ABSTRACT
This chapter examines what happens during terrorist hostage taking incidents and explores the way that behaviour can be used as an indication of underlying psychological concepts. It is argued that people’s behaviour in hostage taking incidents appears to be guided by certain predictable patterns. Hostage taking is therefore viewed as a social interaction based on a set of mutually understood rules with associated role structures. The roles and rules of hostage taking are explored and considered in the context of what happens when the rules break down. In particular, it is proposed that hostage taking can be understood in terms of the interaction between two sets of behavioural ‘rules’; one which guides the ‘normal’ behaviour expected during hostage taking incidents, and a fall back’ set of rules which underlie people’s everyday interactions with one another.
