Citation

Kruglanski AW, Fernandez JR, Factor AR, Szumowska E. Cognition 2019; 188: 116-123.

Affiliation

Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Ingardena 6 Str., 30-060 Krakow, Poland. Electronic address: ewa.szumowska@uj.edu.pl.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.cognition.2018.11.008

PMID

30545561

Abstract

This paper considers the cognitive underpinnings of violent extremism. We conceptualize extremism as stemming from a motivational imbalance in which a given need "crowds out" other needs and liberates behavior from their constraints. In the case of violent extremism, the dominant need in question is the quest for personal significance and the liberated behavior is aggression employed as means to the attainment of significance. The cognitive mechanisms that enable this process are ones of learning and inference, knowledge activation, selective attention, and inhibition. These are discussed via examples from relevant research.

Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

Motivated cognition; Motivation; Violent extremism