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Jungian Analysis of Terrorism
PSY 344: PSYCHOLOGY OF
TERRORISM
Carl Jung
• Psychiatrist that advanced
the idea of archetypes.
• Collective Unconscious:
– All cultures use archetypes
to build their stories without
communicating with one
another about them.
Carl Jung 1875-1961
• Kesswill, Switzerland
• Son of minister, maternal Grandfather minister
• Dominant childhood beliefs formed his theory
– Visions & Dreams were important-paranormal-
collective unconscious came from this
– Two different personalities-dual personality
• Child as he appeared to world-introvert
• Cultured gentleman
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In addition to being a psychoanalyst
• Jung was an artist:
– He painted, drew and sculpted
– He designed and built a “Tower” for himself
• Jung was somewhat of a mystic:
– He thought that repressing one’s spiritual
calling would create psychological problems in
the individual.
Carl Jung
• Disagreed with Freud
– the sexual instinct is not the main factor in
personality
– the personality is not almost completely formed in
early childhood
Jung’s Analytic Psychology
Personality consists of three parts
– Ego
• the rational, largely conscious system of personality,
which operates according to the reality principle. Ego
- Still the arbiter between conscious and unconscious
but no longer the center of personality
– Personal unconscious
• All of the thoughts and experiences that are accessible to the
conscious, as well as repressed memories and impulses. Unacceptable
components of the Psyche
• Gender opposite components
• Complexes
– Collective unconscious
• contains the universal experiences of humankind
transmitted to each individual; not available to
conscious thought
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Collective Unconscious
Certain psychic elements passed
from generation to generation
through unconscious channel
Universal archetypes-emotional
symbols-predispose us to react in
predictable ways to common
recurring stimuli.
– Transpersonal
– Derived from our ancestors to
continually repeating events
The Collective Unconscious
It contains archetypes,
emotionally charged
images and thought forms
that have universal
meaning.
Archetypes cause us to
respond in certain ways to
common human
experiences.
Key archetype: Mandala
(“magic circle”), an image
symbolizing the unity of
life.
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Folklore and Myths
• As generations of people passed stories
down through both oral storytelling and
eventually the written word, archetypes
became clearly visible.
• The archetypes are characters that
represent patterns of behavior and even
stereotypes.
• They are characters that everyone can
recognize and understand.
• Archetypes are patterns that can be, and
are, copied.
• They are symbols or characters that appear
again and again in myths and literature.
• They survive because they portra.
9192014 1 Jungian Analysis of Terrorism PSY 344.docx
1. 9/19/2014
1
Jungian Analysis of Terrorism
PSY 344: PSYCHOLOGY OF
TERRORISM
Carl Jung
• Psychiatrist that advanced
the idea of archetypes.
• Collective Unconscious:
– All cultures use archetypes
to build their stories without
communicating with one
another about them.
Carl Jung 1875-1961
• Kesswill, Switzerland
• Son of minister, maternal Grandfather minister
• Dominant childhood beliefs formed his theory
2. – Visions & Dreams were important-paranormal-
collective unconscious came from this
– Two different personalities-dual personality
• Child as he appeared to world-introvert
• Cultured gentleman
9/19/2014
2
In addition to being a psychoanalyst
• Jung was an artist:
– He painted, drew and sculpted
– He designed and built a “Tower” for himself
• Jung was somewhat of a mystic:
– He thought that repressing one’s spiritual
calling would create psychological problems in
the individual.
Carl Jung
• Disagreed with Freud
– the sexual instinct is not the main factor in
3. personality
– the personality is not almost completely formed in
early childhood
Jung’s Analytic Psychology
– Ego
• the rational, largely conscious system of personality,
which operates according to the reality principle. Ego
- Still the arbiter between conscious and unconscious
but no longer the center of personality
– Personal unconscious
• All of the thoughts and experiences that are accessible to the
conscious, as well as repressed memories and impulses.
Unacceptable
components of the Psyche
• Gender opposite components
• Complexes
– Collective unconscious
• contains the universal experiences of humankind
transmitted to each individual; not available to
conscious thought
4. 9/19/2014
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Collective Unconscious
from generation to generation
through unconscious channel
-emotional
symbols-predispose us to react in
predictable ways to common
recurring stimuli.
– Transpersonal
– Derived from our ancestors to
continually repeating events
The Collective Unconscious
It contains archetypes,
emotionally charged
images and thought forms
that have universal
meaning.
Archetypes cause us to
respond in certain ways to
common human
experiences.
5. Key archetype: Mandala
(“magic circle”), an image
symbolizing the unity of
life.
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4
Folklore and Myths
• As generations of people passed stories
down through both oral storytelling and
eventually the written word, archetypes
became clearly visible.
• The archetypes are characters that
represent patterns of behavior and even
stereotypes.
• They are characters that everyone can
recognize and understand.
• Archetypes are patterns that can be, and
are, copied.
• They are symbols or characters that appear
again and again in myths and literature.
• They survive because they portray
6. characters, conflicts and events that are
timeless.
• They help the reader to understand the
theme of the work.
So What is an
Archetype?
Archetype
An archetype is a repeated pattern
of character, image, or event which
recurs in story, song, myth and art.
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• Archetypes are seed ideas that are engrained
within the “blueprint” of man.
• Archetypes are universal symbols ingrained in
the psyche of human beings, and are
interconnected to unfold a meaningful idea or
a teaching.
Archetypes
7. – Existing in the collective unconscious,
an inherited tendency to perceive and
respond in particular ways to
universal human situations
Archetypes
in Plato’s concept of ideals and patterns.
-1900’s psychologist Carl Jung took
Plato’s thinking a step further and developed
“psychological archetypes” defined as:
“characteristic patterns that pre-exist in the
collective psyche of the human race that repeat
themselves eternally in the psyche of individual
human beings and determine the basic ways
that we perceive and function as psychological
beings.”
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THE EARTH MOTHER
Symbolic of success, abundance,
and fertility; this character offers
spiritual and emotional nourish-
ment to those with whom she
comes in contact.
Here are some common archetypes with which you may be
familiar:
Examples
Fairy Godmother (Cinderella)
Galadriel (The Lord of the Rings)
Mon Mothma (Star Wars)
Mrs. Potts (Beauty and the Beast)
Some archetypes you might know:
• The Hero: The courageous figure, the one who's
always running in and saving the day.
• The outcast : The outcast is just that. He or she has
been cast out of society or has left it on a voluntary
11. basis. The outcast figure can oftentimes also be
considered as a Christ figure.
• The scapegoat: The scapegoat figure is the one who
gets blamed for everything, regardless of whether he
or she is actually at fault.
• The ill-fated lovers: This is the young couple joined by
love but unexpectedly parted by fate.
• The wicked step-mother: ????
THE QUEST
This motif describes the search
for someone or some talisman
which, when found and brought
back, will restore fertility to a
wasted land, the desolation of
which is mirrored by a leader’s ill-
ness and disability.
