Terrorism: An Identity Theory Perspective

Abstract The present article outlines the role of personal, social, and cultural identity in religiously and ethnically motivated terrorism. It is proposed that terrorism represents the confluence of a cultural identity strongly based in collectivism and in fundamentalist adherence to religious or cultural principles, a social identity based in sharp contrasts between one's own group and groups perceived as threats, and a foreclosed and authoritarian sense of personal identity or, less often, a diffused and aimless personal identity. Examples from religious-extremist and ethnic conflicts in which terrorism has been employed are used to illustrate the tenets advanced here. Recommendations for addressing and preventing the threat of terrorism are discussed. Notes 1. Isabelle Duyvesteyn, “How New is the New Terrorism?” Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 27 (2004), pp. 439–454. 2. Ariel Merari and Nehemia Friedland, “Social Psychological Aspects of Political Terrorism,” Applied Social Psychology Annual 6 (1985), pp. 185–205. 3. Jeff Victoroff, “The Mind of the Terrorist: A Review and Critique of Psychological Approaches,” Journal of Conflict Resolution 49 (2005), pp. 3–42. 4. David W. Brannan, Philip F. Esler, and N. T. Anders Strindberg, “Talking to ‘Terrorists’: Towards an Independent Analytic Framework for the Study of Violent Substate Activism,” Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 24 (2001), pp. 3–24. 5. Ahmed M. Abdel-Khalek, “Neither Altruistic Suicide nor Terrorism, But Martyrdom: A Muslim Perspective,” Archives of Suicide Research 8 (2004), pp. 99–113; Michael P. Arena and Bruce A. Arrigo, “Social Psychology, Terrorism, and Identity: A Preliminary Re-Examination of Theory, Culture, Self, and Society,” Behavioral Sciences and the Law 23 (2005), 485–506; Arie W. Kruglanski and Shira Fishman, “Terrorism: Between ‘Syndrome’ and ‘Tool’,” Current Directions in Psychological Science 15 (March 2006), pp. 45–48. 6. Abdel-Khalek, “Neither Altruistic Suicide nor Terrorism, But Martyrdom,” pp. 99–113; David Lester, Bijou Yang, and Mark Lindsay, “Suicide Bombers: Are Psychological Profiles Possible?” Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 27 (2004), pp. 283–295. 7. Lester, Yang, and Lindsay, “Suicide Bombers: Are Psychological Profiles Possible?” pp. 283–295. 8. Ethan Bueno de Mesquita, “The Quality of Terror,” American Journal of Political Science 49 (July 2005), pp. 515–530; C. Christine Fair and Bryan Shepherd, “Who Supports Terrorism? Evidence from Fourteen Muslim Countries,” Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 29 (2006), pp. 51–74. 9. David Lester, “Altruistic Suicide: A View of the Issues,” Archives of Suicide Research 8 (2004), pp. 37–42. 10. Michael J. Stevens, “What is Terrorism, and Can Psychology Do Anything to Prevent it? Behavioral Sciences and the Law 23 (2005), pp. 507–526. See especially p. 510. 11. Duyvesteyn, “How New is the New Terrorism?” pp. 439–454. 12. Arena and Arrigo, “Social Psychology, Terrorism, and Identity.” 13. Ibid., p. 486; Brannan, Esler, and Strindberg, “Talking to ‘Terrorists,’” pp. 17–19; Shana Levin, P. J. Henry, Felicia Pratto, and Jim Sidanius, “Social Dominance and Social Identity in Lebanon: Implications for Support of Violence against the West,” Group Processes and Intergroup Relations 6, (2003), pp. 353–368. 14. Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order (New York: Touchstone, 1996). 15. Seth J. Schwartz, “A New Identity for Identity Research: Recommendations for Expanding and Refocusing the Identity Literature,” Journal of Adolescent Research 20 (May 2005), pp. 293–308. 16. Fathali M. Moghaddam, “The Staircase to Terrorism,” American Psychologist 60 (2005), pp. 161–169. 17. J. Reid Meloy, “Indirect Personality Assessment of the Violent True Believer,” Journal of Personality Assessment 82 (2004), pp. 138–146. 