No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
The Psychology of Suicide Terrorism
Abstract
This paper reviews current understandings of the psychology of suicide terrorism for psychiatrists and other mental health professionals to help them better understand this terrifying phenomenon. After discussing key concepts and definitions, the paper reviews both group and individual models for explaining the development of suicide terrorists, with an emphasis on "collective identity." Stressing the importance of social psychology, it emphasizes the "normality" and absence of individual psychopathology of the suicide bombers. It will discuss the broad range of terrorisms, but will particularly emphasize terrorism associated with militant Islam. The article emphasizes that comprehending suicide terrorism requires a multidisciplinary approach that includes anthropological, economic, historical, and political factors as well as psychological ones. The paper concludes with a discussion of implications for research, policy, and prevention, reviewing the manner in which social psychiatric knowledge and understandings applied to this phenomenon in an interdisciplinary framework can assist in developing approaches to counter this deadly strategy.
... And it is easy to find examples throughout the history of suicide terrorism linked to religious beliefs of various kinds, from the Jewish Zealots and the Sicarii of antiquity to the many Islamist terror groups of today. Less convenient for those who favour this line of argument is the fact that most suicide attacks, at least until 2000 (Atran 2006), have been carried out by secular organizations and not by religious extremists (Gambetta 2005;Post et al. 2009). Moreover, studies in the lab and in natural settings suggest that religious beliefs lead to pro-social action because they serve as markers of group alignment. ...
... Lankford's argument that suicide terrorists are suicidal has deservedly triggered much instructive debate but has also prompted criticism, mainly highlighting limitations of the supporting data (Atran 2003;Beit-Hallahmi 2014;Egan 2014;Funder 2014;McCauley 2014;Merari 1993;Qirko 2014;Sela & Shackelford 2014;Tobeña & Vilarroya 2014;Weiss & Weiss 2014). Although these debates remain unresolved, according to Post et al. (2009), there is a well-established consensus among researchers that group, social, and organizational factors provide the key to understanding most suicide attacks. Factors frequently implicated in this form of terrorism are collective identity (Post 2009), kin psychology (Gray & Dickens 2014), and out-group hostility ). ...
... Although these debates remain unresolved, according to Post et al. (2009), there is a well-established consensus among researchers that group, social, and organizational factors provide the key to understanding most suicide attacks. Factors frequently implicated in this form of terrorism are collective identity (Post 2009), kin psychology (Gray & Dickens 2014), and out-group hostility ). New research into the causes of identity fusion suggests that these seemingly disparate theories of suicide terrorism may in fact be highlighting different aspects of a single process. ...
Whitehouse adapts insights from evolutionary anthropology to interpret extreme self-sacrifice through the concept of identity fusion. The model neglects the role of normative systems in shaping behaviors, especially in relation to violent extremism. In peaceful groups, increasing fusion will actually decrease extremism. Groups collectively appraise threats and opportunities, actively debate action options, and rarely choose violence toward self or others.
... Saerligt fra 1990'erne begyndte man imidlertid -i lyset af et begraenset empirisk belaeg samt metodologiske mangler (se Horgan, 2005;Victoroff, 2005) -at forkaste disse mere eller mindre psykopatologiske forklaringer på terrorisme til fordel for mere situationsbestemte faktorer (f.eks. Atran, 2003;Hoffman, 1998;Horgan, 2003;Kruglanski & Fishman, 2006& 2009Pape, 2005Pape, og 2003Post 2005;Post, Ali, Henderson, Shanfield, Victoroff & Weine, 2009;Sageman, 2004). ...
... Crenshaw, 1981;Ferguson, Burgess & Hollywood, 2008;Kruglanski & Fishman, 2006;Zimbardo, 2007), der blot blev påvirket af forskellige former for situationsbestemte faktorer (f.eks. Crenshaw, 2001;Ginges, Hansen & Norenzayan, 2009;Merari, 2002;Pedahzur, 2005;Post, 2005;Post et al., 2009, men se Lankford, 2014Lankford, 2010). ...
... Navnlig har Milgrams og Arendts arbejde fået en central placering, når årsager til radikalisering og terrorisme skal forklares. For eksempel refererer Stern(2003)til Arendts tese om ondskabens banalitet og haevder, at terrorister er mennesker, der blindt følger deres totalitaere forbilleder, mens Atran (2003) peger på gruppepres og lydighed som de vigtigste årsager bag terrorisme.Post (2005;Post et al., 2009) traekker direkte på Milgrams tese om lydighed over for autoriteter, når han argumenterer for, at gruppepsykologi spiller den helt afgørende rolle, når folk drages af terrororganisationer. På samme vis tager en raekke af de mest anvendte forklaringsmodeller inden for radikaliserings-og terrorforskningen udgangspunkt i kontekst-og situationsbestemte faktorer (f.eks.Borum, 2003; Klausen, Campion, Needle, Nguyen & Libertti, 2015;Moghaddam, 2005; PET, 2009;Precht, 2007;Silber, & Bhatt, 2007;Wiktorowicz, 2005, men seObaidi, 2016;Obaidi, Bergh & Akrami, 2018a). ...
Forskere, der beskæftiger sig med radikalisering og terrorisme, er uenige om, hvad der udgør de vigtigste forklaringsmodeller. Uenighederne følger ofte et mønster baseret på kontroversen om, hvorvidt det er den individuelle psykologi eller situationsbestemte faktorer, der er bestemmende for vores adfærd (“person vs. situation-debatten”). Et gennemgående review af litteraturen viser, at psykologisk forskning inden for radikalisering og terrorisme overvejende er præget af et særligt fokus på kontekstuelle faktorer som årsagsforklaringer. I denne rapport identificeres faldgruberne, når vores forståelse af disse fænomener primært fokuserer på kontekstuelle faktorer. I tråd med dette illustreres i rapporten, hvordan historien gentager sig ved at drage paralleller mellem forskning inden for terrorisme og “person vs. situation-debatten” inden for psykologien, hvor personbaserede forklaringer af afvigende adfærd blev mødt med skepsis, der senere viste sig at være ubegrundet. Selvom mange hævder, at kontroversen er et afsluttet kapitel i den psykologiske forskning, er det påfaldende, hvor tydeligt modstillingen stadig optræder, når man ser på den psykologiske forskning inden for radikalisering og terrorisme i dag, hvor individuelle, psykologiske forklaringer bliver nedprioriteret til fordel for et næsten rent fokus på kontekstuelle faktorer.
I denne rapport argumenteres for nødvendigheden af, at psykologiske variabler sammen med situationsbestemte faktorer kan bidrage til vores forståelse af, hvorfor nogle individer fra en bestemt social gruppe i en bestemt sammenhæng bliver radikaliseret, mens andre ikke gør. Yderligere argumenteres for, at vores adfærd, i ekstreme såvel som ordinære situationer, opstår som et produkt af en interaktion mellem individuelle, psykologiske og andre vigtige kontekstuelle markører.
