The purpose of this report is to go through the psychological, aspects of the group; to see how they work together to achieve their goals, with the social science perspective of psychology. ISIS or also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant is a jihadist militant group that follows a fundamentalist doctrine of Islam. (Shirlow, Peter, 2013, para. 3). ISIS uses Operant conditioning to keep their members and possible members thinking that life under ISIS is better than their current state. Operant conditioning is used in ISIS to enforce their own morals and values, and isolate the rest of the world's views to their followers. Finally, ISIS has a ranking system that encourages members to commit acts of terror. All of these topics …show more content…
(Mcleod, Saul, 2007, para. 8). ISIS takes advantage of this psychological effect to motivate it’s members to commit the acts of terror. Once you are in ISIS, there is no leaving, you are killed if you attempt to leave. With that being said, it’s either you remain a peasant in the group or go up in the rankings, and the only way to do that is through it’s conditioning system. Since ISIS is based off of Islam, all of it’s followers are as well, and that comes with beliefs. ISIS members believe that when they are dead, they respawn in Jannah, which means paradise. A lot of ISIS members don’t fear death, their is such a strong bond between them and their religion that when they die, they believe they will go to paradise. But their more personally important reward is what happens to them in the afterlife. They are promised a great afterlife for the acts of terror they commit. Some include killing non-believers, or killing anyone who breaks their religious law’s rules. This relates to my subtopic of beliefs, since it’s related to a religion, which every religion is psychological in it’s creation and continuous belief in it. Since they believe they are going to go to paradise after death, there are rules and orders that must be followed throughout life for them to get in, ISIS members firmly believe that continuing to do what …show more content…
Sometimes the prizes are bigger than the other, this can be compared to ISIS’s system. The worse the crime you commit, the better the reward is. ISIS’s rewards go much further than just a physical object or some money, it pushes it further into rewards for an afterlife or in the afterlife. ISIS is so isolated from the rest of the world, that they’ve created their own currency in which it’s citizens use for everything. It’s also very profitable for the people who commit the terror acts. The rewards are given for those who, killing an unbelieving soldier or capturing an unbelieving soldier, as well as reporting anything that goes against their religious law. (MacIntyre, Sara, 2016). Since the people in the areas controlled by ISIS are very religious and isolated from the rest of the world's views, the rewards are their path to rich and fame within its cities. This is a psychological motivator for them and helps them cope with what they are doing, and continue it to please their god and prepare for a glorious afterlife. (Blair, Leonardo, 2014). The chances of the rewards being given out to those who follow through are slim, this encourages them to commit the killings more often to have a higher chance at getting the rewards. Although, videotaping the killings or capturings drastically improves the chances of the rewards being given out, this is another contributing factor to the
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.
say whether the students relative willingness to kill non-Muslims is resultant from their perception of non-Muslims as less like them or if it has been drawn directly from the teachings they have received. It should be noted that another finding of social psychology is that attitudes and behaviour are generally not strongly correlated (Eibach, 2012) and that when taken alone the interviews do not show a direct correlation with violent actions. However, other references that are made both in the book and within Atran's research does lead to a more conclusive link. Ultimately despite the weakness of its small sample size and the fact that it only shows an explicit attitude rather than behaviours that might be resultant from that attitude, the research is persuasive in that it shows a clear link between the degree to which outsiders are seen as being unlike the students and the degree to which they display hostile attitudes towards outsiders. In addition, this has been shown in a way that is highly relevant to ideas and facts presented in Talking to the Enemy, in that the students from the JI affiliated madrasa were far more likely than the others to endorse violence, and in fact within the same study it is stated that “JI-linked madrasa attendance rates of the jihadists that took part in... (a number of prolific bombings) are 19 times greater than the highest estimated rates of the general population.”
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
Terrorism is a difficult issue to understand and grasp for many people. What is even more difficult to understand is what drives an individual to become radicalized to the point of joining a terrorist organization and committing terrorist acts. While there is not specific criteria or a “cookie cutter” approach to understanding what motivates and radicalizes an individual to participate in such atrocities, there are however, several psychological and behavioral factors that have been common among these individuals. The following paper will outline some of the psychological and behavioral factors that attribute to an individual’s radicalization and eventual willingness and even perhaps
After hearing just a few facts about ISIS some may ask themselves, “What really is ISIS, how did it come to power, and what is their true motive for violence?” The first concept that should be known is how this organization really began
The gods have willed that these wars happen. A promise from God that no matter the outcome of the war the soldiers will either continue living on their conquered lands or be reborn/brought to heaven is a more enticing reward than winning the war.
Over the centuries, fervent beliefs have caused many wars. Throughout history, differences between social propaganda have separated and formulated prejudiced ideas about different religions. All across the world, there are people, on all ranks of the social hierarchy, who are being deprived of their rights and are not being heard by their local governments, so they bear up arms and create subversive groups that struggle to bring their voices into light. Although their struggles may become violent, which leads to casualties, they are deemed as terrorists or extremists. Eventually they will be looking for supporters or even recruits, old and young, which will leap up to the issue of child recruitments in extremist groups, and the philosophical issue of how nature versus nurture plays an important role during a child 's developmental stage. Recruiting children into extremist groups, such as ISIS or the Age of God, serves as an injustice to society, particularly to the children who often times are very vulnerable and impressionable, making them incapable of recognizing the danger of their situations.
