Cognitive mechanisms in violent extremism

Arie W Kruglanski; Jessica R Fernandez; Adam R Factor; Ewa Szumowska

doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2018.11.008

Cognitive mechanisms in violent extremism

Cognition. 2019 Jul:188:116-123. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2018.11.008. Epub 2018 Dec 10.

Authors

Arie W Kruglanski¹, Jessica R Fernandez², Adam R Factor³, Ewa Szumowska⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, Biology-Psychology Building, College Park, MD 20742, USA. Electronic address: kruglanski@gmail.com.
² Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, Biology-Psychology Building, College Park, MD 20742, USA. Electronic address: jrfern14@umd.edu.
³ Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, Biology-Psychology Building, College Park, MD 20742, USA. Electronic address: arfactor@berkeley.edu.
⁴ Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Ingardena 6 Str., 30-060 Krakow, Poland. Electronic address: ewa.szumowska@uj.edu.pl.

PMID: 30545561
DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2018.11.008

Abstract

This paper considers the cognitive underpinnings of violent extremism. We conceptualize extremism as stemming from a motivational imbalance in which a given need "crowds out" other needs and liberates behavior from their constraints. In the case of violent extremism, the dominant need in question is the quest for personal significance and the liberated behavior is aggression employed as means to the attainment of significance. The cognitive mechanisms that enable this process are ones of learning and inference, knowledge activation, selective attention, and inhibition. These are discussed via examples from relevant research.

Keywords: Motivated cognition; Motivation; Violent extremism.

Publication types

Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Aggression
Attention
Cognition*
Goals*
Humans
Models, Psychological
Motivation
Terrorism / psychology
Violence / psychology*