Here are some common archetypes with which you may be
familiar:
Examples
See-Threepio & Artoo-Detoo’s Quest for Obi-
12. Wan Kenobi (Star Wars)
Doc Brown & Marty McFly’s Quest for Gray’s
Sports Almanac (Back to the Future)
Indiana Jones’ Quest for the Holy Grail
(Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade)
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THE TASK
To save the kingdom, to win the
fair lady, to identify himself so
that he may re-assume his right-
ful position, the Hero must per-
form some nearly-superhuman
deed.
Here are some common archetypes with which you may be
familiar:
Examples
The Beast’s Task of Making Someone Fall in
13. Love with Him (Beauty and the Beast)
The Knights’ Task of Crossing the Bridge of
Death (Monty Python and the Holy Grail)
Kuzco’s Tasks of Returning to the Palace & Becom-
ing Human Again (The Emperor’s New Groove)
THE FALL
This archetype describes a de-
scent from a higher to a lower
state of being. The experience in-
volves spiritual tarnishment and/
or a loss of innocence and bliss.
The Fall is also usually accompa-
nied by expulsion from a kind of
paradise as penalty for disobedi-
ence and sin.
Here are some common archetypes with which you may be
familiar:
Examples
14. The Prince’s Fall from Humanity to Bestiality
(Beauty and the Beast)
Sméagol’s Fall from Hobbit to Gollum (The
Lord of the Rings)
Anakin Skywalker’s Fall to the Dark Side of
the Force (Star Wars)
Archetypes and society
but also groups of people, nations,
may project a single archetype at a
given moment of history.
projecting just now, as we are faced
with the issues of terrorism and
war?
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a. Profiling Terrorists
b. Terrorist Ideology
15. PSY 344: PSYCHOLOGY OF
TERRORISM
• “The idea of terrorism as only the product of
mental disorder or psychopathy has been
discredited” (Crenshaw, 1992).
CAN YOU “PROFILE” A TERRORIST?
General risk factors for violence do not work for Terrorists
following people tend to join terrorist organizations:
-25 years of age
-80% single
groups
CAN YOU “PROFILE” A TERRORIST?
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Israel Bombers
– 17-22 yrs old
– Male, single, young
– Uneducated
– Unemployed
– Unmarried
– Dispirited youth
– Bleak future
– Recruited hours before
– “Brainwashed” for honor and family status
– Not left alone until act complete
Novosolov (2008)
New Terrorists
– 28-35 yrs old
– Male, married, older
– Had higher education
– Financially comfortable
– From middle class families
– Lived in West (sometimes for years) exposed to
17. opportunity
– Blended in with society
– Ignored the dress, customs and grooming of traditional
Muslims
– Left alone, far away, for years.
Not “brainwashed,” but rather “true believers”
Novosolov (2008)
Victoroff, 2005
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1910
They need to
have a high
degree of
physical
courage
1910
18. They must
possess
ability to act
effectively as
loners
1910
They must
possess a
“killer” instinct
1910
They must
believe
passionately in
the justness of
their cause
Terrorist Qualities
Terrorist tend to view things as right and wrong
(black & white without shades of gray) them
and “us”
Terrorists tend to view their opponents as evil,
inhumane (dehumanized) not like “us”
19. Terrorist Qualities
• Three factors – feelings of injustice, need for
identity, and need for belonging –
What little actual data collected --found these
factors often to co-occur in terrorists and to
strongly influence decisions to enter terrorist
organizations and to engage in terrorist activity.
(Borum, 2004)
Narcissistic? Jailed experience “Terrorized as Terrorist”
Factors Associated w/Terrorists
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Terrorist Leaders
• Charisma
• Strong hierarchy
20. • Organization skills
• Develop group cohesion and loyalty
Lone Wolf Terrorists
• Majority of U.S. terrorist attacks
• Difficult to track and predict
• Explosives and firearms are weapons of choice
• Principally target civilians
• Premeditated and self-financed attacks
• Usually do not plan to die during their attacks
Lone Wolf Terrorists
Characteristics
• Operate individually
• Do not belong to organized terrorist group,
network, or organization
• Act without the direct influence of a leader
or hierarchy
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Lone Wolf Terrorists
Characteristics
• May claim to be acting on behalf of an interest
group
• Premeditated and planned attacks
• More likely to be emotionally disturbed
• Poor interpersonal and social skills
• Borum (2004) Rather than profiling terrorist perhaps
psychology
could better serve the preventative efforts by answering the
following
questions:
• How and why do people enter, stay in, and leave terrorist
organizations?
• To what extent is psychopathology relevant for understanding
or
22. preventing terrorism?
• To what extent is individual personality relevant for
understanding or
preventing terrorism?
CAN YOU “PROFILE” A TERRORIST?
limited success, as they constantly change over
time. But some past scholarly work on
Terrorism typologies :
Psychology of Terrorism
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23. • Former CIA psychiatrist, Jerrold Post.
• Post (1984) built on the earlier models that
sought to explain terrorism a form of
psychopathology or personality defect, arguing
that two different forms of dysfunction produced
two different patterns of terrorist behavior:
• ANARCHIC-IDEOLOGUE
• NATIONALIST-SECESSIONIST
POSTS MODEL
• The first type was the Anarchic-ideologue.
These individuals were hypothesized to come
from severely dysfunctional families where
they likely had suffered severe abuse or
maltreatment, leading them to have hostile
feelings toward their parents. Their extremist
ideology was a displacement of their rebellion
and hostility onto the “state” authority. That
is, they acted out hostility by rebelling against
the “state” of their parents.
ANARCHIC-IDEOLOGUE
• In contrast, the second type, the Nationalist-
secessionist was not hostile, but loyal to his
parents, and his extremism was motivated to
retaliate or avenge the wrongs done to his
parents by the state. In essence, they rebelled
24. against external society out of loyalty to their
parents (Post ,1984 ).
NATIONALIST-SECESSIONIST
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CRUSADERS (idealistically inspired and acting in service of a
higher cause)
CRIMINALS (who simply use terrorism for personal gain)
CRAZIES (often motivated by false beliefs and perceptions
arising from their mental illness).
Hacker notes immediately (and correctly) “of course, the pure
type is rarely
encountered.”
HACKERS TYPOLOGY
25. • 1. The Psychopathic Terrorist
• The Ethnogeographic Terrorist:
2. religious or 3. political
• 4. The Retributional Terrorist
HAMDEN’S FOUR TYPES
• Religious and Spiritual traditions across cultures and
epochs have traditionally focused on the transpersonal
accepts of living, but as psychological science evolves,
there may be a recognition and the need to study this
transpersonal level of self. (Appel & Kim-Appel, 2010)
• The Transpersonal domain represents the need for an
“expansive” identity beyond the personal ego and the
desire to experience “transrational” stages of
consciousness (see Walsh & Vaughan , 1993)
TRANSPERSONAL ROOTS OF “MALIGNANT
DESTRUCTIVENESS” AND TERRORISM
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26. • It is at the transpersonal sphere of influence
one can be driven towards aggressive acts. It
is from this level one can express what Grof
[1985] calls “malignant destructiveness”. Grof
indicates the need to distinguish “defensive”
or “benign aggression” which is in service of
the (perceived) survival of the individual to
the larger platform of “Malignant
destructiveness.”
