami Pedahzur, and Daphna
Canetti-Nisim, ‘‘The Social and religious characteristics of suicide bombers and their victims
with some additional comments about the Israeli public’s reaction,’’ Terrorism and Political
Violence 15, no. 3 (2003): 139–153; Audrey Kurth Cronin, Terrorists and Suicide Attacks.
CRS report for Congress (Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, The Library
of Congress, August 28, 2003). Available at: http://www.fpc.state.gov/documents/
organization/24049.pdf; Shaul Kimhi and Shmuel Even, Who Are the Palestinian Suicide
Bombers? JCSS Memorandum No. 73. (Tel Aviv: The Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies,
Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, 2004). Available at: http://www.tau.ac.il/jcss/sa/
v6n2p5Kim.html; Stephen Holmes, ‘‘Al-Qaeda, September 11, 2001,’’ in Diego Gambetta,
ed., Making Sense of Suicide Missions (Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 2005), 131–172; Luca
Ricolfi, ‘‘Palestinians, 1981–2003,’’ in: Diego Gambetta, ed., Making Sense of Suicide Missions
(Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 2005), 77–130.
6. Nasra Hassan, ‘‘An Arsenal of Believers,’’ The New Yorker, Nov. 19, 2001, 36–41.
7. Anat Berko, a criminologist, interviewed Palestinian female terrorists, four of whom
were would-be suicide bombers. Her interviews, however, were not aimed at identifying
 Personality Characteristics of Suicide Bombers 101

personality characteristics. See: Anat Berko and Edna Erez, ‘‘Gender, Palestinian Women,
and Terrorism: Women’s Liberation or Oppression?’’ Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 30,
no. 6 (2007): 493–519.
8. John E. Exner, The Rorschach: A Comprehensive System (New York: Wiley, 1993).
9. Henry A. Murray, Thematic Apperception Test: Manual (Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press, 1943).
10. John N. Buck, The H-T-P Technique: A Qualitative and Quantitative Scoring
Manual, Journal of Clinical Psychology, Monograph Supplement No. 5, (1948); Emanuel F.
Hammer, A Comparison of House-Tree-Person (H-T-P) Clinical Research Manual (Los Angeles:
Western Psychological Services, 1955).
11. Edwin I. Megargee, The California Psychological Inventory Handbook (San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass, 1972).
12. Baruch Nevo and R. Nordheimer, ‘‘Further experiments with the Hebrew version
of the C.P.I.,’’ Haifa University Selection and Assessment Unit Reports, No. 76–20 (Haifa:
University of Haifa, Israel, 1975).
13. John E. Exner, The Rorschach: A Comprehensive System, 4th ed., Vol, 1 (Hoboken,
NJ: Wiley, 2004).
14. Gertrude Blanck and Rubin Blanck, Ego Psychology: Theory and Practice (New York:
Columbia University Press, 1974); Gertrude Blanck and Rubin Blanck, Ego Psychology II:
Psychoanalytic Developmental Psychology (New York: Columbia University Press, 1979).
15. Leopold Bellak, Marvin Hurvich, and Helen Gediman, Ego Functions in Schizophre-
nics, Neurotics, and Normals (New York: Wiley, 1973).
16. Otto Kernberg, Borderline Conditions and Pathological Narcissism (New York:
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Aronson, 1975); Otto Kernberg, Object Relations Theory and Clinical Psychoanalysis
(New York: Aronson, 1976).
17. Well-integrated personality with normal or neurotic features.
18. John E. Exner, The Rorschach: A Comprehensive System (New York: Wiley, 1993).
19. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Washington, DC: American
Psychiatric Association, 1994).
20. Glen O. Gabbard, Psychodynamic Psychiatry in Clinical Practice, 4th ed. (Washington,
DC: American Psychiatric Publishing, 2005).
21. Ibid.
22. Robert D. Hare, Psychopathy: Theory and Research (New York: Wiley, 1970).
23. In an interesting study, Benmelech and Berrebi compared the age and education of
Palestinian suicide bombers who succeeded in completing their missions during the second
Intifada with those that failed. They found that whereas the mean age of 42 failed suicide
bombers was 18.8, the mean age of 106 successful suicide bombers was 22.0. The average
education level of successful suicide bombers was also significantly higher than that of failed
bombers. It should be noted that these authors defined failed bombers quite broadly, to
include those who ‘‘(1) failed to detonate their explosive devices, (2) looked suspicious and
were apprehended or killed by civilians, policemen, or soldiers, (3) panicked and blew them-
selves up before they reached the target, or (4) chickened out’’ (p. 234). See: Efraim Benmelech
and Claude Berrebi, ‘‘Human Capital and the Productivity of Suicide Bombers,’’ Journal of
Economic Perspectives 21, no. 3 (2007): 223–238.
24. Eve K. Mościcki, ‘‘Epidemiology of Suicide,’’ in: Douglas G. Jacobs, ed., The
Harvard Medical School Guide to Suicide Assessment and Intervention (San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass, 1999); Bruce Bongar, The Suicidal Patient: Clinical and Legal Standards of Care,
2nd ed. (Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2002); World Health
Organization, Guidelines for the Primary Prevention of Mental, Neurological and Psychosocial
Disorders, 4. Suicide (Geneva: Division of Mental Health, World Health Organization
Publication WHO=MNH=MND=93.24, 1993).