... In the 1970s, these questions were mainly approached using sociological and political explanations. [12][13][14] During the next two decades, much attention was paid to psychological or psychosocial factors, [15][16][17][18][19][20] with the result pointed out by Victoroff 21 that "the number of suggested theories far outstrips the number of empirical studies in the literature." These hypotheses were soon generally discredited. ...
... Unfortunately, though it may be comforting to infer that suicide bombers may suffer from personality/psychiatric disorders, or are psychopaths, the available data, including those gathered by an expert committee organized some years ago, suggest that modern kamikazes are not mentally ill. 19,22,23,46,47 However, it is evident that their cruel behavior and the motivations behind them have nothing to do with what any individual with a conscience would consider normal. For these reasons, aside from political, sociological, and economical considerations, it is essential that some attempts should be made to bring together some of the widely recognized characteristics of suicide bombers in order to outline how it is possible that apparently normal individuals can behave in these unacceptable ways, as well as to trace possible hypotheses about which of their psychological processes would suggest a sort of particular "mind of a suicide terrorist." ...
... The terrorist has suspicions that justify bloody acts of "self-defense" against his victims Robins and Post (1997) rewarding to die while killing many others. "To die to kill" is certainly ethically unacceptable, unintelligible if not included within a type of thinking that is "abnormal" without being pathological, as the literature suggests, 19,20,22,23,30,[46][47][48] which perhaps should be more correctly defined as "extranormal," or at least very far away from that domain that we consider "normality." When there is an inversion of the common value of "life over death" in favor of "death over life," some other psychological changes may soon occur. ...
After reviewing the available literature about the main hypotheses on suicide terrorism and the psychological characteristics of terrorists that have been proposed throughout the years, the present authors have put forward some personal considerations on what the distinctive traits of today’s suicide bombers might be. In spite of the heterogeneity and paucity of “real” data, it is evident that there is no peculiar familial, educational, or socioeconomic factors that may account for religious radicalization leading to suicide terrorism. On the contrary, some common psychological features can be highlighted: such as isolation, feelings of emptiness, cold rationality, a lack of empathy, and a lust for martyrdom and death. To die to kill: this is the core feature, a sort of organizer that can twist higher cognitive and emotional processes, resulting in the supreme and highly rewarding suicidal and killing behaviors.
... In the present paper the potential importance of psychiatry is examined as a science that may be useful in terrorism management (Stoddard et al. 2011). In the following we briefly retrace the most important field of terrorism in relation to which the use of psychiatry may have any results (Post et al. 2009). Following this the nature of psychiatric disorders will be demonstrated through schizophrenia along with the potential correlation between symptoms and deviancy. ...
... Among the aforementioned scientific fields that have more and more significant role in the battle against terrorism, psychiatry is certainly not the most utilized one. When it comes to understanding deviant behavior, psychology is the discipline most researchers and practitioners turn to (Crenshaw 2000;Post et al. 2009). Hence the object of psychology is the human psychic and related phenomena, the privileged place of it is logical among sciences studying the human nature (Lefton-Brannon 2005). ...
The correlation between terrorism and mental disorder has been studied for decades. Empirical findings suggest that no major role of psychiatric disorders can be found in relation to terror attacks, except for one type of terrorism: the lonely offender. Schizophrenia has been proved to be one of the most important psychiatric disorders that have correlation with lonely-offender type terrorism. In this paper the symptomatology of schizophrenia is presented with a special regard to its role in the development of deviant tendency that may lead to terror attacks. A domestic case of lonely-offender terror activity is introduced with the aim of highlighting this correlation in practice. Based on international empirical data and cases such as the one presented here a conclusion can be drawn; close attention is required on the mental state in the case of lonely-offender terrorism.
Összefoglalás.
A bűnelkövetés természetének vizsgálata során a mentális állapot kérdése egy rendszeresen előforduló problémakör. A pszichológia tudomány mellett, melynek különböző alkalmazott és elméleti területei régóta eszközül szolgálnak a bűnnel való küzdelem során, a pszichiátria is egyre nagyobb hangsúlyt kap. A 21. században a terrorizmus a bűnelkövetés egy igen speciális jelentőséggel bíró típusa. Mivel a terrorizmus társadalmi jelentőség szempontjából központi szerepet kapott az elmúlt évtizedekben, a tudományos világ is intenzív figyelmet szentel neki. A modern trendeknek megfelelően a terrorcselekmények természetének tanulmányozása során is egyre jobban előnyt élvez a minél szélesebb körű tudományos megközelítések integrálása, a multidiszciplináris megközelítés. A terrorizmus jelenségének vizsgálata során a pszichiátria diszciplínája is egyre gyakrabban szerephez jut, ennek megfelelően a terrorizmus és a mentális betegségek kapcsolata a kutatókat évtizedek óta foglalkoztatja. Ugyan az eddig gyűjtött empirikus adatok azt sugallják, hogy a mentális betegségeknek nincs kifejezett jelentősége a terrorcselekmények kapcsán, a terroristák egy speciális típusa, a magányos elkövetők által végrehajtott támadások ebből a szempontból kivételt képeznek. Több pszichiátriai zavar esetében találtak a normálpopulációhoz mérten magas pervalenciákat a magányos terroristák között. Ezek közül a skizofrénia az egyik legnagyobb jelentőséggel bíró pszichiátriai kórkép. Ez, tekintve, hogy a tudathasadásos elmebaj gyakran asszociálódik erőszakos cselekményekkel, nem meglepő, jóllehet a skizofrének által mutatott deviancia igen eltérő a skizofrén populáción belül. Ez elsősorban azért is van, mert a skizofrénia rendkívül változatos és sokszínű klinikai képe mentén igen nagy a változatosság a tekintetben, hogy a különböző tüneteket produkáló betegek mennyire erőszakosak. A jelen tanulmányban a skizofréniához köthető, a terrorcselekmények szempontjából kulcsjelentőségű deviancia kialakulásában leginkább meghatározó tüneteket járjuk körbe. A skizofrénia általános tünettanának tárgyalásán túl kísérletet teszünk annak életszerűbb bemutatására egy hazai terrorcselekmény skizofréniában szenvedő elkövetőjének az esetén keresztül. A bemutatott incidenshez hasonló elkövetések és a nemzetközi empirikus adatok alapján az a következtetés vonható le, hogy a magányos elkövetők kapcsán a mentális állapot fokozott figyelmet érdemel. Erre tekintettel további empirikus adatgyűjtés szükséges, mely tudás várhatóan nagyban hozzájárul a terrorizmussal folytatott küzdelem sikerességéhez.
... Over the years, scholars generally came to agree that profiling, and the notion that terrorists suffer from some sort of psychopathology, are untenable (e.g., Atran, 2003;Post et al., 2009;cf. Lankford, 2013). ...
