PSY 368 Lecture 13: Lecture 13- Demographics and Psychological Characteristics of Terrorists

• School: University of Arizona
• Department: Psychology Main
• Course: PSY 368
• Professor: Adam Lazarewicz

Document Summary

Demographics: 1960s-70s: profile of typical terrorist, well-educated, single, male, mid-20s, middle-class, upper-middle-class background, college-educated, handler (1990), looked at fbi interview data on right=and left-wing terrorists in us in 1960s and. Individuals from collectivist cultures = more likely to support attacks against foreigners: more on this in a few days . Inferring evil, devious motives to others: no empirical data yet, but such factors may play a role. No one personality variable or situation is a necessary and sufficient root cause of terrorism. But there may well be contributing factors that make terrorism seem more compelling and valid. Step 3: action: using violence against other groups, micro level, e. g. confrontation with death of relative/friend, e. g. Black widows in chechnya (husbands had died in conflict with. Russia: meso level, have members write, videotape statement of support for terrorist group, think about cognitive dissonance reduction.