The psychology of radicalism involves having extreme views, or beliefs, that are being driven by strong emotional feelings or drives (Holt et al. 2015). Radicalism has fuelled a lot of terrorist attacks like 9/11, and much more; however, in every expression of radicalism, a psychological drive remains at the core motivator of each act, this drive is known as desperation (Holt et al. 2015). Desperation is a state of urgent desire or need, it is what makes a person eat when they are hungry and drink when they are thirsty; it is a large causal factor of terrorism (Holt et al. 2015). Terrorism is an act or threat of violence to forward political aims and to generate fear outside the immediate vicinity of the act (Lutz & Lutz, 2013). The need to
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In psychology, desperation is known as a feeling; it is a feeling that drives a person’s sense of competence (Gross, 2015). Personal competence is defined by White (1959) as the capacity that one has to deal effectively with their environment, it is based on fundamentally rewarding and satisfying the feeling that they are capable human beings; this is what turns radicals into terrorists because in a sense they feel that they have no other alternatives. According to White (1959), this capability refers to the ability to understand, predict, and control the world around them; therefore, when a person begins to feel a sense of desperation, they are failing in their ability to predict and control the world around them. This failing ability to control and predict their environment results in over-compensating behaviours; these over-compensating behaviours can turn radicals into terrorists, as a way for radicals to gain a feeling of control through the act of terrorism (Lutz & Lutz, 2013; & Gross, 2015). An example of this is that when a parent loses a child for any of a number of reasons, the parent feels a loss of control, this feeling of no control causes the parent to over-compensate by holding on tighter to any remaining children, even to the point of isolation and complete control. The evidence suggests that over-compensating behaviours can have extremely negative results, and can turn innocent people, with radical ideology into terrorists, all in an effort to obtain a feeling of
In psychology, desperation is known as a feeling; it is a feeling that drives a person’s sense of competence (Gross, 2015). Personal competence is defined by White (1959) as the capacity that one has to deal effectively with their environment, it is based on fundamentally rewarding and satisfying the feeling that they are capable human beings; this is what turns radicals into terrorists because in a sense they feel that they have no other alternatives. According to White (1959), this capability refers to the ability to understand, predict, and control the world around them; therefore, when a person begins to feel a sense of desperation, they are failing in their ability to predict and control the world around them. This failing ability to control and predict their environment results in over-compensating behaviours; these over-compensating behaviours can turn radicals into terrorists, as a way for radicals to gain a feeling of control through the act of terrorism (Lutz & Lutz, 2013; & Gross, 2015). An example of this is that when a parent loses a child for any of a number of reasons, the parent feels a loss of control, this feeling of no control causes the parent to over-compensate by holding on tighter to any remaining children, even to the point of isolation and complete control. The evidence suggests that over-compensating behaviours can have extremely negative results, and can turn innocent people, with radical ideology into terrorists, all in an effort to obtain a feeling of