“MALIGNANT DESTRUCTIVENESS”.
• “Malignant destructiveness” is a form of
aggression that can be done with even
without any biological or economic reasons.
“Malignant destructiveness” can be born out a
lack of a integrated transpersonal perspective
(e.g. experiencing a discontinuity among living
organisms) as well as in a striving for
transcendence in the context of desiring
death-rebirth.
“MALIGNANT DESTRUCTIVENESS”.
• A transpersonal search can be worked
through in a constructive moral and
ethical system or it can be abandoned in
despair and/or existential crisis …
• Or this innate desire for purpose,
meaning, and transcendence beyond a
finite material life can also be perverted
or hijacked by extreme or pathological
spiritual /religious and other value
27. systems that advocate self or other
destruction .
“MALIGNANT DESTRUCTIVENESS”.
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Ideology
• Radicalization
• Individual’s indoctrination to fully embrace
ideology, mission and level of violence
• Terrorists believe their way of life and
fundamental cultural values are superior to
those they attack
Ideological Terrorism
• Ideological terrorism vs. single-issue terrorism
– Ideological terrorism refers to small groups
who terrorize for the purpose of imposing
their political ideals on others
– Single-issue terrorists embrace a single
cause such as antiglobalism, animal rights,
ecology, abortion, or anarchism
28. – Ideological terrorism developed from
theories of revolution and was closely tied
to models of guerilla warfare
• The effect of religious violence on ideological terrorism
– Most of the groups lost sponsors when the Soviet
Union collapsed
– Right-wing groups modified their politics with tailored-
made religions, especially in the United States
– As death and violence increased with the advent of
religious terrorism, many ideologues renounced
violence
– The nations that continued to support terrorism did so
under the new rules of the game
» They either endorsed religion or let the issue
driving violence become a surrogate religion
expressed in absolutist terms
Ideological Terrorism
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• Surrogate religion
– The group replaces religious behavior with
an ideology that has the power of religion
29. – When violence is internalized, that is,
focused on its own members, the group
can become a religious cult
– If the group targets victims in the outside
world, it frequently behaves like a religious
terrorist organization
Ideological Terrorism
• State-sponsored terrorism
– State-sponsored terrorism is terrorism supported
by a nation-state
– Ideology is related to state-sponsored terrorism,
but ideological terrorism has been transformed
since the fall of the Soviet Union
– The ideology that supports terrorism tends to
come from the passion surrounding an issue, not
state sponsorship
– State sponsorship may occur on the fringes, but a
single ideology drives the violence
Ideological Terrorism
Religious Fundamentalism
• Religious fundamentalism is characterized by
authoritarian and dogmatic religious attitudes,
beliefs, and practices (Altemeyer & Hunsberger,
2005). Psychologists interested in religion have
gone to define fundamentalism as a type or
30. dimension of religiosity as opposed to content
(outside of any particular belief system). When
measured in this way, fundamentalism has
proved to be linked with various forms of
prejudice, discrimination, and even aggression
(Hunsberger, 1995; Altemeyer ,1988, 2003).
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Fundamentalism unlikely to be a single
cause of terrorism
• It is also noteworthy to point out that while
widely associated with religious
fundamentalism, suicide bombers are not
exclusively religious; only 43% are identifiably
religious (Brym, 2007) Most suicide bombings
are motivated by strategic, political, and
territorial reasons.
Fundamentalism unlikely to be a single
cause of terrorism
• Religion can serve as a justification and can even
help motivate the bombers, but not all terrorism
is inspired by religion and religious
fundamentalists. Fundamentalism unlikely to be a
single cause of terrorism, but it may reflect other
aspects of group and personal dynamics.
31. • While many terrorists are extremists (with and
without religious motivation), --yet most
extremists are not terrorists
Radical Fundamentalists
• Radical Islamic Fundamentalists willing to use
terrorism to achieve their goals represent a very
small portion of the Muslim population
– Muslims ≈ 1.6 billion worldwide
– Conservative Muslims ≈ 70%
– Islamic Fundamentalists ≈ 1/3 or < 25%
– Radical Islamic Fundamentalists ≈ 1/3 or < 10%
– Radical Islamic Fundamentalist Terrorists ≈ 1/3 or < 3%
• That’s still 48 million possible Muslim terrorists! But that
leaves 1,552,000,000 non-terrorist Muslims!!!
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Radical Fundamentalists
32. • It is important to maintain the distinction between
the religion of Islam and the relatively few whose
radical interpretation of their religion leads to
terrorist activities
• Obvious parallels exists with various “Christian”
groups
– KKK “defending the Christian way of life”
– violent antiabortionists “saving the souls of the unborn”
– these terrorist groups represent a very small proportion of
those claiming to be “Christian”
– the vast majority view their actions as non-Christian
Inappropriate generalizations
• Words have very powerful symbolic meaning
– not only cognitive meaning
– but also emotional meaning and impact
• Conditioning effects can lead to inappropriate
generalization at an emotional level even
when the cognitive level maintains the
appropriate distinction
• Muslim Terrorists = Terrorists = Muslims
Simple Associative Conditioning
• Muslim terrorist – boom!
• Muslim terrorist – boom!
33. • Muslim terrorist – boom!
• Terrorist = boom!
• Muslim = boom!
media reports
private discussions
nightmares
Conditioned
Emotional
Response (CER)
CERs change reactivity, e.g., increase tendency to overreact
CERs change reactions, e.g., increase tendency to react aversely
CERs generate motivation, e.g., act to terminate or reduce the
anxiety
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Simple Associative Conditioning
• The terrorists would like to blur the distinction
between Muslims and extremists
34. – it helps alienate Muslims from the West
• But many Muslims resent this prejudice
– and it is counterproductive in fighting terrorism
• it reinforces the notion of a Western anti-Muslim bias
thereby ‘recruiting’ more terrorists and terrorist
sympathizers
• it dilutes the impact of counter-terrorism efforts
New Frames Needed
• To help maintain this distinction requires a
new way of describing the problem
• We also need to ask new questions
• To what extent are an individuals life experiences relevant for
understanding or preventing terrorism?
• What is the role of ideology in terrorist behavior?
• What distinguishes extremists who act violently from those
who do not?
• What are the vulnerabilities of terrorist groups?
• How do terrorist organizations form, function, and fail?
35. 10/29/2014
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• Horgan and Taylor (2001) have noted: “What
we know of actual terrorists suggests that
there is rarely a conscious decision made to
become a terrorist. Most involvement in
terrorism results from gradual exposure and
socialization towards extreme behavior.”
