How many suicide terrorists are suicidal?

Suicide terrorists in recent decades total approximately 3,500. Lankford finds risk factors for suicide for about 40 of these cases. Given that many with risk factors for suicide never attempt suicide, a reasonable estimate might be that one percent of suicide terrorists are suicidal

How many suicide terrorists are suicidal?

Suicide terrorists in recent decades total approximately 3,500. Lankford finds risk factors for suicide for about 40 of these cases. Given that many with risk factors for suicide never attempt suicide, a reasonable estimate might be that one percent of suicide terrorists are suicidal

A conservative’s social psychology

I suggest that social psychologists should stick to studying positive and negative attitudes and give up stigmatizing some attitudes as “prejudice.” I recommend that we avoid assuming that race and ethnicity have no biological foundations, in order to avoid a collision course with modern biology. And I wonder how much difference the target article recommendations can make in the context of hiring a social psychologist for an academic position

Toward a Psychology of Humiliation in Asymmetric Conflict

Humiliation is often cited in attempts to understand the origins of asymmetric conflicts, especially conflicts involving terrorism. This article reviews common usage, expert opinion, and experiences in interpersonal and intergroup conflicts to suggest a construct definition of humiliation as a combination of anger and shame. Following appraisal theory, this definition distinguishes between the situational appraisals associated with humiliation (insult and injury; failure to retaliate) and the emotional experience of humiliation (in which the combination of anger and shame may be more synergism than summation). Research on humiliation has barely begun and focuses on interpersonal relations; a crucial issue is whether interpersonal humiliation is the same experience as the intergroup humiliation salient in accounts of terrorism and terrorists. Also important is the prediction that the targets of terrorist attack will experience humiliation if the terrorists are unknown or unreachable; thus failure to retaliate may humiliate the strong as well as the weak in asymmetric conflict. Better understanding of humiliation may be useful for understanding both terrorist violence and government reactions to this violence

Killing Them to Save Us’: Lessons from Politicide for Preventing and Countering Terrorism

This chapter reviews and extends the analysis of mass political murder advanced by Chirot and McCauley, then applies this analysis to understanding and countering terrorism. The justification for this application is that both politicide and terrorism target civilians in the context of asymmetric conflict. Three generalizations emerge. Politicide and terrorism cannot be understood or countered without (i) studying both sides in the conflict, (ii) separate studies of leaders, perpetrators, and mass sympathizers, and (iii) acknowledgment of the threats and grievances perceived by both sides. The chapter concludes with implications for fighting the war of ideas against jihadist and right-wing terrorists

The essence of hate and love

This chapter updates and extends ideas advanced by Royzman, McCauley, and Rozin in The Psychology of Hate. In particular, it builds on the work of Shand, who argued that hate and love are not themselves emotions but the occasions of experiencing many different emotions, depending on what is happening to the one hated or loved. The first section reviews four ways of getting to the meaning of hate. The second section stipulates a definition of identification and provides examples of the power of positive and negative identification in human affairs. The third section reviews ideas about what it means to essentialize a category. The fourth section explores positive and negative essence as perceived in human individuals and groups. The concluding section points to research directions implied by the stipulated conceptions of hate and love, ending with an overview of how these conceptions relate to fusion theory, intergroup emotions, and dehumanization. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved

Toward a Psychology of Humiliation in Asymmetric Conflict

Humiliation is often cited in attempts to understand the origins of asymmetric conflicts, especially conflicts involving terrorism. This article reviews common usage, expert opinion, and experiences in interpersonal and intergroup conflicts to suggest a construct definition of humiliation as a combination of anger and shame. Following appraisal theory, this definition distinguishes between the situational appraisals associated with humiliation (insult and injury; failure to retaliate) and the emotional experience of humiliation (in which the combination of anger and shame may be more synergism than summation). Research on humiliation has barely begun and focuses on interpersonal relations; a crucial issue is whether interpersonal humiliation is the same experience as the intergroup humiliation salient in accounts of terrorism and terrorists. Also important is the prediction that the targets of terrorist attack will experience humiliation if the terrorists are unknown or unreachable; thus failure to retaliate may humiliate the strong as well as the weak in asymmetric conflict. Better understanding of humiliation may be useful for understanding both terrorist violence and government reactions to this violence

A conservative’s social psychology

I suggest that social psychologists should stick to studying positive and negative attitudes and give up stigmatizing some attitudes as “prejudice.” I recommend that we avoid assuming that race and ethnicity have no biological foundations, in order to avoid a collision course with modern biology. And I wonder how much difference the target article recommendations can make in the context of hiring a social psychologist for an academic position

Understanding Political Radicalization: The Two-Pyramids Model

This article reviews some of the milestones of thinking about political radicalization, as scholars and security officials struggled after 9/11 to discern the precursors of terrorist violence. Recent criticism of the concept of radicalization has been recognized, leading to a 2-pyramids model that responds to the criticism by separating radicalization of opinion from radicalization of action. Security and research implications of the 2-pyramids model are briefly described, ending with a call for more attention to emotional experience in understanding both radicalization of opinion and radicalization of action