ABSTRACT
For decades, researchers have explored the psychological underpinnings of terrorist behavior at the individual level. This began with some psychoanalytic speculation, then moved to explore whether terrorism might best be understood as the product of a mental disorder or disease. Initial studies exploring rates of mental disorders among terrorist samples had serious methodological limitations, but found rates comparable to the general population. A second generation of studies using improved research methods also affirmed overall rates of most mental disorders were generally similar among samples of group-based terrorists and the general population, but a different pattern emerged for lone offenders where mental health problems were regularly found in a third or more of the cases. Beyond the focus on mental illnesses, another early line of inquiry speculated that the roots of violent extremism might be found in the construct of psychopathy or in specific personality traits, and that perhaps those characteristics might even comprise a “terrorist personality” profile. Neither line of research produced very promising findings. But newer research viewing how and why people become involved in violent extremism as a complex and dynamic process is illuminating some important social and psychological factors. In particular, the concept of identities can provide a useful organizing framework for understanding how various vulnerabilities and propensities can affect individuals’ pathways and decisions about engaging in violent extremism.
