Radicalisation: A Social Psychological Perspective (Part I)

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Abstract

Terrorism, being a long-standing phenomenon and a threat that has existed for at least two millennia, is still an extreme problem in the life of society. Understanding how a person comes to commit terrorist acts requires consideration of the process of radicalisation. The aim of our literature review is to analyse the process of radicalisation.Security and counter-terrorism are one of the priority areas of scientific development in Russia. This direction has different facets of analysis. From a psychological point of view, the development of measures of influence should be based on knowledge of how a person joins groups and organizations of a terrorist nature, what are the psychological mechanisms of radicalization, as well as an understanding of the laws of deradicalization. Our analytical review within the framework of social psychological knowledge has allowed us to overcome a kind of gap existing in the literature, namely, to acquaint the Russian readers with a promising explanatory model of the process of radicalisation - the uncertainty — identity theory, proposed by Hogg. This model explains why and how people join groups with extremist and radical beliefs, as well as why they prefer acts of violence, acting on behalf of these groups.

General Information

Keywords: radicalisation, terrorism, uncertainty, communication strategies, social identity, group norms,”visual culture"

Journal rubric: Interdisciplinary Studies

Article type: scientific article

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17759/psylaw.2020100309

Funding. Bovina I. B. performed theoretical and analytical research on the problem of radicalization with the financial support of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR) in the framework of the scientific project " Expansion (Competition for financial support for the preparation and publication of scientific review articles)” - № 19-113-50280.

For citation: Bovina I.B., Bovin B.G., Tikhonova A.D. Radicalisation: A Social Psychological Perspective (Part I) [Elektronnyi resurs]. Psikhologiya i pravo = Psychology and Law, 2020. Vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 120–142. DOI: 10.17759/psylaw.2020100309. (In Russ., аbstr. in Engl.)

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Information About the Authors

Inna B. Bovina, Doctor of Psychology, Research Director, Associate Professor, Department of Clinical and Legal Psychology, Moscow State University of Psychology & Education, Moscow, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9497-6199, e-mail: innabovina@yandex.ru

Boris G. Bovin, PhD in Psychology, Docent, Leading Researcher, Federal State Institution Research Institute of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia, Moscow, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9255-7372, e-mail: bovinbg@yandex.ru

Anastasia D. Tikhonova, MA in Psychology, graduate student, Faculty of Legal and Forensic Psychology, Moscow, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0030-2119, e-mail: GutnikAD@bez.mos.ru

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