Mapping Fundamentalisms: The Psychology of Religion as a Sub-Discipline in the Understanding of Religiously Motivated Violence

Savage, Sara; Liht, José

doi:10.1163/157361208x316971

Cited by 18 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…All three notably have relatively simple construct systems with a dominant structure that places people clearly in one camp or the other. This is consistent with the work of Savage and Liht () that has drawn attention to what they have termed ‘the low integrative complexity’ at the heart of extremist religious thinking. Here, however, the nature of their constructs indicates that their cognitive structures can be quite varied, not only focussed on religion, although still essentially bi‐modal.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Terrorists' personal constructs and their roles: A comparison of the three Islamic terrorists

Canter

Sarangi

Youngs

2012

Legal Criminol Psychol

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It is hypothesized that individuals who play different roles in terrorist organizations will have different psychological processes underlying their activities. An innovative examination of the personal construct systems of terrorists explored this. As part of a larger study, three individuals convicted of Islamic‐related terrorist violence in India were interviewed using a semi‐structured life narrative procedure enhanced by a Repertory Grid (Kelly, 1955/1991). One was a senior leader of a terrorist group, one a subordinate, the third a person who planted a bomb without full knowledge of the larger design he was part of. Principal component analyses of these grids informed by comments from the life narratives were used to elaborate each man's conceptual system and how it related to his commitment to violence. Important differences among the three individuals' in their construct systems were found. This demonstrated that the forms of Jihadi commitment is embedded in the individual's personal construct system. So, although these three case studies can only be taken as providing indicative results, they do point to aspects of construct systems that reveal the potential for disengagement, being most likely present in the lower echelons of terrorist organizations. Those who are unable to reconstrue themselves as having a non‐terrorist future are unlikely to disengage. This is probably typical of those who lead these organizations. The results therefore contribute to the growing literature arguing for significant differences in terrorists' understanding of themselves and their roles and provide an original methodology for assessing a person's potential for deradicalization.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Terrorists' personal constructs and their roles: A comparison of the three Islamic terrorists

Canter

Sarangi

Youngs

2012

Legal Criminol Psychol

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“…Of most relevance here is research associating uncertainty with religious fundamentalism (e.g., Altemeyer, 2003;Batson et al, 1993;Herriot, 2007;Kimball, 2002;Lewis, 2004;McGregor, Haji, Nash, & Teper, 2008;Rowatt & Franklin, 2004;Savage & Liht, 2008). Uncertainty-identity theory specifies the psychological mechanism that may be responsible for translating uncertainty into "extremism.…”

Section: Entitativity and Belonging A Number Of Laboratory Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Religion in the Face of Uncertainty: An Uncertainty-Identity Theory Account of Religiousness

Hogg

Adelman

Blagg

2009

Pers Soc Psychol Rev

298

228

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The authors characterize religions as social groups and religiosity as the extent to which a person identifies with a religion, subscribes to its ideology or worldview, and conforms to its normative practices. They argue that religions have attributes that make them well suited to reduce feelings of self-uncertainty. According to uncertainty-identity theory, people are motivated to reduce feelings of uncertainty about or reflecting on self; and identification with groups, particularly highly entitative groups, is a very effective way to reduce uncertainty. All groups provide belief systems and normative prescriptions related to everyday life. However, religions also address the nature of existence, invoking sacred entities and associated rituals and ceremonies. They are entitative groups that provide a moral compass and rules for living that pervade a person's life, making them particularly attractive in times of uncertainty. The authors document data supporting their analysis and discuss conditions that transform religiosity into religious zealotry and extremism.

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“…The individual may become increasingly socialized into this group (Silke, 2008; Dalgaard-Nielsen, 2010) by face-to-face contact or internet “echo rooms” (Geeraerts, 2012), while becoming relatively isolated from wider society, including his or her previous social network. The radical group, with its “high entativity” (coherence) and extreme, clear, and simple view of the world (Savage and Liht, 2008; Liht and Savage, 2013), perhaps expressed in terms of a “sacred canopy” of religious beliefs (Berger and Luckmann, 1967; Griffin, 2012), may provide a sense of certainty (Hogg, 2012) about the world, the future, and the self (and even about life after death in some cases! ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward a Constructivist Model of Radicalization and Deradicalization: A Conceptual and Methodological Proposal

Winter

Feixas

2019

Front. Psychol.

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This article identifies common features of existing models of radicalization and deradicalization, such as the transition from uncertainty to certainty, before integrating these in a model based upon personal construct theory. It is proposed that the personal construct concepts of validation and invalidation are particularly relevant to processes of identity change such as radicalization and deradicalization. Thus, it is argued that radicalization occurs when major invalidation of an individual’s construing is followed by the development of a new radicalized view of the world that provides a turning point in his or her sense of identity and a more structured and certain view of the world. There is likely to be seeking out of validation for this view in interactions with others who share similar views or by extorting evidence for the individual’s radical constructions. These constructions are likely to involve extreme negative views of another group, by contrast to members of which, and possibly by taking extreme action against this group, the individual’s new self-construction may become further defined. These same processes can be seen to operate in deradicalization, and it will therefore be argued that the model has implications for the development of deradicalization programs. A further advantage of the model is that it has an associated personal construct methodology, particularly repertory grid technique, that may be used to investigate processes of radicalization and deradicalization. As illustrations of such investigations, results will be summarized from a repertory grid study of Salafist Muslims in Tunisia, some of whom had returned from fighting in Syria, and an analysis of the writings of the Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik. The findings of these investigations are argued to be consistent with the personal construct model of radicalization and deradicalization.

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Mapping Fundamentalisms: The Psychology of Religion as a Sub-Discipline in the Understanding of Religiously Motivated Violence

Cited by 18 publications

References 12 publications

Terrorists' personal constructs and their roles: A comparison of the three Islamic terrorists

Terrorists' personal constructs and their roles: A comparison of the three Islamic terrorists

Religion in the Face of Uncertainty: An Uncertainty-Identity Theory Account of Religiousness

Toward a Constructivist Model of Radicalization and Deradicalization: A Conceptual and Methodological Proposal

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