18. Seth J. Schwartz, Marilyn J. Montgomery, and Ervin Briones, “The Role of Identity in Acculturation among Immigrant People: Theoretical Propositions, Empirical Questions, and Applied Recommendations,” Human Development 49 (2006), pp. 1–30. 19. Lene A. Jensen, “Coming of Age in a Multicultural World: Globalization and Adolescent Cultural Identity Formation,” Applied Developmental Science 7(3) (August 2003), pp. 189–196. 20. Henri Tajfel and John C. Turner, “The Social Identity Theory of Intergroup Behavior,” in Stephen Worchel and William G. Austin, eds., The Psychology of Intergroup Behavior (Chicago: Nelson Hall, 1986), pp. 7–24. 21. Rupert Brown, “Social Identity Theory: Past Achievements, Current Problems, and Future Challenges,” European Journal of Social Psychology 30 (2000), pp. 745–778. 22. Tajfel and Turner, “The Social Identity Theory of Intergroup Behavior,” pp. 7–24. 23. James E. Côté, “Sociological Perspectives on Identity Development: The Culture-Identity Link and Identity Capital,” Journal of Adolescence 19 (1996), pp. 419–430; James E. Côté, Arrested Adulthood: The Changing Nature of Maturity and Identity (New York: New York University Press, 2000). 24. Israela Silberman, E. Tory Higgins, and Carol S. Dweck, “Religion and World Change: Violence and Terrorism versus Peace,” Journal of Social Issues 61 (2005), pp. 761–784. See especially pp. 770–771. 25. Marwan Dwairy, “Foundations of Psychosocial Dynamic Personality Theory of Collective People,” Clinical Psychology Review 22 (2002), pp. 343–360. 26. Allison G. Smith, “From Words to Action: Exploring The Relationship Between A Group's Value References and Its Likelihood of Engaging in Terrorism,” Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 27 (2004), pp. 409–437. See especially pp. 428–429. 27. Jerrold M. Post, “When Hatred is Bred in the Bone: Psycho-Cultural Foundations of Contemporary Terrorism,” Political Psychology 26 (2005), pp. 615–636. See especially pp. 628–630. 28. Marwan Dwairy, “Culturally Sensitive Education: Adapting Self-Oriented Assertiveness Training to Collective Minorities,” Journal of Social Issues 60 (2004), pp. 423–436. 29. Schwartz, “A New Identity for Identity Research,” p. 304. 30. Jerrold M. Post, “The New Face of Terrorism: Socio-Cultural Foundations of Contemporary Terrorism,” Behavioral Sciences and the Law 23 (2005), pp. 451–465. 31. Erik H. Erikson, “Pseudospeciation in the Nuclear Age,” Political Psychology 6 (1985), pp. 213–217. 32. Khaleel Mohammed, “A Muslim Perspective on Human Rights,” Social Science and Modern Society 41(2) (January/February 2004), pp. 29–35. See especially p. 29; Quintan Wiktorowicz, “A Genealogy of Radical Islam,” Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 28 (2005), pp. 75–97. 33. David F. Ciampi, “Developmental and Motivational Factors of Transnational Terrorists,” Forensic Examiner 14(3) (Fall 2005), pp. 29–34. See especially p. 32; Mohammed M. Hafez, “Rationality, Culture, and Structure in the Making of Suicide Bombers: A Preliminary Theoretical Synthesis and Illustrative Case Study,” Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 29 (2006), pp. 165–185. See especially p. 168. 34. Silberman, Higgins, and Dweck, “Religion and World Change,” pp. 761–784. 35. Hafez, “Rationality, Culture, and Structure in the Making of Suicide Bombers,” p. 169. 36. Steven K. Baum, The Psychology of Genocide: Perpetrators, Bystanders, and Rescuers (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2008). 37. Tajfel and Turner, “The Social Identity Theory of Intergroup Behavior,” pp. 7–24. 38. Karina Korostelina, “History Education and Social Identity,” Identity: An International Journal of Theory and Research 8 (2008), pp. 25–45. 39. Brown, “Social Identity Theory,” p. 748. 