There are many things can be seen in the psychology of terrorism. Unfortunately there is not good science on psychological factors of terrorism; there are theories and educated opinions (DeAngelis, 2009). The one overarching factor is the fear with which terrorism is based. By definition, terrorism is acts that cause terror by one group on to another, usually for political goals (“Terrorism”, n.d.). Why people suffer from these fears is related to their psychological behavior. Terrorist activity can be described as “fostering a sense of helplessness and hopelessness, in demonstrating the incompetence of the authorities, destroying a sense of security and safety, and in provoking inappropriate reactions from individuals and authorities.” (Alexander & Klein, 2005). Terrorists themselves are affected by psychological behavior; their own and that of others around them. They may even be affected by the behavior of victims and potential victims. Osama Bin Laden has even been known to admit that in the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda, his
A substantial portion of behavior is learned, and this learning causes a relatively permanent change in behavior. There are several distinct types of learning, the form utilized in classical conditioning and operant conditioning is called associative learning. Classical conditioning and operant conditioning have different approaches and techniques used in their processes; however, they have the same goal, to alter the behavior or to influence a response from their subject(s). Classical conditioning and operant conditioning have several similarities along with their differences; forms of their behavioral influence have affected me throughout my life.
Skinner’s theory observes individuals from the point of view of the behavior that they demonstrate. The key weakness of this theory is its attempt to explain the behaviors of an individual solely through visible phenomena. Critics sometimes accuse behaviorists of denying that ideas and thoughts exist (Jensen & Burgess, 1997). The major opposition that behaviorists face is that behavior of a person cannot be understood without including the mental activity of the individual. Critics have accused behaviorists of focusing only on behavior and ignoring the role of physiology, neuroscience, and genetics (Weiss & Rosales-Ruiz, 2014). Sometimes the reactions that people demonstrate have are not related their experience and therefore they have another
Many individuals are influenced by religion to join the fight. Islamic extremism is another major reason these terrorist organizations have followers willing to fight for them. “Islamic extremists believe they are obligated to install this form of governance in Muslim-majority territories, countries, and eventually, the entire world. In the minds of Islamic extremists, they are promoting justice and freedom by instituting sharia” (“Understanding Islamist Extremism”). These extreme forms of Islam are what make up the central beliefs of the Taliban, Al-Qaeda, and ISIS. They use their religious affiliations to justify their actions. Acts of Islamic extremism include terrorism, human rights abuses, the advancement of sharia-based governance, and overall hostility to the West (“Understanding Islamist Extremism”). While not all extremists use terrorism, it is common among the majority of the
ISIS, which are known at the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant are a Salafi Jihadist extremist militant group who in the previous years have gotten a lot media attention because of their kidnapping of Hostages. These groups hold their victim's hostage for various amount of time, then proceed to kill them in various horrendous acts. Their horrendous act go from being burn alive to being decapitated. While this is going on, we have to come up with a plan to stop all these death. In order to combat this situation, we have to form a variety of theoretical justifications to prevent anymore hostages from dying. We have to position ourselves in the life of the Hostage and think how to prevent them from dying. In order to first accomplish this the first
ISIS recruitment tactics have increasingly been targeted at women and girls. Recruiting young girls and women encourages jihadist men to commit themselves to ISIS as fighters. According to Susan Lehman, the presence of young women, looking to marry, is crucial in attracting male fighters. She notes that the news of British Muslims joining ISIS forces further isolates the Muslim community in the West. Many British citizens fear that the Muslim minority is an enemy that lives among them (Lehman, 2015, p. A1). The isolation of the Muslim community heightens Western fears of the Muslims. Western women are attracted to ISIS ranks because of their need to belong. Women who have joined ISIS often use social media as a way to romanticize female membership in ISIS ranks. According to Susan Lehman, there are tweets about a sisterhood between Muslim women. Recruitment also plays on self-esteem and culture. The head scarf is a powerful symbol to many women. It provides an escape from the objectification of women that is found in most Western cultures (Lehman, 2015, p. A1). There exists an even more exclusive minority group within the Western Muslim minority group. This exclusive group is the subculture that empowers jihadi women. It may be that Muslim women living in the West cannot fully indulge in the freedoms of Western cultures. Failing to meet the conditions of the contact hypothesis
Operant conditioning is a type of learning which occurs through either receiving reinforcement or punishment for a behavior. This type of learning creates an association between a behavior and consequence for that behavior. The four types of operant conditioning are positive reinforcement, positive punishment, negative reinforcement, and negative punishment. If operant conditioning was used properly it could be used to solve a variety of social and resource dilemmas; especially in the case of the cattle ranchers and overgrazing.
Compare and contrast classical and operant conditioning, their theories, terminology, famous psychologists and applications of the theory for teaching.