WHAT MAKES

SOMEONE
PSYCHOLOGICALLY
SUSCEPTIBLE TO
BECOME A TERRORIST
WHO WE ARE
NEW WAYS OF THINKING ABOUT PEOPLE






By Professor Steven Reiss, Ph.D

09/04/2013 What Makes Someone Psychologically Susceptible to Become a Terrorist | Psychology Today
www.psychologytoday.com/blog/who-we-are/200912/what-makes-someone-psychologically-susceptible-become-terrorist 1/2
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Psychodynamics cannot predict much of anything because it is focused
on the common emotional consequence (e.g., anger) of unrelated
antecedents (vengeance, honor). Vengeance and honor are uncorrelated
motives of human nature, but linked in psychoanalytic analyses of
unconscious rage. To understand who is going to be recruited, one
needs to be focused on antecedents and prediction.
suspect that the motive of honor is a key predictor of who is suspectible
to recruitment. A vengeful person turns his competitiveness or anger
toward anyone with whom he/she comes into contact including possibly
the terrorist organization. An honorable person would stay loyal to the
terrorist organization with anger focused on the perceived enemy of the
ancestors.
Psychoanalysis is invalid partially because Freud got motivation wrong.
Motivation is not psychic energy, but purpose. From an energy
standpoint, honor and vengeance both energize and, thus, have similar
consequences. Yet they are very different purposes for engaging in
behavior. Energy predicts nothing and leads to simplistic ideas that "drive
reduction" is the universal motive. Purpose predicts how human beings
behave in the real world.
We need a psychology of conscious purpose to understand terrorists.
Honor and vengeance are conscious motives people proudly report on
confidential questionnaires. Honor is a component of Big 5
Conscientious, but the "conscientious" is too general because it also
includes humanitarianism. The psychology of conscious purpose
supports the validity of the Big 5 but views it as overly general. Honor is a
more specific motive than conscientiousness.

New ways of thinking about people
by Steven Reiss, Ph.D.
What Makes Someone Psychologically Susceptible to Become a
Terrorist
Conscious versus Unconscious Psychology of Terrorism
Published on December 27, 2009 by Steven Reiss, Ph.D. in Who We Are
commend Dr. Diamond for starting a discussion on the psychology of recruitment of terrorism.
think he presented well the viewpoint from the psychology of unconscious dynamics. My colleagues
and are creating a psychology of conscious purpose, which offers a different perspective on the
issue of recruitment of terrorists.
Honor is an intrinsic motive that drives loyalty to ethnic groups. t is different from the motive of
vengeance. wonder how Dr. Diamond could tell whether the source of anger for the Nigerian
individual was honor (e.g., a perception that western culture spits on the graves of slamic ancestors)
or vengeance (a desire to attack anybody who gets in your way). The former would be indicated by a
history of loyalty to the ethnic religion; the latter by a history of interpersonal aggressiveness or
competitiveness.
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Steven Reiss is Emeritus Professor
of Psychology and Psychiatry at The
Ohio State University.
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Don't Get Bullied Online! Learn About Cyber-Bullying on Breathe.
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Arguing in a broad sense is an activity fundamental
to all close relationships.
Terri Apter, Ph.D.

This post is a response to Radical Embitterment: The Unconscious Psychology of Terrorists
by Stephen A. Diamond, Ph.D.
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09/04/2013 What Makes Someone Psychologically Susceptible to Become a Terrorist | Psychology Today
www.psychologytoday.com/blog/who-we-are/200912/what-makes-someone-psychologically-susceptible-become-terrorist 2/2
Tags: aggressiveness, ancestors, antecedents, competitiveness, different perspective, dr
diamond, energize, energy standpoint, ethnic religion, honorable person, human nature, motives,
psychic energy, psychoanalysis, psychodynamics, spits, terrorist organization, unconscious
rage, vengeance, western culture
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