... The view that violent extremism isn't necessarily prompted by psychopathology (e.g., Atran, 2003, Post et al., 2009) raises the question of whether or not extremists' actions may be considered calculated decisions geared toward reaching specific sociopolitical goals. The rational actor model, derived from economics, postulates that "choices made by a terrorist group are the result of an economic optimization process […] where terrorist group uses its scarce resources to maximize its expected utility" (Enders & Su, 2007, p. 35). ...
This chapter contains a review of major prior theories of radicalization that adopt sociological, political science, or psychiatric perspectives. The chapter then compares the previous theories with the authors’ 3N theory, which posits that radicalization occurs due to a convergence of individuals’ needs, the narrative to which they are exposed, and the networks in which they are embedded. A comparative analysis reveals that those previous conceptualizations do not actually constitute rival alternatives to the 3N model but rather address some of its specific features. In this sense, the 3N model constitutes an integration of prior psychological proposals concerning the nature of radicalization; it depicts the general psychological factors underlying radicalization of which prior theories and conceptualization are specific cases.
... There is research to support the above. 20,21 For example, Post et al. 20 states, "if suicide terrorism is the result of a complex psychosocial pathway, it is imperative to institute programs to inhibit individuals from entering that path in the first place and to facilitate exit from that pathway." Volkan 21 asserts that "the typical technique of creating suicide bombers includes two basic steps: first, the 'teachers' find young people whose personal identity is already disturbed and who are seeking an outer 'element' to internalize so they can stabilize their internal world. ...
... There is research to support the above. 20,21 For example, Post et al. 20 states, "if suicide terrorism is the result of a complex psychosocial pathway, it is imperative to institute programs to inhibit individuals from entering that path in the first place and to facilitate exit from that pathway." Volkan 21 asserts that "the typical technique of creating suicide bombers includes two basic steps: first, the 'teachers' find young people whose personal identity is already disturbed and who are seeking an outer 'element' to internalize so they can stabilize their internal world. ...
In recent years, both suicide and suicide bombing (SB) have increased dramatically in Pakistan, a developing country in South Asia. Suicide had been a relatively rare event, and SB was virtually unknown. Over the last 20 to 30 years, however, there have been countless SB acts with a great deal of casualties. In Pakistan, both suicide and SB acts are mostly perpetrated by young, single men from low socioeconomic strata. Although both are distinct phenomena—suicide is an intensely personal act, whereas the purpose of SB is to inflict injury and death on others—there are common factors such as poverty, deprivation, unemployment, and lack of education. Understanding commonalities in suicide and SB is important for prevention. Prevention programs should focus on improving social conditions that appear to contribute to the frustration and anger evident in people who commit suicide and SB acts.
... To mention one example of a remarkable multidisciplinary limitation, a search of Google Scholar using the keywords "Islam," "Muslim," or "Muslim American" resulted in academic literature mentioning extremism, terrorism, or suicide bombings. This was true for "psychology," "psychiatry" (Aysha, 2017;Beller & Kröger, 2020;Ginges et al., 2011;Victoroff et al., 2012), "sociology" (Ali, 2014;Brym & Hamlin, 2009;Tosini, 2009), and "anthropology" (Aggarwal, 2010;Andriolo, 2002;Asad, 2007;Caldararo, 2006;Post et al., 2009;Stack, 2004). These results indicate the strong influence of a biased academic algorithm, selective publishing, and political interest. ...
Despite the efforts of mental health experts to understand and predict suicide risk, rates of suicide continue to climb worldwide. The existing literature points to religion as a protective factor against suicide, but most studies to date have focused on Christianity and are segregated by research discipline. To address these issues, we present an interdisciplinary scoping review that integrates theories and empirical research from theology and jurisprudence, sociology, psychology, medical anthropology, developmental sciences, and neurotheology in order to better understand the association between religion and suicide risk in the Islamic context.
... This includes schizophrenia, psychotic disorders, autistic spectrum disorders and anxiety disorders, which were more prevalent compared with the general population (15,21). Suicide bombers may be more likely to have avoidant-dependent personality disorder, depressive and suicidal symptoms (22)(23)(24)(25). Problematic personality traits were found in a group of Dutch Islamist extremists, with half of them displaying behavioral problems (26). ...
Background
Public health-inspired programs for Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) have developed internationally in a relatively short period of time. Research into these programs is scarce. There is a need for information that helps drive public health interventions.
Objectives
To present data on the occurrence of psychiatric disorders, self-sufficiency problems and adverse childhood experiences (ACE) in a population suspected of violent extremism.
Methods
A cross-sectional study, with data from screening reports for 34 adult subjects included in a multi-agency case-based approach on violent extremism in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Subjects were screened in the period between December 2015 to May 2021. Screening reports, which included the Screener for Intelligence and Learning Disabilities (SCIL) and the Dutch version of the Self-sufficiency Matrix (SSM-D), were used to gather information on the main outcome measures.
Results
Major psychiatric disease categories were found to be mood and anxiety disorders and mild intellectual disability (each 29.4%), substance related disorders (35.3%), personality disorders (41.2%), and psychotic disorders (14.7%). Complex self-sufficiency problems, measured by the number of people who had self-sufficiency problems in 4+ domains and the number of people who had similar self-sufficiency problems as homeless people in Amsterdam, were found in 35.3 and 32.4% of the client sample. The most prevalent ACE were emotional neglect (47.1%), household mental illness (44.1%), and loss of a parent (38.2%), 35.3% had been exposed to 4+ ACE. An association was found between NACE and self-sufficiency problems on two domains, namely “Mental Health” (rho = 0.51, p = 0.002) and “Law and order” (rho = 0.42, p = 0.013).
Conclusions
An accumulation of social and psychiatric problems in people suspected of violent extremism underlines the importance of professionals in health and social care being actively involved in developing CVE approaches.
... Group identification and the concept of social identity are important components in explaining what motivates a person's actions. Several authors on radicalization and violent extremism have stressed the role of group identification in radicalization processes (McCauley & Moskalenko, 2008;Post et al., 2009). In a typology of Al Qaida fighters (Venhaus, 2010), the identity seeker was identified as one of four types of differently motivated violent extremists. ...
The words that we use when communicating on social media carry information about how we relate to ourselves and others. For instance, within many online communities, the degree of adaptation to a community-specific jargon can serve as a marker of identification with the community. In this work, we define a set of linguistic features that we view as markers of a radicalized mindset, defined as a way of understanding and relating to the world that has often been observed among violent extremists. We single out a group of so-called extreme adopters of community-specific jargon from the whole group of users of a Swedish discussion forum devoted to topics related to immigration and integration. The forum is characterized by a xenophobic jargon, and we hypothesized that forum users that exhibit this particular jargon also exhibit certain other linguistic features that we regard as markers of a radicalized mindset. Using a Swedish translation of Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count to measure these linguistic features, we found that the group of extreme adopters differed significantly from the whole group of forum users regarding six out of seven linguistic markers of a radicalized mindset. We also used a machine learning approach to identify forum users with a radicalized mindset. The results indicate that it is possible to separate these individuals from the rest of the discussants on the discussion forum with more than 85% accuracy. Since the linguistic features that we used are domain independent, the results indicate a possibility to use this kind of technique to identify individuals with a radicalized mindset within other digital communities as well. These findings are relevant in threat assessment of digital communities, where computerized techniques are crucial to ease the burden of analysts by minimizing the number of individuals that need to be assessed manually.