THE DEVELOPMENTAL APPROACH
advanced, in various forms, by a wide range of
commentators.
ision
but the end result of a dialectical process that gradually
pushes an individual toward a commitment to violence over
time (radicalization). The process takes place within a larger
political environment involving the state, the terrorist
group, and the group’s self-designated political
constituency. The interaction of these variables in a group
setting is used to explain why individuals turn to violence
and can eventually justify terrorist actions.
36. THE DEVELOPMENTAL APPROACH
From Borum, 2004
9/19/2014
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a. Psychological Issues, Mental
Illness and Terrorism
b. The Evolutionary Logic of
Terrorism
c. Suicide Terrorism
PSY 344: PSYCHOLOGY OF
TERRORISM
Psychological Issues, Mental Illness
and Terrorism
• Terrorists seek change through the use of fear
and intimidation
– but this seldom involves mentally disturbed
individuals
• Some people use terror gratuitously
– this usually involves mentally disturbed individuals
37. Psychological Issues, Mental Illness
and Terrorism
• “One person’s terrorist is another person’s
freedom fighter”
• organized terrorism is seldom rooted in
mental illness
• there is often some legitimate goal for the
terrorist organization
• there is usually a support base
• very few terrorists are open to compromise
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Types of Terror (Bozarth, 2005)
Terrorism goal-oriented non ‘self-
serving’ motive
(group benefit)
Criminal
39. Pathological
Terror
exclusively
motivated by
psychopathology
Freud:
• There is a powerful instinctual aggressiveness
in humans
• • “The satisfaction of the instinct is
accompanied by an extraordinarily high
degree of narcissistic enjoyment.”
• • All humans are born with a primal
biological archaic aggressive-destructive drive,
the gratification of which gives satisfaction
just like the sexual drive.
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Freud:
40. • Freud (1930): Civilization is charged with
helping the individual sublimate this drive.
• War is a socially accepted form of discharging
it.
Freud:
• Man’s need to identify some people as allies
and others as enemies
• A need to protect the individual’s sense of self
• This is intertwined with his experiences of
ethnicity, nationality and religion
Are terrorists crazed psychotics?
• Could a normal person do this?
• • The Al Queda terrorists were all
psychologically “normal.”
41. • • Terrorist groups expel emotionally disturbed
people – they are a security risk.
• (Dr. Post)
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Are terrorists crazed psychotics?
• When asked how they could justify killing
innocent victims, one interviewed terrorist said:
•
• • “I am not a murderer. A murderer is
someone with a psychological problem; our
actions have a goal. Even if civilians are killed it
is not because we like it or are blood thirsty. It is
a fact of life in a people’s struggle. The group
doesn’t do it because it wants to kill civilians, but
because the jihad must go on.”
Are terrorists Anti-Social?
• Dissocial [Antisocial] Personality Disorder F60.2 - ICD10
Description, World Health Organization
• Dissocial [antisocial] personality disorder is characterized
42. by disregard for social obligations, and callous unconcern
for the feelings of others. There is gross disparity between
behavior and the prevailing social norms. Behavior is not
readily modifiable by adverse experience, including
punishment. There is a low tolerance to frustration and a
low threshold for discharge of aggression, including
violence; there is a tendency to blame others, or to offer
plausible rationalizations for the behavior bringing the
patient into conflict with society.
Psychology of Terrorist Motives and
Justifications
• Cognitive Restructuring
• Bandura’s three psychological processes
– Moral justification
– Euphemistic language
– Advantageous comparison
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Cognitive Restructuring
Moral Justification
• Terrorists convince themselves that their
actions are socially worthy and have an
ultimate moral and good purpose
43. Cognitive Restructuring
Euphemistic Language
• Behavior is given a sanitized or neutral label
– Language shapes thought patterns on which
people base many of their actions
Cognitive Restructuring
Advantageous Comparison
• Terrorists believe their way of life and
fundamental cultural values are superior to
those they attack
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Moral Development
• How is one able to kill numerous innocent
adults and children?
Psychology of Terrorist Motives
Other Disengagement Practices
44. • Dehumanization
• Displacement of responsibility
• Deindividuation
Suicide Terrorism Research
• Summary of Suicide Terrorism Research Conference
co-sponsored by NIJ, DOJ, DHS:
• Accepted Definition
• Basic Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Statistics
• Common Themes
• Areas of Disagreement
• Israeli Countermeasures
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Suicide Terrorism Research
• Accepted Definition of Suicide Terrorism:
45. “Intentionally killing oneself for the purpose of killing
others in the service of political and/or ideological
goals.”
ide” misleading?
with traditional psychological definitions of suicide.
Basic Statistics
• Mean Age: 22
• Marital Status: 91% Single
• Gender: 95% Male
• SES: Representative of population in the Occupied Territories;
NOT impoverished
• Education: Higher than population on avg.
• Motivations: National Humiliation; Religious (“to do God’s
will”); Personal Revenge; Religious (“Paradise”)
• Victims: 89% Civilians;11% Security Forces
Common Themes
• Involves rational decision-making process to execute these
types of military operations:
46. – Conclude that they have inadequate weaponry to
penetrate into the heart of enemy territory
– Tactic offers better control re: timing and location; “smart
bomb”
– Spreads “terror” and demoralization even if no enemy
losses
– Cheap, easy, simple, feasible
• A group phenomenon
– Indoctrination – two types: general public atmosphere in
favor of this tactic PLUS mission-specific indoctrination
– Group decision and commitment followed by personal
decision/commitment
• Not caused by individual psychopathology, poverty, or lack of
education
– “Suicide” is wrong term
• No common personality type
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Areas of Disagreement
• Primary Motivation: Political or Religious?
47. – For Palestinians, Paradise=Nation/State of Palestine
• Some see some psychopathology:
– Israeli researchers report 1/3 with minor depression or PTSD
but
none of the typical risk factors. Also, some are “weak”
personalities, socially marginal; women with “problems.”
– Palestinians report “model youth” worthy of emulation.
Majority are middle class, most well-educated. Serious,
studious, very religious, very helpful, kind, generous, devoted
sons/brothers, active in mosque’s youth programs, keen interest
in sports
• Whom to include in studies?
– Those caught before detonating?
– Those who had an equipment malfunction?
– Those who were killed by enemy prior to detonation?
– Those killed on impossible “suicide” missions who did not
have
explosives strapped to their backs?
“Istishad”
• “This is not suicide. Suicide is selfish, reflects
mental weakness. This is “istishad”
(martyrdom or self-sacrifice in the service of
Allah.”
•
• -Interviewed terrorist
48. Evolutionary Psychology and Suicide
Terrorism
• Liddle et al. (2011) –”modern human as being
stuck with a stone age mind”
• Band of Brothers & Kin Selection: "I would lay
down my life for two brothers or eight
cousins“ [J.B.S. Haldane]
9/19/2014
9
Evolutionary Psychology and Suicide
Terrorism
• About a quarter of all terrorist groups and about half of
the most dangerous ones on earth are primarily
motivated by religious concerns (Hoffman, 1999)
• Evolutionary Theories of Religion (direct adaptation
vs. Spandrel--hypersensitive agency detection device (HADD).,
“people seem to have a
strong bias to interpret ambiguous evidence as caused by or
being an agent” (Barrett, 2004, p. 31).
