The role of sensation seeking in political violence: An extension of the Significance Quest Theory.

Abstract

Adventure and excitement have often been invoked to explain why people engage in political violence, yet empirical evidence on the topic has thus far been anecdotal. The present research sought to fill this gap in knowledge by examining the role of sensation seeking in political violence and integrating this concept with Significance Quest Theory (Kruglanski, Chen, Dechesne, Fishman, & Orehek, 2009; Kruglanski et al., 2013). Extending prior research on violent extremism, Study 1 found that sensation seeking mediated the relation between meaning in life and willingness to self-sacrifice and support for political violence. Study 2 established temporal precedence of the variables in the mediation model, using a longitudinal design. Studies 3 and 4 experimentally replicated findings of Studies 1 and 2. In Studies 5a and 5b, we found that sensation seeking predicts support for a real life violent activist group. In Studies 6a and 6b, the positive evaluation of a violent activist group by individuals high in sensation seeking was explained by how exciting they perceived the group to be. Finally, Study 7 introduced an intervention targeting the sensation seeking motive by presenting participants with a peaceful (less exciting vs. exciting) activism group. As hypothesized, providing individuals high in sensation seeking with a peaceful yet exciting group mitigated their support for extreme behavior.

Rebel with a Cause: Personal Significance from Political Activism Predicts Willingness to Self‐Sacrifice

“…Additionally, we tested the role of significance loss experienced by activists in relation to the cause. In contrast to past research that demonstrated effects of frustrated significance need on collective action (Dugas et al., ; Schumpe, Bélanger, Moyano, & Nisa, ), in most of our studies significance loss did not significantly predict activist intentions. Moreover, when we statistically compared the strength of the effects of significance loss and significance gain it turned out that in majority of cases the effect of significance gain on willingness to sacrifice and/or activist intentions was stronger than the effect of significance loss .…”

“Macron demission!”: Loss of significance generates violent extremism for the Yellow Vests through feelings of anomia

“…Moreover, their small size is typical of what can be found in the Significance Quest literature (e.g. Webber et al, 2017;Schumpe, Bélanger, Moyano, & Nisa, 2018). We were able to replicate the mediation models from Study 1 with the exception that, in this study, indirect effects of the LoS manipulation were not found for intentions to engage in Armed Struggle but were significant as regards Activism.…”

“…Also, individuals who have experienced significant economic or relational loss are more likely to engage in violent actions (Jasko, LaFree, & Kruglanski, 2016). There is now ample evidence for a causal role of Loss of Significance (LoS) in generating violent political behavior (Jasko, Lafree, & Kruglanski, 2016;Webber et al 2017;Schumpe, Bélanger, Moyano, & Nisa, 2018).…”

How passionate individuals regulate their activity with other life domains: A goal‐systemic perspective

“…Although the construct of passion has been originally discussed as a stable individual difference (Vallerand et al, ), mounting evidence also indicates that harmonious and obsessive passion can be experimentally induced (see Bélanger et al, ; Lafrenière, Vallerand, & Sedikides, ; Schellenberg, Bailis, & Mosewich, ). Many psychological constructs have been shown to behave in the same way (e.g., locomotion and assessment, sensation‐seeking; see Higgins, Pierro, & Kruglanski, ; Orehek, Mauro, Kruglanski, & van der Bles, ; Schumpe, Bélanger, Moyano, & Nisa, ), thus substantiating Higgins’ propositition that the concept of personality is “one source of variability in the functioning of psychological principles that also varies across momentary situations” (, p. 612). This suggests that passion is dynamic and can be alternatively operationalized as an individual difference or as an expression of situational forces (e.g., Kruglanski & Sheveland, ; Sturaro, Denissen, van Aken, & Asendorpf, ).…”