... Connected to these personal incentives, Lahiri underscores the importance of emotions like pride, sympathy, fear, and shame for the political mobilization of suicide attackers (Lahiri, 2015), which is also very much in line with the concept of political myths. Regarding the mental health issues of such attackers, multiple studies have found that suicide bombers are relatively "normal" and neither suicidal nor especially depressed (Post et al., 2009;Townsend, 2007). Notable exceptions to this are the works of Ariel Merari and Adam Lankford. ...
In recent years, extreme right-wing militancy and terrorism have increasingly become the major source of violent attacks, killings, and threats in many Western countries. Yet, the characteristics and logic of right-wing terrorism remain poorly understood. One aspect virtually unexplored is the apparent lack of suicide terror tactics within far-right terrorism. Suicide terrorism has been attributed mainly to religious and ethno-separatist terrorist organizations. This article explores the contemporary extreme right’s stance toward suicide, self-sacrifice, and martyrdom at the ideological, strategic, and subcultural levels through historic references to martyrdom in Nazi Germany and post WWII far-right movements, as well as extreme right strategic manuals and ideological manifestos. In sum, this article argues that the extreme right is unlikely to use suicide attack tactics in the narrow sense since its own distinct sacrificial martyrdom mythology based on ideological steadfastness and a hypermasculine warrior identity of fighting until defeat incentivizes different types of attacks involving suicide, such as murder-suicides or mass shootings.
... The IEP (2016) report notes that high levels of terrorist activity are related to high levels of political terror and political instability and low respect of human rights and religious freedoms for the United Nations (UN) or the European Union (EU). Several studies explaining the reasons for these attacks have been carried out, namely, political (McCauley and Moskalenko 2008;Ömer 2009;Midlarsky 2011), social (King and Taylor 2011;Mink 2015), economic (De Mesquita 2008;Caruso and Locatelli 2014), cultural (Pisoiu 2014;Shaffer 2015;Kluch and Vaux 2017), religious (Jefferis 2009;Kingsley 2010;Rapoport 2013;Ross 2015;Feyyaz 2016;Laqueur 2017), and psychological reasons (Twemlow 2005;Berko 2007;Post et al. 2009;Horgan 2012;Perliger et al. 2016). ...
As part of the study on the psychological impact of terrorist acts on ordinary people, the objective of this study is to understand if religious identity protects individuals from feeling concerned about the possibility of terrorist attacks. The study was based on a sample from the World Values Survey, wave 6 (2010–2014), of 30,446 citizens of countries whose dominant religion is Christianity. According to the concern felt regarding the possibility of becoming the target of a
terrorist attack, a religious profile was identified. Most of the sample reported high levels of worry about terrorist attacks. The most religious respondents, more faithful and more devoted to religious practices, are more worried about the occurrence of terrorist attacks. Opposite to what is mostly found in the literature, religion does not act as a protective barrier to the primary objective of terrorism, which consists in the use of violence to create fear. People worried about the probability of becoming a target in terrorist attacks are also victims of terrorism.
... Post, Ali, Henderson, Shanfield, Victoroff, and Weine suggest that psychological aspects of individual terrorists will make them more or less likely to engage in suicide terrorism with emphasis on collective identity and social psychology. 39 This perspective, even if it concerns an individual, once again relates back to societal influences. ...
The frequency of suicide terrorist attacks has increased dramatically since the year 2000, creating a renewed interest in this area of study, as well as an increase in the importance of understanding individual and organizational motivations behind engagement in suicide terrorism. The following is a systematic review of current research in the field of causes and explanations of suicide terrorism, limited to research articles in peer-reviewed journals and grey literature, excluding published books by single authors. This essay provides a brief background into the issues surrounding suicide terrorism and the evidence currently available concerning causes and motivations. It describes the strengths and limitations of currently available academic research and the conclusions that this literature presents both in terms of policy and future research efforts.
... For example, the UK government has defined it as "The process by which people come to support terrorism and violent extremism and, in some cases, Frontiers in Psychology | www.frontiersin.org 2 March 2019 | Volume 10 | Article 412 then join terrorist groups" (HM Government, 2009, p. 11), while a European Union definition is "a phenomenon of people who regard the use of violence as legitimate and/or use violence themselves in order to achieve their political objectives which undermine the democratic legal order and the fundamental rights on which it is based" (European Union Committee of the Regions, 2016, p. 4). These definitions reflect concerns about young people whose radicalization has involved choosing the path of what has been somewhat inaccurately described (Post et al., 2009) as violent Jihad, or of violence with very different ideological roots. However, people may develop radical views without supporting, or participating in, violence, and indeed in certain areas of our lives most of us hold views which might be considered extreme, at least by some others (Neumann, 2003;Mandel, 2010;Borum, 2011a; Bartlett and Miller, 2012). ...
This article identifies common features of existing models of radicalization and deradicalization, such as the transition from uncertainty to certainty, before integrating these in a model based upon personal construct theory. It is proposed that the personal construct concepts of validation and invalidation are particularly relevant to processes of identity change such as radicalization and deradicalization. Thus, it is argued that radicalization occurs when major invalidation of an individual’s construing is followed by the development of a new radicalized view of the world that provides a turning point in his or her sense of identity and a more structured and certain view of the world. There is likely to be seeking out of validation for this view in interactions with others who share similar views or by extorting evidence for the individual’s radical constructions. These constructions are likely to involve extreme negative views of another group, by contrast to members of which, and possibly by taking extreme action against this group, the individual’s new self-construction may become further defined. These same processes can be seen to operate in deradicalization, and it will therefore be argued that the model has implications for the development of deradicalization programs. A further advantage of the model is that it has an associated personal construct methodology, particularly repertory grid technique, that may be used to investigate processes of radicalization and deradicalization. As illustrations of such investigations, results will be summarized from a repertory grid study of Salafist Muslims in Tunisia, some of whom had returned from fighting in Syria, and an analysis of the writings of the Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik. The findings of these investigations are argued to be consistent with the personal construct model of radicalization and deradicalization.
... The lack of a higher incidence of diagnosed mental illness in terrorists compared to non-criminal control groups was seen as the central argument for focusing on normal psychological and sociological processes in radicalization (13). The consensus at the beginning of the current decade was that labeling terrorists as pathological caused more harm than good in terms of reaching practicable models of radicalization (14,15). Using mental illness as a catchall explanation, the argument goes, risked missing the role of political and social grievances and intergroup processes required to predict and interdict future plots. ...
