Introduction
In recent years, violent extremism (VE) attacks have escalated worldwide. More schools and students are being attacked. Examining and addressing VE core causes through preventing VE ...(PVE) strategies can help avoid future atrocities. Due to the tremendous proliferation of research geared toward PVE, an extensive but disorganized knowledge review has accumulated in recent years. The review aims to discover several common themes and strategies across different disciplines and suggests resilience approaches might be the effective framework for PVE worldwide.
Methods
This study followed the guidelines provided by PRISMA. A systematic literature review on 81 articles was conducted in January 2022, with a screening approach starting from the title, and finally, full articles.
Results
Seventeen studies were identified with a total sample of 2415 vulnerable young adults, age range: 16–29, male: 68.65% and female 31.35% mainly influenced VE pursuits through internet, TV and social media. In addition, the study identified that for PVE, individual actions would include ineffective approaches compared to a group approach starting from family to educational institutions.
Conclusions
The effective PVE will be ensured by developing strategies for resilient individuals and dialoguing from the social‐ecological perspective for taking practical actions in reducing VE activities.
Violent extremism in the United States has surged over the past 25 years, with attacks on and threats to major governmental and other institutions, infrastructure (e.g., electric grid), and specific ...segments of the population, including immigrant and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color) communities. Violent extremism can take multiple and diverse forms, such as bombings in public spaces or specific sites (e.g., house of worship, governmental office), mass and more targeted types of shootings, bombings, fire setting, and vehicle-based ramming attacks. This article provides an overview of key issues surrounding terrorism and violent extremism, especially as they can impact youth, schools, and families. Characteristics of violent extremism, radicalization processes, subsequent types of harm, and prevention approaches are discussed. Issues impacting students and schools and the work of school psychologists are also considered. The article closes with broader recommendations for moving forward.
Violent extremism (VE; i.e., terrorism) is an issue of increasing relevance in school settings. Worldwide, terrorist actors have increasingly targeted youth in schools both for victimization via ...attacks as well for radicalization and recruitment to their ranks. Although violent extremism as an ideologically motivated act can be distinguished from mass shootings in school settings in that most school-based mass shootings are not ideologically motivated, there is obvious overlap. The threat of violent extremism, however, also represents a distinct issue that warrants increased attention from school professionals. We present an overview of several related issues before exploring strategies to mitigate the threat of targeted violence in school settings, including opportunities for school personnel to assist in identifying, assessing, and managing threats of violent extremism. In the final section, we focus specifically on ways that school psychologists can increase awareness and help bring about individual and systemic changes to prevent violent extremism in schools.
Objective
Although violent extremism is often attributed to clinical (dysfunctional) dispositions, it is also possible that violent Jihadists might be clinically “normal” but bear certain personality ...signatures. This alternative view has yet to be tested.
Method
In six studies, employing hard‐to‐reach Muslim samples, including one study of former Mujahideen, we investigated the relationship between basic personality traits and violent extremism. We further used a known group paradigm to validate the personality signatures of violent extremism, comparing a sample of former Mujahideen with another sample from Afghanistan.
Results
These studies and an internal meta‐analysis revealed that Lower Openness to Experience, lower Emotionality, and lower Altruism were associated with more violent intentions to support Muslims. Higher Altruism was associated with higher levels of nonviolent intention to support Muslims. Supporting the validity of the nonviolent intention measure, similar associations were found in Study 3 with overt behavioral support of Muslims (donations). More important, compared to the nonMujahideen, the Mujahideen sample scored lower on average on, for instance, Openness, indicating that these results go beyond self‐reported, findings.
Conclusion
We demonstrated that personality predicts violent and nonviolent defense of Muslims among four general populations of Muslims living in the West and in Asia (including the Middle East), and a sample of Mujahideen in Afghanistan.
This policy paper provides a guiding framework for centralising the role of local women in preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE) and peacebuilding programmes. It draws on the author’s ...research into the gendered appeals of violent extremist propaganda and field experiences implementing programmes across Southeast Asia. The approach outlined here builds on the “linkage” approach to propaganda analysis and P/CVE programme design arguing that women need to be capacitated with the knowledge and strategic tools and empowered through women’s networks to develop locally nuanced solutions. The Capacitate to Outcompete, Persuade, and Empower (C.O.P.E) framework consists of four broad pillars. First, workshops to educate women about violent extremist strategies and P/CVE and peacebuilding approaches. Second, narrative-driven actions led by women addressing key psychosocial, political, economic, and health issues. Third, strategic communications efforts to promote empowerment goals. Fourth, establish grassroots women’s networks as forums for bonding, support, and organisation for collective action. This paper highlights experiences implementing C.O.P.E offering a practical guide for design and implementation.
While much is known about factors associated with deradicalisation and disengagement from violent extremism and terrorism, the underlying mechanisms at play have been under theorised. Literature on ...criminal desistance has a lot to offer in understanding the process of exiting from extremism, particularly in how it proceeds, the mechanisms at play and why it may or may not be sustained-what we term as the sustainability problem. We draw on criminal desistance scholarship to theoretically unpack the change processes underpinning desistance from extremism and why it is a challenging process for individuals. We propose a theory of cognitive transformation and explore the role of agentic change and external influences on the sustainability of desistance. We link our proposed theory of change to practical implications relating to the role of formal agents and how desistance from extremism can be supported, undermined, and assessed as authentic. Limitations with the theory of change are considered, as well directions for future research.
