Previous researchers have found mass murderers characterized as loners, victims of bullying, goths, and individuals who had a psychotic break. A gap in the literature that remained concerned the motive and mindset of mass murderers before their attack, particularly those who seek fame, and why they are motivated by such violent intentions. The purpose of this study was to provide a deeper analysis of the characteristics of fame-seeking individuals who have completed or attempted mass murder, as well as insight into their behavior on social media. The conceptual framework consisted of a constructivist model, which guided the exploration the purposeful sample of 12 Americans who completed or attempted mass murder. The research questions aligned with themes provided by Bandura's social learning theory, Sulloway's theory of birth order and family dynamics, Millon and Davis's psychopathy theories, O'Toole's findings on the copycat effect, and Lankford's criteria for fame-seeking mass murderers, and guided an analysis of open-source data. Six main themes among fame-seeking individuals in the United States who had completed or attempted mass murder emerged: (a) fame as primary motivation, (b) preoccupation with violence, (c) presence of specific role models/copycat behavior, (d) strong opinions about society/racial groups, (e) symptoms of narcissism/mood disorder/personality disorder, and (f) failed relationships. These findings add to the knowledge about mass murder and fame seeking. Social change may occur through recommended evaluation of and improvements in current mental health approaches, improved threat assessment, expanded education on characteristics of mass murderers, and dissemination of information related to mass murder.

This thesis provides a systematic literature review in order to accumulate and analyze previous research concerning the role of mass media's coverage of mass shootings in regards to copycats. Previous research indicates mass shootings are crimes where perpetrators take inspiration from one another and subsequently imitate each other. The purpose of this study is to review previous research on this contagion phenomenon to distinguish if there is a correlation between media coverage of mass shooters and copycats based on empirical data. In order to obtain scientifically accurate conclusions to the research questions and the purpose of this thesis, a systematic literature review method has been implemented. The result shows that previous research indicates that there is a correlation between the mass media's coverage of mass shootings and acts of copycats. There are studies presented in this thesis that conclude that some mass shooters openly confess to seeking fame by carrying out a mass shooting and that they receive as much or more media coverage than household celebrities at the time of the shootings. This thesis also concludes that there is evidence to support that after the occurrence of a mass shooting there is an average increase in the probability that another mass shooting takes place within the following 12 days. These findings support identified statistical trends in previous research in the field.  In conclusion, it is of most importance that the media reports responsibly on mass shootings since the implications of the detailed description of events, modus operandi, the firearm used and the amount of news coverage of mass shootings contribute to copycat mass shootings. Keywords: mass shootings, contagion, imitation, copycat, media coverage, fame seeking, mass media