Psychological Approaches to Organized Agression

Abstract

Psychologists are already making a small but useful contribution to the assessment of the effects of terrorist acts on victims. They have, moreover, started to develop useful guidelines for assisting victims to recover from the effects of terrorist acts, although as yet little has been learned that adds to our knowledge of terrorists or terrorist groups. Another topic that has yet to be analyzed is the psychology of negotiators and negotiations. The possibility of making predictions about terrorist acts on the basis of psychological data has not yet been evaluated, either. One thing appears clear, however. Acts of political violence should be separated from non-political acts of criminal violence. The search for psychological profiles that will discriminate between terrorists and non-terrorists will otherwise be fruitless. As a final topic, practical obstacles to conducting psychological research into terrorism are also considered. UNCLASS IF I ED SgCuITV CLASSIFICATION OF TMIS PAGEIEINR D0 90 ,)