The background for this paper is the debate over what role mental illness plays in radicalization to violent extremism. While one camp points to cases of abnormal functioning of perpetrators, another argues that normal psychological mechanisms are central. Through a review of these perspectives, it becomes clear that mental illness cannot be ruled out as an epi‐phenomenon, but is not a necessary condition either. The paper draws on work in psychiatric nosology on dimensional and categorical conceptions of illness and argues that the perspectives in this literature reflect a categorical approach to normal and abnormal functioning. Under a dimensional perspective, findings converge. The paper concludes by showing how this new dimensional approach to the role of mental illness in radicalization has implications for the design of risk assessment tools and leads to the recommendation for stronger inter‐agency cooperation between mental health professionals, social services, and police and intelligence services.
... Lankford's argument that suicide terrorists are suicidal has deservedly triggered much instructive debate but has also prompted criticisms, mainly highlighting limitations of the supporting data (Atran 2003, Beit-Hallahmi 2014, Egan 2014, Funder 2014, Qirko 2014, McCauley 2014, Merari 1993, Sela & Shackelford 2014, Tobeña & Vilarroya 2014, Weiss and Weiss 2014. Although these debates remain unresolved, according to Post et al. (2009), there is a well-established consensus among researchers that group, social, and organizational factors provide the key to understanding most suicide attacks. Factors frequently implicated in this form of terrorism are collective identity (Post 2005), kin psychology (Gray & Dickens 2014), and outgroup hostility (Ginges et al. 2009). ...
Whitehouse's focus on two causes of identity fusion (evolution and shared experiences/biology) deepens understanding of these specific topics. While we applaud his analysis, in his efforts to elaborate these two causes, he has – perhaps unavoidably – produced a narrower conceptualization of identity fusion. This is unfortunate because it undermines his stated goal of developing a more general, encompassing theory.
... Even, "terrorism" could be defined as violence or threat of violence against non-combatants populations, with the aim of achieving a political, religious or even ideological objective through fear and intimidation [6]. ...
Islamic terrorism is an extremely complex, articulated and constantly evolving criminal phenomenon: born and rooted in Islamic culture, it has been expanding down to Western world and presents itself in different ways.
Terror is, as we shall see later, the primary object of terrorist groups: that is why we decided to conduct a pilot study with the aim of probing perception of the phenomenon on the part of the subjects.
In this regard, we conducted an innovative and unique study, analysing for the first time the results of 1493 questionnaires that have been administered to a sample of Italian university students, concerning the perception of this growing phenomenon.
the study has confirmed how the strategy of terror, whatever is its nature and its purposes, has a strong impact on lifestyles, on the formation of prejudices, on the general conception of the world; It shifts the coordinates and changes life perspectives.
The study is innovative in terms of perception of the terrorist phenomenon since it appears to be one of the first studies in this area focusing on the Italian context
... Lankford's argument that suicide terrorists are suicidal has deservedly triggered much instructive debate but has also prompted criticisms, mainly highlighting limitations of the supporting data (Atran 2003, Beit-Hallahmi 2014, Egan 2014, Funder 2014, Qirko 2014, McCauley 2014, Merari 1993, Sela & Shackelford 2014, Tobeña & Vilarroya 2014, Weiss and Weiss 2014. Although these debates remain unresolved, according to Post et al. (2009), there is a well-established consensus among researchers that group, social, and organizational factors provide the key to understanding most suicide attacks. Factors frequently implicated in this form of terrorism are collective identity (Post 2005), kin psychology (Gray & Dickens 2014), and outgroup hostility (Ginges et al. 2009). ...
Whether upheld as heroic or reviled as terrorism, throughout history people have been willing to lay down their lives for the sake of their groups. Why? Previous theories of extreme self-sacrifice have highlighted a range of seemingly disparate factors such as collective identity, outgroup hostility, and kin psychology. This paper attempts to integrate many of these factors into a single overarching theory based on several decades of collaborative research with a range of special populations, from tribes in Papua New Guinea to Libyan insurgents, and from Muslim fundamentalists in Indonesia to Brazilian football hooligans. These studies suggest that extreme self-sacrifice is motivated by ‘identity fusion’, a visceral sense of oneness with the group resulting from intense collective experiences (e.g. painful rituals or the horrors of frontline combat) or from perceptions of shared biology. In ancient foraging societies, fusion would have enabled warlike bands to stand united despite strong temptations to scatter and flee. The fusion mechanism has often been exploited in cultural rituals, not only by tribal societies but also in specialized cells embedded in armies, cults, and terrorist organizations. With the rise of social complexity and the spread of states and empires, fusion has also been extended to much larger groups, including doctrinal religions, ethnicities, and ideological movements. Explaining extreme self-sacrifice is not only a scientific priority but also a practical challenge as we seek a collective response to suicide terrorism and other extreme expressions of outgroup hostility that continue to bedevil humanity today.
... For many years, a common view was that to commit these gruesome acts of the lowest nature, violent extremists had to be deranged lunatics. This jaundiced view of a terrorist's psyche has drastically changed over the years, and most scholars today would admit that suicide terrorism bears no systematic relationship to psychopathology (e.g., Atran, 2003;Merari, 2010;Post et al., 2009;cf. Lankford, 2014). ...
... In their study of such people covering 1974-2000, The United States Secret Service determined that 'a history of having been the subject of a mental health evaluation, diagnosed with a mental disorder, or involved in substance abuse did not appear to be prevalent among attackers' (Vossekuil et al., 2002;emphasis added): only 17% had been diagnosed with a mental or behaviour disorder before their attack. This finding sounds very similar to the claims of some scholars that suicide terrorists are almost always psychologically normal and that mass shooters are rarely mentally ill (McCauley, 2002;Atran, 2003;Pape, 2005;Brym, 2007;Post et al., 2009;Dvoskin, 2016;Rosenwald, 2016). Fortunately, however, the Secret Service did not simply stop there. ...
Background:
For years, many scholars dismissed the possibility that terrorists - including suicide attackers - could be mentally ill or primarily suicidal. However, that view is gradually changing.
Aim:
Researchers continue to face significant challenges when attempting to detect mental health problems and suicidal motives among terrorists and mass shooters, because many offenders cannot easily be psychologically assessed. This article offers several specific recommendations for how researchers can better understand offenders' mental state by studying their life histories and behaviour.
Methods:
Research on detection of mental disorders and suicidal intent is reviewed and applied to specific challenges for assessing terrorists and mass shooters.
Results:
It appears that researchers can improve the accuracy of their assessments by (1) recognising the likelihood of under-diagnosis of mental disorders, (2) prioritising in-depth evaluation and analysis of mental state and (3) considering the role of social and situational factors in suicidal ideation and motivation.
