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A multilevel social neuroscience perspective on radicalization and terrorism.
Soc Neurosci. 2018 10; 13(5):511-529.SN

Abstract

Why are some people capable of sympathizing with and/or committing acts of political violence, such as attacks aimed at innocent targets? Attempts to construct terrorist profiles based on individual and situational factors, such as clinical, psychological, ethnic, and socio-demographic variables, have largely failed. Although individual and situational factors must be at work, it is clear that they alone cannot explain how certain individuals are radicalized. In this paper, we propose that a comprehensive understanding of radicalization and of how it may lead to political violence requires the integration of information across multiple levels of analysis and interdisciplinary perspectives from evolutionary theory, social, personality and cognitive psychology, political science and neuroscience. Characterization of the structural-functional relationships between neural mechanisms and the cognitive and affective psychological processes that underpin group dynamics, interpersonal processes, values and narratives, as well as micro-sociological processes may reveal latent drivers of radicalization and explain why some people turn to extreme political violence. These drivers may not be observable within a single individual level of scientific enquiry. The integrative, multilevel approach that characterizes social neuroscience has the potential to provide theoretical and empirical clarity regarding the antecedents of radicalization and support for extreme violence.

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Publisher Full Text (DOI)

Authors+Show Affiliations

Decety J
a Department of Psychology , University of Chicago , Chicago , IL , USA. b Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience , University of Chicago , Chicago , IL , USA.
Pape R
c Department of Political Science , University of Chicago , IL , USA.
Workman CI
a Department of Psychology , University of Chicago , Chicago , IL , USA.

MeSH

BrainHumansNeurosciencesPoliticsSocial BehaviorTerrorismViolence

Pub Type(s)

Journal Article
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
Review

Language

eng

PubMed ID

29091541

Citation

Decety, Jean, et al. "A Multilevel Social Neuroscience Perspective On Radicalization and Terrorism." Social Neuroscience, vol. 13, no. 5, 2018, pp. 511-529.
Decety J, Pape R, Workman CI. A multilevel social neuroscience perspective on radicalization and terrorism. Soc Neurosci. 2018;13(5):511-529.
Decety, J., Pape, R., & Workman, C. I. (2018). A multilevel social neuroscience perspective on radicalization and terrorism. Social Neuroscience, 13(5), 511-529. https://doi.org/10.1080/17470919.2017.1400462
Decety J, Pape R, Workman CI. A Multilevel Social Neuroscience Perspective On Radicalization and Terrorism. Soc Neurosci. 2018;13(5):511-529. PubMed PMID: 29091541.
* Article titles in AMA citation format should be in sentence-case
TY - JOUR T1 - A multilevel social neuroscience perspective on radicalization and terrorism. AU - Decety,Jean, AU - Pape,Robert, AU - Workman,Clifford I, Y1 - 2017/11/08/ PY - 2017/11/2/pubmed PY - 2019/2/23/medline PY - 2017/11/2/entrez KW - Social neuroscience KW - extremism KW - group dynamics KW - microsociology KW - political neuroscience KW - political violence KW - radicalization KW - terrorism SP - 511 EP - 529 JF - Social neuroscience JO - Soc Neurosci VL - 13 IS - 5 N2 - Why are some people capable of sympathizing with and/or committing acts of political violence, such as attacks aimed at innocent targets? Attempts to construct terrorist profiles based on individual and situational factors, such as clinical, psychological, ethnic, and socio-demographic variables, have largely failed. Although individual and situational factors must be at work, it is clear that they alone cannot explain how certain individuals are radicalized. In this paper, we propose that a comprehensive understanding of radicalization and of how it may lead to political violence requires the integration of information across multiple levels of analysis and interdisciplinary perspectives from evolutionary theory, social, personality and cognitive psychology, political science and neuroscience. Characterization of the structural-functional relationships between neural mechanisms and the cognitive and affective psychological processes that underpin group dynamics, interpersonal processes, values and narratives, as well as micro-sociological processes may reveal latent drivers of radicalization and explain why some people turn to extreme political violence. These drivers may not be observable within a single individual level of scientific enquiry. The integrative, multilevel approach that characterizes social neuroscience has the potential to provide theoretical and empirical clarity regarding the antecedents of radicalization and support for extreme violence. SN - 1747-0927 UR - https://www.unboundmedicine.com/medline/citation/29091541/A_multilevel_social_neuroscience_perspective_on_radicalization_and_terrorism_ DB - PRIME DP - Unbound Medicine ER -