40. Linda M. Woolf and Michael R. Hulsizer, “Psychosocial Roots of Genocide: Risk, Prevention, and Intervention,” Journal of Genocide Research 7 (March 2005), pp. 101–128. See especially p. 116. 41. Shalom H. Schwartz, Naomi Struch, and Wolfgang Bilsky, “Values and Intergroup Social Motives: A Study of Israeli and German Students,” Social Psychology Quarterly 53(3) (Summer 1990), pp. 185–198. 42. Moghaddam, “The Staircase to Terrorism,” p. 164. 43. Stevens, “What is Terrorism, and Can Psychology Do Anything to Prevent it?” p. 510. 44. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order. 45. Brannan, Esler, and Strindberg, “Talking to ‘Terrorists,’” pp. 3–24. 46. Arena and Arrigo, “Social Psychology, Terrorism, and Identity,” pp. 485–506. 47. Abdel-Khalek, “Neither Altruistic Suicide nor Terrorism, But Martyrdom,” pp. 99–113. 48. Israel Orbach, “Terror Suicide: How is it Possible?” Archives of Suicide Research 8 (2004), pp. 115–130. 49. Benjamin R. Barber, Jihad versus McWorld: How Globalism and Tribalism Are Reshaping the World (New York: Ballantine, 1996); Wiktorowicz, “A Genealogy of Radical Islam,” pp. 75–97. 50. Ibid. 51. Post, “When Hatred is Bred in the Bone,” pp. 615–636. 52. Mauricio Florez-Morris, “Joining Guerrilla Groups in Colombia: Individual Motivations and Processes for Entering a Violent Organization,” Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 30 (2007), pp. 615–634. 53. David Boyns and James David Ballard, “Developing a Sociological Theory for the Empirical Understanding of Terrorism,” American Sociologist 35 (Summer 2004), pp. 5–25. 54. Robert J. Brym and Bader Araj, “Suicide Bombing as Strategy and Interaction: The Case of the Second Intifada,” Social Forces 84 (2006), pp. 1969–1986. 55. Pew Research Center, An Uncertain Road: Muslims and the Future of Europe (Washington, DC: Author, 2005). 56. Erikson, Identity, Youth, and Crisis; James E, Marcia, Alan S. Waterman, David R. Matteson, Sally L. Archer, and Jacob L. Orlofsky, Ego Identity: A Handbook for Psychosocial Research (New York: Springer-Verlag, 1993). 57. James E. Marcia, “Development and Validation of Ego Identity Status,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 3 (1966), pp. 551–558. 58. Marcia, Waterman, Matteson, Archer, and Orlofsky, Ego Identity. 59. Sally L. Archer and Alan S. Waterman, “Varieties of Diffusions and Foreclosures: An Exploration of Subcategories of the Identity Statuses,” Journal of Adolescent Research 5 (1990), pp. 96–111. See especially pp. 104–106; Clark McCauley, “The Nature of Social Influence in Groupthink: Compliance and Internalization,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 57 (1989), pp. 250–260. 60. Jeffrey L. Sanders, “Religious Ego Identity and Its Relationship to Faith Maturity,” Journal of Psychology 132 (1998), pp. 653–658. 61. Bart Duriez and Bart Soenens, “Personality, Identity Styles, and Religiosity: An Integrative Study among Late and Middle Adolescents,” Journal of Adolescence 29 (2006), pp. 119–135. See especially p. 127. 62. Bob Altemeyer, “Highly Dominating, Highly Authoritarian Personalities,” Journal of Social Psychology 144 (2004), pp. 421–447. 63. Michael D. Berzonsky, “Identity Style: Conceptualization and Measurement,” Journal of Adolescent Research 4 (1989), pp. 267–281; Marcia, “Development and Validation of Ego Identity Status,” pp. 551–558. 64. James E. Marcia, “Ego Identity Status: Relationship to Change in Self-Esteem, ‘General Maladjustment,’ and Authoritarianism,” Journal of Personality 35 (1967), pp. 118–133. 65. Lester, Yang, and Lindsay, “Suicide Bombers,” pp. 290–291; Post, “The New Face of Terrorism,” p. 453. 66. Post, “When Hatred is Bred in the Bone,” pp. 621–622. 67. Erikson, Identity; McCauley, “The Nature of Social Influence in Groupthink,” pp. 250–260. 68. Schwartz, “A New Identity for Identity Research,” pp. 304–305. 69. Post, “The New Face of Terrorism,” pp. 451–465. 