Psychology out of the laboratory: The challenge of violent extremism (original) (raw)
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The idea that people inevitably act in accordance with their self-interest on the basis of a calculation of costs and benefits does not constitute an adequate framework for understanding political acts of violence and self-sacrifice. Recent research suggests that a better understanding is needed of how sacred values and notions of self and group identity lead people to act in terms of principles rather than prospects when the two come into conflict. Perhaps the greatest challenge is to better understand how sacred causes and moral imperatives diffuse through a population and motivate some (usually small) segment of it to commit violent actions. The challenge to psychology is to adopt an interdisciplinary focus drawing on a range of research methods and to become bolder in its choices of study populations if it is to be relevant to real-world problems.
We present a model of radicalization and deradicalization based on the notion that the quest for personal significance constitutes a major motivational force that may push individuals toward violent extremism. Radicalization is defined as the process of supporting or engaging in activities deemed (by others) as in violation of important social norms (e.g., the killing of civilians). In these terms, radicalization (1) is a matter of degree (in which mere attitudinal support for violence reflects a lower degree of radicalization than actual engagement in violence); (2) represents a subjective judgment proffered by those for whom the violated norms seem important but not by those who have devalued or suppressed the norms in question.
Psychology perspectives on community vengeance as a terrorist motivator: a review
Safer Communities
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of vengeance as a terrorist motivator. Design/methodology/approach The paper takes a community psychological perspective to examine vengeance in a number of forms. First covering “blood vengeance”, it then examines vigilantism and death squads as functional examples of vengeful entities, as well as the morality of vengeance and the impact of propaganda on vengeance as a terrorist motivator. Finally, both group processes and individual factors relating to the promotion and use of vengeance in terrorism are covered. Findings Vengeance can be conceptualised in a number of ways: as a predisposing factor to individual involvement, a factor that contributes to keeping the movement “bound” together (but which can also negatively affect the group’s strategic logic), a factor in the escalation of violent activity through vigilantism, retribution and retaliation which can result in a perpetuation of a cycle of violence, and as a mora...
APSA An Integrated Theory of the Political Psychology of Religious Violence
The literature on political mass violence is enormous. It grew out of research on the rise of fascism and the holocaust of the 1930s and 40s. A more specialized literature focusing on religiously motivated mass violence emerged in the 1980s and 90s with the rise of suicide bombings throughout the Middle East, the suicide attack in Lebanon in 1983 which killed 241 U.S. military personnel, and the attacks on other U.S. military targets. This literature intensified with incidents of 21 st century violence, which includes the 9-11 tragedy, the rise of al Qaeda and ISIS, and the recent incidents of domestic terrorist attacks inside the U.S., the U.K., France Belgium or other countries. This literature has been inconsistent and contradictory. Whereas it is impossible to cover this entire literature in a single paper, I attempt to review select themes in this literature, resolve some of the inconsistencies, identify useful and dubious themes, separate the wheat from the chaff, and develop a simplified integrated theory. However, I rely heavily on the works of Erich Fromm, as he has provided the most comprehensive and developed integrated theory of religious-political violence. I integrate several themes that I find useful in understanding this violence. I provide several select profiles of terrorists to illustrate this theory.
Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 2020
Radicalization and violent extremism leading to violent protests, repression, and terrorist attacks constitute important issues in our world. Social psychological group processes and intergroup dynamics play a key role in creating resilience against or facilitating the path towards violent extremism. The present body of work brings together and furthers our understanding of these factors by integrating insights from other fields, most centrally political science. In this introductory article, we summarize the state of the literature and suggest a social psychological research agenda for studying radicalization and violent extremism. This agenda (a) focuses on how the radicalization process commences and festers in ordinary people; (b) is ambitious in bringing research into the real world with protesters, the repressed, and groups engaged in conflict; (c) is pragmatic in measuring outcomes of interest; and (d) applies field experimental methodology, among other methodologies. With this perspective, we argue, social psychology is ideally positioned for a new decade of impactful research into radicalization and violent extremism.
Searching for Satisfaction: A Review of the Social Motivators of Seeking Extremist Group Membership
Journal of Strategic Security, 2018
The September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center marked the day that modern western progressive ideology and ideologically radicalized terrorism entered the public sphere as a household concept. There are many works and research on the susceptibility of an individual's risk to join terrorist groups. Yet many of these approaches treat radicalization as a unique attitude towards out-group membership. This article offers a theoretical discussion applying core social motives as means to achieve basic psychological needs in the face of social conflict. This research presents a discussion surrounding the internal radicalization of individuals towards extremist groups. The research used social identity theory reinforced by minimal group paradigm as the basis of psychological theory outlining group conflict. This backbone analysis led to a refined selection of social identity complexity underpinned by cognitive complexity. Integrated threat theory offers a surmising role to both theories by identifying realistic and intergroup anxiety as key contributors to sustained conflict. The analysis ultimately noted the need to achieve individual life satisfaction as a core motivator for belonging to violent extremist groups. This observation is critically useful to practitioners working to curb the spread of terrorist groups and radicalization of individuals.
Frontiers in Psychology
Extremist acts and the process of radicalizations got into researchers' attention worldwide since 2001. The aim of this paper is to offer a broad image on radicalization and extremist acts and to bring a new perspective for the conceptualization of radicalization. Radicalization is a process of developing extremist beliefs, emotions, and behaviors. The extremist beliefs are profound convictions opposesd to the fundamental values of society, the laws of democracy and the universal human rights, advocating the supremacy of a certain group (racial, religious, political, economic, social etc.). The extremist emotions and behaviors may be expressed both in non-violent pressure and coercion and in actions that deviate from the norm and show contempt for life, freedom, and human rights. A complete inroad to psychological mechanism involved in the process of radicalization is offered in order to have a broad image regarding current research in the field. Starting from this point, a rational emotive and behavioral conceptualization on radicalization has been developed, bringing together all the concepts and knowledge in the field. A complete and clear conceptualization is crucial for developing prevention/intervention programs and good practices in dealing with this process which has been spreading in the past years. The final part deals with directions regarding prevention/intervention programs from a rational emotive and behavioral perspective, and also from the perspective of European policies.