Conclusion:
More accurate detection of mental health problems and suicidal motives among terrorists and mass shooters could help advance scientific understandings of these individuals and even help prevent lethal attacks. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Acute exacerbations are sudden, severe worsening of respiratory symptoms, including dyspnea and cough, accompanied by rapid decline in lung function. Acute exacerbations are associated with high morbidity and mortality rates and may require hospitalization and intensive care management. Increased pulmonary vascular resistance leading to elevated pulmonary artery pressures and right heart strain. Pulmonary hypertension is a common complication of IPF and is associated with worse prognosis and reduced survival. Increased susceptibility to respiratory infections, including bacterial pneumonia, viral respiratory tract infections, and fungal infections, due to impaired lung function and compromised immune response may develop.
Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD) is a common comorbidity in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis patients, with reflux of gastric contents into the esophagus potentially exacerbating pulmonary fibrosis through microaspiration and inflammation.
Increased risk of venous thromboembolism, including pulmonary embolism, in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis patients may emerge due to impaired lung perfusion, immobility, and hypercoagulability. Reduced bone mineral density and increased risk of fractures due to chronic corticosteroid use, physical inactivity, and systemic inflammation. High prevalence of depression, anxiety, and psychological distress in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis patients, attributed to chronic illness, physical limitations, functional decline, and uncertainty about prognosis.
Acute exacerbations are a significant predictor of poor prognosis, with increased risk of disease progression and mortality. Advanced age is a negative prognostic factor in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, with older patients generally experiencing more rapid disease progression and shorter survival compared to younger individuals. Presence of comorbid conditions, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, and chronic kidney disease, is associated with increased mortality risk in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis patients. Various prognostic scoring systems, such as the GAP index (gender, age, physiology) and the ILD-GAP index (interstitial lung disease-GAP index), integrate clinical, radiological, and physiological parameters to stratify idiopathic pulmonary patients into risk categories and predict survival outcomes.
This article discusses the problem of suicide in monotheistic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam), focusing on their early existence and considering the original contribution of Christianity. The first part presents the main theses of E. Durkheim on altruistic suicide and the concept of honour. This provides an opportunity to examine the problem of suicide in monotheistic religions from a more comprehensive perspective and recognise a certain specificity of suicide that was absent in altrusitic suicide. The analysis of the problem in relation to the concept of honour is also a valuable starting point for complementary psychological theories. The second part of the article is a more detailed discussion of suicide in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The results provide a better understanding of the origins and nature of suicide in monotheistic religions whilst opening up a discussion on the possibility of suicide prevention.
This study wants to find out what role I'tikaf plays in stopping radical ideas and acts of terrorism (counterterrorism). The research method used in this paper is qualitative, and the type of research is literature research. The main reference is the interpretation of al-Qurthubi and a few journals and books that are related to the topic. The study started by trying to figure out how Q.S. Al-Baqarah verse 187, which talks about I'tikaf from the point of view of al-Qurtubi and is in the book al-Jami' li Ahkaam al-Quran, should be interpreted. It then looked for links between I'tikaf therapy and preventing terrorism. This study looked for different ways to fight terrorism in the fields of psychology and Sufism. The research shows that I'tikaf is a way to get closer to Allah and a form of psychosis therapy for the four dimensions of the mind. It is also thought to help stop people from doing terrorist acts. By putting I'tikaf into practice with a clean heart, psychic and Sufistic people, including terrorists, will be able to see what is right and what is wrong
Almost weekly we receive news about terrorist attacksTerror attacks and everyone has an idea of what terror is. Nevertheless, there is no consensus worldwide on what can be called terror. Depending on the political, ideological, religious and social system, opinions differ. Accordingly, the term is used vaguely and variably in different political contexts. Terrorists are not infrequently celebrated as freedom or resistance fighters or even as heroes by the adherents of the ideology in whose name they commit acts of terror, and may even be revered as martyrs. For the victims of terror, on the other hand, they are brutal, ruthless and despicable perpetrators of violence, who must be responded to with counter-violence.
Any intervention in the violent acts of terrorist groups requires accurate differentiation among the groups themselves, which has largely been overlooked in their study beyond qualitative work. To explore the notion of terrorist group differentiation, the online communication of six violent groups were collected: Al-Nusrah Front, al-Qa’ida Central, al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula, Hamas, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, and Taliban. All six groups embedded their ideology in digitised documents that were shared through multiple online social networks and media platforms in attempts to influence individuals to identify with their beliefs. The way these groups constructed social roles for their supporters in their ideology was proposed as a novel way to differentiate them and key term extraction was used to find important terms referenced in their communication. Experimental classification was devised to find the highest-ranking roles capable of prediction. Role terms produced high accuracy scores across experiments differentiating the groups (95%CI: 95–98%), with varying inter-group and intra-ideological differences emerging from authority-, religion-, closeness-, and conflict-based social roles. This suggests these constructs possess strong predictive potential to separate terrorist groups through nuanced expressions observed in their communication behaviour and advances our understanding of how these groups deploy harmful ideology.
Fast wöchentlich erreichen uns Nachrichten über Terroranschläge und jeder hat eine Vorstellung davon, was Terror ist. Dennoch gibt es weltweit keinen Konsens darüber, was als Terror bezeichnet werden kann. In Abhängigkeit vom politischen, weltanschaulichen, religiösen und sozialen System gehen die Meinungen hierüber auseinander. Entsprechend unscharf und variabel wird dieser Begriff in verschiedenen politischen Kontexten verwendet.
Studies on the psychology of terrorism and fundamentalism place great importance on the role of groups, with a central concept of “us” versus “them.” The present study examines how and why Salafi-jihadist groups in the Middle East have attracted typical citizens. The participants in this qualitative study were unremarkable Kurdish people living near the western borders of Iran with an allegiance toward Salafi-jihadist groups. We selected 12 people for the purposes of this study. Findings indicate that “group adaptation” and “rejection of the other” are the two overarching themes pointed out by the participants. Group adaptation included four sub-themes: (a) Idealization of, plus identification and assimilation with the leader, (b) developing strong group bonds, (c) direct and nonhierarchical agency of the individual in the group, and (d) group hypnotic suggestion. The “rejection of the other” included two sub-themes: (a) in-group rejection (reducing legitimate Islam to Salafism) and (b) out-group rejection (rejection of non-Muslims). The results of the study highlight the importance of a sense of belonging to the group in the process of recruitment and assimilation of individuals into jihadist groups. Findings also indicate that the concepts of adaptation and rejection play a pivotal role in the formation of fundamentalist Salafi-jihadist groups and resultant violence. We discuss the implications of group analysis for possible ways to counterterrorism.
The paper presents an experience of research of a complex identity as identification of a conflict between civil European and religious Islamic cultures. Social identity is a person’s representation of himself/herself in social structures of different scales: national, ethnic, and religious. It is proved that religious identification forms social, as well as personal identity of a Muslim. The authors consider the development of Islamic personal identity in the process of self-identifying reflection and intragroup and extragroup relations in the religious community. The parameters of identity are defined by: a) individual interpretation of
Islam by the religious person, b) interpretation of Islam in the religious community, c) relations between the religious person, community and other social groups. The concept of a complex social identity (S. Roccas, M. Brewer) was a theoretical construct used for determining the compatibility of civil and religious identity and evaluating its complexity. The study involved Muslims with different levels of Islamic
personal identity: missing, determined, found and acquired.
