Psychological and Behavioral Factors of Individual Terrorists Essay (Essay Sample)

Psychological and Behavioral Factors of Individual Terrorists
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Psychological and Behavioral Factors of Individual Terrorists
Terrorism continues to be a significant problem in society because it is mostly random and affects numerous individuals, economic activities, and political, societal, and social statures. It is not common for sane individuals to deliberately choose violence for political purposes or retribution. Consequently, researchers desire to determine the psychological and behavioral factors prompting terrorists such as recruits and suicide bombers to perform terror activities. The government will most likely thwart terrorism upon understanding why recruits and suicide bombers choose to engage in political violence. This paper identifies psychological and behavioral factors of individual terrorists, including the subconscious fear of death and cultural annihilation, a collectivist mentality, depressive equivalent behavior, attitude towards violence, and the social concepts of radical beliefs.
Subconscious Fear of Death
One of the psychological and behavioral factors of individual terrorists is that they lack the subconscious fear of death. It is normal to fear death and avoid it at all costs, yet terrorists do quite the opposite. Boyd et al. (2017) conducted a study to determine terrorists' openness to death by examining their perception of death and the subconscious fear of death. The tendency of dying being a permanent encounter may subject many to fear and some to intrigue (Boyd et al., 2017, p.117). Connelly et al. (2014) say terrorists desire death as a novel experience, prompting them to death openness (as cited in Boyd et al., 2017, p. 117).
Similarly, Sharma and Nijjar (2018) elaborate on the fear of terrorism using a different approach. The study looks at terrorism from an Islam perspective regarding their previous experiences and motivations for terror. Thus, the study highlights the presence of fear among the terrorists and the need to identify crime as a "logic of security" (Sharma & Nijjar, 2018, p. 17). Adorno and Horkheimer also identify terrorists as "free from fear when there is no longer anything unknown" (as cited in Sharma & Nijjar, 2018, p. 17).
People's Fear of Cultural Annihilation
Another psychological and behavioral factor prompting individual terrorism is the fear of cultural annihilation. Culture plays a significant role in modeling our characters, virtues, and future selves. For instance, the social culture places Americans as social enthusiasts who interact with each other for shared experiences. Additionally, people from other cultures want to identify with their cultures and desire a global representation. However, the interaction and socialization of diverse cultures threaten the extinction of some, propelling terrorists to undertake extremities that violate and destroy human experiences, if it means protecting their culture from extinction or contamination. Cultural annihilation forces people to desire destroying particular belief systems or cultures different from theirs.
The study of people's fear of cultural annihilation from an individual level examines their self-annihilation and its influence on cultural annihilation. Rubin (2018) conducted a study to investigate how self-annihilation relates to fear and terrorism. Pyszczynski et al. (2006) imply that people's perceptions of their impending death cause anxiety (as cited in Rubin, 2018, p. 2). These claims are different from Sharma and Nijjar's (2018) studies because they imply that terrorists experience anxiety of death but choose to die nevertheless. Objectively, Pyszczynski et al. (2006) imply the tendency of individual terrorists to embrace cultural awareness as a consequence of reducing death anxiety (as cited in Rubin, 2018, p. 2). Consequently, these individuals' cultures influence them to protect their cultures by partaking in violent activities (Rubin, 2018).
Additionally, Rubin (2018) identifies individuals' tendencies to be mortality salient and protect their culture from being extinct (p. 2). For instance, Rubin (2018) identifies how cultures manipulate people with death thoughts, prompting cultural stereotypes (p. 2). Therefore, cultural stereotypes may embrace violent behavior and life-threatening activities to protect their cultures or belief systems from extinction or destruction.
Collectivist Mentality
Another psychological and behavioral factor that prompts individual terrorism is a collectivist mentality among terrorists. Collectivist mentality subjects people to showing more interest in their culture irrespective of individual values. For instance, suppose a culture values boys' initiation to manhood by engaging in swimming activities where they swim in ice-cold water, covering a five-mile distance within six hours. This transition would be normal to those practicing in it regardless of its impossibilities or adverse effects. Consequently, the boys from the culture would experience a collectivist mentality where they decide to value their cultural traditions above their personal preferences or safety. Therefore, a collectivist wants to connect, experience, and be significant to a given group.
Similarly, a collectivist mentality may subject individual terrorists such as suicide bombers to value pursuing their political or cultural ambitions over their safety and future. A collectivist mentality's perception from an individual level involves a person's interest in finding the desire for meaning and personal significance. Collectivist-mentality individuals desire to belong and participate in a group and consider their actions as paying due diligence to their belief system. Political extremists may use the collectivists' mentality virtue to persuade people into becoming suicide bombers and recruits. Thus, a collectivist mentality is not a psychotic issue but a social aspect of resonance.
Momayezi and Momayezi (2017) conducted a study to investigate a collectivist mentality's role in recruiting suicide bombers. Wagner (1995) stresses the role of being a group member as willing to make sacrifices for those groups (as cited in Momayezi & Momayezi, 2017, p. 11). Therefore, recruits consider their terror actions as responsibilities for the groups irrespective of personal accountability. Thus, the study views suicide terrorism as being influenced by psychological, social, and cultural aptitudes.
Depressive Equivalent Behavior
The fourth psychological and behavioral factor of individual terrorists is their depressive equivalent behavior, where they choose terror due to their past hostile experiences. Adverse experiences include encounters subjecting individuals to extreme conditions that threaten their livelihood, safety, tolerance, physical, emotional, and mental wellness. These could be harsh environments, lack of basic human needs, psychological tortures, or any experience that affects man's livelihood. Therefore, those exposed to these extremities may develop depression or depressive behavior as a coping mechanism. For instance, it is common for people with negative experiences to display anger and constant ferocity, especially to people they regard as more significant.
Bhui et al. (2016) conducted a study to investigate the pathways to violence and terrorism by examining the relationship between depressive symptoms and adverse life events with violence and political terror activities. The study employed a cross-sectional survey with men and women participants from Bangladesh and Pakistan. Thus, the results showed a positive correlation where individuals with depressive symptoms showed higher risks for engaging in political violence and terrorism (Bhui et al., 2016, p. 2). Bhui et al. (2016) link depressive equivalent behavior with terrorism because terrorism and violence act as expressions of social connectedness, where individuals with depressive equivalent behavior turn to political engagement for social belonging (p. 2).
Attitude towards Violence
The fifth psychological and behavioral factor influencing terrorists' actions includes their attitude towards violence. Natural and social environments cause violent and aggressive behavior. These causes include mental health issues and environmental influences such as exposure to drug and substance abuse, violent families, the media, and post-traumatic stress. This section examines violent attitudes among terrorists from a social perspective.
Ravndal and Bjørgo (2018) conducted a study to investigate the notion of terrorism by investigating its nature and conditions or attitudes shaping its perpetrators. The scholars stress the importance of classifying attacks to determine the attitudes leading to the activities. For instance, racism drives racist terrorism, religious conflicts drive religious terrorism, and politics drive political terrorism. The study identifies terrorists to operate from two extremities. The first type is that terrorists operate as a double set of enemies, such as an anti-government terror group of immigrants and communists fighting against the government (Ravndal & Bjørgo, 2018, p. 6). The second one is ideological-driven terrorism, where terrorists pursue violence as an obligatory requirement from their group's ideological orientation (Ravndal & Bjørgo, 2018, p. 6).