49. • “What are the processes through which religion
• can facilitate violence, terrorism, and peace and in
what contexts?”
Evolutionary Logic of Terrorism
• Terrorism is directed towards “positive”
change for a larger group seldom ‘self-serving’
often ‘sacrificing’
• “Band of Brothers” groups can simulate Kin
Relationships (family) and thus fight for
genetic reproduction…
10/24/2014
1
Psychological Impact of Terrorism
Psychological Impact of Terrorism
• Victims are the media through which the terrorist
communicates his demands to a society or its
government
• The intended effect is primarily psychological
• The violence of the terrorist is intended to created
50. mass victims from attacks against one or a few
• Terrorism is directed primarily against the victim, but
secondarily, and importantly, against the target
society
Psychological Impact of Terrorism
• The purpose of terrorism is “to create huge numbers of
secondary psychological casualties by means of large-scale
physical attacks.
• The effect of terrorism, to instill fear, has a multiplier effect
on
civilian populations
– For every death due to Scud missile attacks on Israel in 1991
there
were 272 hospital admissions for “psychological emergencies.”
Bongar2
– 1995 Sarin gas attacks in Tokyo subway resulted in 12 deaths
and more
than 4,000 hospital visits by nonaffected individuals exhibiting
“psychogenic symptoms of chemical injury.” World Health
Organization,
World Health Report 2001 -- Mental health: New understanding,
new hope.
10/24/2014
51. 2
Psychological Impact of Terrorism
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
– A psychological reaction to a highly stressful event,
characterized by depression, anxiety, flashbacks, recurrent
nightmares and avoidance of reminders of the event
• PTSD spreads increased anxiety, depression
– Tends to be the most common reaction of those far from
the terrorist act
– Tends to be higher among women
– Multiplies the effect of terrorism throughout the target
society
• Terrorism’s basic effect is to elicit feelings of
vulnerability
Stress Disorders
• Stressor:
– External event or situation that places a physical
or psychological demand on a person
– Range from chronic irritation to acute an
traumatic events
• Stress:
– Internal psychological or physiological response to
52. a stressor
Stress Disorders (cont’d.)
Figure 6-2 Five Leading Causes of Stress in America
Source: American Psychological Association (2010)
10/24/2014
3
Acute and Posttraumatic Stress
Disorders
• Both begin with a normative reaction (“fight
or flight”) that occurs when an individual faces
some type of danger
• Fear response remains even though original
basis for fear is no longer present
Acute and Posttraumatic Stress
Disorders (cont’d.)
• Acute stress disorder (ASD):
53. – Anxiety and dissociative symptoms that occur
within one month after exposure to a traumatic
stressor
• Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD):
– Anxiety, dissociative, and other symptoms that
last for more than one month and that occur as a
result of exposure to extreme trauma
Diagnosis of ASD and PTSD
• DSM-V criteria:
– Direct or indirect exposure to stressor
– Intrusive symptoms and intense physiological
reactivity associated with traumatic event
– Persistent evasion of stimuli related to trauma
– Alterations in cognitions and mood associated
with event and inability to experience positive
emotions
– Heightened autonomic arousal or reactivity
10/24/2014
54. 4
Diagnosis of ASD and PTSD (cont’d.)
• Differ in duration:
– ASD lasts three days to one month
– PTSD lasts longer than a month
• An individual is likely to receive initial
diagnosis of ASD and then PTSD if symptoms
persist longer than a month
Etiology of ASD and PTSD
Figure 6-1 Multipath Model for PTSD The dimensions interact
with one another and combine in
different ways to result in PTSD.
Etiology of ASD and PTSD (cont’d.)
• Factors associated with increased risk:
– Higher magnitude stressors
– More severe physical injuries
– Multiple stressors
55. – Rape and sexual assault
– Individual characteristics
– Perceptions of event
– Specific vulnerabilities
10/24/2014
5
Etiology of ASD and PTSD (cont’d.)
• Biological dimension:
– Sensitized autonomic system:
• Nervous system has become highly reactive to fear and
stress
– PTSD is not a biologically normative stress
response, but one in which neural and biological
systems demonstrate increased reactivity resulting
in hypersensitivity
– Diminished ability to inhibit or extinguish
conditioned fear
Etiology of ASD and PTSD (cont’d.)
56. • Biological dimension:
– Role of the amygdala and medial prefrontal cortex
– Epinephrine and cortisol
– One third of risk for PTSD due to genetics
– Individuals with specific biological vulnerabilities
predisposed to developing PTSD.
Etiology of ASD and PTSD (cont’d.)
• Psychological dimension:
– Specific psychological vulnerabilities have been
identified, but precise role varies
– Dysfunctional cognitions regarding oneself or
environment
– Positive cognitive styles reduce risk of PTSD
– Preexisting conditions such as trait anxiety and
depression found to be risk factors
10/24/2014
57. 6
Etiology of ASD and PTSD (cont’d.)
• Social dimension:
– Poor or inadequate support during childhood and
adulthood
– Social isolation
– Lack of social support after trauma may be most
important factor
– Above average cognitive skills as protective factors
Etiology of ASD and PTSD (cont’d.)
• Sociocultural dimension:
– Recent immigrants and refugees from countries
where there was civil conflict show elevated rates
of stress disorders
– Ethnic differences
– Women are twice as likely as men to suffer stress
disorder
Treatment of ASD and PTSD
58. • Biological:
– SSRI antidepressants
• Psychological:
– Psychotherapy focus on extinguishing fear or to
correct dysfunctional cognitions
– Exposure to cues associated with trauma
10/24/2014
7
Psychological Impact of Terrorism
• Ethnic background, gender, and age influence
the psychological reactions to terrorism
Psychological Impact of Terrorism
• Anthrax attacks -- 2001
– Extended the fear of terrorism to each individual
– Opened up a “limitless horizon” of fear -- the maximum
objective of
terrorism
• Some argue that these attacks were not the work of terrorists
59. but were “an inside job.” (Philipp Sarasin, Anthrax: Bioterror as
Fact and Fantasy, 2006)
• Provided a useful metaphor for terrorism that helped justify
aggressive “vaccination” policies of intervention in Afghanistan
and Iraq.
– The terrorist is understood as an infectious disease
– The threat of bioterror globalizes the struggle, justifies total
eradication
– Extends violence to the source of the infection, “alien”
peoples and
their beliefs
– Too apt not to have been an inside job
Psychological Impact of Terrorism
• Terror is an attempt to interrupt normal patterns
of judgment, especially political judgment (e.g.,
Madrid bombings)
• The victim is attempting to resist the effects of
fear -- how can this be done?
– Modeling those who have mastered their own fears
– Turning to sources of personal strength (religion, family,
close relationships, etc.)