The study established the tendency of the reduction in the level of civil social identity under the influence of the religious identity of people who identified themselves with Islam. The problem of their social identity was studied in metaphors of conflict and balance from the European social and psychological practice. The metaphor of
conflict is based on the impossibility of acculturation of the Islamic communities and predicts the development of destructive relations between the religious people, their religious communities, and other social groups. The metaphor of balance presupposes the collapse of Islamic personal identity as a result of the reduction of radicalism in
the religious communities and encouragement of individualization of Muslims by means of political, social, and cultural recognition in the society.
Partly in response to an earlier ‘pathological approach’ that seemingly stigmatised early Christian martyrdom, recent scholarship has adopted an ‘identity approach’ that explains martyrdom as a normative discourse of self-construction. This explanation of martyrdom as Christian identity-making, not willing death, is insufficient for three reasons. First, this approach implicitly reaffirms the theological claim that religious identity alone makes martyrs. In doing so it reduces the complexity of the individual martyr to ‘Christian’. Second, this approach excises the existential phenomenon of the martyr from martyrdom. Third, the term ‘identity’ has become ubiquitous, and its use to mark both sameness and difference has mitigated its value. As a result, the identity approach cannot answer a critical question: what makes the martyr different? Given the early Christian martyr’s pride of place in cultural understandings of martyrdom and the present-day persistence of martyrdom across ideologies with tragic results, relevant scholarship must continue to address the impetus of the martyr-agent in addition to exploring martyrdom’s identity-making functions. A multi-disciplinary approach is required to avoid apologetics for early Christian narratives and to understand the complex psychosocial dynamics of martyrdom, whether in the ancient past or the present.
Cyberterrorism is a subject which has gained considerable interest from both researchers and media, particularly since the attacks on the United States of America on September 11th 2001. Nevertheless, there is a considerable lack of empirical research in the area, with most writings based on theoretical or anecdotal accounts, despite many calls by leaders in the field for more empirically sound methods. This is further complicated by the difficulty in even finding consensus as to what does and does not constitute cyberterrorism. This chapter aims to determine if cyberterrorism is a likely strategy to be used by terrorists, and if so, how it might be used to strike terror into the hearts of citizens. Following some illustrative scenarios of terrorist activity online, some of the conflicting definitions of the subject will be considered. The methods used by terrorists online will then be outlined, including both an examination of the possibility of using the internet for a large scale attack, and using the internet for more conventional activities such as recruitment and fundraising. The psychology of terrorism will then be examined, including investigations of the personalities and psychiatric health of terrorists, and it will be examined as to whether or not the findings relating to ‘traditional’ terrorists can also be applied to online terrorist activity. The potential effects of an attack on victims will also be considered. Consideration will be given as to how terrorist activity online could be prevented, while also recognising that the increasing online presence of terrorist organisations may be a double-edged sword, enabling counter-terrorism agencies to employ new strategies in their work.
هدفت الدراسة إلي التعرف علي مستوى الوعي بظاهرة الارهاب والاتجاه نحوها لدي عينة من طلاب الجامعة السعوديين، والفروق في مستوى الوعي بظاهرة الارهاب لدي عينة الدراسة واتجاهاتهم نحوها، بالإضافة إلي التعرف علي الفروق التي تعزى لمتغيرات النوع ، والتخصص والدخل الشهري للأسرة ، تم اختيار عينة عشوائية من الطلبة قوامها (556) طالبا وطالبة في المدى العمري من 18 – 25 سنة، بمتوسط 20.3 عاماً وانحراف معياري ± 2.35 عاماً طبق عليهم مقياس الاتجاه نحو الارهاب ، وتوصلت الدراسة إلي النتائج التالية :ان العينة لديها مستوي مرتفع من الوعي بالإرهاب والاتجاه نحوه ، كما وجد أن النوع والتخصص والدخل الشهري للأسرة ليس لهم تأثير في الاتجاه نحو الارهاب. وأوصت الدراسة بعقد الندوات والمحاضرات للشباب التي تضم المتخصصين. وتصحيح المفاهيم الخاطئة عن الدوافع وراء العمليات الإرهابية.
Evil, Terrorism and Psychiatry - edited by Donatella Marazziti February 2019
Unavoidably, psychiatrists and criminologists have to cope with evil, as very often they are asked to provide psychiatric explanations for heinous behaviors that have nothing to do with our sense of humanity, except that they are perpetrated by men and also, although less often, by women (it is a real novelty of the last few decades that women may become as ferocious as men). The question of how to explain these behaviors as possibly the product of a mental illness or possibly due to “evil” becomes particularly pressing in several specific situations. This includes times of war (Why was there the Holocaust? Why has there been torture?), genocide, and murder rampages. More recently, situations often calling for psychiatrists to judge mental illness versus evil has included terrorist attacks carried out by suicide bombers, now perpetrated nearly everywhere, not only in traditionally recognized unstable regions like the Middle East, but also in Western countries, at the heart of what is considered the cradle of modern civilizations.
Evil, Terrorism and Psychiatry - edited by Donatella Marazziti February 2019
Extreme self-sacrifice in intergroup conflict may be driven not only by situational factors generating “fusion,” but also by interindividual differences. Social value orientation is discussed as a potential contributor to self-harming behavior outside of intergroup conflicts and to the general propensity to participate in intergroup conflict. Social value orientation may therefore also be a person-specific determinant of extreme self-sacrifice in intergroup conflict.
Cambridge Core - Sociology of Science and Medicine - A Handbook for the Study of Mental Health - edited by Teresa L. Scheid
A Handbook for the Study of Mental Health - edited by Teresa L. Scheid June 2017
The past two decades have witnessed huge global interest in acts of ‘terror’. Many commentators have observed how the various mass media appear to play a key role in the transmission of this terror (eg Burke 2016; Weimann 2011). This chapter argues that the link with ‘the media’ is not incidental but is fundamental to an understanding of the nature of the phenomena and that an important framework for this understanding can be provided via the notion of ‘the bourgeois public sphere’ that Habermas (1989/1962) claimed was a product of western secular thought, economic and political development. He argued that this space, emerging at the end of the 17th century, was fundamental to the development of democratic processes and civic life that underpinned the development of statehood in the west.
An understanding of the history of the public sphere suggests that it also contains an inherent violence, as it was at birth inextricably linked to processes of colonization that were so integral to the development of modern European states. One reading of some acts of extremist violence, might be to understand them as responses to the perceived violence and colonialism of the western secular public sphere. Examining the killing of staff of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo as a case study can provide a psychosocial understanding of acts of terror within the public sphere.