70. Roy F. Baumeister, Identity: Cultural Change and the Struggle for Self (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986); Côté, “Sociological Perspectives on Identity Development,” pp. 419– 430. 71. Amy E. Yoder, “Barriers to Ego Identity Status Formation: A Contextual Qualification of Marcia's Identity Status Paradigm,” Journal of Adolescence 23 (2000), pp. 95–106. 72. Moghaddam, “The Staircase to Terrorism,” pp. 161–169. 73. Alan S. Waterman, “Issues of Identity Formation Revisited: The United States and the Netherlands,” Developmental Review 19 (1999), pp. 462–479. 74. Gerald R. Adams and Sheila K. Marshall, “A Developmental Social Psychology of Identity: Understanding the Person-in-Context,” Journal of Adolescence 19 (1996), pp. 429–442; Harke A. Bosma and Sakia E. Kunnen, “Determinants and Mechanisms in Ego Identity Development: A Review and Synthesis,” Developmental Review 21 (2001), pp. 39–66. See especially p. 44. 75. Post, “When Hatred is Bred in the Bone,” pp. 622–624. 76. Ami Pedhazur, Arie Peliger, and Leonard Weinberg, “Altruism and Fatalism: The Characteristics of Palestinian Suicide Terrorists,” Deviant Behavior 24 (2003), pp. 405–423. See especially p. 406. 77. Lester, Yang, and Lindsay, “Suicide Bombers,” pp. 283–295; Post, “When Hatred is Bred in the Bone,” p. 628. 78. Abdel-Khalek, “Neither Altruistic Suicide nor Terrorism, but Martyrdom,” pp. 107–111; Jerrold M. Post, Kevin G. Ruby, and Eric D. Shaw, “The Radical Group In Context: 2. Identification of Critical Elements in the Analysis of Risk for Terrorism by Group Type,” Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 25 (2002), pp. 101–126. See especially pp. 104–109. 79. Erikson, Identity, p. 89. 80. Michael E. Steger and Patricia Frazier, “Meaning in Life: One Link on the Chain from Religiousness to Well-Being,” Journal of Counseling Psychology 52 (2005), pp. 574–582. 81. Wade C. Rowatt and Lewis M. Franklin, “Christian Orthodoxy, Religious Fundamentalism, and Right-Wing Authoritarianism as Predictors of Implicit Racial Prejudice,” International Journal for the Psychology of Religion 14(2) (Spring 2004), pp. 125–138. 82. Tajfel and Turner, “The Social Identity Theory of Intergroup Behavior,” pp. 7–24. 83. Wade C. Rowatt, Lewis M. Franklin, and Marla Cotton, “Patterns and Correlates of Implicit and Explicit Attitudes toward Christians and Muslims,” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 44 (2005), pp. 29–43. 84. Woolf and Hulsizer, “Psychosocial Roots of Genocide,” pp. 101–128. 85. Duyvesteyn, “How New is the New Terrorism?” p. 443; Post, “When Hatred is Bred in the Bone,” pp. 630–631. 86. Jeff Victoroff, “The Mind of the Terrorist: A Review and Critique of Psychological Approaches,” Journal of Conflict Resolution 49 (2005), pp. 3–42. See especially p. 6. 87. Mark Basile, “Going to the Source: Why Al Qaeda's Financial Network is Likely to Withstand the Current War on Terrorist Financing,” Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 27 (2004), pp. 169–185. 88. Post, “When Hatred is Bred in the Bone,” pp. 628–630. 89. Ibid., p. 633. 90. Brym and Araj, “Suicide Bombing as Strategy and Interaction,” pp. 1974–1975; Lester, Yang, and Lindsay, “Suicide Bombers,” p. 290. 91. Robert A. Pape, “The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism,” American Political Science Review 97 (August 2003), pp. 343–361. See especially pp. 345–346. 92. Abdel-Khalek, “Neither Altruistic Suicide nor Terrorism, But Martyrdom,” pp. 99–113; Wiktorowicz, “A Genealogy of Radical Islam,” pp. 75–97. 93. Arthur Saniotis, “Re-Enchanting Terrorism: Jihadists as ‘Liminal Beings,’” Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 28 (2005), pp. 533–545. 94. Michael Mazarr, “The Psychological Sources of Islamic Terrorism,” Policy Review Online (2004), available at http://www.policyreview.org/jun04/mazarr.html 95. Dwairy, “Foundations of Psychosocial Dynamic Personality Theory of Collective People,” p. 305. 