Divergent paths to martyrdom and significance among suicide attackers

This research used open source information to investigate the motivational backgrounds of 219 suicide attackers from various regions of the world. We inquired as to whether the attackers exhibited evidence for significance quest as a motive for their actions, and whether the eradication of significance loss and/or the aspiration for significance gain systematically differed according to attackers’ demographics. It was found that the specific nature of the significance quest motive varied in accordance with attackers’ gender, age, and education. Whereas Arab-Palestinians, males, younger attackers, and more educated attackers seem to have been motivated primarily by the possibility of significance gain, women, older attackers, those with little education, and those hailing from other regions seem to have been motivated primarily by the eradication of significance loss. Analyses also suggested that the stronger an attacker’s significance quest motive, the greater the effectiveness of their attack, as measured by the number of casualties. Methodological limitations of the present study were discussed, and the possible directions for further research were indicated

Quest for significance and violent extremism : the case of domestic radicalization

In the present study, we applied the quest for significance model of radicalization to explain the use of politicalviolence. According to the model, when people experience loss of personal significance (e.g., due to socialrejection, achievement failures, or abuse) the motivation to restore significance may push them toward the useof extreme means. We tested this prediction in a sample of individuals who have committed ideologicallymotivated crimes in the United States (n 5 1496). We found that experiences of economic and social loss ofsignificance were separate and positive predictors related to the use of violence by perpetrators ofideologically motivated crimes. We also found evidence that the presence of radicalized others (friends but notfamily members) in the individuals’ social network increased their likelihood of using violence

Retrieval-induced forgetting as motivated cognition

Recalling information from a particular category can reduce one's memory capability for related, non-retrieved information. This is known as the retrieval-induced forgetting effect (RIF; Anderson et al., 1994). The present paper reviews studies that show that the RIF effect is motivated. More specifically, we describe research showing that the need for closure (NFC; the motivation to attain epistemic certainty; Kruglanski and Webster, 1996) generally enhances the RIF, because this prevents uncertainty and confusion from the intrusion of unwanted memories during selective-retrieval. However, when the content of the to-be-forgotten information serves the retriever's goals, NFC reduces RIF. Overall, the present findings are consistent with the view that motivation can affect the magnitude of RIF effects which, in turn, can serve as a mechanism for reaching preferred conclusion

Personal failure makes society seem fonder: An inquiry into the roots of social interdependence

A universal consideration among people concerns the relative premium placed on social interdependence relative to self-reliant independence. While interdependence requires submission to social constraints, it also offers empowerment through coalition. While independence fosters freedom, it also imposes individual responsibility for attained outcomes whether good or bad. In four studies we obtain the first direct evidence that failure prompts a shift toward interdependence. Implications are discussed for conditions under which people are driven to collective action

Aspects of motivation : reflections on Roy Baumeister’s essay

Reflecting on Roy Baumeister’s guidelines for a general theory of motivation, we relate his ideas to our own perspectives and interests. In those terms we consider, among others, the role of motivation in cognitive processes, the emergence of motives from basic needs, the mental representation of motives in memory, and the issue of free will. Roy’s paper compellingly demonstrates the indispensability of motivation to psychological phenomena writ large, and it aptly identifies critical junctures where further motivational research is needed

Is "behavior" the problem?

Doliński (2018, this issue) deplores the near absence of “real behavior” in social and personality studies and attributes to that omission several problems in our research. We concur in the depiction of problems but take issue with the diagnosis. In a sense, most we ever study is behavior (the definition of the concept is quite broad). The problems are better understood as those of validity, generalizability and consequentiality in contemporary social/personality research and they stem from the "double whammy" of (occasionally unwarranted) IRB restrictions on social/personality research and unrealistic perfectionism that constrain our efforts

Need for cognitive closure modulates how perceptual decisions are affected by task difficulty and outcome relevance

The aim of this study was to assess the extent to which Need for Cognitive Closure (NCC), an individual-level epistemic motivation, can explain inter-individual variability in the cognitive effort invested on a perceptual decision making task (the random motion task). High levels of NCC are manifested in a preference for clarity, order and structure and a desire for firm and stable knowledge. The study evaluated how NCC moderates the impact of two variables known to increase the amount of cognitive effort invested on a task, namely task ambiguity (i.e., the difficulty of the perceptual discrimination) and outcome relevance (i.e., the monetary gain associated with a correct discrimination). Based on previous work and current design, we assumed that reaction times (RTs) on our motion discrimination task represent a valid index of effort investment. Task ambiguity was associated with increased cognitive effort in participants with low or medium NCC but, interestingly, it did not affect the RTs of participants with high NCC. A different pattern of association was observed for outcome relevance; high outcome relevance increased cognitive effort in participants with moderate or high NCC, but did not affect the performance of low NCC participants. In summary, the performance of individuals with low NCC was affected by task difficulty but not by outcome relevance, whereas individuals with high NCC were influenced by outcome relevance but not by task difficulty; only participants with medium NCC were affected by both task difficulty and outcome relevance. These results suggest that perceptual decision making is influenced by the interaction between context and NC

The Epistemic Bases of Changes of Opinion and Choices: The Joint Effects of the Need for Cognitive Closure, Ascribed Epistemic Authority and Quality of Advice

This research investigates the epistemic underpinnings of changes of opinion and choices. Based on the Lay Epistemic Theory (Kruglanski et al., 2009) and consistent with relevant theories of persuasion (e.g., Chaiken, Liberman, & Eagly, 1989; Kruglanski, & Thompson, 1999; Petty & Cacioppo, 1986), we hypothesized that individuals with a high (vs. low) need for cognitive closure would be more influenced by the high (vs. low) level of the epistemic authority of an advisor, and would be less influenced by the quality of the provided advice. These hypotheses were supported in two experimental studies (Total N=352) within two different domains of decision-making (a legal case in Study 1 and consumer behavior in Study 2). The theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed

Positive affect as informational feedback in goal pursuit

Two studies investigated the cognitive activation of a goal following a promise to complete it. Current theorizing about the impact of positive affect as informational feedback in goal pursuit suggests two contradictory conclusions: (1) positive affect can signal that sufficient progress towards a goal has been made, but also (2) positive affect can signal that commitment to a goal should be maintained. When individuals infer that significant progress toward goal achievement has been made, the goal should be deactivated, but when individuals infer that commitment to the goal should be maintained, goal activation should be increased. To determine the conditions in which positive affect leads to increased goal activation as opposed to goal deactivation, we proposed that competing goals serve as a moderator. We found that positive affect led to decreased goal activation when competing goals were present, but to increased goal activation when competing goals were absent