Essay Creating Terrorists Using Social Psychological Conditioning

“Terrorism's particularly heinous but highly attractive means to achieve political objectives or even radically restructure political foundations is manifest within societies in all reaches of the world. While the practical application of terrorist methodologies comes across as a relatively straightforward craft, the conceptual and ideological understanding, and subsequent evaluation of its socio-political influence, implementation, and psychological impacts present difficult questions, and in some cases conceivably insurmountable obstacles” (Romaniuk 2014, para

Regarding the behavioral explaination, Post (1998) “stated that if terrorism was strategic and rational, such groups should be more likely to disband after they achieve victories.” (…)  Instead, they want to remain in the group for them the sense of belonging to a group is very important (…) it helps them to fulfil their need to belong as well as their need to engage in risky endeavours.” (Post (1998) in Moss, 2016)

Belanger, J. J., Gelfand, M. J., Gunaratna, R., Hetiarachchi, M., Kruglanski, A. W., & Sheveland, A. (2014). The psychology of radicalization and deradicalization: How significance quest impacts violent extremism. Political Psychology, 35, 69-93. Retrieved from

In the past weeks we have explored what makes up the mind of a terrorist by considering various psychological and behavioral factors of terrorism. Another factor we discussed was Osama Bin Laden: Terrorist CEO and the evolution of Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda. I will summarize categorizing the means of communication and influence they have upon advancing terrorist narratives, the psychological and behavioral factors within Al-Qaeda leadership and affiliate groups, compare and contrast his ability to communicate and exert influence upon these various audiences from the years preceding 9/11 until his death. All these factors play a part with one another in order to understand the big picture.

This paper will seek to understand what really motivates terrorists to commit the acts that make them so infamous. We are assuming that the chief motivating factor behind the decisions of terrorist organizations is the political outcome of their acts balanced against the risk and collateral damage inflicted to achieve this end. We will also weigh in the appeal of terrorism on potential recruits in weak states and determine how the motivations of the group become the motivation of the individual and how this benefits the decentralized organization of terrorist organizations like al Qaeda.

A multitude of factors contribute to any type of reasoning or psychological makeup of an individual; whether it is a person’s history of behavioral problems, inability to maintain a functional relationship, or in this case becoming part of a terrorist organization. In Sarah Kershaw’s “The Terrorist Mind: An Update”, we are able to see what drives a person to commit acts of terror where it is praised in a given community.

Sadly, the participants (willing or unwilling) of chronic brain-washing for the purpose of creating people willing to inflict pain on others, learn much too late that being involved in state-sponsored terror, directly or even indirectly, but it is especially lethal to the souls and psyches of their often innocent, defenseless

The Report of the Task Force on Disorders and Terrorism, assembled by the National Advisory Committee, provides the following typology of terrorism: Political Terrorism - “violent criminal behavior designed

“Stairs narrow toward the top. It becomes harder to turn back with each step” (Kershaw, 2010). As said before, there is not a “cookie cutter” definition of what creates a terrorist. One thing is very evident, the radicalization process of an individual is complex, diverse, and is often comprised of idiosyncratic characteristics.

King and Taylor (2011) stated that radicalization does not contain any singular specificity to ethnicity, nationality, political, religious or any association with an ideological group (p.63). There is not a one-fit-all explanation which makes terrorism mitigation efforts a significant challenge for law enforcement officials and further complicates the protection of National Security. Terrorism expert, Bruce Hoffman, stated: “The profile is broken, (and) it’s women as well as men, its lifelong Muslims as well as converts, its college students as well as jailbirds” (Sullivan, 2010, para. 29).

De-radicalization stems from an actual change in the idealization and thoughts of a member of a terror group. Once their thoughts begin to shift, then there is a pulling away of the member and eventual disengaging. A distinct difference of terror groups from all other types of criminal groups is the ability of members to leave with few or no repercussions. Typically, a terrorist leader tries to convince the member to stay but otherwise supports the departure. The belief that trying to keep such a member within the ranks would contribute to demoralization of the others and break down the

"The FBI defines three types of terrorists: (1) a leader with a strong commitment to their groups belief system; (2) an "activist operator" who often has a criminal background and implements their groups agenda; and (3) an idealist who finds a sense of purpose in his commitment to their group." (Kressel, 82) In the field of psychology, it is the psychologists duty to try to come up with theories or correlations, which help people group and identify terrorist or terroristic behavior, quickly and consistantly. There are many common assumptions about the common terrorist, but there are no true or definite catagories to place them in. A terrorist is formed by his environment either through ways of

Although there is no one single fingerprint that defines the psychological makeup of a terrorist, there are several broad characteristics that indicate a person’s vulnerability toward radicalization. Terrorists willing to carrying out a suicide operation, as a subset of the larger radicalized group, are certainly no exception. Indeed, dedication to the point of self-extermination requires a deeper degree of radicalization than to merely fight for one’s chosen cause.

Viewed as a reverse process, the term de-radicalization describes the process by which an individual changes their cognitive view of the world around them. What was once troubling to them and led to their adoption of violent extremism has changed and as a result they see the world, or their corner of it, in a new light. The process of de-radicalization can be viewed as the first step toward returning to their previous life. This often leads to disengagement, or an individual’s desire to no longer take part in the physical act of terrorism. The de-radicalization and disengagement process can begin in a number of ways including the realization that life under terrorist rule is not what it appeared or one’s unwillingness to martyr themselves for a terrorist

The history of terrorism can be traced back as far as the French revolution. Some of these acts of terrorism only seem as distant reminders of our past, but at the same time, are not a far cry from today’s brutal acts; and although these acts seem distant, it doesn’t also mean they are no longer in the thoughts of individuals in today’s time.