The phenomenon of violent radicalism/extremism is portrayed as a consequence of a mechanism that fosters extremism in general. This is the process of motivational imbalance or “prepossession”, a ...state wherein a given need becomes dominant to the point of inhibiting other needs. In the case of violent extremism, the dominant need is the quest for significance, the desire to matter and have self and others’ respect. Whereas the “hydraulic” domination-inhibition process that underlies extremism can be observed across levels of phylogeny, the motivational imbalance in those cases is typically brief in duration. In the case of humans, however, participation in violent extremism can be long lasting, due to its facilitation by a compelling narrative” that ties violence to the attainment of significance, and is embraced by a “network” of trusted others (individuals’ friends and relatives) who validate the narrative and bestow significance on individuals who implement its dictates.
Preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE) requires coordination among multiple agencies, stakeholders and systems. The complexity of this task (compounded by the variety of P/CVE ...programming around the world) creates a challenge for those hoping to develop these initiatives. The purpose of this project was to develop a replicable process and corresponding toolkit to engage multiple stakeholders in consensus building around the efficacy and improvement of nascent, developing or mature systems-level P/CVE programs. As a method, we adapted the process of nominal group technique (NGT), a structured-brainstorming tool that provides an orderly procedure for obtaining qualitative and ranked information from heterogenous participant pools. The technique we developed is based on a case-study approach (“scenario”) which we then tested in three countries (USA, Sweden, and North Macedonia) with existing P/CVE initiatives at different stages of development. We conducted scenario-based NGT sessions in each location and then systematically analyzed the results using iterative qualitative coding based on a common framework. Results were analyzed to achieve consensus on the most common system-level challenges and system-level functions, necessary to overcome those challenges, in each location. Practitioners in each local jurisdiction were then able to utilize the results derived from the NGT for their own purposes, such as advocacy to policy makers, strategic regional P/CVE planning, and ongoing stakeholder engagement.
Til trods for at den eksistentielle psykologi historisk set har været mere orienteret mod psykologisk praksis end forskning,fremhæver flere, at psykologiens øvrige afgreninger og forskningsområder ...indeholder eksistentielle aspekter. I denne artikel argumenterer jeg for, at dette i særdeleshed også gør sig gældende inden for litteraturen om radikalisering mod voldelig ekstremisme, der er et centralt emne i både dansk forskning og på den politiske scene i Danmark. Fokus er i særdeleshed påforebyggelsen af voldelig radikalisering og dens mange negative konsekvenser. En afgørende forudsætning for effektiv forebyggelse er i første omgang at forstå, hvornår og hvordan radikalisering forekommer. Jeg vil i denne artikel udfolde det argument, at en eksplicit anvendelse af den eksistentielle psykologi kan yde særligt to væsentlige bidrag i denne henseende.For det første viser jeg, hvordan de mest velunderbyggede teorier om radikalisering kan integreres via eksistensbegrebet, og at radikalisering mod voldelig ekstremisme dermed kan anskues som et udtryk for eksistentiel krise. For det andet belyser jeg i artiklen, hvordan eksistentielle interventioner dermed kan spille en afgørende rolle i forebyggelsen af voldelig radikalisering og ekstremisme, og at eksistentielle praksisser således bør implementeres i den nuværende danske forebyggelsesindsats.
Even though existential psychology historically has been more concerned with therapeutic practice than research, several academics point to the influence existential concerns possess within other branches and traditions of psychological science. In this paper, I argue that such concerns also take up a prominent role in the literature on radicalization towards violent extremism, a contemporary issue that is highly prioritised on both the research and policy agenda in Denmark. In this regard, particular focus is on how to prevent violent radicalisation and its negative consequences that is an effort which necessitates knowledge about when and how radicalization happens in the first place. I argue that an explicit focus on, and appreciation of, existential psychology can make two important contributions on this matter. First, I show how the most prominent theories on radicalization can be integrated into a coherent theoretical framework through the lens of existential psychology, and that radicalization towards violent extremism can hence be understood as a deep frustration with concerns regarding one’s existence. On this basis, I illustrate how interventions based on existential psychological principles can play a vital role in preventing violent radicalization and extremism, and that such practices should be implemented into the current Danish preventive strategy.
The Making of Violent Extremists Kruglanski, Arie; Jasko, Katarzyna; Webber, David ...
Review of general psychology,
03/2018, Letnik:
22, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
The authors outline a psychological model of extremism and analyze violent extremism as a special case of it. Their significance quest theory identifies 3 general drivers of violent extremism: need, ...narrative, and network. The theory asserts that the need for personal significance-the desire to matter, to "be someone," and to have meaning in one's life-is the dominant need that underlies violent extremism. A violence-justifying ideological narrative contributes to radicalization by delineating a collective cause that can earn an individual the significance and meaning he or she desires, as well as an appropriate means with which to pursue that cause. Lastly, a network of people who subscribe to that narrative leads individuals to perceive the violence-justifying narrative as cognitively accessible and morally acceptable. The authors describe empirical evidence for the theory, which was tested on a wide variety of samples across different cultures and geopolitical contexts. They go on to offer a general road map to guide efforts to counter and prevent violent extremism in its various forms.
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