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JOURNAL OF INTERPERSONAL VIOLENCE / September 1986 liousness (84%), masturbation (82%), stealing (81%), daydreaming (81%), iso- lation (77%), chronic lying (75%), nightmares (68%), poor body image (63%), cruelty to children (64%), destroying of property (62%), enuresis (60%), and firesetting (52%). Adulthood. An analysis of 24 checklist items indicates that over 50% of murderers reported that during adulthood, the following behaviors were present: assaultive to adults (86%), daydreaming (81%), masturbation (81%), isolation (73%), rebelliousness (72%), chronic lying (68%), poor body image (62%), stealing (56%), and nightmares (52%). For descriptive purposes, we use the terms internal behaviors and external behaviors. Internal behaviors include thinking patterns and experiences within or unique to the individual; external behaviors are those overt actions that can be observed by others. The internal behaviors most consistently reported over the three developmental periods are daydreaming, compulsive masturbation, and isolation. The external behaviors most consistently reported include chronic lying, rebelliousness, stealing, cruelty to children, and assault on adults. ERE a eu ec ar a ROLE OF FANTASY The central role of daydreaming and fantasy in the lives of the 36 mur- derers is critical to what motivated them to kill. Daydreaming has been defined as any cognitive activity representing a shift of attention away froma task (Singer, 1966). A fantasy, as we define it, is an elaborate thought with great preoccupation, anchored with emotion and having origins in day- dreams. A fantasy is generally experienced as thoughts, although the indi- vidual may be aware of images, feelings, and internal dialogue. Some people may be conscious only of thoughts, whereas others are conscious only of feelings. Fantasy is a normal way for adults as well as children to obtain and maintain control of an imagined situation. However, the level of fantasy development may differ among people and is generally based on the individual's ability to identify certain thoughts as daydreams, to articulate their content, and retrospectively to recall this con- tent. Singer (1966) observed that 96% of adults report that they daydream several times a day, and Beres (1961) noted that fantasy may either substitute or prepare for action. For various groups of people, fantasies may be sadistic (MacCulloch et al., 1983). It is not known how many people activate their sadistic fantasies and in what context this may occur, but Schlesinger & Revitch (1980) caution that once the fantasy builds to a point where inner stress is unbearable, the way for action is prepared. Whereas psychological motives for violent behavior are usually concep- tualized in the literature as having roots beginning with trauma, insult, 44