Reviewing the links between violent extremism and personality, personality disorders, and psychopathy

Abstract

Many early published analyses of the terrorist placed psychopathy as the core explanatory variable for terrorist behaviour. This speculative opinion was derived mainly from popular culture, and the desire to attribute mental disorders to those committing such violent acts.Poor research designs and a lack of empiricism ultimately undermined these arguments in favour of terrorism being rooted in disorders of personality. Multiple studies supporting psychopathic and personality-level explanations were conducted in the absence of rigorous clinical diagnostic procedures. Despite the methodological issues, concluding remarks from this research continues to hold instinctive appeal across the research field. This incentivises a need for a rigorous synthesis of the evidence base. The objective of this systematic review is to assess the impact of personality upon attitudes, intentions, and behaviours in the context of radicalisation and terrorism. This paper follows the same systematic process as the Gill et al.paper in this special issue. However, we use the model to interrogate the existing empirical literature on personality and terrorism in terms of its coverage, common themes, methodological strengths and weaknesses and implications. The search strategy for the systematic review is based on the Campbell Collaboration method. Results and their implications are discussed.

Exploring social exclusion: Where we are and where We're going

“…Another key focus would be to identify individuals susceptible to radicalization. Just as there are individual difference variables that increase the likelihood of responding to short‐term social exclusion with aggression (e.g., narcissism and rejection sensitivity; Ayduk et al., 2008; Chester & DeWall, 2016; Twenge & Campbell, 2003), there are likely individual proclivities toward radicalization as well that need identifying (Corner et al., 2021). Of course, that approach may be considered only addressing the symptom of an underlying social problem.…”

Not in Their Right Mind? Right-Wing Extremism Is Not a Mental Illness, but Still a Challenge for Psychiatry

“…Although studies seem to point toward a connection of psychiatric diagnoses and radicalization, findings are inconsistent and do not allow for a clear conclusion. Meta-studies report considerable variation in prevalence rates between individual studies (Trimbur et al, 2021 ) and note that many studies have a weak diagnostic basis (Corner et al, 2021 ; Gill et al, 2021 ). The heterogenous findings do not come as a surprise, since radicalization is usually seen as a complex process with a wide range of pathways (Borum, 2012 ).…”

“…Nevertheless, psychiatric literature maintains that psychic vulnerabilities can help to explain extremism (Corner et al, 2021 ; Gill et al, 2021 ), if social and societal aspects are factored in (McCauley and Moskalenko, 2008 ; Simi et al, 2016 ; Decety et al, 2018 ; de Ridder et al, 2019 ; Gill et al, 2021 ; Harpviken, 2021 ). This is usually done by situating individual risk factors within a multilevel model that includes the social micro level (family, friends), meso level (communities, social class), and macro level (societal and political developments) (Doosje et al, 2016 ; Eisenman and Flavahan, 2017 ; Campelo et al, 2018b ), often mirroring the ecological model for violence prevention by the World Health Organization (WHO, 2004 ).…”

A Review in Personality-Based Recommendation for Graduate Marketability

“…Personality fluctuations are factors that can influence unexpected change. Corner et al (2021) discovered that personality is also affected by a combination of factors depending on personal problems, family issues, workplace culture, relationships with colleagues, essential management motivation, organizational policies, and a variety of factors. In fact, Parent-Lamarche and Marchand (2019) clarified that a nice attitude can have a greater proportion of mood reactions.…”