Stumbled upon
this article by from 2010
and decided to feature it on this blog
for the benefit of you guys. I hope you
learn something tangible.
What
moves people to kill themselves and innocent bystanders?
This
mystery of the mind became an issue again in recent weeks as a suicide bomber
in Afghanistan — a double agent — killed seven C.I.A. officers; a man plowed a
truck full of explosives into a crowded playground in Pakistan, and a Nigerian
man tried to blow himself up on a plane bound for Detroit on Christmas Day.
Until
recently, the psychology of terrorism had been largely theoretical. Finding
actual subjects to study was daunting. But access to terrorists has increased
and a nascent science is taking shape.
More
former terrorists are speaking publicly about their experiences. Tens of
thousands of terrorists are in “de-radicalization” programs around the globe,
and they are being interviewed, counseled and subjected to psychological
testing, offering the chance to collect real data on the subject.
Terrorist
propaganda has flooded the Internet and the thinking of sympathizers is widely
available. There are entire cable television channels operated by extremists,
and researchers have access to the writings and “farewell tapes” of the growing
number of suicide bombers as well as the transcripts of terrorism trials.
The
new research has its limits. The accounts of the extremists — generally
militant Islamists — are difficult to verify. And researchers often differ over
the path to radicalization. Some boil it down to religion, others to politics
and power, others to an array of psychological and social influences.
But
even if the motivations for terror can be wildly idiosyncratic, a range of patterns
have been identified.
1.
THE PATH TO VIOLENCE
Despite
the lack of a single terrorist profile, researchers have largely agreed on the
risk factors for involvement. They include what Jerrold M. Post, a professor of
psychiatry, political psychology and international affairs at George Washington
University, calls “generational transmission” of extremist beliefs, which
begins early in life; a strong sense of victimization and alienation; the
belief that moral violations by the enemy justify violence in pursuit of a
“higher moral condition;” the belief that the terrorists’ ethnic, religious or
nationalist group is special and in danger of extinction, and that they lack
the political power to effect change without violence.
Research
has also shown that some terrorists have a criminal mentality and had previous
lives as criminals. Paradoxically, anxiety about death plays a significant role
in the indoctrination of terrorists and suicide bombers — unconscious fear of
mortality, of leaving no legacy, according to new research.
Many
researchers agree that while there is rarely a moment of epiphany, there is
typically a trigger of some kind to accelerate radicalization — for example,
the politically related killing of a friend or relative.
Ervin
Staub, professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Massachusetts who
is finishing a book on what drives terrorism and conflict, has identified three
types of terrorists. “Idealists” identify with the suffering of some group.
“Respondents” react to the experience of their own group. (Perhaps they were
raised in a refugee camp or saw relatives killed; they may also be responding
to unrelated individual trauma, like child abuse.) Finally, “lost souls” are
adrift, isolated and perhaps ostracized, and find purpose with a radical group.
Dr. Post said the lost souls are “ripe for the plucking” by recruiters.
Clark
McCauley, a professor of psychology at Bryn Mawr College, sees four general
trajectories: “revolutionaries,” who are involved in the same cause over time;
“wanderers,” who are involved with one extremist group after another, whatever
their causes; “converts,” who suddenly break with their past to join an extreme
movement; and “compliants,” whose involvement occurs through persuasion by
friends, relatives and lovers.
....to be continued
#VictoryNA
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