The Psychological Processes Underlying Political and Ideological Extremism

Abstract

This paper offers a discussion of the psychological processes described in the conceptual and empirical literature on political and ideological extremism and a related construct radicalization. Radicalization refers to the process in which individuals develop extremist beliefs/ideologies, emotions, and/or behaviors, all of which can justify otherizing and violence as well as promote sacrifice to defend ones self-identified tribe (Trip et al., 2019). In contrast, extremism refers to the resulting ideology or methodology applied to reach the radical objectives.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 22, 2020
Accession Number
AD1211258

Entities

People

  • Alan L. Witt
  • Nikola Fedorowicz

Organizations

  • Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Human Systems
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Behavioral Sciences
  • Department Of Defense
  • Discrimination
  • Ethnic Groups
  • Group Dynamics
  • Neuropsychology
  • Perception
  • Personality
  • Personnel Management
  • Political Science
  • Psychological Phenomena And Processes
  • Psychology
  • Radicalization
  • Social Psychology
  • Terrorism
  • Terrorists
  • United States
  • Violence

Fields of Study

  • Psychology

Readers

  • Business Analytics
  • Political Violence and Terrorism Studies.
  • Psychological Intervention/Treatment for Stress, Anxiety, PTSD, and Related Emotional and Cognitive Health Symptoms.