96. Fair and Shepherd, “Who Supports Terrorism?” pp. 51–74; Post, “The New Face of Terrorism,” pp. 451–465. 97. Boyns and Ballard, “Developing a Sociological Theory for the Empirical Understanding of Terrorism,” p. 11. 98. Post, “When Hatred is Bred in the Bone,” p. 621. 99. Benjamin R. Barber, Fear's Empire: War, Terrorism, and Democracy in an Age of Interdependence (New York: Norton, 2004); Thomas F. Pettigrew, “People under Threat: Americans, Arabs, and Israelis,” Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology 9 (2003), pp. 69–90. See especially pp. 84–85. 100. Post, “The New Face of Terrorism,” p. 462. 101. Andrea Kohn Maikovich, “A New Understanding of Terrorism Using Cognitive Dissonance Principles,” Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour 35 (2005), pp. 373–397. See especially p. 380. 102. Moghaddam, “The Staircase to Terrorism,” pp. 161–169. 103. Ibid., p. 167. 104. Schwartz, Struch, and Bilsky, “Values and Intergroup Social Motives,” pp. 185–198. 105. Phillip L. Hammack, “Identity, Conflict, and Coexistence: Life Stories of Israeli and Palestinian Adolescents,” Journal of Adolescent Research 21 (July 2006), pp. 370–392. 106. Ying-Yi Hong, Jill Coleman, Gloria Chan, Rosanna Y. M. Wong, Chi-Yue Chiu, Ian G. Hansen, Sai-Lai Lee, Yuk-Yue Tong, and Ho-Ying Fu, “Predicting Intergroup Bias: The Interactive Effects of Implicit Theory and Social Identity,” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 30 (August 2004), pp. 1035–1047; James Y. Shah, Paige C. Brazy, and E. Tory Higgins, “Promoting Us or Preventing Them: Regulatory Focus and Manifestations of Intergroup Bias,” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 30 (April 2004), pp. 433–446. 107. Laura A. Ferrer-Wreder, Carolyn Cass-Lorente, William M. Kurtines, Ervin Briones, Janene R. Bussell, Steven L. Berman, and Ondina Arrufat, “Promoting Identity Development in Marginalized Youth,” Journal of Adolescent Research 17 (March 2002), pp. 168–187. 108. Seth J. Schwartz, William M. Kurtines, and Marilyn J. Montgomery, “A Comparison of Two Strategies for Facilitating Identity Formation Processes in Emerging Adults: An Exploratory Study,” Journal of Adolescent Research 20 (May 2005), pp. 309–345. 109. Dwairy, “Culturally Sensitive Education,” pp. 423–436. 110. Yoder, “Barriers to Ego Identity Status Formation,” pp. 95–106. 111. Alan S. Waterman, “Finding Someone to Be: Studies on the Role of Intrinsic Motivation in Identity Formation.” Identity: An International Journal of Theory and Research 4 (2004), pp. 209–228. 112. Schwartz, Kurtines, and Montgomery, “A Comparison of Two Strategies for Facilitating Identity Formation Processes in Emerging Adults,” pp. 309–345. 113. Lester, Yang, and Lindsay, “Suicide Bombers,” p. 290; Moghaddam, “The Staircase to Terrorism,” p. 167. 114. Quan Li and Drew Schaub, “Economic Globalization and Transnational Terrorism: A Pooled Time-Series Analysis,” Journal of Conflict Resolution 48 (2004), pp. 230–258. 115. Richard M. Lerner, “Promoting Promotion in the Development of Prevention Science,” Applied Developmental Science 5(4) (October 2001), pp. 254–257. 116. Richard M. Lerner, Jason B. Almerigi, Christina Theokas, and Jacqueline V. Lerner, “Positive Youth Development: A View of the Issues,” Journal of Early Adolescence 25 (February 2005), pp. 10–16. 117. Peter C. Scales, Peter L. Benson, Nancy Leffert, and Dale Blyth, “Contribution of Developmental Assets to the Prediction of Thriving Among Adolescents,” Applied Developmental Science 4(1) (February 2000), pp. 27–46. 118. Mazarr, “The Psychological Sources of Islamic Terrorism.” 119. Basile, “Going to the Source,” pp. 169–185. 120. Altemeyer, “Highly Dominating, Highly Authoritarian Personalities,” pp. 421–447.