--- title: Researchers Identify the Personality Trait Behind Successful Hitmen description: Study was conducted by criminologists Professor David Wilson and Mohammed Rahman of England's Birmingham City University. canonical: https://time.com/3891986/assassin-hitman-qualities-traits-research/ author: David Stout article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-05-21T09:13:04.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T07:30:53.029Z article:section: Science og:title: Researchers Unlock the Secret Behind Successful Hitmen og:description: All assassins share one common personality trait og:url: https://time.com/3891986/assassin-hitman-qualities-traits-research/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Researchers Unlock the Secret Behind Successful Hitmen twitter:description: All assassins share one common personality trait twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Researchers Unlock the Secret Behind Successful Hitmen by [David Stout](https://time.com/author/david-stout/) ## David Stout May 21, 2015 9:13 AM UTC by [David Stout](https://time.com/author/david-stout/) ## David Stout May 21, 2015 9:13 AM UTC Successful contract killers are people who are able to see what they do purely as a job, according to a new [study published](http://www.bcu.ac.uk/news-events/news/hitmen-bury-their-feelings-for-a-successful-hit) by researchers at England’s Birmingham City University. According to the study’s findings, hitmen tend to operate best when they’re able to compartmentalize and detach themselves from their victims’ humanity, regarding killing as simply a means to a profitable end. The researchers behind the study, leading criminologists Professor David Wilson and Mohammed Rahman, point to the Irish Republican Army’s infamous hired gun Jimmy Moody as a paragon of the profession. Moody, despite having no political affiliation to the militant group, succeeded in large part, Rahman argues, because he was able to separate his grisly work from other aspects of his life. “Moody reframed his victims as targets, seeing getting the job done as a normal business activity,” said Rahman. “These sorts of killers are akin to ‘criminal undertakers’, who have given themselves ‘special liberty’ to get things done in the name of business.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3891986/assassin-hitman-qualities-traits-research/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3891986/assassin-hitman-qualities-traits-research/"},"headline":"Researchers Unlock the Secret Behind Successful Hitmen","datePublished":"2015-05-21T09:13:04.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T07:30:53.029Z","description":"They all share a very particular personality trait","url":"https://time.com/3891986/assassin-hitman-qualities-traits-research/","keywords":["human behavior","Psychology","Murder","Science topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"David Stout","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/david-stout/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/human-behavior/","name":"human behavior"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3891986/assassin-hitman-qualities-traits-research/","name":"Researchers Unlock the Secret Behind Successful Hitmen"}}]}] ```