– Maturity
– Habituation
– Self-knowledge, self-awareness
60. 11/9/2014
1
Counter-Terrorism: Disengagement,
Prevention and Deterrence
PSY 344: PSYCHOLOGY OF
TERRORISM
What Can Be Done?
• What can psychology,
and more generally, as a society do to counter
the psychological weapons of the terrorists?
What Can Be Done?
1. Group psychology: inhibit joiners in the first
place. Give people a space/ place to voice
frustrations.
2. Produce distention within the group.
3. Facilitate exit from the group
61. 4. Discredit group: marginalize people out of it
11/9/2014
2
Media Messages
The media provides the international, dramatic stage for
terrorism.
• It becomes a sensational media event.
• Thus, it facilitates a triangle between the terrorists, the media
and us.The terrorist’s threat is broadcast into our living room.
• Terrifying fantasies and “what if” scenarios add to their
power.
Media Messages
By participating in the media frenzy, we become
part of the triangle.
• We become a tool used by the terrorists to
promote themselves.
62. • The terrorized as the terrorist: The terrorized
paradoxically functions as a terrorist when he/she
joins the triangle, propagating fear.
Prevention
• What can be done politically to enhance
psychological resistance?
– Modeling
– Rhetorical leadership
– Pursue most effective policies instead of the easiest or
those enjoying greatest bipartisan support (e.g.,
profiling, surveillance, etc.)
– Play offense and defense at the same time
– Total involvement of society, reorient sub-structures
of society to resist the fear of terrorism
11/9/2014
3
The overwhelming majority of
evidence indicates that
responding to violence with
violence only provokes further
violence (Wagner & Long, 2004,
p. 215)
63. How Psychology Can Help
Psychological Understandings
• Psychology of violence
• Understanding Motivation
– Frustration, Solidarity
– Psychopathology often not a factor
• Understanding other Cultures
– Ideology, politics, religion
– Opportunity, education, socioeconomic status (SES)
• Understanding Terrorists
– Individuals
– Cells
How Psychology Can Help
Psychological Understandings
• Factors that generate groups striking out:
– Low economic progress
– Controlling government
– No equal opportunity
– Oppression, humiliation
64. • There are NO mass movements of hatred in
prosperity.” -Dr. Post
11/9/2014
4
Imagine….
• “You are brought up from childhood in a culture where there
is total poverty, a medieval set of surroundings with not even
a decent toilet, repression of your racial and religious group,
and all the adults around you filled with hatred of those
whom they are convinced are the oppressors, riots, lack of
proper schooling, nothing to do, no hope and observing your
older brothers brutalized, beaten, seriously injured, and
incarcerated by the police or occupying soldiers. Immersed in
that milieu will you not begin viewing the world as consisting
of “we” and “they” in which “they” are no longer thought of
as human but as monsters who should be destroyed? . . Are
you then not ready for a ‘holy war’ even if it costs your life?”
• -Richard Chessick, Archaic Sadism
How Psychology Can Help
Prevent Terrorism
65. • Analysis of Trends
– Means (bombs, planes, firearms)
– Targets (citizens, politicians, symbolic landmarks)
– Times (holidays, parades, dates of historical significance or
symbolic
events)
• How to Infiltrate
– How outsiders can best infiltrate a Cell
– How to gain trust of Cell members
– Vulnerabilities of Terrorists
• Interviewing Captured Terrorists
– Understanding reasons behind the attack; why it failed; why
they
backed out
– How to interview to get valuable information on other plans,
cells, etc.
Future Directions
• Suicide Terrorism Research
– Need to share the data with others
– Need to understand the world-wide picture
66. 11/9/2014
5
Future Directions
It’s not a phenomenon of just individual psychology, it’s an
organizational and group phenomenon.”
• What we need to understand is not why bombers do it but
how they are recruited and trained.
• Bottom Line motivation: A meaningful death is better than a
pointless life.
• “His life is not cheap because he is fearless and brave. He
offers the only thing he has.”
-Muslim Engineering student
The Media on Terrorism and
Counterterrorism
PSY 344: PSYCHOLOGY OF
TERRORISM
67. Terrorism and the Media
• Terrorists seek change through the use of fear
and intimidation
• Terrorists always ‘play’ to an audience
• Specific terrorist tactics are often employed to
maximize the impact of their activities
Terrorism is a Type of Psychological
Warfare
• Conventional warfare makes extensive use of
psychological ‘warfare’ to amplify its impact
• Terrorism relies almost exclusively on
psychological ‘warfare’ for its intended impact
It’s all in the perception of danger
The Media Can Be an Unwitting Ally to
Terrorism
• Terrorism is intended to instill terror in a
larger target audience
• Terrorism can also be intended to recruit
more supporters
68. • The media are critically important to
achieving both of these goals
Role of the Media in Terrorism
• Victims of the terrorists’ physical attack
provide the ‘signal’
• Media amplify and disseminate the ‘signal’ or
message
• Target audience responds with terror,
providing the impetus for capitulating to the
terrorists’ demands for change
The Media Magnification
Limited
Physical Attack Media
World-Wide Publicity
The Media Magnification
• Perception of Threat
– 9/11 attack killed less than 3,500 people
69. – Flu kills around 36,000 annually
• Are you afraid of the flu?
Role of the Media in Terrorism
Terrorist groups sometimes attempt to gain popular
support for their agenda (e.g., publicize their cause),
not just impart terror in the ‘suppressive’ population
or regime
The tactics necessary for this objective are somewhat
different than the other tactics commonly used by
terrorist organizations
Role of the Media in Terrorism for Gaining
Support
• Identify the social, political, economic, or
religious injustice
• Identify the responsible target
• Demonstrate the ability to strike and do harm
to the target
• Demonstrate a commitment and the resolve
to continue the fight until the goal is achieved
A Terrorist Recruiter
70. Emerge with the perception of being unrelenting
freedom fighters for a just and noble cause
supported by the oppressed masses rising-up
against a cruel and brutal regime
Terrorism Support Base
Actual
terrorists
Active supporters
Passive supporters
Sympathizers
Role of the Media in Terrorism
• The media are (mostly unwilling) allies of the
terrorists
– media want the ‘story’
– terrorists want their ‘message’ spread
• Media have a lot of control over the impact of
terrorist activity
71. Role of the Media in Terrorism
• Terrorist strive to amplify the impact of their
actions
• Media play an important role
– perspective of media coverage including
descriptive language
– prevalence of media coverage
• number of media sources
• duration of coverage
• detail of coverage
Importance of Words
• Selection of specific words has an important
impact on the perception of events
– cognitive
– emotional
• Language can either favorably or unfavorably
portray the same event
What’s in a Word?
