From Profiles to <i>Pathways</i> and Roots to <i>Routes</i>: Perspectives from Psychology on Radicalization into Terrorism

Horgan, John

doi:10.1177/0002716208317539

Cited by 388 publications

(261 citation statements)

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“…The idea that negative emotions may act as a deterrent runs contrary to the current view that these emotions are potential motivational 'risk' factors (Horgan, 2008;Monahan, 2012). Future research ought to tease apart the causal relation between negative emotions and (dis)engagement in violent extremism.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 81%

“…Indeed, Horgan (2008) Desistance can range from reducing engagement with a violent extremist network through to leaving the network altogether, and no longer holding violent extremist views. We have included exemplary behaviors at each stage of engagement mentioned by Horgan (2008).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We have included exemplary behaviors at each stage of engagement mentioned by Horgan (2008). In addition, our selected behaviors and stages are considered by policy-makers to be important for prevention and intervention (HM Government, 2011).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Male Youth Perceptions of Violent Extremism: towards a Test of Rational Choice Theory

Dhami¹,

Murray

2016

Span. J. Psychol.

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University, for her assistance in acting as an external coder, blind to the aims of the study. Male Youth Perceptions of 2 AbstractUnderstanding how people perceive the pros and cons of risky behaviors such as terrorism or violent extremism represents a first step in developing research testing rational choice theory aiming to explain and predict peoples' intentions to engage in, or support, these behaviors.Accordingly, the present study provides a qualitative, exploratory analysis of a sample of 57 male youths' perceptions of the benefits and drawbacks of: (a) accessing a violent extremist website, (b) joining a violent extremist group, and (c) leaving such a group. Youth perceived significantly more drawbacks than benefits of joining a violent extremist group (p = . In the present paper we suggest that understanding how people perceive the pros and cons of violent extremism represents a first step in developing theoretically-guided research that aims to explain and predict peoples' intentions and decisions to support and (dis)engage in violent extremism. The research reported in the present paper takes this first step by providing a qualitative, exploratory analysis of male youth's perceptions of the benefits and drawbacks of specific behaviors associated with violent extremism. Before describing our approach, we briefly outline the theoretical perspective that our exploratory work can contribute to, and review relevant past research. We also discuss the methodological challenges that we (and other researchers) have faced. "virtually none of them has been tested in a systematic way." This is partly because they are not always amenable to testing due to a lack of precision or specification. In addition, not all theories have clear implications for counter-terrorism policy. The present study was not designed to test a specific theory. Rather, it was designed to provide exploratory data that might lead to future tests of a rational choice approach to violent extremism.Rational choice theories employed in psychological and criminological research draw in an approximate manner on the expected utility model in Economics (e.g., Gruber, 2001); extending its focus on subjective expected utility. According to this theory, a rational decision-maker (in this case a violent extremist) would decide whether or not to engage in violent extremism by assessing the subjective importance of the possible benefits and drawbacks of engaging in the behavior, in addition to assessing the subjective probabilities of these possible outcomes. The expected utility of the behavior would be determined by the probability-weighted difference between the benefits and drawbacks. The more that the weighted difference favors the benefits, the more likely the decision-maker is to engage in the relevant behavior.2 Thus, rational choice theory can help researchers to understand the cognitive process by which an individual makes the above risk assessments and then acts on them. In fact, researchers can test more or less 'rational' models (e.g., Dhami...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 81%

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confidence: 99%

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Male Youth Perceptions of Violent Extremism: towards a Test of Rational Choice Theory

Dhami¹,

Murray

2016

Span. J. Psychol.

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“…Crayton, 1983) or paranoia (Victoroff, 2005). The title of Horgan's (2008) seminal paper "From profiles to pathways and roots to routes" perfectly describes the turning point in the academic literature where the quest for a typical profile of a terrorist is transferred into a search for the process of the individual turning to terrorism. The primary research question shifted from "who" to "how" and scholars started to focus their efforts on the dynamic factors that form a terrorist instead of on the static qualities of the individual.…”

Section: Literature On Terrorist Behaviourmentioning

confidence: 99%

A prospect theory perspective on terrorism

Bois

2017

IJBSR

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This paper presents a new approach to the study of terrorist behaviour and argues that a framework based on Prospect Theory can provide novel insights on the understanding of the terrorist mind-set. Such a framework allows different pathways to become a terrorist and although individual decisions are studied, the model also takes into account environmental factors. By changing these environmental factors and/or framing the choice differently, PT also shows how the terrorist group and/or a charismatic leader can influence the individual's whether or not to turn to terrorism. Having a clear conceptual framework is a first crucial step towards comprehension and in the case of terrorism, towards detection and/or prevention. In this way, the PT framework can also contribute significantly to counter-terrorism policy and can guide the budgetary means in efficient way. INTRODUCTIONThe events of 9/11, the bombings in Madrid and London and more recently, the attacks in Paris, Nice, Brussels, Berlin and Quebec make it painfully clear that terrorism is no longer a remote event for the Western world. Hence, also the number of academic papers studying the concept has snowballed the last decade trying to understand the phenomenon. In order to effectively reduce terrorism and to efficiently use our limited budgetary means it is indeed crucial to comprehend the terrorist's reasoning. As Hoffman (2002, p. 306) notes "knowing your enemy is a cardinal rule in warfare". Will we increase the probability of detection and interception by increasing the budget for internal security or will we invest more in de-radicalization programs? In order to optimize our counterterrorism policy and to allocate our resources efficiently, we need a clear conceptual framework. Literature on terrorism abounds with different models suggesting different causes and determinants. The purpose of this paper is not just to add to this list but rather to present a unifying framework.

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“…Many studies indicate that the terrorism based on religious ideology engages religious people (Moghaddam, 2006(Moghaddam, , 2008(Moghaddam, , 2009Bandura, 1999Bandura, , 2004Kruglanski & Fishman, 2009) and strongly relate to religious fundamentalism (Pech & Slade, 2006;Taylor & Horgan, 2001). As Horgan (2008) describes, there are steps of people's involvement in terrorism, which consists of a complex process comprising of the following three phases: (1) joining the terrorist group, (2) staying within the terrorist group, and (3) exiting, quitting, or disengaging from the terrorist group whether followed by a process of de-radicalization or not. Some scholars suggest that what moti¬vates terrorists varies according to the level and role in a terrorist organization or network (Victoroff, 2005;Englehart-Kurzman, 2006).…”

Section: Roots and Motives Of Terrorism In Indonesiamentioning

confidence: 99%