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ABSTRACT
Islamist terror is one of the most terrifying threats worldwide. However, there is no common model about the mechanisms underlying the complex process of radicalization and research is usually undermined by a lack of empirical data. Therefore, we aimed to compose a comprehensive model of radicalization, and test it empirically collecting and analyzing data on Islamist radicals in Western Europe. In Study 1, police professionals assessed seventy-five subjects under investigation for being in the process of radicalization. In Study 2, data from open source news articles about eighty six radical Muslims were evaluated by psychologists. Specific individual preconditions including young age, male gender, migration background, and biographical cuts were consistently found among radicals. Fueling the actual radicalization process, a gradual increase of individual, group and catalyst processes was observed from early (Study 1) to late stages of radicalization (Study 2). These included pursuing individual needs (transcendence, significance, self-esteem, control); processes in the course of a strong group commitment (group identification, prejudice, polarization, perceived group threat, collective emotions, informative influence); and cognitive adaptions to get increasingly comfortable with applying violence (desensitization, dehumanization). The current work may be a solid basis for further empirical investigations and for creating means of prevention and deradicalization.
Correction Statement
This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
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90. To interpret a variable as relevant for the radicalization process, we extrapolated unusual degrees from them. This was done as follows: For variables that were coded on set categories, we took that answer into account that reached the highest frequency level. For interval-scaled variables, an unusual degree was coded as soon as the relative frequency had approached 50% or higher. Moreover, we acknowledged differences between radicals and non-radicals out of the exploratory analyses.
91. To interpret a variable as relevant for the radicalization process, we used the same procedure as in Study 1 to extrapolate unusual degrees: For variables that were coded on set categories, we took that answer into account that reached the highest frequency level. For interval-scaled variables, an unusual degree was coded as soon as the relative frequency had approached 50% or higher.
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103. Hogg, “From Uncertainty to Extremism,” 338–42.
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106. Neumann, Der Terror ist unter uns.
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111. Klausen et al., “Toward a Behavioral Model,” 67–83.
112. Ibid.
113. Kebbell and Porter, “An ” 212–28.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Michaela Pfundmair
Michaela Pfundmair has been interim professor of social psychology at LMU-Munich. Her main line of research is about causes and consequences of social exclusion and the psychological basis of terrorist radicalization.
Elena Aßmann
Elena Aßmann, Benjamin Kiver, Maximilian Penzkofer, Amelie Scheuermeyer, and Larissa Sust received their master’s degree of social and organizational psychology from LMU-Munich in 2018.
Benjamin Kiver
Elena Aßmann, Benjamin Kiver, Maximilian Penzkofer, Amelie Scheuermeyer, and Larissa Sust received their master’s degree of social and organizational psychology from LMU-Munich in 2018.
Maximilian Penzkofer
Elena Aßmann, Benjamin Kiver, Maximilian Penzkofer, Amelie Scheuermeyer, and Larissa Sust received their master’s degree of social and organizational psychology from LMU-Munich in 2018.
Amelie Scheuermeyer
Elena Aßmann, Benjamin Kiver, Maximilian Penzkofer, Amelie Scheuermeyer, and Larissa Sust received their master’s degree of social and organizational psychology from LMU-Munich in 2018.
Larissa Sust
Elena Aßmann, Benjamin Kiver, Maximilian Penzkofer, Amelie Scheuermeyer, and Larissa Sust received their master’s degree of social and organizational psychology from LMU-Munich in 2018.
Holger Schmidt
Holger Schmidt has been head of the Center for Deradicalization at the Bavarian state criminal police.