72. • Consider the following words
– freedom fighter
– insurgent
– terrorist
(positive connotation)
(neutral connotation)
(negative connotation)
Words to Soften
the Impact
• near miss
• casualties
• collateral damage
• detainee
• near crash
• killed or seriously
injured
73. • civilians killed or injured
(civilian casualties)
• prisoner
Similar Denotations—
Different Conations
• Positive
– freedom fighter
– liberator
– peacekeeper
• More Neutral
– insurgent
– kill
• Descriptive Label
– antiabortion
– reproductive choice
• Negative
– terrorist
– invader
– occupier
• Less Neutral
74. – rebel
– murder
• Propaganda Label
– ProLife
– ProChoice
Subtle but Important
• Liberator—good
• Invader—bad
• Foreign Invader—worse
“foreign” invader has a special connotation in the
Middle East; it unites otherwise belligerent
Arabic factions to fight the “common enemy”
and may form the basis for a Jihad and
martyrdom
Other Choices in Word Selection
–Crusader
–Infidel
–Jihad
Anti-Western Rhetoric
75. These terms are commonly used in the Arabic media and the last
term is sometimes used worldwide.The terms have different
implications for Arabic and Western cultures.
Different Portrayals of the Same Event
Terrorists detonated an improvised explosive device near the
hospital of the peacekeeping forces. There were numerous U.S.
military and Iraqi casualties from the explosion. The insurgents
continue their indiscriminant attack of U.S. facilities without
regard for strategic value. (American media version)
Freedom fighters detonated a bomb near the base of the
crusaders. The tremendous blast killed several of the foreign
occupiers and severely injured many more of their
collaborators. The resistance fighters continue to carry the
Jihad to the camps of the foreign invaders leaving the infidels
no safe haven. (Arabic media version)
Poor Choice?
In Arabic nations, the colors of flags have widely recognized
meanings.
76. Green, white and black denote Islam -- harkening back to the
battle banners of the
medieval Islamic dynasties of the Fatimids, Ummayads and
Abbasids. Green is
said to have been the prophet Muhammad's favorite color; the
Saudi, Libyan,
Algerian and Mauritanean flags are completely or largely green.
The only Arab League members to have any blue in their flag
are the African
nations of Djibouti and Somalia.
US-picked Iraqi leaders declare a new flag
that breaks with Hussein -- and the rest of
Arab world. By Lee Keath, Associated Press |
April 26, 2004 [excerpts]
How to Lose the Propaganda War
• Cultural insensitivity often aids the terrorists
– Re-design of the Iraqi flag using the color of the Israeli flag
(blue)
feeds the perception of Zionist conquest
– President Bush’s use of the term “crusade” inflamed the
Moslem
77. world
• Western world--noble, righteous cause
• Islamic world--invasion by infidels
– Osama bin Laden had already referred to the
“Zionists/Crusaders in
his 1998 fatwa and elsewhere
U.S. PsyOps and Intell Language
• “Surrender or die” in Afghanistan
• Air strike called in by Afghan warlord on
wedding party
• “Crusade” to liberate Iraq
• “He’s a terrorist!” accusation by other Iraqi
prisoners
• “We are here to kill you. Come out and fight”
(Falluja offensive)?
More Choice Terms
• Detention center vs. prison
• Enemy combatant vs. POW
(also has legal distinction)
78. • Intensive interrogation vs. torture
• Execution vs. murder
The Language “Battleground”
• Terrorism is ‘fought’ in the psychological
realm
—perception is everything
• Word choice and narrative have an important
influence on the psychological impact
• Don’t concede the language ‘war’
—fight on all fronts
Media Wars & Bias in Media
• Left-wing, right-wing slant
– Some “news” presentations are obviously biased,
pandering to an existing audience
– Other “news” presentations may appear neural
but attempt to persuade by subtle propaganda
– “Fair and balanced” or fairly balancing? (the Fox
spins too)
79. Implicit Support of the Terrorist
Organization
• Graphic portrayal of the injustice
• Personification of the terrorists’ target as evil
and inhumane
• Presentation of the terrorists as
– representing the suppressed
– a rational, goal-directed organization
– minimizing harm to innocent people
– (and on the side of God, if possible)
Information Sources
• News Media
• Government Sources
• Internet
• First-hand accounts
• Personal experience
News Sources
80. • Broadcast Media
– television
– radio
– Internet
• Printed Media
– newspapers
– magazines
American-Based Television Networks
• Broadcast
– ABC
– CBS
– Fox
– NBC
– PBS
• Cable
– CNN/CNN Headline
News
– CSPAN
81. – Fox News
– MSNBC/CNBC
Non-American
Satellite Networks
• English Language
– British
• BBC/BBC World
• Granada
• Sky News
– Canadian (regional
broadcast/cable)
• CBC
• CTV
• Arabic Language
– Qatar
• Al Jazeera
– United Arab Emirates
• Al Arabiya
82. Newspapers
• American (National
Distribution)
– Christian Science Monitor
– LA Times
– New York Times
– U.S.A. Today
– Wall Street Journal
– Washington Post
• Non-American (English
Language)
– International Herald
Tribune
– The Times (London)
• Arabic (with English versions
online)
– Cairo
– Lebanon
83. News Wire Services
• Associated Press (AP)
• Reuters
Government Information Sources
• White House, Pentagon & related press offices
• Senate & House committees
• Government web sites
• Government reports
• Individual government officials
Internet Information Sources
• Media linked (e.g., ABC, BBC, CBS, CNN)
• Government
– United States (e.g., FBI, State Department)
– Foreign (e.g., British Home Office, MI-5)
• Non-government
84. – organizations (FAS, Rand Corporation)
– companies (e.g., Black Hawk Security)
– individuals (www.PsychologyofTerrorism.com)
Information Bias
• All information sources direct their presentations to
an intended audience
– Some risk losing their intended audiences if they present
inaccurate information
– Others pander to the bias of their intended audience and
risk losing their audience if they present unbiased reports
• Some media ‘sell’ sensationalism
• All media want the ‘big story’
Evaluating Sources of Information
• Use a variety of information sources
• Note how the same information is presented
differently by different sources
• Recognize that even biased information
sources have some ‘grain of truth’ in their
reporting
85. Evaluating Sources of Information,
• Recognize the motivation of the reporting
agency and examine its possible bias
– nobody does it for “free”
• mass media may be ‘selling newspapers’ or pushing
their own social-political agenda
• government and other sources may be amplifying,
blunting, or filtering the information for propaganda
purposes
Analyzing Information
• Use common sense and logic
• Remember that bias is present both in the
information source AND in the recipient of the
information
– avoid prejudice and stereotypes
– try to negate psychological processes that distort
information processing
– seek feedback for reality testing
86. Media Censorship of ‘Sensitive’ Stories
• Media self-censorship
– verifying story & factual information
– considering impact of story
• softening impact
• omitting story
• Government censorship
– limiting media access
– ‘clearing’ news stories
Open Source Information
• During World War II, German spies often used
public sources for acquiring intelligence
• During the Cold War, Soviet spies often used
public sources for acquiring intelligence; the
same information was classified in the Soviet
Union
Terrorist Setup?
