The present studies examined the hypothesis that loss of personal significance fuels extremism via the need for cognitive closure. Situations of significance loss-those that make one feel ashamed, humiliated, or demeaned-are inconsistent with the desire for a positive self-image, and instill a sense of uncertainty about the self. Consequently, individuals become motivated to seek certainty and closure that affords the restoration of personal significance. Extremist ideologies should thus increase in appeal, because they promise clear-cut strategies for such restoration. These notions were supported in a series of studies ranging from field surveys of political extremists imprisoned in the Philippines (Study 1) and Sri Lanka (Study 2) to experiments conducted with American samples (Studies 3-4). Implications of these findings are considered for the psychology of extremism, and for approaches to counterradicalization, and deradicalization. (PsycINFO Database Record

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The aim of this research is to assess the intended level of religious and political activism and radicalism in a sample of Muslim and Christian youth living in a marginalised neighbourhood in a southern city in Spain. Interrelations between activism and radicalism and other psychosocial factors potentially contributing to religious and political mobilisation processes are analysed, such as group identification, self-esteem, violent disinhibition, religious extremism and perceived oppression. Important differences in religious and national identification were found. Muslims scored higher in a statistically significant way on various indicators of religious extremism. Both perceived oppression and shared ideology inside the endogroup seem to be contributing factors to having an intention of radicalism in the Muslim group where social identity anchored in religion prevails. These results point to the fact that there is a polarisation that can serve as the threshold of conflict and radical mobilisation in the critical context analysed. The results are discussed within the framework of previous research into psychology of radicalisation and terrorism.

Violent radicalization and terrorism continue to pose social and security problems. Starting from the theoretical framework offered by the significance quest theory, the purpose of this research was to analyze the different roles that radical intentions play in the relationship between the loss of significance and violent disinhibition in Muslims and non-Muslims. For this reason, we carried out two studies: the first one with 133 Muslims and 126 non-Muslims, and the second with 98 Muslims and 167 non-Muslims. Specifically, we measured how perceived oppression influenced violent disinhibition through radical intentions. Secondly, we also measured the impact of identity and cultural intelligence in these relations. The main finding of the research was that there was an indirect effect of perceived oppression on violent disinhibition through radical intentions in the Muslim sample, whereas, in the non-Muslim sample, the effect of perceived oppression on violent disinhibition was not mediated by radical intentions. These results were replicated in both studies. Additionally, we found that identity and culture were factors that moderated the proposed relations. This work therefore shows that the conjunction of the loss of significance and radical intentions seems to strongly exacerbate the likelihood of a process of violent disinhibition for those who are considered to be in marginal contexts. Overall, different pathways and intervening factors are in the process of radicalizing Muslims and non-Muslims in Western societies.

El objetivo del presente trabajo es analizar cómo se desarrolla y mantiene el comportamiento violento terrorista. Los contenidos se estructuran desde un modelo global de utilidad para explicar y predecir los actos violentos de los terroristas. Fundamentalmente, se pretende dar respuesta a las siguientes preguntas: ¿qué es la violencia terrorista?, ¿cómo afecta la ideología al comportamiento violento?, ¿qué distingue a los extremistas que actúan violentamente de aquellos que no lo hacen?, y, ¿cómo se forman y se mantienen funcionalmente las organizaciones terroristas?. Se estudia el papel que juega la ideología y, así, la secuencia de procesos psicológicos que favorecen el desarrollo y mantenimiento del comportamiento violento de los terroristas y cómo aquélla, junto con ciertos factores y argumentos justificativos y legitimadores de la agresión, favorece la realización de actos violentos de terrorismo. Se analiza el reclutamiento y el liderazgo como procesos básicos, respectivamente, para la formación y mantenimiento funcional de un grupo terrorista.