what does "the emotional makeup"mean? Michael Paine was eating with a student named Dave Noel in a restaurant between Fort Worth and Dallas. It seemed to Paine that he had heard nothing except malicious assassination jokes for the past two days. They oppressed him, and over sandwiches he and Noel—afterward he couldn't remember which of them had introduced the subject—talked about the emotional makeup of assassins. After a few false starts they dropped the topic, agreeing that neither knew enough history to discuss it sensibly.