• One surrendering resistance fighter innocently
killed is worth scores of enemy dead
87. • One ‘innocent’ woman and child killed at a
roadside checkpoint ‘buys’ hundreds of new
terrorist supporters
The Media as the Terrorists’ Ally
• Terrorism is all about perception
– perception of the ‘just cause’ the terrorists are
fighting for
– perception that the “ends justify the means”
(and there is no alternative)
– perception of popular support for the terrorists’
‘cause’
– perception of the severity of the terrorist threat
The Media “Battleground”
• Media have a profound influence on the
perception of events
– much of the ‘war’ is fought in the media
• propaganda is a primary weapon
• everybody spins the story
– a successful “war on terrorism” requires
88. controlling the spin and winning the propaganda
‘war’
11/30/2014
1
Final Thoughts and Conclusions
Dr. Jonathan Appel
Psychology of Terrorism
Final Thoughts and Conclusions
• When people in the West dismiss violence as a
backward byproduct of religion, they’re being
lazy and self-serving (Armstrong, 2014).
• Blaming religion, Armstrong argues, allows
Westerners to ignore the essential role that
violence has played in the formation of our
own societies — and the essential role that
our societies have played in seeding violence
abroad.
Final Thoughts and Conclusions
• “Terrorism is fundamentally and inherently
political, even when other motives, religious,
economic, and social, are involved. Terrorism
is always about power.” (Armstrong, 2014).
89. 11/30/2014
2
Final Thoughts and Conclusions
• Religion was part of state-building, and a lot of the
violence of our world is the violence of the state.
• We’re haunted by terrible fears and paranoias. We’re
frightened beings. When people are afraid, fear takes
over and brings out all kind of irrationality. So, yes,
we’re constantly striving to be rational, but we’re not
wholly rational beings.
• A concentration camp can exist within the same
vicinity as a university.
Final Thoughts and Conclusions
• Forensic psychiatrists who have interviewed
about 500 people involved in the 9/11
atrocity, and those lone-wolves like the Boston
Marathon, has found that one of the principal
causes for their turning to these actions was a
sense of lack of meaning; a sense of
meaningless and purposelessness and
hopelessness in their lives. A lack of meaning
is a dangerous thing in society
Final Thoughts and Conclusions
90. • The suicide bomber has been analyzed by Robert Pape of
the University of Chicago, who has made a study of every
single suicide bombing from 1980 to 2004. He has found
that it’s always a response to the invasion of the homeland
by a militarily superior power. People feel their space is
invaded, and they resort to this kind of action because they
can’t compete with the invaders. [Suicide bombing] was a
ploy [first] used by the Tamil Tigers, who had no time for
religion.
• Every fundamentalist movement from Judaism, Christianity
and Islam, is rooted in a profound fear of annihilation
11/30/2014
3
Final Thoughts and Conclusions
• Fundamentalism represents a rebellion
against modernity, and one of the hallmarks of
modernity has been the liberation of women.
There’s nothing in the Quran to justify either
the veiling or the seclusion of women. The
Quran gave women rights of inheritance and
divorce, legal rights we didn’t have in the West
until the 19th century.
Final Thoughts and Conclusions
• Nationalism was completely alien to the middle east;
they had no understanding of it. The borders were
91. cobbled together with astonishing indifference and
self-interest on the part of the West.
• A major cause of unrest and alienation has always been
humiliation. Islam was, before the colonial period, the
great world power, rather like the United States today.
It was reduced overnight to a dependent bloc and
treated by the colonialists with frank disdain.
Assignment: Case Analysis Paper 3: Individual Profile Due
Date: Monday Dec 4
Assignment: Case Analysis Paper 3: Individual Profile
Due Date: By 8am 12/4
Resources
Read/review the following resources for this activity:
· All readings to date
· Lectures (all from Weeks)
· Lists of terrorists:
http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/wanted_terrorists
http://www.nctc.gov/site/profiles/a-c.html
· Independent research (various resources for background
research on the subject of your profile; minimum of 2 peer-
reviewed resource for theoretical perspectives)
Introduction
The rationale for this activity is the activation of course
knowledge with a real-world application of psychology of
terrorism.
Activity Instructions
The Case Analysis Paper 3 is due this week. Review the
92. instructions and requirements for the assignment.
This assignment is designed as an exercise in case
conceptualization to develop your skill in reviewing and
assessing an actual individual terrorist. The task is to present a
comprehensive formulation which integrates etiology, theory,
and research, as they apply to a specific person.
Choose one of the terrorists provided in the following links or
in the handouts for this activity, or obtain approval for a group
not listed:
Lists of terrorists:
http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/wanted_terrorists
http://www.nctc.gov/site/profiles/a-c.html
In a written report explain the following (use as headings in
your paper):
1. Briefly summarize the background of the person, groups
members (if applies) and description of terrorist activities or
acts.
2. The external or environmental factors (social) that might be
relevant in the etiology of the individual’s behavior.
1. The different psychological concepts or perspectives in your
readings or independent research which might be applicable to
this particular person and how they apply. You can choice one
(or more) theory and apply it to the case (e.g. psychology
concepts, diagnosis and/or research-“this individal’s behavior
may be a result of strong aggression and/or id impulses and a
poorly developed Superego as described by Freud …etc.). See
readings or research and links for theory suggestions).
93. 1. References are expected for this case paper, but watch use of
web-page citations. Research articles and books as references
will help you get more points. Wikipedia and like web sites are
not acceptable references in an academic paper. One can use
web-sites provided or government web-sites for the background
research on the (subject) in your profile—but theory section
references should be from good peer-reviewed references such
as an academic book or articles (including readings and out
journal articles or books).
2. Remember these papers are to answer the question of “WHY”
and “HOW” did this /group person do what they did? What
caused it? What were the critical psychological events or
processes that laid the foundation for their acts.
2. What preventative actions or intervention/counterterrorism
approaches may have made a difference in this individual’s
case? Be sure to cite relevant literature if possible (hint: look at
course texts).
To complete this assignment, you will need to be concise in
covering each of the above five items.
Writing Requirements (APA format)
· Minimum of 8 pages (approx. 300 words per page), not
including title page or references page
· 1-inch margins
· Double spaced
· 12-point Times New Roman font
· Title page with topic and name of student
· References page (various resources for background research
on the subject of your profile; minimum of 2 peer-reviewed
resource for theoretical perspectives)
· No abstract needed
Submission Instructions
1. Click Add submission to select your assignment file.
94. 2. Then click Add or drag-and-drop your file into the window.
3. When you are ready to submit the assignment, click Save
changes.
4. 4. Then click Submitassignment.
5. 5. Click Continue to confirm submission.
Grading and Assessment
This activity will be graded based on the following criteria (out
of 100 points):
1. Background on Case (20 points)
2. External/environmental factors (20 points)
3. Psychological concepts or perspectives application to case
(20 points)
4. Preventative actions or counterterrorism approaches (20
points)
5. Details for Paper Assignment: (20 points). Typewritten,
double-spaced, in Regular/normal sized type, APA style paper
with good references, at least 8 pages of text, turned in at due
date/time.