This chapter will: briefly review the need for a psychosocial approach to understanding acts of terror; give a description of the history of the ‘public sphere’ as outlined by Habermas; use Maalouf’s (1996) thesis that the encounter with modernity can offer threats to the identity of those who feel themselves to be marginalised within that experience; look in some detail at the lives of the perpetrators of the massacre. It is at this level that it becomes clear that an understanding of grand historical narratives needs to be brought together with the details of the particular lives of the perpetrators.
We conducted a systematic review of the contemporary scientific literature to (a) identify consensus, where it exists, regarding factors associated with membership in terrorist organizations and/or perpetration of terrorist attacks; (b) drive future research directions; and (c) inform evidence-based counterterrorism strategies. Systematic searches of 6 databases identified 205 articles that met inclusion criteria. Of these, 50 articles reported on findings of empirical research, 24 reported inferential statistics, and 6 of these compared characteristics of known terrorists to nonterrorists. Across various aspects of terrorism and terrorists (e.g., type of terrorist, attack type), articles rarely specified their focus. When examined factors typically focused on characteristics of the individual. Review of the empirical findings suggest 9 variables with at least some support for their association with terrorism: age, socioeconomic status, prior arrest, education, employment, relationship status, having a grievance, geographic locale, and type of geographic area. However, given the limitations of the research, there is insufficient evidence to conclude that any of these variables are empirically supported risk factors. Findings identified additional characteristics of an individual (i.e., country of birth, Islamic faith, military experience, foreign travel history, family or friend in a terrorist or extremist organization) and their environment (i.e., income inequality, media and government influences) that merit further evaluation. Findings also emphasized the importance of a triggering event. Finally, findings indicate that some widely accepted “risk” factors have limited empirical support for their association with terrorism. A focus on these factors might contribute to discrimination and reduce the effectiveness of counterterrorism strategies.
More than 15 years have passed since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and a comprehensive re-examination of the 9/11 attackers is now warranted. Research on the psychology of terrorists has evolved dramatically, and there is also new information on some offenders. The present study provides the available psychological and psychiatric evidence on each of the 9/11 pilots, muscle hijackers, and thwarted hijackers who intended to participate in the “planes operation.” Overall, findings suggest that the 9/11 terrorists may have had significantly more mental health problems than previously assumed, and the leaders who planned 9/11 personally approved suicide attackers with prior histories of mental illness. By widely publicizing this information, security officials may be able to more effectively delegitimize suicide terrorism and reduce the number of individuals who would consider funding, supporting, or committing these deadly attacks.
Radicalization refers to the process whereby an individual comes to endorse non-normative, and often violent, means as a mechanism for goal achievement. The present chapter discusses three psychological factors-the 3 Ns-involved in this process, specifically as it pertains to violent extremism. First, we discuss the need, that is, the individual motivation underlying violent extremism, triggering events that activate this motivation within the individual, and the ramifications of these triggering events on extreme behavior. Second, we discuss the role of ideological narrative in justifying and legitimating violence as a necessary and permissible tool toward goal attainment. Third, and finally, we discuss social networks, and the role they play in how would-be-terrorists find themselves joining extremist organizations, and how these group dynamics increase one's willingness to perpetrate extreme acts of violence.
Scholarly interest in the study of suicide attacks and terrorism has grown markedly in the post-9/11 era. In this chapter, we draw attention to the main conceptual, methodological, and theoretical issues and debates within the research on the subject. In the process, we highlight gaps in the literature and questions that have yet to be answered.
Le sacrifice de soi : un gain de sens par l’amour d’une cause?
This chapter identifies the most robust conclusions and ideas about adolescent development and psychological functioning that have emerged since Petersen's 1988 review. We begin with a discussion of topics that have dominated recent research, including adolescent problem behavior, parent-adolescent relations, puberty, the development of the self, and peer relations. We then identify and examine what seem to us to be the most important new directions that have come to the fore in the last decade, including research on diverse populations, contextual influences on development, behavioral genetics, and siblings. We conclude with a series of recommendations for future research on adolescence.
In this chapter we review theoretical and empirical advances in research on adolescent development in interpersonal and societal contexts. First, we identify several trends in current research, including the current emphasis on ecological models and the focus on diversity in and relational models of adolescent development. Next, we discuss recent research on interpersonal relationships, with an eye toward identifying major research themes and findings. Research on adolescents' relationships with parents, siblings, other relatives, peers, and romantic partners, and adolescents' involvement in community and society is reviewed. Future directions in research on adolescent development are discussed.
Replies to the comments of Paniagua (see record 2005-15840-016) and Steiner (see record 2005-15840-015) on his original article (see record 2005-01817-002) on terrorism. The author notes that several points raised by Paniagua and Steiner are insightful and help to broaden the range of factors to be considered on the staircase to terrorism. Steiner highlights the role of incitement, and this points to the importance of both research and policies for better understanding, monitoring, and combating voices for hate. Paniagua points out that a number of extremist leaders are not open to negotiation, suggesting that when attempting negotiation with individuals who have reached the final levels of the staircase to terrorism, authorities must selectively try different policies with different terrorist groups and leaders. The author also notes that a subtle but profound theme links the other major points made by the two: that Islamic terrorism is different and has to be treated as a separate phenomenon. Steiner implies this with reference to what he sees as a long history of conflict between the West and the Islamic World; Paniagua suggests this by placing terrorism by various major "terrorist organizations" in the category of political terrorism and depicting political terrorism as different from Islamic terrorism. Both of these observations are intriguing, but they should not distract psychologists from the foundational psychological processes that underlie terrorist thought and action.
This essay examines the political psychology of the tie between leaders and followers. Drawing on the psychology of narcissism, it relates the charismatic leader to the "mirror-hungry" personality and the charismatic follower to the "ideal-hungry" personality. The sense of grandiose omnipotence of the leader is especially appealing to his needy follower. A hallmark of the destructive charismatic leader is absolutist polarizing rhetoric, drawing his followers together against the outside enemy. A distinction is drawn between the psychologically healthy follower rendered temporarily needy by societal stress and the "mirror-hungry" follower who only feels whole when merged with the idealized other.
This article reviews the state of the art of available theories and data regarding the psychology of terrorism. Data and theoretical material were gathered from the world’s unclassified literature. Multiple theories and some demographic data have been published, but very few controlled empirical studies have been conducted investigating the psychological bases of terrorism. The field is largely characterized by theoretical speculation based on subjective interpretation of anecdotal observations. Moreover, most studies and theories fail to take into account the great heterogeneity of terrorists. Many practical, conceptual, and psychological barriers have slowed progress in this important field. Nonetheless, even at this early stage of terrorism studies, preliminary reports suggest that modifiable social and psychological factors contribute to the genesis of the terrorist mind-set. Psychological scholarship could possibly mitigate the risk of catastrophic attack by initiating the long overdue scientific study of terrorist mentalities.